Stratigraphic and structural synthesis of the New England Orogen

The Spring Well volcanic complex in the Eastern Goldfields Province of Western Australia, is a relatively fresh and well exposed Archaean felsic volcanic centre that is preserved in a synclinal structure at the top of the local greenstone succession. Subaerial acid pyroclastic deposits and subordinate lava flows, intruded by anastomosing intermediate‐acid dykes and sills, comprise the near‐vent facies. In the distal regions of the centre, subaqueous crystal tuff and other tuff units are intercalated with epiclastic sediments.

Geochemical modelling indicates that the acid rocks are unlikely to have been derived by batch partial melting of probable crustal sources. However, differentiation from intermediate parents is compatible with the available geochemical data. The intermediate rocks, in turn, have critical geochemical characteristics comparable with all other studied intermediate calc‐alkaline rocks in the Yilgarn Block. Since it can be demonstrated that many of these rocks have an ultimate mantle source (through differentiation of LIL element enriched mafic primary magmas) it follows that such an origin is applicable in the Spring Well rocks. Therefore, it is concluded that the Spring Well volcanic complex represents a mantle‐derived, calc‐alkaline differentiation series, in which the more silicic members of the suite predominate. Apart from the diagnostic geochemical characteristics of these acid volcanic rocks, their spatial association with intermediate rocks distinguishes them from anatectic acid volcanic rocks that also occur in the greenstone sequences of the Yilgarn Block.     

Provenance and tectonic setting of neoproterozoic supracrustal rocks from the Ceará Central Domain,Borborema Province (NE Brazil): constraints from geochemistry and detrital zircon ages

Major- and trace-element and U–Pb analyses of detrital zircons were performed on metavolcano sedimentary sequences and igneous rocks from the Ceará Central Domain (CCD) in the Borborema Province of northeastern Brazil. No significant geochemical differences were found between these rocks, which were possibly initially deposited as parts of a very large metavolcano-sedimentary sequence. Weathering in the source area was moderate, and the sediments were deposited as both sands and clays. The sources of the sediments were likely mixtures of felsic and intermediate rocks deposited predominantly in an active-margin setting with minor contributions of both continental arc and passive margin components. Three main source ages were identified: Palaeoproterozoic (~2.2 Ga), for which potential sources include the Palaeoproterozoic Madalena-Algodões Suite; early Neoproterozoic (~850 Ma), related to felsic volcanic magmatism due to continental rifting, initial phases of the Santa Quitéria Magmatic Arc, or magmatic arc systems on the margins of the Palaeoproterozoic crust; and late Neoproterozoic (~650 Ma), associated with extensive granite generation and migmatization events accompanying Santa Quitéria Arc activity. Deposition of the CCD volcanosedimentary rocks occurred shortly before regional, collision-type metamorphism accompanying the amalgamation of the São Francisco-Congo Cratons (~ 620–630 Ma).     

Neoproterozoic crustal evolution in Southern Chad: Pan-African ocean basin closing, arc accretion and late- to post-orogenic granitic intrusion

In the Lake Léré region, southern Chad, Neoproterozoic terrains are distributed in four lithostructural groups that reveal the geotectonic evolution of a part of the Pan-African orogenic domain. The first group includes basaltic volcanic rocks and fine-grained detrital sedimentary rocks of pre-tectonic basins that were emplaced in an extensional regime, close to a volcanic arc. The second and third groups include calc-alkaline gabbroic intrusions emplaced at an upper crustal level and a midcrustal tonalite, respectively, that are interpreted to be the roots of an active margin volcanic arc. These first three groups experienced WNW to ESE compression, and may belong to a fore-arc basic—volcanic arc—back-arc basin system that was accreted eastward to the Palaeoproterozoic Adamaoua-Yadé Block. The fourth group includes post-tectonic granite plutons invading the older groups. This paper documents the accretion processes in the southern margin of the Saharan Metacraton.     

