Timing and kinematics of Mesozoic-Cenozoic mountain building and lithospheric thinning in the eastern North China: Constraints from geochronology and thermochronology

Abstract

The Sulu UHP rocks and the Jiaobei region exhumed to temperatures below 180 ± 20 °C at 180–160 Ma and 260–160 Ma, respectively. The genesis for the 160 Ma granites requires the participation of external water. These observations can best be explained by the crustal detachment model. Two episodes of exhumation, first at the Early Cretaceous and again at 65–40 Ma, indicate an episodic lithospheric thinning in the eastern North China block.