Ilmenite as a Source for Zirconium during High-grade Metamorphism? Textural Evidence from the Caledonides of Western Norway and Implications for Zircon Geochronology

The Proterozoic Lindås Nappe, part of the Caledonidesof western Norway, was affected by penetrative Sveconorwegiangranulite-facies metamorphism, followed by a fluid-driven eclogite-and amphibolite-facies Caledonian overprint, spatially restrictedalong fractures and shear zones. In mafic granulites and amphibolites,a luminescent anhedral zircon overgrowth, which gives an averageage of 924 ± 58 Ma (Th/U = 0·52; secondary ionmass spectrometry data), surrounds a magmatic zoned core withan age of 952 ± 32 Ma (Th/U = 1·27). In the granulites,a continuous rim of zircon or a discontinuous corona of     

Footwall dip of a core complex detachment fault: thermobarometric constraints from the northern Snake Range (Basin and Range,USA)

Low‐angle detachment faults are common features in areas of large‐scale continental extension and are typically associated with metamorphic core complexes, where they separate upper plate brittle extension from lower plate ductile stretching and metamorphism. In many core complexes, the footwall rocks have been exhumed from middle to lower crustal depths, leading to considerable debate about the relationship between hangingwall and footwall rocks, and the role that detachment faults play in footwall exhumation. Here, garnet–biotite thermometry and garnet–muscovite–biotite–plagioclase barometry results are presented, together with garnet and zircon geochronology data, from seven locations within metapelitic rocks in the footwall of the northern Snake Range décollement (NSRD). These locations lie both parallel and normal to the direction of footwall transport to constrain the pre‐exhumation geometry of the footwall. To determine P–T gradients precisely within the footwall, the ΔPT method of Worley & Powell (2000) has been employed, which minimizes the contribution of systematic uncertainties to thermobarometric calculations. The results show that footwall rocks reached pressures of 6–8 kbar and temperatures of 500–650 °C, equivalent to burial depths of 23–30 km. Burial depth remains constant in the WNW–ESE direction of footwall transport, but increases from south to north. The lack of a burial gradient in the direction of footwall transport implies that the footwall rocks, which today define a sub‐horizontal datum in the direction of fault transport, also defined a sub‐horizontal datum at depth in Late Cretaceous time. This suggests that the footwall was not tilted about the normal to the fault transport direction during exhumation, and hence that the NSRD did not form as a low‐angle normal fault cutting down through the lower crust. Instead, the following evolution for the northern Snake Range footwall is proposed. (i) Mesozoic contraction caused substantial crustal thickening by duplication and folding of the miogeoclinal sequence, accompanied by upper greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphism. (ii) About half of the total exhumation was accomplished by roughly coaxial stretching and thinning in Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary time, accompanied by retrogression and mylonitic deformation. (iii) The footwall rocks were then ‘captured’ from the middle crust along a moderately dipping NSRD that soled into the middle crust with a rolling‐hinge geometry at both upper and lower terminations.     

Timing of high-pressure metamorphism and exhumation of the eclogite type-locality (Kupplerbrunn–Prickler Halt, Saualpe, south-eastern Austria): constraints from correlations of the Sm–Nd, Lu–Hf, U–Pb and Rb–Sr isotopic systems

Sm–Nd, Lu–Hf, Rb–Sr and SIMS U–Pb data are presented for meta‐gabbroic eclogites from the eclogite type‐locality ( Haüy, 1822 ) Kupplerbrunn–Prickler Halt and other areas of the Saualpe (SE Austria) and Pohorje Mountains (Slovenia). Mg‐rich eclogites derived from early gabbroic cumulates are kyanite‐ and zoisite rich, whereas eclogites with lower Mg contents contain clinozoisite ± kyanite. Calculated P–T conditions at the final stages of high‐pressure metamorphism are 2.2 ± 0.2 GPa at 630–740 °C. Kyanite‐rich eclogites did not yield geologically meaningful Sm–Nd ages due to incomplete Nd isotope equilibration, whereas Sm–Nd multifraction garnet–omphacite regression for a low‐Mg eclogite from Kupplerbrunn yields an age of 91.1 ± 1.3 Ma. The Sm–Nd age of 94.1 ± 0.8 Ma obtained from the Fe‐rich core fraction of this garnet dates the initial stages of garnet growth. Zircon that also crystallized at eclogite facies conditions gives a weighted mean U–Pb SIMS age of 88.4 ± 8.1 Ma. Lu–Hf isotope analysis of a kyanite–eclogite from Kupplerbrunn yields 88.4 ± 4.7 Ma for the garnet–omphacite pair. Two low‐Mg eclogites from the Gertrusk locality of the Saualpe yield a multimineral Sm–Nd age of 90.6 ± 1.0 Ma. A low‐Mg eclogite from the Pohorje Mountains (70 km to the SE) gives a garnet–whole‐rock Lu–Hf age of 93.3 ± 2.8 Ma. These new age data and published Sm–Nd ages of metasedimentary host rocks constrain the final stages of the eo‐Alpine high‐pressure event in the Saualpe–Pohorje part of the south‐easternmost Austroalpine nappe system suggesting that garnet growth in the high‐pressure assemblages started at c. 95–94 Ma and ceased at c. 90–88 Ma, probably at the final pressure peak. Zircon and amphibole crystallization was still possible during incipient isothermal decompression. Rapid exhumation of the high‐pressure rocks was induced by collision of the northern Apulian plate with parts of the Austroalpine microplate, following Jurassic closure of the Permo‐Triassic Meliata back‐arc basin.     

Assigning Dates to Thin Gneissic Veins in High-Grade Metamorphic Terranes: A Cautionary Tale from Akilia, Southwest Greenland

A granodiorite from Akilia, southwest Greenland, previouslysuggested to date putative life-bearing rocks to 3·84Ga, is re-investigated using whole-rock major and trace-elementgeochemistry, and detailed cathodoluminescence image-guidedsecondary ion mass spectrometer analyses of zircon U–Th–Pband rare earth elements. Complex zircon internal structure revealsthree episodes of zircon growth and/or recrystallization datedto c. 3·84 Ga, 3·62 Ga and 2·71 Ga. Rareearth element abundances imply a significant role for garnetin zircon generation at 3·62 Ga and 2·71 Ga. The3·62 Ga event is interpreted as partial melting of ac. 3·84 Ga grey gneiss precursor at granulite facieswith residual garnet. Migration of this 3·62 Ga magma(or melt–crystal mush) away from the melt source placesa maximum age limit on any intrusive relationship. These earlyArchaean relationships have been complicated further by isotopicreworking in the 2·71 Ga event, which could have includeda further episode of partial melting. This study highlightsa general problem associated with dating thin gneissic veinsin polyphase metamorphic terranes, where field relationshipsmay be ambiguous and zircon inheritance can be expected. KEY WORDS: Archaean; geochronology; Greenland; secondary ion mass spectrometry; zircon