Detrital chromites reveal Slave craton’s missing komatiite

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmus Haugaard ◽  
Pedro Waterton ◽  
Luke Ootes ◽  
D. Graham Pearson ◽  
Yan Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Narrow Range ◽  
Thermal Evolution ◽  
Group Element ◽  
Detrital Zircons ◽  
Isotopic Data ◽  
Crust Formation ◽  
Slave Craton ◽  
Provenance Studies ◽  
Juvenile Crust ◽  
Greenstone Belts

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.

U–Pb zircon geochronology of Lower Jurassic and Paleozoic Stikinian strata and Tertiary intrusions, northwestern British Columbia

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 1155-1171 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Greig ◽  
G. E. Gehrels
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Detrital Zircons ◽  
Zircon Geochronology ◽  
Fold Belt ◽  
Isotopic Data ◽  
The West ◽  
Juvenile Crust ◽  
Felsic Volcanic ◽  
Felsic Volcanic Rocks

New U–Pb zircon ages are reported from western Stikinia. Devonian and Pennsylvanian ages of volcanic rocks at Oweegee dome confirm the presence of pre-Permian strata, and with Paleozoic and Triassic detrital zircons from Lower Jurassic sandstone, they help to demonstrate pre-Lower Jurassic deformation and uplift. The absence of pre-Paleozoic inherited zircon from all samples is consistent with Nd–Sr isotopic data which suggest that Stikinia consists mainly of juvenile crust. U–Pb ages for posttectonic intrusions suggest that structures in Skeena Fold Belt in the Kinskuch area formed prior to Eocene time. Five ages for felsic volcanic rocks from stratigraphically well-constrained upper parts of the Hazelton arc are approximately 196–199 Ma and suggest near-contemporaneity for cessation of volcanism in the areas studied. The Sinemurian or late Sinemurian – early Pliensbachian ages are older than previously reported U–Pb and biostratigraphic ages for presumed correlative rocks to the west, and westward-migrating volcanism is implied. Together with Toarcian fossils from overlying sandstone, the new ages suggest that a hiatus of moderate duration preceded regionally extensive sedimentation.

scholarly journals Juvenile crust formation in the Zimbabwe Craton deduced from the O-Hf isotopic record of 3.8–3.1 Ga detrital zircons

2017 ◽  
Vol 215 ◽  
pp. 432-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bolhar ◽  
Axel Hofmann ◽  
Anthony I.S. Kemp ◽  
Martin J. Whitehouse ◽  
Sandra Wind ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircons ◽  
Crust Formation ◽  
Zimbabwe Craton ◽  
Juvenile Crust

Growth of continental crust: a balance between preservation and recycling

2014 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. Condie
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Ocean Basin ◽  
Detrital Zircons ◽  
Mantle Xenoliths ◽  
Isotopic Data ◽  
Remarkable Feature ◽  
Zircon Age ◽  
Continental Arc ◽  
Juvenile Crust

AbstractOne of the major obstacles to our understanding of the growth of continental crust is that of estimating the balance between extraction rate of continental crust from the mantle and its recycling rate back into the mantle. As a first step it is important to learn more about how and when juvenile crust is preserved in orogens. The most abundant petrotectonic assemblage preserved in orogens (both collisional and accretionary) is the continental arc, whereas oceanic terranes (arcs, crust, mélange, Large Igneous Provinces, etc.) comprise <10%; the remainder comprises older, reworked crust. Most of the juvenile crust in orogens is found in continental arc assemblages. Our studies indicate that most juvenile crust preserved in orogens was produced during the ocean-basin closing stage and not during the collision. However, the duration of ocean-basin closing is not a major control on the fraction of juvenile crust preserved in orogens; regardless of the duration of subduction, the fraction of juvenile crust preserved reaches a maximum of ∼50%. Hafnium and Nd isotopic data indicate that reworking dominates in external orogens during supercontinent breakup, whereas during supercontinent assembly, external orogens change to retreating modes where greater amounts of juvenile crust are produced. The most remarkable feature of εNd (sedimentary rocks and granitoids) and εHf (detrital zircons) distributions through time is how well they agree with each other. The ratio of positive to negative εNd and eHf does not increase during supercontinent assembly (coincident with zircon age peaks), which suggests that supercontinent assembly is not accompanied by enhanced crustal production. Rather, the zircon age peaks probably result from enhanced preservation of juvenile crust. Valleys between zircon age peaks probably reflect recycling of continental crust into the mantle during supercontinent breakup. Hafnium isotopic data from zircons that have mantle sources, Nd isotopic data from detrital sedimentary rocks and granitoids and whole-rock Re depletion ages of mantle xenoliths collectively suggest that ≥70% of the continental crust was extracted from the mantle between 3500 and 2500 Ma.