浙北湖(州)-安(吉)火山岩盆地：锆石U-Pb年代学、地球化学与岩浆成因

处于浙-赣火山岩带东北缘的湖(州)-安(吉)盆地内的火山岩/潜火山岩从中性到酸性,中间没有明显的成分间断,以中酸性—酸性组分占绝对优势,中性组分相对较少,缺少基性组分,代表一套连续的中性—酸性岩浆系列。岩石化学总体表现为富碱和高钾的特征,中性岩属橄榄玄粗岩系列,中酸性—酸性岩类属高钾钙碱性系列。盆地内的火山岩在地球化学上均表现为富集大离子亲石元素和轻稀土元素,而高场强元素Nb、Ta、Ti等则有一定程度的亏损。火山岩中主量和微量元素的变异规律揭示分离结晶作用是盆地内岩浆演化的主要机理,但岩浆演化的不同阶段分离的矿物相有所差异,斜长石自始至终都是分离结晶的重要矿物相,在中性—中酸性岩浆演化阶段,角闪石可能也是重要的分离矿物,而中酸性—酸性岩中钾长石和黑云母的分离结晶也起着重要影响。本文所作的精确定年结果表明,盆地内三期火山活动产物的LA-ICPMS锆石U-Pb年龄在误差范围内几乎一致,介于128~130 Ma之间,指示盆地内主要火山活动持续的时间很短。另外测得粗安岩集块的SHRIMP锆石U-Pb年龄为136±1 Ma,可能意味着该盆地初期有少量偏基性的火山活动。推测湖安火山岩盆地发育于活动大陆边缘的后造山环境,岩浆的形成可能受控于岩石圈的拆沉或俯冲板片的断落,母岩浆主要是由镁铁质下地壳物质部分熔融形成的,几乎没有地幔物质的参与,所形成的安山质-英安质岩浆在浅部岩浆房中发生过强烈的分异演化。     

Chemical discontinuities in Archean metavolcanic terrains and the development of Archean crust

Most large Archean greenstone belts ( 2.7 Ga), comprise thick (12–15 km) mafic to felsic metavolcanics sequences which exhibit consistent but discontinuous geochemical patterns resulting from mantle-crust processes. In a typical Archean metavolcanic sequence, thick (5–8 km) uniform tholeiitic basalt is followed by geochemically evolved rock units (4–7 km thick) containing intermediate and felsic calc-alkaline rocks. This major geochemical discontinuity is marked by a change from LIL-element depleted basalts which show unfractionated REE abundance patterns, to overlying andesites with higher LIL-element contents, fractionated REE patterns and relatively depleted HREE. A less well marked discontinuity separates andesitic rocks from still later more felsic dacite-rhyolite extrusive assemblages and their intrusive equivalents, and is identified by a further increase in LIL element content and REE fractionation. The major geochemical discontinuity apparently separates rocks derived by partial melting of mantle (either directly or through shallow fractionation processes) from those which originated either by partial melting of mantle material modified by crustal interactions or by partial melting of crustal material.We suggest that accumulation of a great thickness of mantle derived volcanic rocks can lead to sagging and interaction of the lower parts of the volcanic piles with upper mantle material. The resulting modified mantle acts as a source for some of the geochemically evolved rocks observed in volcanic successions. Subsequent direct melting of the volcanic pile produces the felsic magmas observed in the upper parts of Archean volcanic successions. This process, termed sag-subduction, is the inferred tectonic process operating in the comparatively thin, hot Archean crustal regime. By this process, large masses of ultimately mantle-derived material were added to the crust.     

Palaeozoic sequences and evolution of the Calabrian-Peloritan Arc (Southern Italy)

Three Palaeozoic sequences belonging to three different basins crop out in the Calabrian–Peloritan Arc. Their age covers the time span from middle (?) Cambrian to early Carboniferous. The sequences comprise terrigenous, volcanic and carbonate rocks, and show low-grade metamorphism. The basement is of pre-middle Cambrian age, crops out in the Calabrian–Peloritan Arc, and was metamorphosed prior to the opening to the Palaeozoic basins. The Palaeozoic basins existed no later than the middle Carboniferous, with inferred maximum crustal extension in the Cambro-Ordovician. By Devonian time, the tectonic regime was compressional overall with middle Devonian island-arc type volcanic activity that continued until the closure of the basins. Approximately 330 Myr, the Palaeozoic sequences experienced low-pressure greenschist facies metamorphism and continuing subduction controlled the Variscan tectonogenesis with 280 Myr island-arc type intrusive magmas. Subduction ceased and late-stage 280–270 Myr granitic magmas were emplaced during continental collision. The crustal sector carrying the Palaeozoic basins is interpreted as comprising fragments of an active continental margin, one of the several microplates, located at the southern margin of the Euro-Asia continent which faced a large (at least 1500 km in width) ocean basin.     

