A strong tectono-magmatic thermal event has been revealed by field observations of granitic, migmatiticand metamorphic rocks in the hinterland of the Dabie Mountains. K-Ar, Ar-Ar and Rb-Sr determinationsshow that the event took place 133-117 Ma ago (Yanshanian). Contemporaneously, a southwestwardthrust-type ductile shearing at multiple levels occurred in the lower crust or at even deeper levels, suggestingthat the Dabie Mountains region was still under the influence ot strong continent-continent overlappingtectonism of the Yangtze block under the Sino-Korean block at depth. Metamorphic rocks of amphibolitefacies, migmatites and deep structural deformations resulting from this tectonothermal event are now exposedto the surface. The present features of the Dabie Mountains thus have appeared only since ca. 100 Ma B.P. Theblock composed of the Dabie Group is not an uplift or shield which would have undergone a long-continuederosion.