Multi-phase Uplift of the Indo-Burman Ranges and Western Thrust Belt of Minbu Sub-basin (West Myanmar): Constraints from Apatite Fission Track Data

Abstract:

The forearc regions in active continental margins are important keys to analysis geodynamic processes such as oceanic crust oblique subduction, mechanism of subduction zone, and sediments recycling. The West Myanmar, interpreted as forearc silver, is the archetype example of such forearc regions subordinate to Sunda arc-trench system, and is widely debated when and how its forearc regions formed. A total of twenty-two samples were obtained from the Indo-Burman Ranges and western thrust belt of Minbu Sub-basin along Taungup-Prome Road in Southwestern Myanmar (Figure 1), and five sandstone samples of them were performed at Apatite to Zircon, Inc. Three samples (M3, M5, and M11) collected from Eocene flysch and metamorphic core at the Indo-Burman Ranges revealed apatite fission track (AFT) ages ranging from 19 to 9 Ma and 6.5 to 2 Ma. Two samples (M20 and M21) acquired from the western thrust belt of Minbu Sub-basin yielded AFT ages ranging from 28 to 13.5 Ma and 7.5 to 3.5 Ma. Time-temperature models based on AFT data suggest four major Cenozoic cooling episodes, Late Oligocene, Early to Middle Miocene, Late Miocene, and Pliocene to Pleistocene. The first to third episode, models suggest the metamorphic core of the Indo-Burman Ranges has experienced multi-phase rapidly uplifted during the early construction of the forearc regions. The latest episode, on which this study focused, indicated a fast westward growth of the Palaeogene accretionary wedge and a eastward propagation deformation of folding and thrusting of the western thrust belt of Minbu Sub-basin. We argued that above multi-phase uplifted and deformation of the forearc regions were results of India/West Burma plate’s faster oblique convergence and faster sedimentation along the India/Eurasia suture zone.