Intracontinental Fault Reactivation in High Heat Production Areas of Central Australia: Insights From Apatite Fission Track Thermochronology

Abstract

Abstract Pervasive intracontinental orogenesis during the Paleozoic has been widely recognized in the metamorphic and structural records of the Aileron Province and Amadeus Basin in central Australia, commonly attributed to the Ordovician–Carboniferous Alice Springs Orogeny. Comparatively less clear, however, is the magnitude and geographic expression of this event elsewhere in the North Australian Craton. This study presents new apatite fission track thermochronology data from central Australia which demonstrate considerable Paleozoic reactivation across the continental interior. Both the Tennant region and Murphy Province exhibit low‐temperature cooling coeval with the Alice Springs Orogeny (ca. 450–320 Ma), although Triassic reactivation in the Aileron Province correlates with the timing of the Hunter‐Bowen Orogeny (ca. 265–230 Ma) in eastern Australia. High heat production and metasomatism within the Aileron Province has made the region highly susceptible to reactivation, rendering it more vulnerable to subsequent reactivation in response to far‐field stresses during the progressive Tasmanides development.

Keywords

• heat production
• thermochronology
• stress
• tectonics