Structure and tectonic style of the Western Australian Shield

The Western Australian Shield consists of two large Archaean cratons that are partly covered by remnant Proterozoic sedimentary basins and partly surrounded by Proterozoic mobile belts. Archaean terrains are either granitoid-greenstone, or high-grade gneiss, the regional distribution of which influences the style of Proterozoic tectonism.Granitoid-greenstone terrains consist of thick volcanogenic sequences, now occurring as dismembered synclinal keels within voluminous granitoidand display features that are uniquely Archaean. The gneiss terrains, although severely modified and dismembered by metamorphism and plutonism, seem to display a more uniformitarian tectonic style than the granitoid-greenstones.Mounting evidence in the Yilgarn Block suggests that the gneiss terrains represent a pre-greenstone basement, which was probably very extensive, both outside and within the greenstone areas. The most extensive area of gneiss lies in a huge arc around the western part of the Yilgarn Block, creating a novel situation where older rocks seemingly “wrap around” younger rocks. It is postulated that the precursors of the two major granitoidgreenstone terrains were huge, discrete, somewhat rounded volcanic basins that developed within extensive and perhaps continuous crust. At least in the Pilbara, there is a phenomenally continuous volcanic stratigraphy. Despite the basic similarities there are sufficient differences between the two volcanic basins to suggest independent evolution, whereby similar processes operated in different places in different times.These granite—greenstone areas had largely stabilised by about 2500 m.y. and, during the Proterozoic, behaved as cratonic blocks that tended not to participate in the mobile belts. Thus, the Capricorn Orogen developed as an ensialic geosyncline, on gneiss basement, between the two cratons. Where Proterozoic sedimentary basins transgress on to the cratons, they are preserved as gently folded and virtually unmetamorphosed covers. Within the orogenic zone itself, trough sedimentation, prograde metamorphism, basement reworking, multiple deformation and granitoid emplacement were active over the period 2000-1600 m.y. Superimposed on the Capricorn Orogen is the intracratonic Bangemall Basin (about 1100-1000 m.y.) which displays patterns of cratonic deformation that relate closely to the underlying structures.Along the southeastern margin of the Yilgarn Block is the Albany-Fraser Province which developed over an interval from 1900 m.y., or older, to 1100 m.y. Tectonic zonation is expressed by a linear striping of contrasting rocks that become younger away from the Yilgarn Block. Rather than an accretionary origin, voluminous granitoid, basemeni reworkingand absence of geosynclinal sedimentation suggest a discrete zone of high crustal strain and high thermal activity, and the belt is likened to an arrested rift in a continental setting.     

北祁连东段景泰地区下古生界两套砂岩微量元素和稀土元素特征及其构造意义

早奥陶世和早志留世是北祁连加里东造山带构造演化和盆地转变的关键时期。在造山带东段景泰地区,下奥陶统阴沟组和下志留统肮脏沟组两套砂岩的微量元素和稀土元素特征显示,阴沟组杂砂岩样品（Cj1和Cj3）具有最小的Eu/Eu*及最大的Th/Sc和REE,肮脏沟组杂砂岩具有较小的Eu/Eu*和较大的Th/Sc及REE;阴沟组岩屑砂岩样品（Cj13、Cj15和Cj18）具有最大的Eu/Eu*及最小的Th/Sc、REE和La/Yb。多个物源、构造背景判别图解和多元素蛛网图分析表明,阴沟组杂砂岩样品具大陆边缘的构造背景,主要物源为大陆上地壳再旋回沉积物和长英质岩石;岩屑砂岩样品为岛弧构造背景,以中基性安山质岩石为主要物源,可能受陆源物质的微弱影响。肮脏沟组杂砂岩构造背景复杂,表现出大陆岛弧、活动陆缘和被动陆缘三种环境共存的特点,受中基性火山弧物质、长英质岩石和再旋回沉积岩的混合物源的影响。两套砂岩的元素特征表明二者可能具有相似的源区。阴沟组杂砂岩源区可能为阿拉善地块南缘海原群变沉积岩或其他相似的陆源再旋回沉积物,砂岩碎屑以来自初始火山弧物质为主,以石灰沟岛弧型中基性火山岩作为其源岩最合适。阴沟组形成于初始弧后盆地环境,是岛弧活动的直接记录。肮脏沟组可能的源岩为阿拉善地块南缘海原群变沉积岩和中高等成熟度的石灰沟岛弧型火山岩及海原群岛弧型变火山岩,沉积于弧后前陆盆地,对构造环境的反映存在滞后性。     

