Neoproterozoic subduction-related metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks from the Rey Bouba Greenstone Belt of north-central Cameroon in the Central African Fold Belt: New insights into a continental arc geodynamic setting

2015 ◽  
Vol 261 ◽  
pp. 40-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Houketchang Bouyo ◽  
Y. Zhao ◽  
J. Penaye ◽  
S.H. Zhang ◽  
U.O. Njel
1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Turek ◽  
T. E. Smith ◽  
C. H. Huang

The Gamitagama greenstone belt is situated to the south of the Archean Wawa belt of the Superior Province, and is about 50 km south of Wawa, Ontario. The Rb–Sr ages being reported here show that the metavolcanic and associated metasedimentary rocks are older than 2665 ± 45 Ma, which is a whole-rock isochron age of the pretectonic or syntectonic trondhjemitic plutons. The Gamitagama Lake complex, a calcalkalic differentiated and multiple diorite pluton, postdates the regional metamorphism and gives an age of 2645 ± 100 Ma. Potassic granitoid stocks, which are considered to be coeval with the Gamitagama Lake complex, define an isochron age of 2590 ± 80 Ma. The greenstone belt and associated intrusives are adjacent to the Southern batholith, a complex terrain of gneisses and migmatites, for which an isochron age of 2570 ± 90 Ma has been obtained. The radiometric ages reported here support the established stratigraphic sequence and prove that the rocks are Archean in age.


1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 813-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Doig

The Churchill Province north of the Proterozoic Cape Smith volcanic fold belt of Quebec may be divided into two parts. The first is a broad antiform of migmatitic gneisses (Deception gneisses) extending north from the fold belt ~50 km to Sugluk Inlet. The second is a 20 km wide zone of high-grade metasedimentary rocks northwest of Sugluk Inlet. The Deception gneisses yield Rb–Sr isochron ages of 2600–2900 Ma and initial ratios of 0.701–0.703, showing that they are Archean basement to the Cape Smith Belt. The evidence that the basement rocks have been isoclinally refolded in the Proterozoic is clear at the contact with the fold belt. However, the gneisses also contain ubiquitous synclinal keels of metasiltstone with minor metapelite and marble that give isochron ages less than 2150 Ma. These ages, combined with low initial ratios of 0.7036, show that they are not part of the basement, as the average 87Sr/86Sr ratio for the basement rocks was about 0.718 at that time.The rocks west of Sugluk Inlet consist mainly of quartzo-feldspathic sediments, quartzites, para-amphibolites, marbles, and some pelite and iron formation. In contrast to the Proterozoic sediments in the Deception gneisses, these rocks yield dates of 3000–3200 Ma, with high initial ratios of 0.707–0.714. These initial ratios point to an age (or a provenance) much greater than that of the Archean Deception gneisses. The rocks of the Sugluk terrain are intruded by highly deformed sills of granitic rocks with ages of about 1830 Ma, demonstrating again the extent and severity of the Proterozoic overprint. The eastern margin of this possibly early Archean Sugluk block is a discontinuity in age, lithology, and geophysical character that could be a suture between two Archean cratons. It is not known if such a suturing event is of Archean age, or if it is related to the deformation of the Cape Smith Fold Belt.Models of evolution incorporating both the Cape Smith Belt and the Archean rocks to the north need to account for the internal structure of the fold belt, the continental affinity of many of the volcanic rocks, the continuity of basement around the eastern end of the belt, and the increase in metamorphism through the northern part of the belt into a broad area to the north. The Cape Smith volcanic rocks may have been extruded along a continental rift, parallel to a continental margin at Sugluk. Continental collison at Sugluk would have thrust the older and higher grade Sugluk rocks over the Deception gneisses, produced the broad Deception antiform, and displaced the Cape Smith rocks to the south in a series of north-dipping thrust slices.


