This study presents a low‐temperature thermochronological data set from the Jiaodong Peninsula in eastern China, including new zircon U‐Th/He and apatite fission‐track data from the Sulu Terrane in the eastern side of the Jiaodong Peninsula and published data from the Jiaobei Uplift to the west. These data reveal differential tectonic evolution between the Jiaobei Uplift and the Sulu Terrane, which is responsible for their heterogeneous gold endowment. Thermal history inverse modeling and structural analysis indicate three broad periods of cooling in the Sulu Terrane. These include: (a) slow cooling from 114 to 50 Ma; (b) rapid cooling from 50 to 40 Ma; and (c) tectonic stability after 40 Ma with little cooling. This thermotectonic evolution pattern shows that the local tectonic evolution of Sulu Terrane and Jiaobei Uplift are relatively independent, although they share identical far‐field geodynamic controls. The critical characteristic is the Early Cretaceous extension within the Sulu Terrane was much weaker than that in the Jiaobei Uplift that underwent a rapid period of uplift in the Aptian. The differential tectonic evolution of the two areas induced variation in structural architecture and consequential differences in degree of extension that are important factors in defining the heterogeneous gold endowment rather than simply suggested differences in ore‐forming fluid chemistry, metal precipitation mechanism, and/or exhumation levels. The intense extension in the Jiaobei Uplift was conducive to voluminous fluid migration and gold precipitation. In contrast, the much weaker extensional setting in the Sulu Terrane was not conducive to large‐scale fluid migration from deep.

The intrusive age ranges of Linglong, Guojialing, Weideshan, and Laoshan granites in the Jiaodong Peninsula are 155–154 Ma, 131–130 Ma, 118–111 Ma, and 116 Ma, respectively. Together with the Shidao granite (227–200 Ma), five phases of magmatism can be classified by the time, all of which have different degrees of gold and polymetallic mineralization. The type of granites evolved from A–, S–type to I–, A–type from the Late Triassic to the Early Cretaceous, thus reflects the evolution of geodynamics in the Mesozoic, indicating the switch from North China Craton (NCC)–Yangtze Craton (YC) collision to subduction of the Paleo–Pacific Plate (PPP), with crustal thickening switching to lithospheric thinning and a compressional tectonic setting changing to an extensional setting. It directly leads to a series of extensional structures evolving in the Jiaodong Peninsula and demonstrates affinity for the extensive mineralization in the Early Cretaceous. The key markers of Jiaodong gold and polymetallic mineralization are magmatism, fluid activity and extensional structure. Extensive magmatic uplift and extensional structures in the Early Cretaceous formed the extensional tectonic system. During the formation process, a large proportion of crust and mantle materials exchanged and mixed, and the fluid interaction was highly active, resulting in a magmatic fluid metallogenic system, which provided favorable metallogenic conditions for gold and nonferrous metal hydrothermal deposits. Thus, a large-scale explosive mineralization occurred in Jiaodong in the middle and late Early Cretaceous.