大陆解体与被动陆缘的演化

火山型被动陆缘是大陆解体过程中形成的一类陆缘类型,其演化过程与活动陆缘一样复杂多变。随着近年来对大陆解体过程与被动陆缘演化的深入研究,对其沉积过程、岩浆活动以及变质作用研究都有了很大的进展。陆壳减薄解体的过程有许多不同的模式,不对称的简单剪切模式可能是火山型被动陆缘的成因,其机制是软流圈隆起的最大位置从剖面上看与地壳减薄最大位置不在一条垂线上,造成软流圈上升的岩浆在解体的大陆一侧形成火山型被动陆缘。被动陆缘的沉积建造由两套沉积物组成,一套是大陆解体的裂谷阶段所形成的陆相沉积物和双模式火山岩组合,另一套是稳定陆缘的复理石组合;岩浆作用中基性岩类反应了物质直接源于上地幔的主要特点,并有部分受到地壳混染的特征;变质作用中高温低压环境主要发生在裂谷作用阶段,其特点反映了大陆解体过程中随着时间的增温和减压过程,而拆离伸展阶段则被脆性变形所代替。     

The Archaean Marda igneous complex,Western Australia

The Marda complex is a sequence of andesitic to dacitic to rhyolitic volcanic rocks filling a synformal structure in submarine basalt, banded iron-formation and siliceous sediments in the Archaean Yilgarn Block of Western Australia. The Marda volcanic rocks are in part subaerial and exhibit calc-alkaline chemistry. Their Rb/Sr age is 2635 ± 80 m.y. with an initial $\text{Sr}{}^{87}\text{Sr}{}^{86}$ ratio of 0.7029 ± 0.0015. The Marda lavas represent products of a differentiated late to syn-tectonic, anatectic magma derived from the base of the Archaean crust. Calc-alkaline volcanic complexes are uncommon in the Yilgarn Block.     

Mesoproterozoic Fraser Complex: Geochemical evidence for multiple subduction‐related sources of lower crustal rocks in the Albany‐Fraser Orogen,Western Australia

The 1300 Ma Fraser Complex in the Albany‐Fraser Orogen of Western Australia is a thrust stack of mainly gabbroic rocks metamorphosed to granulite facies. This package of fault‐bounded units was elevated from a deep crustal level onto the margin of the Yilgarn Craton during continental collision between the Mawson and Yilgarn Cratons. Incompatible trace‐element distributions demand at least three mantle sources. Primitive‐mantle‐normalised incompatible‐element distributions show strong negative Ta–Nb anomalies, typical of subduction‐derived magmas. Three lines of evidence indicate that the mafic magmas did not acquire these anomalies by assimilation of crustal rocks: (i) major‐element compositions do not allow appreciable contamination with felsic material; (ii) Ni contents of many mafic rocks are too high for a significant contribution from a felsic assimilant; and (iii) Sr and Nd isotopic data support a largely juvenile source for the magmas that produced the Fraser Complex. Hence, the Ta–Nb anomalies are interpreted to reflect subduction‐related magmatic sources. On multielement diagrams, depletions in Sr, Eu, P, and Ti can be explained by fractional crystallisation, whereas Th and Rb depletions in many of the Fraser Complex rocks probably reflect losses during granulite‐facies metamorphism. These results suggest that the lower crust in this region at 1300 Ma was dominantly of arc origin, and there is no evidence to support mantle plume components. The Fraser Complex is interpreted as remnants of oceanic arcs that were swept together and tectonically interleaved with the margin of the Mawson Craton just before, or during, collision with the Yilgarn Craton at 1300 Ma.     

