New data on the composition and age of granitoids in the northern part of the Tagil structure (Ural Mountains)

The Tagil structure representing a large fragment of the Paleozoic island arc on the eastern slope of the Urals has been sufficiently well studied in its southern part (Middle Urals). In contrast, reliable data on the age and geochemical properties of various, including granitoid, rock complexes available for its northern part are scarce. The first data on the U–Pb LA–ICP–MS age of zircons from quartz diorites of the Man’ya massif of the Petropavlovsk Complex (436 ± 3 Ma, MSWD = 1.3), tonalites of the same complex (439.4 ± 1.3 Ma, MSWD = 1.3), granites of the Yuzhno-Pomur massif of the Severorudnichnyi Complex (422.4 ± 3 Ma, MSWD = 1.5), and titanite of the same massif (423.4 ± 4.4 Ma, MSWD = 0.84) have been obtained. Based on these data combined with the geochemical properties of the host rocks, the conclusion that they were crystallized at the initial stages of the formation of comagmatic volcanic series is supported; by their composition, granitoids correspond to island arc igneous rocks.     

New data on the composition and age of rocks from the Bathymetrists Seamounts (Eastern margin of the equatorial Atlantic)

The petrology, geochemistry, and isotope ratios of volcanics dredged during the 43rd cruise of R/V Academik Ioffe on the Bathymetrists Seamounts in the eastern equatorial Atlantic have been studied. These are alkaline volcanics of basic and ultramafic compositions. Spider diagrams of the trace elements of volcanic rocks demonstrate strong fractionation, indicating formation of their primary melts from an enriched mantle source at garnet depth facies. Considering the isotope ratio values of ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and the character of their variations, the volcanic mantle source was chemically heterogeneous: for various volcanic rocks it was a mixture of the mantle components HIMU with EM–1 or EM–2. Limestones dredged together with the volcanics yielded microfossils suggesting a Middle Eocene age of their formation in a carbonate platform environment.     

New data on correlation of the Middle Mesozoic oceanic and island arc rocks of Eastern Asia

Using a radiolarian method, correlation of stages and substages of the Middle Mesozoic submarine volcanic-siliceous sequences was carried out for the vast territory of Eastern Asia for the first time. The correlation of fragmented outcrops of genetically various siliceous-terrigenous-volcanic rocks showed a broad lateral distribution of sediments from the Norian to Hauterivian stages inclusive within the studied area. This work, based on a combination of paleontological, structural-tectonic, and lithological-petrological methods in contrast to the terrane approach, has demonstrated the possibility of age and facial characteristics of isolated outcrops of the Middle Mesozoic submarine rocks for the huge territory of Eastern Asia.     

New age data on the magmatic rocks from the western sector of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt

New age data are reported for the magmatic rocks from the western flank of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belt consisting of the Ul’ya and Kuidusun volcanic zones. Four U-Pb SHRIMP zircon dates within 106-90 Ma were obtained for the upper part of the Emanrin Formation and the lower part of the Ul’ya Group of the Ul’ya volcanic zone. Large Verkhneallakh and Atarbai subvolcanic intrusions from the Kuidusun volcanic zone were dated using the Rb-Sr method at 115–107 Ma and 85 Ma, respectively. U-Pb dating of zircon microsamples from adamellites and diorites of the Sizindzha Massif yielded, respectively, ages of 91 and 90 Ma. New geochronological data indicate that the Selitkan-Sungari and Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanogenic belts are coeval and can be united in a common Okhotsk-Sungari system of volcanic belts and zones (megabelt).     

Influence of precambrian basement on the chemical composition of Mesozoic granitoid rocks in northeastern Asia

A hypothesis for effects of stable tectonic elements on chemical composition of Mesozoic granitoids in northeastern Asia is tested. Chemical compositional change of granitoid rocks is examined in nine-dimensional space of rock-forming oxides. Stable geologic structures of the region are outlined by trends of Euclidean distances between rock recognized as a standard in a space of major rock-forming oxides and composition of individual samples. A data-smoothing polynomial of the fourth order corresponds closely to the geology of the region. Chemically stable masses of quartz diorite are thought to be delivered directly from magmatic sources along deep faults. A great variety of acidic granites, which occupy for each analysis separate cells in the nine-dimensional classification, are presumed to be palingenetic in origin.     

