Tectonic Rotation Pattern at the Northern End of the Red River Fault System in SE Tibet: New Paleomagnetic Evidence From Cretaceous Red Beds

In order to study the rotations of crustal material along the boundary faults in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, and to better understand the tectonic evolution of this region, in this study we conducted a paleomagnetic study of Cretaceous red beds in the Binchuan and Xiangyun sections near the Chenghai‐Binchuan fault, a branch fault at the northern end of the Red River fault in China. Analyses of rock magnetic properties and magnetization components, combined with scanning electron microscopy, show that two types of hematite are present in the Lower Cretaceous rocks: pigmentary hematite and specularite. High‐temperature components (HTCs) were isolated by stepwise thermal demagnetization between 300 and 660°C carried by pigmentary hematite and all of the HTCs are of normal polarity. An additional magnetization component carried by specular hematite cannot be isolated efficiently. Progressive unfolding of both the Binchuan and Xiangyun sections shows that the best grouping of the precision parameter was obtained at 75%–80% untilting, indicating that the remanence of syn‐folding origin is carried by pigmentary hematite. These syn‐folding remanent magnetizations indicate the Binchuan and Xiangyun sections accumulated 20.5 ± 5.3° of clockwise rotation and 9.9 ± 4.6° of counterclockwise rotation, respectively, with respect to East Asia since the early Cretaceous, despite the two sections being only ∼45 km apart. The counterclockwise rotation of the Xiangyun section was likely caused by the left‐lateral shear motion of the Red River Fault; and since the Miocene, the Binchuan section experienced integral clockwise rotations, together with most parts of the Chuan‐Dian Block. Plain Language Summary The Chuan‐Dian Block is an important part of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, which is characterized by a complicated pattern of tectonic deformation. In order to study the tectonic evolution of crustal material in the western margin of the Chuan‐Dian Block, we conducted a paleomagnetic study of Cretaceous red beds in the Binchuan and Xiangyun sections near the Chenghai‐Binchuan fault, a branch fault at the northern end of the Red River fault. We found that the rotations of the Binchuan area are roughly consistent with that of the central part of the Chuan‐Dian Block. However, the Xiangyun area experienced counterclockwise deformation, despite the two sections being only ∼45 km apart. To explain these drastically different rotations, we propose that although most part