Tectonic Evolution and Its Controls on Hydrocarbon Systems in the Eastern Ordos Basin and Adjacent Shanxi Region, China: Insights from Low-Temperature Thermochronology

The Ordos Basin and the adjacent Shanxi region in northern China host multiple energy resources. However, the exhumation history of this region (especially the Cenozoic exhumation history) remains poorly constrained despite its importance for understanding basin evolution and multi-energy resource accumulation within the North China Craton (NCC). This study presents new apatite fission-track (AFT) data and thermal-history models from the eastern Ordos Basin and integrates them with previously published low-temperature thermochronological datasets to reconstruct the regional tectono-thermal evolution and evaluate its implications for mineral and hydrocarbon systems. The new AFT ages range from 39.5 to 24.8 Ma and are concentrated in the Late Eocene-Oligocene, recording two rapid cooling episodes at 39.5–32.7 Ma and 26.6–24.8 Ma. Together with regional thermochronological data, these results define five major tectono-thermal episodes since the Late Ordovician and reveal pronounced spatial variations in exhumation. This pattern indicates that Cenozoic deformation became increasingly localized along inherited basin-margin fault systems while the interior of the Ordos Basin remained comparatively stable. The reconstructed tectono-thermal history demonstrates that Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous tectono-thermal reactivation coincided with peak hydrocarbon generation and accumulation, whereas Cenozoic uplift and fault reactivation primarily influenced hydrocarbon preservation and coalbed methane enrichment through differential exhumation and structural reorganization. These results refine the Cenozoic exhumation history of the eastern Ordos Basin and establish a regional tectono-thermal framework for understanding the coupled evolution of basin development and the accumulation and preservation of multi-energy resources.