Associated middle to late Jurassic volcanism and extension in southern South America

The extrusive products of a Middle to Late Jurassic volcanic event occur throughout a wide area of southern South America. These volcanic rocks are associated in time and space with a series of NNW-trending grabens. The extension that produced the grabens began perhaps in the latest Triassic and continued throughout most of the Jurassic. The Middle to Late Jurassic volcanic rocks represent the culminating event of this period of extension.The Jurassic volcanic rocks described here are dominantly rhyolites and basalts, but flows of intermediate composition are also present. Major element geochemistry on a suite of samples taken from a west-east transect near 44°S latitude shows that these rocks are not related directly to convergent arc volcanism along the margin of South America, but are the products of a separate tectonic/magmatic event that involved significant crustal anatexis.The extension and related volcanism directly preceded the opening of the Rocas Verdes marginal basin along the western margin of Chile and may have led to the initial separation of South America and South Africa. As such, the Middle-to-Late Jurassic extension and volcanism heralded the breakup of part of Gondwanaland.     

粤东北基底变质岩的组成和形成时代

基底变质岩的成分和形成时代对揭示地壳演化至关重要.利用锆石U-Pb-Hf研究和全岩成分分析, 发现粤东北及邻区的许多基底变质岩是晚新元古代形成的沉积岩, 它们具有高的SiO₂、Rb、Zr、Y和过渡金属元素含量以及相对低的Al₂O₃、CaO、Na₂O、Sr、Nb含量.它们沉积于活动大陆边缘环境.盆地的形成与Rodinia超大陆裂解时的张性背景相关.粤东北龙川地区新元古代沉积岩主要由新太古代和中元古代碎屑物质组成, 并含少量中太古代和新元古代物质, 明显不同于闽西南和粤北地区新元占代沉积岩.粤东北这些变质岩没有受到加里东运动的强烈影响, 而是在印支期发生变质-重熔作用.      

Geochemistry of arc volcanic rocks of the Zagros Crush Zone,Neyriz, Iran

The northeastern margin of the Tethyan Neyriz ophiolite complex in southwestern Iran is tectonically juxtaposed under cataclastically-deformed island arc volcanic–volcaniclastic rocks. We document this arc component of the Zagros Crush Zone in the Neyriz area, and describe its petrographic and geochemical characteristics. The arc unit which we call the Hassanabad Unit, is tectonically intercalated with Cretaceous limestone in the cataclastic shear zone around the Hassanabad pass north of Neyriz.Analyses of the distributions of the major, rare earth and other trace elements in the volcanic rocks of the Hassanabad Unit reveal a dominantly calc-alkaline island arc composition. Volcanogenic sandstone and sedimentary breccia, with clasts of basalt, andesite and diorite, are cataclastically intercalated with pillowed calc-alkaline island arc volcanic rocks, pelagic limestone and radiolarian chert. Trace element geochemistry corroborates the petrographic evidence that the poorly-sorted and angular volcanogenic sediments were derived locally from the island arc volcanic and intrusive rocks. The emplacement of the volcanic arc rocks adjacent to the thrust sheets of the crustal and mantle sequences of the Neyriz ophiolite was probably a result of subduction-related processes during closure of the Tethys ocean during the Late Cretaceous.     

Editor's note

Postcratonization intrusions in the Yilgarn Block of Western Australia are predominantly dykes with high length/width ratios and sharp contacts with minimal thermal metamorphism of country rock. Dyke frequency and number of relative age relationships increase towards the exposed margins of the Yilgarn Block. Dykes in the northern, southern and western margins of the Yilgarn Block are mafic, ranging from gabbro to magnetite‐rich leucodolerite, and have apparently been intruded over a long time interval in response to periodic reactivation of the tectonically active craton margins. Dykes in the central Yilgarn Block range from porphyritic olivine picrite to magnetite‐rich quartz dolerite and display a spectrum of chemical compositions with an overall trend of tholeiitic iron‐enrichment. The concentration of both Archaean and Proterozoic rocks of high‐Mg nature in the central Yilgarn Block is suggestive of a fundamental control, perhaps in the mantle source area, and also indicates that ultramafic magmas were generated in the area over an extensive time interval. Dykes in the central Yilgarn Block were emplaced in tensional fractures from the Late Archaean until the culmination of a major marginal crust‐forming event at about 2000 Ma. On the basis of the limited data available, the dykes are similar to poststabilization swarms in other cratonic nucleii.     

