Late Mesozoic Tectonothermal Events in the Rushan Region, Jiaodong Peninsula: Implications for Gold Mineralisation

ABSTRACT The Yanshan Movement, driven by subduction of the West Pacific Plate during the Mesozoic, played a significant controlling role in the tectonic evolution and mineralisation of East Asia. To unravel its late‐stage tectonic–thermal evolution, this study focuses on the Rushan area of the Jiaodong Peninsula. Based on structural analysis of three typical outcropping sections (Guchu, Dahulan and Beizhuang villages) and integrated U–Pb geochronology of minerals such as zircon, monazite and titanite, the Late Mesozoic metamorphism is constrained to 155–131 Ma. This metamorphic phase is coupled with coeval magmatism (161.6–131.0 Ma), collectively responding to regional NW–SE compression induced by the subduction of the Paleo‐Pacific Plate. Furthermore, ~131 Ma is identified as a key turning point marking the transition from a compressional to an extensional tectonic regime. We propose that the prolonged tectonic‐thermal activity during 155–131 Ma may have provided essential pre‐structural preparation for the large‐scale Early Cretaceous gold mineralisation.