1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1120-1134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Sylvester ◽  
Kodjo Attoh ◽  
Klaus J. Schulz

The tectono-stratigraphic relationships, depositional environments, rock associations, and major- and trace-element compositions of the late Archean (2744–2696 Ma) bimodal basalt–rhyolite volcanic rocks of the Michipicoten (Wawa) greenstone belt, Ontario, are compatible with an origin along a convergent plate margin that varied laterally from an immature island arc built on oceanic crust to a more mature arc underlain by continental crust. This environment is similar to that of the Cenozoic Taupo–Kermadec–Tonga volcanic zone. Michipicoten basaltic rocks, most of which are proximal deposits compositionally similar ([La/Yb]n = 0.63–1.18) to modern oceanic island-arc tholeiites, are interpreted as having formed along the largely submerged island arc. Voluminous Michipicoten rhyolitic pyroclastic rocks ([La/Yb]n = 4.3–18.7, Ybn = 5.7–15.9) probably erupted subaerially from the continental arc, with distal facies deposited subaqueously on the adjacent oceanic island arc and proximal facies deposited in subaerial and shallow subaqueous environments on, or along the flanks of, the continental arc. The compositional similarity between the lower (2744 Ma) and upper (2696 Ma) volcanic sequences of the belt suggests that this island- and continental-arc configuration existed for at least 45 Ma. The Michipicoten belt may be a remnant of a larger, laterally heterogeneous volcanic terrane that also included the Abitibi greenstone belt.


2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W.D. Lodge ◽  
Harold L. Gibson ◽  
Greg M. Stott ◽  
James M. Franklin ◽  
George J. Hudak

The greenstone belts along the northern margin of the Wawa subprovince of the Superior Province (Vermilion, Shebandowan, Winston Lake, Manitouwadge) formed at ca. 2720 Ma and have been interpreted to be representative of a rifted-arc to back-arc tectonic setting. Despite a common inferred tectonic setting and broad similarities, these greenstone belts have a significantly different metallogeny as evidenced by different endowments in volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS), magmatic sulphide, and orogenic gold deposits. In this paper, we examine differences in geodynamic setting and crustal architecture as they pertain to the metallogeny of each greenstone belt by characterizing the regional-scale trace-element and isotopic (Nd and Pb) geochemistry of each belt. The trace-element geochemistry of the Vermilion greenstone belt (VGB) shows evidence for a transition from arc-like to back-arc mafic rocks in the Soudan belt to plume-driven rifted arcs in the ultramafic-bearing Newton belt. The Shebandowan greenstone belt (SGB) has a significant proportion of calc-alkalic, arc-like basalts, intermediate lithofacies, and high-Mg andesites, which are characteristic of low-angle, “hot” subduction. Extensional settings within the SGB are plume-driven and associated with komatiitic ultramafic and mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-like basalts. The Winston Lake greenstone belt (WGB) is characterized by a transition from calc-alkalic, arc-like basalts to back-arc basalts upward in the strata and is capped by alkalic ocean-island basalt (OIB)-like basalts. This association is consistent with plume-driven rifting of a mature arc setting. Each of the VGB, SGB, and WGB show some isotopic evidence for the interaction with a juvenile or slightly older differentiated crust. The Manitouwadge greenstone belt (MGB) is characterized by isotopically juvenile, bimodal, tholeiitic to transitional volcanic lithofacies in a back-arc setting. The MGB is the most isotopically juvenile belt and is also the most productive in terms of VMS mineralization. The Zn-rich VMS mineralization within the WGB suggests a relatively lower-temperature hydrothermal system, possibly within a relatively shallow-water environment. The Zn-dominated and locally Au-enriched VMS mineralization, as well as mafic lithofacies and alteration assemblages, are characteristic of relatively shallower-water deposition in the VGB and SGB, and indicate that the ideal VMS-forming tectonic condition may have been compromised by a shallower-water depositional setting. However, the thickened arc crust and compressional tectonics of the SGB suprasubduction zone during hot subduction may have provided a crustal setting more favourable for the magmatic Ni–Cu sulphide and relative gold endowment of this belt.


2019 ◽  
Vol 486 (4) ◽  
pp. 446-450
Author(s):  
V. A. Zaika ◽  
A. A. Sorokin ◽  
A. P. Sorokin

This paper presents the results of U–Pb (LA–ICP–MS) and Lu–Hf ­isotope studies of detrital zircons from metasedimentary rocks of the Tokur Terrane. It has been shown that metasedimentary rocks of the Tokur and Ekimchan formations are characterized by similar age peaks of detrital zircons, which indicates a close (or same) age of these formations. The lower age of the sedimentation is determined by the age of the youngest zircons of 326–323 Ma. The upper age boundary is determined of 254–251 Ma, based on the intruded of the Late Permian granitoids. The main sources of zircons in the metasedimentary rocks of the Tokur Terrane are the igneous and metamorphic complexes of the southeast framing of the North Asia Craton. The Tokur Terrane can be considered as a fragment of the Paleozoic accretionary complex, the formation in front of the southeastern margin of the North Asia Craton.


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