Deformation structure and exhumation process of the Laojunshan gneiss dome in southeastern Yunnan of China.

Middle-lower crust and mantle rocks are generally widely exposed in metamorphic core complex or gneiss dome, which is an ideal place to study the exhumation process related to regional extension and rheology. The Laojunshan metamorphic complex in southeastern Yunnan is located in a special tectonic position surrounded by the Cathaysia, Yangtze and Indochina blocks. It is composed of different metamorphic-deformation rocks and granitic intrusions. There also are many economic deposits (e.g., tin and tungsten) that are spatially and genetically associated with the formation and exhumation of the Laojunshan gneiss dome. Based on detailed analysis of macro- and microscopic structure, stress field distribution and deformation condition, the tectonic units of the Laojunshan metamorphic complex show obvious characteristics of doming, as well as of typical structural units of metamorphic core complex. It has strongly deformed metamorphic gneiss core (footwall), detachment fault system and sedimentary cover (hanging wall) with lightly metamorphism and deformation. The footwall of gneiss dome presents a strongly ductile deformation domain, accompanied by different ages of granitic intrusions. The distribution of developed foliation and lineation within granitic gneisses are arc-shaped and radial, respectively, with a nearly N-S trending from the footwall to the hanging wall. Mylonitization of deformed rocks gradually weakens and transits to orthogneiss as it moves away from the detachment fault toward the footwall. The low angle detachment fault between the footwall and the hanging wall shows an arc-like shape feature. Mylonite fabrics are preserved in the deformed rocks of the detachment fault, which are mainly composed of chloritized schist, fault breccia, cataclasite and fault gouge. A large number of normal faults are developed in detachment faults and hanging wall, and their stress fields radiate in an arc around the footwall. Zircon U-Pb ages of amphibolite and granitic gneiss from the footwall range from 445 to 420 Ma, indicating the timing of Caledonian magmatic emplacement and the main formation period of the Laojunshan gneiss dome. U-Pb ages of the zircon metamorphic rims are 241–230 Ma, representing the timing of high temperature metamorphism and shortened deformation of the Indosinian collision. In this period, the Laojunshan gneiss dome experienced the tectonic compression in association with high temperature metamorphism-deformation, which was superimposed by detachment and extensional exhumation in association with intense hydrothermal interaction and mineralization in the late stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]