Zircon evaporation ages and geochemistry of metamorphosed volcanic rocks from the Vinjamuru domain,Krishna Province: evidence for 1.78 Ga convergent tectonics along the southeastern margin of the Eastern Dharwar Craton

Palaeoproterozoic intermediate to potassic felsic volcanism in volcano‐sedimentary sequences could either have occurred in continental rift or at convergent magmatic arc tectonic settings. The Vinjamuru domain of the Krishna Province in Andhra Pradesh, SE India, contains such felsic and intermediate metavolcanic rocks, whose geochemistry constrains their probable tectonic setting and which were dated by the zircon Pb evaporation method in order to constrain their time of formation. These rocks consist of interlayered quartz–garnet–biotite schist, quartz–hematite–baryte–sericite schist as well as cherty quartzite, and represent a calc‐alkaline volcanic sequence of andesitic to rhyolitic rocks that underwent amphibolite‐facies metamorphism at ~1.61 Ga. Zircons from four felsic metavolcanic rock samples yielded youngest mean ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ages between 1771 and 1791 Ma, whereas the youngest zircon age for a meta‐andesite is 1868 Ma. A ~2.43 Ga zircon xenocryst reflects incorporation of Neoarchaean basement gneisses. Their calc‐alkaline trends, higher LILE, enriched chondrite‐normalized LREE pattern and negative Nb and Ti anomalies on primitive mantle‐normalized diagrams, suggest formation in a continental magmatic arc tectonic setting. Whereas the intermediate rocks may have been derived from mantle‐source parental arc magmas by fractionation and crustal contamination, the rhyolitic rocks had crustal parental magmas. The Vinjamuru Palaeoproterozoic volcanic eruption implies an event of convergent tectonism at the southeastern margin of the Eastern Dharwar Craton at ~1.78 Ga forming one of the major crustal domains of the Krishna Province. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Zircon U-Pb ages and geochemical composition of gneisses from the Mesozoic foreland basin in the Yellow Sea,China

The South Yellow Sea basin in eastern China has experienced a multi-stage tectonic evolution history. The major structures were created when the basin was a foreland basin during the Mesozoic. However the geological evolution of the basin has not yet been corroborated by direct evidence from the underlying basement rocks. Qianliyan Island in the southern Yellow Sea provides an opportunity to study the formation and evolution of the basin by means of direct geochronological and geochemical evidence. On Qianliyan Island, basement rocks are exposed that consist of granitic gneiss, felsic gneiss and minor mylonite, and lenses of eclogite. Major and trace element characteristics of these four types of gneiss indicate that they originated from crustal material, varying in composition from pelite to greywacke. SHRIMP U-Pb zircon dating results of a felsic gneiss sample show that this rock crystallized between 659 and 796 Ma and underwent a metamorphic overprint at 229 ± 4 Ma. This age pattern resembles that of gneisses from the ultra-high-pressure terrain in the Dabie–Sulu belt. We conclude that the study area was part of the northern margin of the Yangtze Block during the Neoproterozoic. Neoproterozoic magmatic activity occurred along this margin and the basement sequence underwent Triassic metamorphic overprint during the northward subduction of the Yangtze Block beneath the North China Block. We further conclude that the deformation associated with this metamorphic event led to the formation of the southern Yellow Sea foreland basin.     

Geochemistry and petrogenesis of late proterozoic volcanic rocks from north-western Africa

The Upper Proterozoic volcanism of northwestern Africa is characterized by the predominance of calc-alkaline rocks. Volcanics with tholeiitic affinities and alkali basalts are rare. The geochemistry and the relative proportions of calc-alkaline rocktypes in the Silet zone (Algeria) and the Ouarzazate formation (Morocco) are similar to those of recent island arc suites where basalts are most abundant while in the Tassendjanet and Gara Akofo zones (Algeria) they resemble contintal margin volcanic suites with a predominance of andesites. The volcanic rocks have undergone low-grade metamorphism which strongly affected alkali and alkali-earth elements and also to a smaller degree, the less mobile elements such as REE, Zr, Hf, Nb, and P. The geochemistry of the calc-alkaline rocks point to a complex origin involving low-pressure fractional crystallization, crustal contamination and derivation from a source already enriched in LILE.     

