Formation of Canadian 1.9 Ga old continental crust. I: Nd isotopic data

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Chauvel ◽  
N. T. Arndt ◽  
S. Kielinzcuk ◽  
A. Thom
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Hudson Bay ◽  
Crustal Material ◽  
Isotopic Study ◽  
Volcanic Material ◽  
Crustal Rocks ◽  
Lake Zone ◽  
Archean Crust

A Nd isotopic study was carried out on 1.9−1.8 Ga rocks from two parts of the Trans-Hudson Orogen in northern Canada. The first part is the Reindeer Lake Zone in the Churchill Province in Saskatchewan, where a variety of volcanic, granitoid, and sedimentary rocks are preserved in several lithotectonic belts that border a reworked Archean craton to the northwest. The second area comprises the Ottawa and Belcher islands, in Hudson Bay, and the Fox River volcanics, in Manitoba. These form part of the Circum-Superior Belt, a band of basaltic volcanics and sedimentary rocks that overlies the Archean Superior craton.From U–Pb zircon ages, Pb–Pb ages, and Sm–Nd ages, Nd initial isotopic compositions were calculated for all analyzed samples. In the Saskatchewan terrains, we obtained a large range of εNd values, from +5 to −8. The highest values (+4 to +5) come from two volcanic-dominated belts (Flin Flon and Western la Ronge), lower values (~+2) characterize intervening sediment-dominated domains (Eastern La Ronge, Glennie Lake, and Kisseynew), and still lower values (−1 to −4) were found in migmatitic and granitoid belts adjacent to the reworked Archean craton in the northwest. Each lithotectonic belt has its own characteristic, restricted range of εNd values, and, with few exceptions, there is no correlation between εNd and rock type; i.e., in individual belts, volcanics, granites, and sediments have very similar εNd values.In the Circum-Superior Belt, three lava flows from the Ottawa Islands have εNd values ranging from +4.5 to 0, and samples from the Belcher Islands have values ranging from +3.5 to −9.These results are explained by mixing between mantle-derived rocks and variable amounts of Archean continental crustal rocks. Assuming that 1.9 Ga ago the mantle had an εNd value of +5 and Archean crust had an εNd value of −12, we calculate proportions of Archean crustal material in Trans-Hudson rocks ranging from ~2 to 35 %, increasing systematically toward the Archean platform. The mean Archean component is about 8%: this area of Proterozoic continental crust is clearly dominated by material derived directly from the mantle.The similarity between the εNd values of sediments, granites, and volcanics in the Trans-Hudson Orogen suggests that sedimentary processes played a dominant role in transporting Archean detritus from eroding Archean continental areas into basins, where it mixed with mantle-derived volcanic material and melted to form granitoids.

scholarly journals Up the down escalator: the exhumation of (ultra)-high pressure terranes during on-going subduction

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 745-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Warren
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Crustal Material ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Ultra High Pressure ◽  
Tectonic Environment ◽  
Tectonic Style ◽  
Weak Material

Abstract. The exhumation of high and ultra-high pressure rocks is ubiquitous in Phanerozoic orogens created during continental collisions, and is common in many ocean-ocean and ocean-continent subduction zone environments. Three different tectonic environments have previously been reported, which exhume deeply buried material by different mechanisms and at different rates. However it is becoming increasingly clear that no single mechanism dominates in any particular tectonic environment, and the mechanism may change in time and space within the same subduction zone. In order for buoyant continental crust to subduct, it must remain attached to a stronger and denser substrate, but in order to exhume, it must detach (and therefore at least locally weaken) and be initially buoyant. Denser oceanic crust subducts more readily than more buoyant continental crust but exhumation must be assisted by entrainment within more buoyant and weak material such as serpentinite or driven by the exhumation of structurally lower continental crustal material. Weakening mechanisms responsible for the detachment of crust at depth include strain, hydration, melting, grain size reduction and the development of foliation. These may act locally or may act on the bulk of the subducted material. Metamorphic reactions, metastability and the composition of the subducted crust all affect buoyancy and overall strength. Subduction zones change in style both in time and space, and exhumation mechanisms change to reflect the tectonic style and overall force regime within the subduction zone. Exhumation events may be transient and occur only once in a particular subduction zone or orogen, or may be more continuous or occur multiple times.

