Long and complex thermal history of the Song Chay metamorphic dome (northern Vietnam) by multi-system geochronology.

Françoise ROGER1, Philippe Hervé LELOUP2, Marc JOLIVET3, Robin LACASSIN2, Phan Trong TRINH4, Maurice BRUNEL3, Diane SEWARD5.
1 Laboratoire de Géochronologie, Univ. Paris7- IPG Paris, CNRS-UMR 7578, 75252 Paris France
2 Laboratoire de Tectonique, mécanique de la lithosphère IPG Paris, CNRS-UMR 7578, Paris France
3 GGP, Université Montpellier 2, CNRS UMR 5567, Montpellier, France.
4 Institute of Geological Sciences, NCNST, Hanoi, Vietnam
5 Geology Institute, ETH Zentrum, Sonneggstrasse 5, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland

Abstract
Multi-system geochronology was used to unravel the long and complex thermal history of the Song Chay range (Northern Vietnam), a high-grade granitic and metamorphic dome in the vicinity of the Cenozoic, Ailao Shan - Red River fault zone. It was considered to be Proterozoic South China basement, but its geological history was basically unknown. Scattered field observations suggest three episodes of high temperature deformation: firstly at the time of granite emplacement, secondly a décollement with top to the north shear and thirdly anticlinal doming of the foliations formed during the two first stages. P-T estimates suggest that metamorphism coeval with the second deformation phase culminated at 580°C and 4.5kb (16 km depth). Multi-system geochronology is applied to a two-micas granite sample, slightly deformed within the décollement. U/Pb dating of zircon yields an age of 428 ± 5 Ma (± 2s) interpreted as the time of granite crystallization within the South China "Caledonian" belt. Rb/Sr on white micas and biotite yields ages of 206 ± 10 and 176 ± 5.3 Ma, respectively (2s); while 39Ar/40Ar ages of the same minerals are 210 ± 9 and 190 ± 8 Ma. These ages suggest an Upper Triassic episode of rapid cooling interpreted as due to doming a few million years after the end of movement on the décollement. The K-feldspar irregular 39Ar/40Ar age spectrum can, to the first order, be explained by a cooling history with two episodes of rapid cooling: one at 140 Ma and a second around 41 to 25 Ma. Apatite fission tracks central age (33.6±3.6 Ma, 1s) confirms a Tertiary rapid cooling event interpreted as the final exhumation of the Song Chay dome.

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Déformation de la lithosphère continentale. Exemple de l'Asie du SE au Tertiaire

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How does the continental lithosphere deform ?
Insigths from Tertiary deformation of SE Asia.