The Parry Sound domain: a far-travelled allochthon? New evidence from U–Pb zicon geochronology

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.

2009 ◽  
Vol 146 (6) ◽  
pp. 903-916 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. FLOWERDEW ◽  
D. M. CHEW ◽  
J. S. DALY ◽  
I. L. MILLAR

AbstractThe presence of major crystalline basement provinces at depth in NW Ireland is inferred from in situ Hf isotope analysis of zircons from granitoid rocks that cut structurally overlying metasedimentary rocks. Granitoids in two of these units, the Slishwood Division and the Tyrone Central Inlier, contain complex zircons with core and rim structures. In both cases, cores have average ϵHf values that differ from the average ϵHf values of the rims at 470 Ma (the time of granitoid intrusion). The Hf data and similarity in U–Pb age between the inherited cores and detrital zircons from the host metasedimentary rocks suggests local contamination during intrusion rather than transport of the grains from the source region at depth. Rims from the Slishwood Division intrusions have average ϵHf470 values of −7.7, consistent with a derivation from juvenile Palaeoproterozoic crust, such as the Annagh Gneiss Complex or Rhinns Complex of NW Ireland, implying that the deep crust underlying the Slishwood Division is made of similar material. Rims from the Tyrone Central Inlier have extremely negative ϵHf470 values of approximately −39. This isotopic signature requires an Archaean source, suggesting rocks similar to the Lewisian Complex of Scotland, or sediment derived wholly from it, occurs at depth in NW Ireland.


2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 611-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J Scott ◽  
Richard A Stern ◽  
Marc R St-Onge ◽  
Sarah M McMullen

A geochronological investigation of metasedimentary rocks from southern Baffin Island using the Geological Survey of Canada SHRIMP II (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe) has characterized the ages of detrital zircon populations to determine their provenance, bracket timing of deposition, and distinguish potentially distinct sequences of rocks. Four lithologically and structurally distinct metasedimentary packages have been identified; each appears to have been derived from a different source region. In the structurally lowest package, all analysed zircons are Archean, and > 90% have ages between 2.83 and 2.63 Ga; these rocks are interpreted as the northernmost exposures of the Paleoproterozoic Povungnituk Group of the Cape Smith Belt, northern Quebec, with detritus derived from the Superior craton. Occupying the intermediate structural levels, the most abundant supracrustal rocks on southern Baffin Island are siliciclastic and carbonate units of the Lake Harbour Group, and the Tasiuyak paragneiss. Five samples show a dominantly Paleoproterozoic signature (2.2–1.9 Ga), with only rare Archean zircons; the provenance of this detritus is uncertain. In the distinct package of feldspathic quartzite and pelite that stratigraphically overlies the Lake Harbour Group, all of the analysed detrital grains are Archean, ~80% are > 2.83 Ga, with a small proportion of the grains in excess of 3.0 Ga; all of this material is thought to be derived from the Archean craton exposed on the Hall Peninsula east of the study area. Finally, at the highest structural level, a sample associated with the Hall Peninsula orthogneisses contains zircons with prominent modes at 2.92, 2.82, and 2.77 Ga, consistent with derivation from the surrounding orthogneisses.


2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 515-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvon Lemieux ◽  
Thomas Hadlari ◽  
Antonio Simonetti

U–Pb ages have been determined on detrital zircons from the Upper Devonian Imperial Formation and Upper Devonian – Lower Carboniferous Tuttle Formation of the northern Canadian Cordilleran miogeocline using laser ablation – multicollector – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry. The results provide insights into mid-Paleozoic sediment dispersal in, and paleogeography of, the northern Canadian Cordillera. The Imperial Formation yielded a wide range of detrital zircon dates; one sample yielded dominant peaks at 1130, 1660, and 1860 Ma, with smaller mid-Paleozoic (∼430 Ma), Neoproterozoic, and Archean populations. The easternmost Imperial Formation sample yielded predominantly late Neoproterozoic – Cambrian zircons between 500 and 700 Ma, with lesser Mesoproterozoic and older populations. The age spectra suggest that the samples were largely derived from an extensive region of northwestern Laurentia, including the Canadian Shield, igneous and sedimentary provinces of Canada’s Arctic Islands, and possibly the northern Yukon. The presence of late Neoproterozoic – Cambrian zircon, absent from the Laurentian magmatic record, indicate that a number of grains were likely derived from an exotic source region, possibly including Baltica, Siberia, or Arctic Alaska – Chukotka. In contrast, zircon grains from the Tuttle Formation show a well-defined middle Paleoproterozoic population with dominant relative probability peaks between 1850 and 1950 Ma. Additional populations in the Tuttle Formation are mid-Paleozoic (∼430 Ma), Mesoproterozoic (1000–1600 Ma), and earlier Paleoproterozoic and Archean ages (>2000 Ma). These data lend support to the hypothesis that the influx of sediments of northerly derivation that supplied the northern miogeocline in Late Devonian time underwent an abrupt shift to a source of predominantly Laurentian affinity by the Mississippian.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Hervé ◽  
Mauricio Calderón ◽  
Mark Fanning ◽  
Robert Pankhurst ◽  
Carlos W. Rapela ◽  
...  