Origin of syn-collisional granitoids in the Gangdese orogen: Reworking of the juvenile arc crust and the ancient continental crust

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Wei Tang ◽  
Long Chen ◽  
Zi-Fu Zhao ◽  
Yong-Fei Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Partial Melting ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Continental Collision ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Igneous Rocks ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Southern Tibet ◽  
Crustal Rocks ◽  
Mafic Magmas ◽  
T Values

Granitoids at convergent plate boundaries can be produced either by partial melting of crustal rocks (either continental or oceanic) or by fractional crystallization of mantle-derived mafic magmas. Whereas granitoid formation through partial melting of the continental crust results in reworking of the pre-existing continental crust, granitoid formation through either partial melting of the oceanic crust or fractional crystallization of the mafic magmas leads to growth of the continental crust. This category is primarily based on the radiogenic Nd isotope compositions of crustal rocks; positive εNd(t) values indicate juvenile crust whereas negative εNd(t) values indicate ancient crust. Positive εNd(t) values are common for syn-collisional granitoids in southern Tibet, which leads to the hypothesis that continental collision zones are important sites for the net growth of continental crust. This hypothesis is examined through an integrated study of in situ zircon U-Pb ages and Hf isotopes, whole-rock major trace elements, and Sr-Nd-Hf isotopes as well as mineral O isotopes for felsic igneous rocks of Eocene ages from the Gangdese orogen in southern Tibet. The results show that these rocks can be divided into two groups according to their emplacement ages and geochemical features. The first group is less granitic with lower SiO2 contents of 59.82−64.41 wt%, and it was emplaced at 50−48 Ma in the early Eocene. The second group is more granitic with higher SiO2 contents of 63.93−68.81 wt%, and it was emplaced at 42 Ma in the late Eocene. The early Eocene granitoids exhibit relatively depleted whole-rock Sr-Nd-Hf isotope compositions with low (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios of 0.7044−0.7048, positive εNd(t) values of 0.6−3.9, εHf(t) values of 6.5−10.5, zircon εHf(t) values of 1.6−12.1, and zircon δ18O values of 5.28−6.26‰. These isotopic characteristics are quite similar to those of Late Cretaceous mafic arc igneous rocks in the Gangdese orogen, which indicates their derivation from partial melting of the juvenile mafic arc crust. In comparison, the late Eocene granitoids have relatively lower MgO, Fe2O3, Al2O3, and heavy rare earth element (HREE) contents but higher K2O, Rb, Sr, Th, U, Pb contents, Sr/Y, and (La/Yb)N ratios. They also exhibit more enriched whole-rock Sr-Nd-Hf isotope compositions with high (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios of 0.7070−0.7085, negative εNd(t) values of −5.2 to −3.9 and neutral εHf(t) values of 0.9−2.3, and relatively lower zircon εHf(t) values of −2.8−8.0 and slightly higher zircon δ18O values of 6.25−6.68‰. An integrated interpretation of these geochemical features is that both the juvenile arc crust and the ancient continental crust partially melted to produce the late Eocene granitoids. In this regard, the compositional evolution of syn-collisional granitoids from the early to late Eocene indicates a temporal change of their magma sources from the complete juvenile arc crust to a mixture of the juvenile and ancient crust. In either case, the syn-collisional granitoids in the Gangdese orogen are the reworking products of the pre-existing continental crust. Therefore, they do not contribute to crustal growth in the continental collision zone.

Numerical Insights into the Formation and Stability of Cratons

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charitra Jain ◽  
Antoine Rozel ◽  
Emily Chin ◽  
Jeroen van Hunen
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Seismic Velocity ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Crustal Material ◽  
Spinel Lherzolite ◽  
Seismic Velocities ◽  
Geophysical Research ◽  
Thermal Buoyancy ◽  
Depleted Mantle ◽  
Cratonic Mantle

