摘要：Asia is the largest continent on Earth and records a prolonged history of continental growth and tectonic reactivation during the Phanerozoic. Several tectonic forces at the continental palaeo-margins induced mountain building, both at the margins themselves (e.g. the Himalayas) and into the continental interior (e.g. the Tianshan). In many parts of Asia, mountain building and associated crustal exhumation/denudation are still very active as a result of continuous India-Asia convergence (e.g. growth of the Tibetan Plateau, development of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt) or subduction of the Pacific at the eastern margin (e.g. Japanese Islands). This special issue aims to unravel the Meso–Cenozoic exhumation history of Asian mountain chains to the north and east of the Himalayas using low-temperature thermochronology. This technique uses one or a series of thermochronometers that are sensitive to temperatures between ∼200 and 50 °C, allowing to constrain the thermal history of a study area from which the timing and rate of exhumation/denudation can be calculated. This special issue provides insights into the timing and extent of punctuated reactivation events within the Asian interior and of recent mountain building at the eastern Asian margin. These results aim to enhance our understanding of the Asian (palaeo-)landscape and have profound implications for e.g. the coupling between mountain building and the Asian climate, earthquake forecasting and economic geology (e.g. hydrocarbon generation).
