Development of low-temperature thermochronology and its application to uplift and denudational history of Japanese mountains

Sueoka, Shigeru   ; Tsutsumi, Hiroyuki*; Tagami, Takahiro*

Thermochronology is a discipline to determine the timing/temperature of past thermal events based on radiometric ages, which can be used to reconstruct denudation history of mountains by converting from cooling history and have been successfully applied to major orogens worldwide in the past 40 years. It has been however difficult to apply the method to relatively young/low-relief mountains in Japan. Nonetheless, the recent development of low-temperature thermochronology has greatly expanded its applicability. In this review paper, we introduce (1) fundamentals of thermochronology, (2) recent developments of low-temperature thermochronology, (3) analytic procedures, (4) previous studies in mountains ranges abroad, (5) previous studies about uplift/denudation of Japanese mountains, (6) previous thermochronometric studies in Japanese mountains, (7) case studies of the Kiso and Akaishi Ranges by the authors, and (8) the applicability and usefulness of thermochronology in Japanese mountains.