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 ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircons ◽  
Crust Formation ◽  
Slave Craton ◽  
New Evidence

scholarly journals Supplemental Material: Protracted northward drifting of South China during the assembly of Gondwana: Constraints from the spatial-temporal provenance comparison of Neoproterozoic–Cambrian strata

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiong Chen ◽  
Guochun Zhao ◽  
et al.
Keyword(s):  
South China ◽  
Detrital Zircons ◽  
Isotopic Data

Table S1: In-situ U-Pb ages and Hf isotopic data of detrital zircons from the Neoproterozoic–Cambrian samples from the western and eastern margins of South China.

Parentage of Archean basement within a Paleoproterozoic orogen and implications for on-craton diamond preservation: Slave craton and Wopmay orogen, northwest Canada

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Ootes ◽  
Valerie A. Jackson ◽  
William J. Davis ◽  
Venessa Bennett ◽  
Leanne Smar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Crystalline Basement ◽  
Stability Field ◽  
Isotopic Data ◽  
The West ◽  
Slave Craton ◽  
Reasonable Explanation ◽  
Compressional Deformation ◽  
Archean Basement

The Wopmay orogen is a Paleoproterozoic accretionary belt preserved to the west of the Archean Slave craton, northwest Canada. Reworked Archean crystalline basement occurs in the orogen, and new bedrock mapping, U–Pb geochronology, and Sm–Nd isotopic data further substantiate a Slave craton parentage for this basement. Detrital zircon results from unconformably overlying Paleoproterozoic supracrustal rocks also support a Slave craton provenance. Rifting of the Slave margin began at ca. 2.02 Ga with a second rift phase constrained between ca. 1.92 and 1.89 Ga, resulting in thermal weakening of the Archean basement and allowing subsequent penetrative deformation during the Calderian orogeny (ca. 1.88–1.85 Ga). The boundary between the western Slave craton and the reworked Archean basement in the southern Wopmay orogen is interpreted as the rifted cratonic margin, which later acted as a rigid backstop during compressional deformation. Age-isotopic characteristics of plutonic phases track the extent and evolution of these processes that left penetratively deformed Archean basement, Paleoproterozoic cover, and plutons in the west, and “rigid” Archean Slave craton to the east. Diamond-bearing kimberlite occurs across the central and eastern parts of the Slave craton, but kimberlite (diamond bearing or not) has not been documented west of ∼114°W. It is proposed that while the crust of the western Slave craton escaped thermal weakening, the mantle did not and was moved out of the diamond stability field. The Paleoproterozoic extension–convergence cycle preserved in the Wopmay orogen provides a reasonable explanation as to why the western Slave craton appears to be diamond sterile.

