Chapter 14 Regional context and lithotectonic framework of the 1.1–0.9 Ga Sveconorwegian orogen, southwestern Sweden

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Stephens ◽  
Ulf Bergström ◽  
Carl-Henric Wahlgren

AbstractThe 1.1–0.9 Ga Sveconorwegian orogen in southwestern Scandinavia belongs to the global system of mountain belts established during the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia. An overall north–south structural trend and five lithotectonic units bounded by crustal-scale shear zones characterize this orogen. In Sweden, the Eastern Segment abuts the orogen's cratonic foreland eastwards and is separated from the Idefjorden terrane westwards by a ductile shear zone, up to 5 km thick, displaying a sinistral transpressive component. These two lithotectonic units differ on the basis of their pre-Sveconorwegian accretionary tectonic evolution, and the timing of Sveconorwegian high-pressure metamorphism, anatexis and polyphase deformation. High-pressure granulites and migmatites formed at c. 1.05–1.02 Ga in the Idefjorden terrane; eclogites, high-pressure granulites and migmatites at c. 0.99–0.95 Ga in the Eastern Segment. Magmatic activity and crustal extension progressed westwards at c. 0.98–0.92 Ga. Prior to or at 0.93–0.91 Ga, greenschist facies shear deformation with top-to-the-foreland movement affected the frontal part of the orogen. Geodynamic uncertainties concern the affinity of the Idefjorden terrane relative to Fennoscandia (Baltica), the character of the Sveconorwegian orogenesis, and the contiguous or non-contiguous nature of the erosional fronts of the late Mesoproterozoic–early Neoproterozoic orogens in Sweden and Canada.

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Barnes ◽  
Katarzyna Walczak ◽  
Emilie Janots ◽  
David Schneider ◽  
Jarosław Majka

The Vestgӧtabreen Complex exposed in the Southwestern Caledonian Basement Province of Svalbard comprises two Caledonian high-pressure units. In situ white mica 40Ar/39Ar and monazite Th-U-total Pb geochronology has resolved the timing of the tectonic evolution of the complex. Cooling of the Upper Unit during exhumation occurred at 476 ± 2 Ma, shortly after eclogite-facies metamorphism. The two units were juxtaposed at 454 ± 6 Ma. This was followed by subaerial exposure and deposition of Bullbreen Group sediments. A 430–400 Ma late Caledonian phase of thrusting associated with major sinistral shearing throughout Svalbard deformed both the complex and the overlying sediments. This phase of thrusting is prominently recorded in the Lower Unit, and is associated with a pervasive greenschist-facies metamorphic overprint of high-pressure lithologies. A c. 365–344 Ma geochronological record may represent an Ellesmerian tectonothermal overprint. Altogether, the geochronological evolution of the Vestgӧtabreen Complex, with previous petrological and structural studies, suggests that it may be a correlative to the high-pressure Tsäkkok Lens in the Scandinavian Caledonides. It is suggested that the Vestgӧtabreen Complex escaped to the periphery of the orogen along the sinistral strike-slip shear zones prior to, or during the initial stages of continental collision between Baltica and Laurentia.


2000 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. KRABBENDAM ◽  
A. WAIN ◽  
T. B. ANDERSEN

The Western Gneiss Region of Norway is a continental terrane that experienced Caledonian high-pressure and ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism. Most rocks in this terrane show either peak-Caledonian eclogite-facies assemblages or are highly strained and equilibrated under late-Caledonian amphibolite-facies conditions. However, three kilometre-size rock bodies (Flatraket, Ulvesund and Kråkenes) in Outer Nordfjord preserve Pre-Caledonian igneous and granulite-facies assemblages and structures. Where these assemblages are preserved, the rocks are consistently unaffected by Caledonian deformation. The three bodies experienced high-pressure conditions (20–23 kbar) but show only very localized (about 5%) eclogitization in felsic and mafic rocks, commonly related to shear zones. The preservation of Pre-Caledonian felsic and mafic igneous and granulite-facies assemblages in these bodies, therefore, indicates widespread (∼ 95%) metastability at pressures higher than other metastable domains in Norway. Late-Caledonian amphibolite-facies retrogression was limited. The degree of reaction is related to the protolith composition and the interaction of fluid and deformation during the orogenic cycle, whereby metastability is associated with a lack of deformation and lack of fluids, either as a catalyst or as a component in hydration reactions. The three bodies appear to have been far less reactive than the external gneisses in this region, even though they followed a similar pressure–temperature evolution. The extent of metastable behaviour has implications for the protolith of the Western Gneiss Region, for the density evolution of high-pressure terranes and hence for the geodynamic evolution of mountain belts.


