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Erosion rates and orogenic-wedge kinematics in Taiwan inferred from fission-track thermochronometry

¹ Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98125, USA
² Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
³ Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98125, USA
⁴ Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
⁵ Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan

New apatite and zircon fission-track ages and previously published thermochronometric data are used to evaluate erosion rates and particle paths within the active Taiwan arc-continent collision. We present 20 new apatite fission-track ages and 6 new zircon fission-track ages. Apatite and zircon ages are all reset in the northern and eastern parts of Taiwan, although the region of reset apatite ages is larger. We interpret this pattern as resulting from crustal accretion at the western margin of the orogenic wedge combined with southward propagation of the collision zone. A one-dimensional thermal model including erosion provides prediction of the fission-track ages. The distribution of reset ages is best explained with an erosion rate of 4–6 mm/yr. Given a propagation velocity of 60 mm/yr, this erosion rate implies that nearly 25 km of material has been eroded from northern Taiwan. The lack of reset ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages from muscovite and biotite suggests that rock-particle paths have a large horizontal component, a result consistent with an eroding orogenic-wedge model.

Key Words: orogenesis • exhumation • fission-track dating • erosion • heat flow

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