Age relationships in supracrustal sequences of the northern part of the Murchison Terrane,Archaean Yilgarn Craton,Western Australia: A combined field and zircon U–Pb study

Mapping carried out in the northern Murchison Terrane of the Archaean Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, shows that correlation of units between isolated greenstone belts is very difficult and an informal stratigraphic subdivision is proposed where the greenstone sequences have been divided into a number of assemblages. The assemblages may not necessarily be time equivalent throughout the region. The lower units (Assemblages 1–3) consist of ultramafic, mafic and intermediate volcanic rocks deposited without significant breaks in volcanism. Felsic volcanic packages (Assemblage 4) are conformable with underlying units, but are spatially restricted. Discordant units of graphitic sedimentary rocks are developed along major crustal structures (Assemblage 5). SHRIMP and conventional U–Pb study of zircons reveal that felsic volcanic rocks of Assemblage 4 in the Dalgaranga Greenstone Belt were emplaced at 2747 ± 5 Ma, whereas those in the adjacent Meekatharra — Mt Magnet Greenstone Belt range in age from 2762 ± 6 to 2716 ± 4 Ma. The age of emplacement of a differentiated gabbro sill in the Dalgaranga Greenstone Belt at 2719 ± 6 Ma places a maximum age on major folding in the belt. The presence of 2.9–3.0 Ga inherited zircons in some of the felsic volcanic rocks indicates contamination with, or reworking of, underlying 3 Ga sialic crust. This distinguishes the Murchison Terrane from the central parts of the Eastern Goldfields terranes to the south, where there is no evidence for a 3 Ga imprint in zircons from volcanic or granitic rocks, and also from the Narryer Gneiss Terrane to the north and west, which is composed of older gneisses and granitoids. The ca 2.76–2.71 Ga felsic volcanism in the Murchison Terrane is significantly older than 2.71–2.67 Ga felsic volcanism in the Eastern Goldfields lending support to models advocating assemblage of the craton by terrane accretion.     

Petrology and geochemistry of the Cretaceous granitoid magmatism of Central Kamchatka,exemplified by the Krutogorova and Kol’ intrusive complexes

The problem of the geochemical classification of granitoid magmatism in the zone of interaction of oceanic and continental plates is considered in this paper by the example of Mesozoic granitoids of the Krutogorova and Kol’ intrusive complexes of the Sredinny Range, Kamchatka. Based on new geological, petrological, and geochemical data (including the Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope systematics of rocks), it was shown that the protoliths of the granitoids were volcanic-terrigenous sequences accumulated within a Cretaceous marginal basin in the eastern Asian continent. The granitoids crystallized at ～80 Ma (SHRIMP U-Pb age) under the conditions of the andalusite-sillimanite depth facies corresponding to a pressure of approximately 2 kbar and induced contact metamorphism in the host sequences, which are made up of sediments with sheetlike bodies of mafic and ultramafic volcanics (Kikhchik Group and its metamorphic analogues of the Kolpakova, Kamchatka, and Malki groups). The lower age boundary of sedimentation of the host sequences and the time of basic volcanism coincide with the beginning of the formation of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanic belt. Such a correlation is not accidental and reflects a genetic connection between the processes of magmatic activation in the continental-margin sedimentary basin and the formation of the continental margin volcanic belt in eastern Asia. The development of basic volcanism in the sedimentary basin accompanied by the ascent of deep fluids resulted in the entrainment of crustal materials into magmatic processes and the formation of crustal magma chambers, the activity of which was manifested by the eruption of intermediate and silicic lavas and emplacement of shallow granitoid intrusions of considerable areal extent. These intrusions induced contact metamorphism in the enclosing volcanosedimentary complexes. The subsequent Eocene (60-50 Ma) collision processes related to the obduction of the oceanic segment of the crust of the transitional zone onto the Asian continental margin resulted in the tectonic piling of the rocks of Central Kamchatka and strong crustal thickening, which was favorable for its metamorphic alteration reaching the kyanite-sillimanite depth level of the amphibolite facies under the influence of a thermal front and deep fluids affecting lower crustal zones. The Eocene regional metamorphism caused not only metamorphic transformations, migmatization, and granitization in the sequences of the Sredinny Range, which underwent only contact hornfels formation during the first stage, but also metamorphism, migmatization, and extensive foliation in the igneous rocks of the Kol’ and Krutogorova complexes, which were transformed into gneissic metagranites.