New high-precision U–Pb ages for the Island Lake greenstone belt, northwestern Superior Province: implications for regional stratigraphy and the extent of the North Caribou terrane

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 789-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen Parks ◽  
Shoufa Lin ◽  
Don Davis ◽  
Tim Corkery
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
High Precision ◽  
Greenstone Belt ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
Geological History ◽  
Isotopic Data ◽  
Mapping Study ◽  
The North ◽  
Crustal Block ◽  
Greenstone Belts

A combined U–Pb and field mapping study of the Island Lake greenstone belt has led to the recognition of three distinct supracrustal assemblages. These assemblages record magmatic episodes at 2897, 2852, and 2744 Ma. Voluminous plutonic rocks within the belt range in age from 2894 to 2730 Ma, with a concentration at 2744 Ma. U–Pb data also show that a regional fault that transects the belt, the Savage Island shear zone, is not a terrane-bounding structure. The youngest sedimentary group in the belt, the Island Lake Group, has an unconformable relationship with older plutons. Sedimentation in this group is bracketed between 2712 and 2699 Ma. This group, and others similar to it in the northwestern Superior Province, is akin to Timiskaming-type sedimentary groups found throughout the Superior Province and in other Archean cratons. These data confirm that this belt experienced a complex geological history that spanned at least 200 million years, which is typical of greenstone belts in this area. Age correlations between the Island Lake belt and other belts in the northwest Superior Province suggest the existence of a volcanic "megasequence". This evidence, in combination with Nd isotopic data, indicates that the Oxford–Stull domain, and the Munro Lake, Island Lake, and North Caribou terranes may have been part of a much larger reworked Mesoarchean crustal block, the North Caribou superterrane. It appears that the Superior Province was assembled by accretion of such large independent crustal blocks, whose individual histories involved extended periods of autochthonous development.

Ordo-Silurian assemblage in the Indochina interior: Geochronological, elemental, and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf-O isotopic constraints of early Paleozoic granitoids in South Laos

2020 ◽  
Vol 133 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 325-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuejun Wang ◽  
Yuzhi Zhang ◽  
Xin Qian ◽  
Vongpaseuth Senebouttalath ◽  
Yang Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
High Field ◽  
Igneous Rocks ◽  
Early Paleozoic ◽  
Isotopic Data ◽  
High Field Strength ◽  
Tectonic Zone ◽  
Type Granite ◽  
Juvenile Crust ◽  
South Tibet

Abstract In order to verify the early Paleozoic accretionary assemblage in the Indochina interior and constrain the Prototethyan tectonic evolution in Southeast Asia, this study presents a set of new U-Pb geochronological, elemental, and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf-O isotopic data for the fifty-two representative granitoids in South Laos. The granitoids from the Kontum terrane, Tam Ky-Phuoc Son tectonic zone, and southern Truong Son igneous zone in South Laos yield the crystallization ages of 464–485 Ma, 455–471 Ma, and 427–446 Ma, respectively, with a northerly younging trend within the Indochina interior. They are mainly monzogranite with A/CNK = 0.96–1.99 and K2O &gt; Na2O, which are marked by enrichment in large-ion lithophile elements and depletion in high field strength elements with remarkable Nb-Ta, Sr-P, and Ti negative anomalies. Their initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios range from 0.70510 to 0.71559, εNd(t) from −9.5 to −3.0, (206Pb/204Pb)i from 18.65 to 19.72, (207Pb/204Pb)i from 15.66 to 15.80, and (208Pb/ 204Pb)i from 38.84 to 39.79. The corresponding zircon ɛHf(t) and δ18O values are in the range of −10.6 to +1.0 and 6.88‰ to 8.94‰, respectively. In addition, their Sr-Nd-Pb and Hf-O isotopic compositions are generally similar with those of time-equivalent granitoids in South Tibet and SW Yunnan, China, and synchronous mafic-intermediate igneous rocks in South Laos, but distinctive from those of the supracrustal sedimentary-derived South China Paleozoic granite and Lincang-Sukhothai S-type granite. The early Paleozoic granitoids in South Laos might have originated from a mixed source of the wedge-derived juvenile crust coupled with supracrustal materials. All these data synthetically suggest the southward subduction of the Tam Ky-Phuoc Son Ocean and the northerly on-growing Ordo-Silurian accretionary orogenesis within the previously defined “single-ancient” Indochina block. The assemblage of the Indochina block might initiate at ca. 430 Ma in the Silurian and terminate in the Early-Middle Devonian.

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