Emeishan Basalt Ar–Ar overprint ages define several tectonic events that affected the western Yangtze platform in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic☆

Ar–Ar whole-rock dating was carried out as part of a detailed stratigraphical investigation of the Emeishan Basalt large igneous province (LIP) in the stratotype area, Sichuan, China. Thirteen (from twenty-one) specimens from three sections yielded reliable reversed isochron and plateau ages (maximum 1σ errors of ≤2.1 and 1.6 m.y., respectively), and form two clusters centered on the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous and Early–Late Cretaceous, with...