U–Pb age constraints for deposition of clastic metasedimentary rocks and late-tectonic plutonism, Michipicoten Belt, Superior Province
The study investigates the ages of clastic metasedimentary rocks and of late-tectonic alkalic to calc-alkalic intrusions and puts constraints on the timing of major deformation in the Michipicoten greenstone belt of the Wawa Subprovince. A trondhjemitic boulder in the Doré conglomerate of the southern metasedimentary belt is dated at 2698 ± 2 Ma. This is a maximum age of sedimentation that is also supported by ages of detrital zircons in the matrix and may directly reflect the time of synvolcanic deposition. Detrital zircons in metapsammites of the central and northern sedimentary belts yield younger ages of 2682 ± 3 and 2680 ± 3 Ma, respectively, suggesting that sedimentation occurred significantly later in the northern than in the southern parts of the greenstone belt. The ≤2682 Ma sedimentary rocks were affected by multiphase deformation that is related to the development of a large-scale recumbent fold and superimposed folds and faults. This tectonism was followed by the emplacement of the granodioritic Troupe Lake and Maskinonge Lake stocks that yield identical zircon and titanite ages of 2671 ± 2 Ma. The structurally older and deformed Herman Lake nepheline syenite has an imprecise titanite age of [Formula: see text]. The isotopic composition of Pb in feldspar of these intrusions is relatively evolved and, in light of geochemical considerations, may reflect provenance of the melts from enriched mantle reservoirs.