<div>Geophysical, geochemical, and geological investigations have attributed the stable behaviour of Earth's continents to the presence of strong and viscous cratons underlying the continental crust. The cratons are underlain by thick and cold mantle keels, which are composed of melt-depleted and low density peridotite residues [1]. Progressive melt extraction increases the magnesium number Mg# in the residual peridotite, thereby making the roots of cratons chemically buoyant [2, 3] and counteracting their negative thermal buoyancy. Recent global models have shown the production of Archean continental crust by two-step mantle differentiation, however this primordial crust gets recycled and no stable continents form [4]. This points to the missing ingredient of cratonic lithosphere in these models, which could act as a stable basement for the crustal material to accumulate on and may also help with the transition of global regime from "vertical tectonics'' to "horizontal tectonics''. Based on the bulk FeO and MgO content of the residual peridotites, it has been proposed that cratonic mantle formed by hot shallow melting with mantle potential temperature, which was higher by 200-300 °C than present-day [5]. We introduce Fe-Mg partitioning between mantle peridotite and melt to track the Mg# variation through melting, and parametrise craton formation using the corresponding P-T formation conditions. Using self-consistent global convection models, we show the dynamic formation of cratons as a result of naturally occurring lateral compression and thickening of the lithosphere, which has been suggested by geochemical and petrological data. To allow for the material to compact and thicken, but prevent it from collapsing under its own weight, a combination of lithospheric strength, plastic yielding, dehydration strengthening, and depletion-induced density reduction of the depleted mantle material is necessary.</div><div> </div><div> [1] Boyd, F. R. High-and low-temperature garnet peridotite xenoliths and their possible relation to the lithosphere- asthenosphere boundary beneath Africa. In Nixon, P. H. (ed.) <em>Mantle Xenolith</em>, 403–412 (John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 1987).</div><div>[2] Jordan, T. H. Mineralogies, densities and seismic velocities of garnet lherzolites and their geophysical implications. In <em>The Mantle Sample: Inclusion in Kimberlites and Other Volcanics</em>, 1–14 (American Geophysical Union, Washington, D. C., 1979).</div><div>[3] Schutt, D. L. & Lesher, C. E. Effects of melt depletion on the density and seismic velocity of garnet and spinel lherzolite. <em>Journal of Geophysical Research </em><strong>111</strong> (2006).</div><div>[4] Jain, C., Rozel, A. B., Tackley, P. J., Sanan, P. & Gerya, T. V. Growing primordial continental crust self-consistently in global mantle convection models. <em>Gondwana Research</em> <strong>73</strong>, 96–122 (2019).</div><div>[5] Lee, C.-T. A. & Chin, E. J. Calculating melting temperatures and pressures of peridotite protoliths: Implications for the origin of cratonic mantle. <em>Earth and Planetary Science Letters</em> <strong>403</strong>, 273–286 (2014)</div>

Geochemical and isotopic (Nd, O, and Pb) constraints on granite sources in the Humber and Dunnage zones, Gaspésie, Quebec, and New Brunswick: implications for tectonics and crustal structure

1994 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph B. Whalen ◽  
George A. Jenner ◽  
Ernst Hegner ◽  
Clément Gariépy ◽  
Frederick J. Longstaffe
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Incompatible Element ◽  
Crustal Material ◽  
Early Paleozoic ◽  
Isotopic Data ◽  
Geologic History ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Crustal Rocks ◽  
Isotopic Compositions ◽  
Reflection Data

Siluro–Devonian granitoids span a wide compositional range (~50–76% SiO2) and can be subdivided into two groups: (i) monzonitic or incompatible element enriched with affinities to within-plate magmatism (WPG); and (ii) calc-alkalic or incompatible element depleted with supra-subduction zone affinities (VAG). Granitoid εNd(T = 0.4 Ga) values range from −1 to +5.5; most lie between +3 and +5.5. 207Pb/204Pb isotopic compositions range from 15.52 to 15.61; most fall between ~15.55 and 15.59. Most δ18O values lie between +5.5 and +8‰. No well-established trends exist between SiO2 and isotopic composition, and isotopic compositions do not differ between the two trace element defined granitoid groups.Though Pb isotopic data are consistent with a major contribution to the granitoids from Proterozoic-aged Laurentian plate rocks (i.e., Grenville basement), Nd and O isotopic data are not. These isotopic data are consistent with major source components derived from early Paleozoic depleted or supra-subduction zone affected mantle and (or) crustal rocks derived from the early Paleozoic mantle(s). These protoliths would not have seen significant interaction with time-integrated old crustal material or surficial processes. Granitoid Pb isotopic data can be reconciled with an early Paleozoic mantle–crust origin, but it may also be that the Pb isotopes are decoupled from other isotopic systems. In either case, Nd and O isotopic data clearly prohibit the involvement of significant amounts of Grenville crust and suggest that seismic-reflection data do not define crustal blocks, or at least not blocks having a tectonic and geologic history easily related to the surface geology.