Geochemistry of granitoids from the basement of the Kuril island arc system

This paper reports the characteristics of granitoids from the Pacific slope of the Kuril island arc system, which were discovered by the authors during geological and geophysical operations in three cruises of the R/V Akademik M. Lavrent’ev. The major and trace element compositions of these rocks were determined, their role in the formation of the submarine Vityaz Ridge was evaluated, and they were compared with granitoids from the Brouton group of submarine volcanoes and xenoliths from Simushir Island and the Sea of Okhotsk. Granitoids from various structures of the basement of the Kuril island arc system are hypabyssal rocks derived from andesite magmas. Their common features are related to the formation on the continental crust under convergent geodynamic conditions involving compression due to the movement and subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the Asian continent. The problem of the basement of the Kuril island arc system was discussed, the composition and age of its rocks were determined, and the history of the geologic development of the Pacific slope of the arc starting from the Late Mesozoic was briefly described.     

New Rb-Sr age determinations on the Archaean basement of Eastern Sierra Leone

The Archean basement of Sierra Leone is a typical example of granite-greenstone terrains found in ancient continental nucleii. Reconnaissance field mapping showed that the area can be subdivided into old gneiss, which predates the greenstone belts, and young granite which is later than the greenstone belts.New Rb-Sr whole-rock age determinations on two suites of old tonalitic gneiss yield ages of 2786 ± 49 Ma and 2770 ± 137 Ma, which either reflect the time of formation of the original tonalites or their metamorphism. Three new Rb-Sr whole-rock age determination on young granites yield ages of 2786 ± 143 Ma, 2780 ± 79 Ma and 2770 ± 50 Ma, which are interpreted as the time of emplacement. The widespread occurrence of similar young granites, throughout the Archaean of West Africa, suggests that these results date a major event in the evolution of this segment of the crust.A published Pb-Pb age of the old gneiss and the new ages of the young granite bracket the age of the greenstone belts to 3000-2770 Ma. However, if the Rb-Sr ages of the old gneiss reported in this paper reflect the time of their formation, the age of the greenstone belts is tightly bracketed to ca. 2770 Ma. There is no isotopic evidence for rocks substantially older than 3000 Ma in the West African Archaean.     

New U-Pb isotopic data on the age of metamorphic and igneous rocks of the western margin of the Selenga-Stanovoi orogenic belt

New data on the isotopic age of zircons from metamorphic and igneous rocks are given for the Berezitovoe and Kirovskoe deposits located in the eastern margin of the Selenga-Stanovoi orogenic belt. The zircons were studied with the LA-ICP-MS method in the State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwestern University, Sian, Shansi province, People’s Republic of China. The results allowed us to reveal three age epochs in formation of the eastern part of the Selenga-Stanovoi orogenic belt (1.87 Ga; 380–330 Ma; 138–125 Ma), which have significant importance for understanding of the geological structure of the south-eastern framework of the North Asian craton.     

New U-Pb titanite age data on the rocks from the Karelian craton and the Belomorian mobile belt, Fennoscandian Shield

We test the possibility of applying titanite as indicator of the boundaries between the Belomorian mobile belt and the Karelian craton of the Fennoscandian Shield. U-Pb isotope dating established wide variations of titanite ages in the Belomorian mobile belt and the Karelian craton. The titanites from the Karelian craton are mainly Archean in age (2.52–2.86 Ga), whereas the Belomorian mobile belt contains, with few exceptions, Paleoproterozoic titanites (1.74–1.95 Ga). In the Karelian craton, the age of titanite, in general, records the cratonization of the Earth’s crust (2.8 Ga and 2.6–2.7 Ga, respectively). In the Belomorian mobile belt, it presumably reflects the timing of the exhumation of tectonic nappes from the mid-crustal depths during the collisional stage of the evolution of the Lapland-Kola orogen.