Cenozoic exhumation history of the northern Richardson Mountains: Results from apatite and zircon (U-Th-Sm)/He analysis

• Main Author: McKay, Ryan D.
• Other Authors: Enkelmann, Eva, Hadlari, Thomas, Hubbard, Stephen, Eaton, David
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Graduate Studies 2020
• Subjects: thermochronology; tectonics; deformation; Cordillera; Geology; Canada; Richardson Mountains; Brooks Range; Mackenzie mountains
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1880/114475; https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/39635

New low-temperature thermochronology data from clastic sedimentary rocks in the northern Richardson Mountains, Canada, indicate significant exhumational cooling during late Eocene–early Oligocene time. Apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe) data were collected from 19 Proterozoic–Paleocene rocks across a 115 km transect. Eighty-eight single-grain AHe dates range from 300 ± 5 Ma to 16 ± 4 Ma but most dates (65%) range 56–24 Ma. AHe dates are generally younger than the stratigraphic ages, indicative of thermal resetting by burial. Additionally, zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) data were collected from two Jurassic sandstones. The ten ZHe dates range from 831 ± 12 Ma to 291 ± 4 Ma and are older than the stratigraphic age, which limits maximum burial to <160°C. Our results from thermal history modeling indicate three phases of cooling, during the Paleocene–early Eocene (>65–50 Ma), late Eocene–early Oligocene (40–30 Ma), and late Oligocene–early Miocene (30–15 Ma). Most samples were sensitive to cooling during the first and second phases, whereas the third phase is not as well constrained. The rocks were close to surface temperatures and below the sensitivity of AHe analysis since the early–middle Miocene. The results suggest a previously unrecognized phase of cooling and inferred deformation in the northern Richardson Mountains during late Eocene–early Oligocene time. Our findings contribute to previous work that recognizes Late Cenozoic deformation along the eastern margin of the Northern Cordillera, in the northeastern Brooks Range (e.g. O’Sullivan et al., 1993; 1998b) and in the Mackenzie Mountains (Enkelmann et al., 2019). We investigated the potential mechanisms of this widespread deformation and found that the exhumation may relate to kinematic changes of the North American plate relative to structural trends along the margin of the Northern Cordillera.