Thermal history of the Jecheon granite pluton in the Ogcheon Fold Belt, South Korea

Whole rock and mineral ages for the Jecheon Granite distributed in the Ogcheon Fold Belt were dated by three radiometric methods, and its thermal history was elucidated as follows, on the basis of isotopic age data. Rb and Sr isotopic compositions of three whole rock and seven mineral concentrates made an isochron of 202.7 1.9 Ma with a strontium initial ratio of 0.7140. Different age data of twelve mineral concentrates agree closely with the retention temperature of each mineral in K-Ar and Fission Track methods. The Jecheon granitic magma was generated by partial melting of crustal materials (S-type), or by mixins between mantle and crustal materials, intruded into the katazone or mesozone (7∼9 km) of the Ogcheon Fold Belt, at least in the Early Jurassic (about 203 Ma), and then crystallized and cooled down rapidly from about 600 to 300 (more than 20/Ma), owing to thermal differences between the magma and the wall-rock. During the Middle to Late Jurassic (190∼140 Ma), the cooling of the granite was likely to stop and keep thermal equilibrium with the wall-rock. The severe tectonism associated with igneous activities and active weathering on the surface in Early to Late Cretaceous time (140∼70 Ma) might have accelerated the granite pluton to uplift rapidly (40∼60 m/Ma in average) up to 3∼4 km and cooled down from 300 to 200 (1.4 /Ma). The granite pluton was likely to keep different uplifting and cooling rate of about 120 m/Ma and 5/Ma in average from the Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary (70∼50 Ma), and about 60 m/Ma and 2/Ma in average from about 50 Ma up to the present, respectively.