Author(s):  
Adam A. Garde ◽  
Agnete Steenfelt

NOTE: This article was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this article, for example: Garde, A. A., & Steenfelt, A. (1999). Proterozoic tectonic overprinting of Archaean gneisses in Nuussuaq, West Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin, 181, 141-154. https://doi.org/10.34194/ggub.v181.5122 _______________ Archaean orthogneisses and supracrustal rocks in eastern Nuussuaq in the southern part of the Rinkian orogen preserve much indirect evidence of Proterozoic reworking. In northern Nuussuaq, a marble occurrence which can be correlated with the Proterozoic Mârmorilik Formation of the Uummannaq district, is interleaved and intensely folded with Archaean orthogneisses. Dykes and sills of presumed Proterozoic age in southern Nuussuaq pre-date two major shear zones. Furthermore, published K-Ar and 40Ar-39Ar hornblende ages indicate that metamorphic temperatures of at least c. 550°C were reached in large parts of Nuussuaq during the Proterozoic. Although available data are not sufficient to firmly establish the tectonic evolution of Nuussuaq, it can be shown that development of a regional flat-lying structure was succeeded first by upright folding and development of a major NW–SE-trending shear zone during crustal shortening, and subsequently by formation of an ENE–WSW-trending shear zone during crustal extension. A Rinkian detachment zone across Nuussuaq, similar to those known in the Uummannaq district, may link Proterozoic marble occurrences south of the peninsula with the marbles known in northern Nuussuaq and in the Uummannaq district. Observations suggest that geological structures and lithologies can be traced from north to south across the fjord Torsukattak, into the Ataa area which is hardly affected by Proterozoic deformation. This is used to infer that a major crustal boundary structure along the fjord (previously assumed to form the northern boundary of the Burwell terrane in West Greenland) does not exist.


2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 397-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulf Bergström ◽  
Michael B. Stephens ◽  
Carl-Henric Wahlgren

AbstractCrust generated during an accretionary orogeny at 1.66–1.52 Ga (Gothian), and later during crustal extension at c. 1.51–1.49, c. 1.46, c. 1.34–1.30 Ga and after c. 1.33 Ga, dominate the Idefjorden terrane. Metamorphism under greenschist to, locally, high-pressure granulite facies, emplacement of syn-orogenic pegmatite and granite, and polyphase deformation followed at 1.05–1.02 Ga (Agder tectonothermal phase, Sveconorwegian orogeny). Sinistral transpressive deformation, including foreland-directed thrusting, preceded top-to-the-west movement and large-scale open folding along north–south axial trends during the younger orogeny. Crustal extension with emplacement of dolerite and lamprophyre dykes, norite–anorthosite, and a batholithic granite took place at c. 0.95–0.92 Ga (Dalane phase, Sveconorwegian orogeny). Ductile shear zones divide the Idefjorden terrane into segments distinguished by the character of the Gothian crustal component. Orthogneisses with c. 1.66 and c. 1.63–1.59 Ga protoliths occur in the Median segment; c. 1.59–1.52 Ga gneissic intrusive rocks and 1.6 Ga paragneisses with relicts of Gothian deformation and migmatization at c. 1.59 Ga and at c. 1.56–1.55 Ga occur in the Western segment. Mineral resources include stratabound Cu–Fe sulphides hosted by sandstone deposited after c. 1.33 Ga, and polymetallic quartz vein mineralization locally containing Au.


2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 351-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Stephens ◽  
Carl-Henric Wahlgren

AbstractThe Eastern Segment in the Sveconorwegian orogen comprises Paleoproterozoic–Mesoproterozoic magmatic suites, which formed along an active continental margin, and Mesoproterozoic suites emplaced during intracratonic extension. Zn–Pb sulphide and Fe oxide mineralizations in 1.9 Ga metavolcanic rocks form a significant mineral resource cluster in the northeastern part. Deformation and metamorphism under low-pressure (≤5 kbar) and variable-temperature conditions, including anatexis and granulite facies, prevailed during 1.9–1.8 Ga (Svecokarelian) and 1.5–1.4 Ga (Hallandian) accretionary orogenies. Sveconorwegian tectonothermal reworking initiated at c. 0.99–0.98 Ga in structurally lower levels. Crustal shortening, underthrusting with eclogite facies metamorphism (18 kbar), exhumation by eastwards thrusting (D1) during continued shortening and high-pressure granulite (8–12 kbar) to upper amphibolite facies metamorphism prevailed. Anatexis and folding around east–west axial surfaces with west-northwesterly constrictional strain (D2) followed at c. 0.98–0.95 Ga, being consanguineous with crustal extension. Structurally higher levels, northwards and eastwards, consist of high-pressure (10–12 kbar) orthogneisses, not affected by anatexis but also showing polyphase deformation. Sveconorwegian convergence ceased with upright folding along north–south axial surfaces and, in the uppermost frontal part, greenschist facies shearing with top-to-the-foreland normal followed by reverse displacement after 0.95 Ga. The normal shearing detached the upper compartment from the underlying gneisses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Maierová ◽  
Karel Schulmann ◽  
Pavla Štípská ◽  
Taras Gerya ◽  
Ondrej Lexa

AbstractThe classical concept of collisional orogens suggests that mountain belts form as a crustal wedge between the downgoing and overriding plates. However, this orogenic style is not compatible with the presence of (ultra-)high pressure crustal and mantle rocks far from the plate interface in the Bohemian Massif of Central Europe. Here we use a comparison between geological observations and thermo-mechanical numerical models to explain their formation. We suggest that continental crust was first deeply subducted, then flowed laterally underneath the lithosphere and eventually rose in the form of large partially molten trans-lithospheric diapirs. We further show that trans-lithospheric diapirism produces a specific rock association of (ultra-)high pressure crustal and mantle rocks and ultra-potassic magmas that alternates with the less metamorphosed rocks of the upper plate. Similar rock associations have been described in other convergent zones, both modern and ancient. We speculate that trans-lithospheric diapirism could be a common process.


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