Changing exhumation potential of (U)HP eclogite through geological time

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Palin
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Ultrahigh Pressure ◽  
Compositional Variation ◽  
Uhp Metamorphism ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Geological Record ◽  
Mafic Intrusions ◽  
Archean Crust

<p>Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphism is defined by achieving P–T conditions sufficient to transform quartz to coesite (~26–28 kbar at ~500–900 °C), which occurs at ~90-100 km depth within the Earth under lithostatic conditions. Thus, the occurrence of UHP metamorphism is often taken as being a diagnostic indicator of subduction having operated in the geological record, and hence plate tectonics. Yet, the oldest such coesite-bearing rocks belong to the Pan-African belt in northern Mali, and formed at 620 Ma, although there exist multiple lines of evidence to show that a global network of subduction had been operative on Earth for billions of years beforehand. Why, then, are these key geodynamic indicators missing from the majority of the rock record? Here, I show how secular cooling of the Earth's mantle since the Mesoarchean (c. 3.2 Ga) has affected the exhumation potential of UHP (and HP) eclogite through time due to time-dependent compositional variation of both oceanic and continental crust. Petrological modeling of density changes during metamorphism of Archean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic composite continental terranes shows that more mafic Archean crust reaches a point-of-no-return during transport into the mantle at shallower depths than less MgO-rich modern-day crust, regardless of whether this occurs via subduction of stagnant lid-like vertical 'drip' tectonics. Thus, while Alpine- and Himalayan-type (U)HP orogenic eclogites represented by metamorphosed mafic intrusions into continental crust may readily have formed during the Precambrian, they would have lacked the buoyancy required for exhumation and preservation in the geological record.</p>

Geochemical evidence for the origins of igneous and sedimentary rocks of the Highland Border, Scotland

1984 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. F. Robertson ◽  
W. G. Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Trace Element ◽  
Gulf Of California ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Significant Component ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Volcanic Material ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tropical Weathering ◽  
Unconformity Surface

ABSTRACTNarrow, intermittent, fault-bounded outcrops forming the largely Ordovician Highland Border Complex comprise terrigenous-derived turbidities, a dismembered ophiolite, and ophiolite-derived sediments.New major- and trace-element analyses of the mafic igneous rocks confirm that two main groups exist. One, represented in outcrops the length of the Highland Boundary fault-zone, has a mostly MORB-like chemistry with some trace-element compositions conventionally pointing to genesis above a subduction zone. The other group, found more locally, has an alkalic ‘within-plate’ character. Amphibolites interpreted as ophiolitic ‘sole’ rocks are chemically similar to the MORB-type mafic extrusive rocks. X-ray diffraction of the sedimentary rocks reveals kaolinite to be widespread and this is attributed to tropical weathering of the Highland Border Complex beneath a (?mid-Devonian) unconformity surface. New major- and trace-element analyses show that the turbidities of the Highland Border Complex were derived from a terrigenous terrane similar to that which supplied the Dalradian Supergroup. Inter-lava sediments reflect varied terrigenous (distal turbidites), hydrothermal (iron oxide sediments), mafic extrusive (volcaniclastic silt) and biogenic (jaspers) provenances. The ophiolite-derived Highland Border Complex sediments also have a terrigenous component. Unlike, for example, the early Ordovician rocks of the South Mayo trough (Ireland), coeval differentiated volcanic material is not a significant component of the Complex.No one existing model adequately explains all the available data. We favour an origin of the Complex in the Ordovician as a small Gulf of California-type marginal basin which was later tectonically emplaced in stages involving a long history of alternating extension, strike-slip and compression.

A Rb–Sr isotopic study of the Archean rocks of the eastern Lac Seul region, English River subprovince, northwestern Ontario

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 569-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph L. Wooden ◽  
Alan M. Goodwin
Keyword(s):  
Source Region ◽  
Granitic Rocks ◽  
Isotopic Study ◽  
Zircon Age ◽  
Crustal Rocks ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Plutonic Complex ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lower Crustal ◽  
Good Agreement

Rb–Sr whole-rock data for the gneissic and granitic rocks of the eastern Lac Seul region, when combined with the U–Pb zircon dating of Krogh, document a history of multiple intrusion for the area. The oldest rocks are the Sen Bay plutonic complex gneisses which have complex Rb–Sr systematics. Interpretation of the Rb–Sr data yields model ages of 3000–3100 Ma which are in good agreement with a zircon age of 3040 Ma. The next oldest rocks are trondhjemitic–granodioritic gneisses with a Rb–Sr age of 2780 ± 90 Ma. The initial Sr ratio (I) of 0.7009 ± 4 for these rocks suggests that this age approximates the time of intrusion and that the magma was derived from lower crustal rocks with a very short residence lime in the crust. Following a period of deformation and metamorphism, granodioritic to granitic dikes, sills, and small plutons were intruded between 2660 and 2560 Ma ago. I values for these racks range from 0.7019–0.7027. If the I values of these rocks represent the source region for the granitic magmas, then one explanation for the I values would be that the magmas were derived from a source region of mixed lithology and age. The Sen Bay plutonic complex is considered to represent an earlier cycle of crustal formation which is distinct from a later 2800–2550 Ma old cycle which dominates much of the Superior Province.

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