Timing of Cadomian and Variscan tectonothermal activity,La Hague and Alderney,North Armorican Massif: Evidence from 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages

The La Hague region of northwest France exposes Palaeo-Proterozoic Icartian gneisses which were reworked and intruded by calc-alkaline plutonic rocks during the Cadomian Orogeny (about 700–500 Ma). ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar mineral cooling ages have been determined to clarify the timing of the regional metamorphism of orthogneisses and the emplacement of quartz diorite plutons in this region. Metamorphic amphiboles within Icartian gneisses display discordant ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar apparent age spectra interpreted to result from limited Variscan (about 350–300 Ma) overprinting of intracrystalline argon systems which initially cooled through post-metamorphic hornblende closure temperatures during the Cadomian at about 600 Ma. Igneous hornblendes from the weakly foliated Jardeheu and Moulinet quartz diorites record isotope correlation ages of 599 ± 2 and 561 ± 2 Ma, respectively. Igneous hornblende and biotite from foliated quartz diorite on the nearby Channel Island of Alderney record isotope correlation ages of about 560 Ma. The results imply that metamorphic and plutonic events in the La Hague-Alderney region were approximately contemporaneous with those recorded on Guernsey and Sark, which are thus likely to have formed part of the same tectonic block during the Cadomian Orogeny.     

40Ar-39Ar age of carbonatite-alkaline magmatism in Sung valley, Meghalaya, India

⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar analyses of one alkali pyroxenite whole rock and two phlogopite separates of calcite carbonatites from the Sung Valley carbonatite-alkaline complex, which is believed to be a part of the Rajmahal-Bengal-Sylhet (RBS) flood basalt province, yielded indistinguishable plateau ages of 108.8 ± 2.0Ma, 106.4 ± 1.3Ma and 107.5 ± 1.4Ma, respectively. The weighted mean of these ages, 107.2 ± 0.8 Ma, is the time of emplacement of this complex. This implies that Sung Valley complex and probably other such complexes in the Assam-Meghalaya Plateau postdate the main flood basalt event (i.e., the eruption of tholeiites) in the RBS province by ∼10Ma.     

40Ar/39Ar evidence for the timing of Paleoproterozoic gold mineralisation at the Sandpiper Deposit,Tanami region,northern Australia

At the Sandpiper gold deposit in the Tanami region of northern Australia sericite is intimately intergrown with arsenopyrite in gold-bearing quartz veins and breccias, suggesting sericite crystallisation synchronous with gold-bearing fluid flow. This ore-stage sericite yields a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau age of 1785 ± 32 Ma (2σ including both analytical and systematic uncertainties). Recalculation using revised and more precise values for the ⁴⁰K decay constants and the age of the Fish Canyon Sanidine standard shifts the age to 1794 ±12 Ma (2σ including all known uncertainties). Given the possibility of post-mineralisation isotopic resetting this age can be conservatively interpreted as a minimum constraint on the timing of gold deposition although, given local geological relationships and estimates for the argon retentivity of white mica, we consider complete isotopic resetting to be unlikely. The preferred interpretation is, therefore, that the sericite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age indicates the timing of gold mineralisation. Thesericite age accords with a limited dataset of ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb xenotime ages of ca 1800 Ma from other gold deposits in the Tanami region, interpreted as mineralisation ages. The agreement between independently derived ages from several gold deposits lends support for a widespread gold-mineralising event at ca 1800 Ma in the Tanami region.     

Dating deformation using crushed alkali feldspar: 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of shear zones in the Wyangala Batholith,NSW, Australia

Diffusion parameters have been estimated for K-feldspar in and adjacent to mylonite shear zones in the Wyangala Batholith. The parameters obtained suggest that deformation during mylonitisation would have caused argon systematics to reset because diffusion distances were reduced by cataclasis, deformation and/or recrystallisation. However, the mineral lattice remained sufficiently retentive to allow subsequently produced radiogenic argon to be retained. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology is thus able to constrain operation of these biotite-grade ductile shear zones to the period from ca 380 Ma to ca 360 Ma, at the end of the Tabberabberan Orogeny.     

