Episodic, mafic crust formation from 4.5 to 2.8 Ga: New evidence from detrital zircons, Slave craton, Canada

Geology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 875 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.B. Pietranik ◽  
C.J. Hawkesworth ◽  
C.D. Storey ◽  
A.I.S. Kemp ◽  
K.N. Sircombe ◽  
...  
Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmus Haugaard ◽  
Pedro Waterton ◽  
Luke Ootes ◽  
D. Graham Pearson ◽  
Yan Luo ◽  
...  

Komatiitic magmatism is a characteristic feature of Archean cratons, diagnostic of the addition of juvenile crust, and a clue to the thermal evolution of early Earth lithosphere. The Slave craton in northwest Canada contains >20 greenstone belts but no identified komatiite. The reason for this dearth of komatiite, when compared to other Archean cratons, remains enigmatic. The Central Slave Cover Group (ca. 2.85 Ga) includes fuchsitic quartzite with relict detrital chromite grains in heavy-mineral laminations. Major and platinum group element systematics indicate that the chromites were derived from Al-undepleted komatiitic dunites. The chromites have low 187Os/188Os ratios relative to chondrite with a narrow range of rhenium depletion ages at 3.19 ± 0.12 Ga. While these ages overlap a documented crust formation event, they identify an unrecognized addition of juvenile crust that is not preserved in the bedrock exposures or the zircon isotopic data. The documentation of komatiitic magmatism via detrital chromites indicates a region of thin lithospheric mantle at ca. 3.2 Ga, either within or at the edge of the protocratonic nucleus. This study demonstrates the applicability of detrital chromites in provenance studies, augmenting the record supplied by detrital zircons.


2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 833-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
S S Gandhi ◽  
O van Breemen

The recently defined Treasure Lake Group is a platformal sedimentary sequence more than 3 km thick that was deformed and metamorphosed prior to formation of the Great Bear continental arc during 1875–1845 Ma. The group is exposed as remnants in the southern part of the arc. Its basement is not exposed, but is interpreted to comprise the Paleoproterozoic Hottah terrane, which is exposed at Hottah Lake in the northern part of the arc. Studies in that region show that the Hottah terrane collided with the Archean Slave craton to the east ca. 1883 Ma following reversal of subduction polarity from west to east. Continued eastward subduction under the collision zone formed the Great Bear arc. The present study was undertaken to determine the age and provenance of the Treasure Lake Group. Thirty-nine detrital zircon grains from a sample of a quartz arenite unit in the middle part of the Treasure Lake Group were analyzed by SHRIMP (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe). They show an age range from ca. 2729 to ca. 1880 Ma, with main modes at ca. 1895, 1985, 2090, and 2330 Ma. These data confirm a mainly Paleoproterozoic provenance for the group. The youngest group of five zircon analyses places the maximum depositional age at 1886 ± 8 Ma. The Treasure Lake Group is close to the north-trending Wopmay medial zone formed during collision of the Hottah terrane and the Slave craton. Deformation and metamorphism of the group can now be attributed to the collisional event. The group may in part be coeval with the Bell Island Bay and Akaitcho groups of the northern Hottah terrane, the lower parts of which were deposited ca. 1900 Ma. The wide range of detrital zircons ages found in this study is interpreted to reflect a complex Paleoproterozoic evolution of the Hottah terrane.


1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1087-1104 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Wodicka ◽  
R. A. Jamieson ◽  
R. R. Parrish

We report U–Pb zircon ages for metaplutonic and metasedimentary rocks from three lithotectonic assemblages within the Parry Sound allochthon of the Central Gneiss Belt, southwestern Grenville Orogen: the basal Parry Sound, interior Parry Sound, and Twelve Mile Bay assemblages. Magmatic crystallization ages for granitic to tonalitic gneisses from the basal Parry Sound assemblage fall in the range 1400–1330 Ma. Younger intrusions include the Parry Island anorthosite dated at 1163 ± 3 Ma and a crosscutting mafic dyke bracketed between 1151 and 1163 Ma. Dated at [Formula: see text] a tonalitic gneiss from the overlying interior Parry Sound assemblage is slightly younger than the older group of rocks from the basal Parry Sound assemblage. 207Pb/206Pb ages for zircons from a quartzite of the basal Parry Sound assemblage range from 1385 Ma to the Neoarchaean. An absolute maximum age for this quartzite is 1436 ± 17 Ma. In contrast, detrital zircons from a quartzite of the Twelve Mile Bay assemblage constrain the age of deposition at post-ca. 1140–1120 Ma. We speculate that Grenvillian-age zircons within this quartzite were derived from rocks in the Adirondack Highlands and Frontenac terrane, implying that part of the Parry Sound domain and these terranes were contiguous during deposition of the quartzite. Our data support previous interpretations that the Parry Sound domain is allochthonous with respect to its surroundings, and suggest that the most likely source region of the basal Parry Sound domain lies southeast of the Central Gneiss Belt, within the Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary thrust zone or the Adirondack Highlands. This implies the possibility of 100–300 km of displacement of the domain. Emplacement of the Parry Sound domain into its present position must have occurred relatively late in the orogen's history, by about 1080 Ma.


2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmus Haugaard ◽  
Luke Ootes ◽  
Larry M. Heaman ◽  
Michael A. Hamilton ◽  
Barry J. Shaulis ◽  
...  

Two temporally distinct Neoarchean turbidite packages are known to occur in the Slave craton. The older is a greywacke–mudstone succession that includes the renowned Burwash Formation (ca. 2661 Ma). In this study, a previously undated tuff bed is demonstrated to have crystallized at ca. 2650.5 ± 1.0 Ma refining the deposition age of these turbidites between ca. 2661 and 2650 Ma. The younger turbidites are locally distinctive as they contain interstratified banded iron formation (BIF). Previous work demonstrated that the younger turbidites were deposited between ca. 2640 and 2615 Ma, based entirely on maximum depositional ages from detrital zircons. A ∼3 cm thick felsic to intermediate tuff bed was discovered interbedded with these BIF-bearing turbidites. The tuff bed contains a single age population of zircon with a crystallization age of 2620 ± 6 Ma defining the depositional timing of these BIF-bearing turbidites. New U–Pb detrital zircon dates from extensive turbidite sequences in the eastern and central part of the Slave craton are also presented. We use the new and previously published results to recommend nomenclature for these extensive sedimentary rocks in the Slave craton. The ca. 2661–2650 Ma turbidites remain part of the previously ascribed Duncan Lake Group. The younger ca. 2620 Ma turbidites are assigned to the new Slemon Group. Where robust age-data exist, we recommend formation names and include type localities for each.


2013 ◽  
Vol 386 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Meinhold ◽  
Andrew C. Morton ◽  
C. Mark Fanning ◽  
James P. Howard ◽  
Richard J. Phillips ◽  
...  

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