Polystage deformation of the Gaoligong metamorphic zone: Structures, 40Ar/39Ar mica ages, and tectonic implications

Abstract The Gaoligong metamorphic zone is located southeast of the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis in western Yunnan, China. The zone is characterized by four stages of deformation (D1–D4). D1 structures record early compressive deformation during the Indosinian orogeny, which formed tight to isoclinal F1 folds of bedding with a penetrative S1 foliation developed parallel to fold axial planes. Mid-crustal horizontal shearing during D2 resulted in overprinting of D1 structures. D1 and D2 structures are associated with granulite facies metamorphism. D3 doming resulted in late crustal thickening and the development of a regional NW–SE trending F3 antiform. Synchronous with or slightly subsequent to D3 deformation, the zone experienced D4 ductile strike-slip shearing, resulting in its exhumation to shallow crustal levels and retrograde metamorphism. Granitic D4 mylonites predominantly yield 40 Ar/ 39 Ar mica ages of 15–16 Ma, indicating that D4 dextral strike-slip shearing occurred in the Miocene. Weakly deformed leucogranite and protomylonite yield 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of 10–11 Ma, suggesting that ductile strike-slip shearing continued to the Late Miocene. The new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar data indicate that escape-related deformation along the Gaoligong strike-slip shear zone occurred in the Miocene. In association with recent geophysical studies, and on the basis of the structural, crystal preferred orientation (CPO), and geochronological data presented in this paper, we suggest that the Gaoligong metamorphic zone formed in response to intracontinental transpression in the southeast of Tibet, characterized as intense deformation and metamorphism at middle–upper crustal levels.