Previous work has shown that Devonian magmatism in the southern Andes occurred in two contemporaneous belts: one emplaced in the continental crust of the North Patagonian Massif and the other in an oceanic island arc terrane to the west, Chaitenia, which was later accreted to Patagonia. The country rocks of the plutonic rocks consist of metasedimentary complexes which crop out sporadically in the Andes on both sides of the Argentina-Chile border, and additionally of pillow metabasalts for Chaitenia. Detrital zircon SHRIMP U-Pb age determinations in 13 samples of these rocks indicate maximum possible depositional ages from ca. 370 to 900 Ma, and the case is argued for mostly Devonian sedimentation as for the fossiliferous Buill slates. Ordovician, Cambrian-late Neoproterozoic and “Grenville-age” provenance is seen throughout, except for the most westerly outcrops where Devonian detrital zircons predominate. Besides a difference in the Precambrian zircon grains, 76% versus 25% respectively, there is no systematic variation in provenance from the Patagonian foreland to Chaitenia, so that the island arc terrane must have been proximal to the continent: its deeper crust is not exposed but several outcrops of ultramafic rocks are known. Zircons with devonian metamorphic rims in rocks from the North Patagonian Massif have no counterpart in the low metamorphic grade Chilean rocks. These Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks were also intruded by Pennsylvanian and Jurassic granitoids.


1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Peucat ◽  
D. Tisserant ◽  
R. Caby ◽  
N. Clauer

In the Alpefjord area, Caledonian metamorphism from the chlorite zone to the sillimanite zone is seen to cut across the sedimentary pile of the lower Eleonore Bay Group. Zircons have been collected from quartzite layers enriched in heavy minerals.U–Pb zircon dating in the chlorite and the sillimanite zones does not reveal the Caledonian event but, instead, previous episodes at 1100 and 2500 Ma ago. The Caledonian event can be recognized in anatectic gneisses where detrital zircons are surrounded by overgrowths, K–Ar and Rb–Sr methods yield 1030–410 Ma ages on micas, with a positive correlation between the degree of apparent reselling of mica ages and the grade of the Caledonian metamorphism.The following geological interpretation of the age data is proposed. (1) A major metamorphic event occurred around 1100 Ma ago in the source area for the lower Eleonore Bay Group sediments. During this Grenvillian event, Archaean detrital zircons were affected by an episodic lead loss and a muscovite phase recorded the cooling and uplift of a basement source area. (2) Erosion of this source area occurred after 1100 Ma, followed by sedimentation of the lower Eleonore Bay Group [Formula: see text]. The 2500–1100 Ma U–Pb system remained nearly a closed system during Caledonian metamorphism up to and including sillimanite-zone conditions.This example shows the great resistance or inherited zircons to an important secondary Pb loss during Caledonian metamorphism and consequently shows that the lower-intercept ages of zircons from metasedimentary rocks do not always record the last metamorphic event observed in situ, but retain memories of previous geological events in the sedimentary source areas. By contrast, zircons separated from quartzitic xenoliths in migmatitic gneisses have recorded a disturbance in their U–Pb systems that corresponds to Caledonian partial melting.


1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 899-911 ◽  
Author(s):  
George E. Gehrels ◽  
William C. McClelland ◽  
Scott D. Samson ◽  
P. Jonathan Patchett ◽  
David A. Brew

U–Pb geochronologic studies demonstrate that steeply dipping, sheetlike tonalitic plutons along the western margin of the northern Coast Mountains batholith were emplaced between ~83 and ~57 (perhaps ~55) Ma. Less elongate tonalitic–granodioritic bodies in central portions of the batholith yield ages of 59–58 Ma, coeval with younger phases of the tonalitic sheets. Large granite–granodiorite bodies in central and eastern portions of the batholith were emplaced at 51–48 Ma. Trends in ages suggest that the tonalitic bodies generally become younger southeastward and that, at the latitude of Juneau, plutonism migrated northeastward across the batholith at ~0.9 km/Ma. Variations in the age, shape, location, and degree of fabric development among the various plutons indicate that Late Cretaceous – Paleocene tonalitic bodies were emplaced into a steeply dipping, dip-slip shear zone that was active along the western margin of the batholith. Postkinematic Eocene plutons were emplaced at shallow crustal levels. Inherited zircon components in these plutons range in age from mid-Paleozoic to Early Proterozoic and are coeval with detrital zircons in adjacent metasedimentary rocks. These old zircons, combined with evolved Nd isotopic signatures for most plutons, record assimilation of continental crustal or supracrustal rocks during the generation and (or) ascent of the plutons.


1987 ◽  
Vol 51 (361) ◽  
pp. 345-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. R. Rollinson

AbstractAmphibolite blocks from an Archaean (2.9 Ga) trondhjemite-agmatite complex in the Lewisian at Gruinard Bay have a varied trace element and REE content. Whilst some of the variability is attributable to element mobility during high-grade metamorphism and subsequent trondhjemite magmatism, it is for the main part considered to be a primary feature of the amphibolites. The observed trace element and REE chemistry is best explained in terms of source region heterogeneity and suggests a melting regime comparable with that beneath certain types of mid-ocean ridge. There are geochemical similarities between the amphibolites and the Lewisian layered gabbro-ultramafic complexes, and the two may represent the derivative liquid and associated cumulates respectively from a common parent magma. Thus there is a parallel between the processes which generated some Archaean amphibolites and layered gabbro complexes and those operating beneath modern ocean ridges. Hornblendite and amphibolite pods enclosed within tonalitic gneiss, also found as blocks in the agmatite complex, are geochemically distinct from the main group of amphibolites and are probably of calc-alkaline parentage.


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