40Ar/39Ar laser probe evidence concerning the age and associated hazards of the Lake Nyos Maar,Cameroon

The waters of Lake Nyos are impounded by a fragile natural dam composed of pyroclastic rocks ejected during the formation of the lake crater (maar). Lateral erosion of this dam has reduced its width from over 500 m to only 45 m. Published whole-rock K-Ar ages of about 100 ka on juvenile basalt from the dam suggests that erosion has been slow and that the dam poses no imminent threat. New apparent ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of 1.4 to 232 Ma on xenocrystic K-feldspar contained in the basalt show that the xenocrysts, whose source is the 528-Ma crystalline basement, are carriers of inherited radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar and would cause the whole-rock K-Ar ages to be too old. The best estimate for the age of the maar is provided by a ¹⁴C age of 400 ± 100 yr BP on charcoal from the base of the dam. This young age indicates that the dam is eroding at a relatively rapid rate; its failure, perhaps within a few decades, would result in a major flood and imperil thousands of people living downstream in Cameroon and eastern Nigeria.     

Variable Variscan thermal rejuvenation in the St Malo region, Cadomian Orogen, France: evidence from 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages

Abstract The St Malo region in north-west France contains migmatites and anatectic granites derived by partial melting of metasedimentary protoliths during Cadomian orogenesis at c. 540 Ma. Previously reported Rb–Sr model ages for muscovite and biotite range from c. 550 to c. 300 Ma, and suggest variable resetting of mineral isotopic systems. These rocks display microscopic evidence for variably intense Cadomian intracrystalline plastic strain but record no obvious evidence of penetrative Palaeozoic regional deformation. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar mineral ages have been determined to evaluate better the extent, timing and significance of Palaeozoic overprinting. Eleven muscovite concentrates and one whole-rock phyllite have been prepared from various units exposed in the St Malo and adjacent Mancellian regions. In the Mancellian region, muscovite from two facies of the Bonnemain Granite Complex record ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of c. 527 and 521 Ma. An internally discordant ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar release spectrum characterizes muscovite from protomylonitic granite within the Cadomian Alexain-Deux Evailles-Izé Granite Complex, and probably records the effects of Variscan displacement along the North Armorican Shear Zone. Muscovite concentrates from anatectic granite and from Cadomian mylonites along ductile shear zones within the north-western sector of the St Malo region exhibit internally discordant ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar release spectra which suggest variable and partial late Palaeozoic rejuvenation. By contrast, muscovite concentrates from samples of variably mylonitic Brioverian metasedimentary rocks exposed within the south-eastern sector of the St Malo region display internally concordant apparent age spectra which define plateaux of 326–320 Ma. A whole-rock phyllite sample from Brioverian metasedimentary rocks exposed along the eastern boundary of the St Malo region displays an internally discordant argon release pattern which is interpreted to reflect the effects of a partial late Palaeozoic thermal overprint. Muscovite from the Plélan granite, part of the Variscan Plélan-Bobital Granite Complex, yields a ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau age of c. 307 Ma. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar results indicate that Cadomian rocks of the St Malo region have undergone a widespread and variable Palaeozoic (Carboniferous) rejuvenation of intracrystalline argon systems which apparently did not affect the Mancellian region. This rejuvenation was not accompanied by penetrative regional deformation, and was probably of a static thermal–hydrothermal origin. The heat source for rejuvenation was probably either the result of heating during Variscan extension or advection from Variscan granites which are argued to underlie the St Malo region.     

海绿石 K-Ar、40Ar/39Ar 年代学研究

海绿石是与沉积岩同时形成的高钾层状硅酸盐自生矿物，其 K-Ar、40Ar/39Ar 年龄存在失真现象。笔者认为，引起年龄失真的主要原因是由于该矿物结构中含有可膨胀层。通过测量可膨胀层含量及中子活化过程中39Ar的丢失率，使可对海绿石常规 K-Ar、40Ar/39Ar 年龄进行校正，得到其年龄校正公式。     

40Ar/39Ar and K–Ar geochronology of magmatic and hydrothermal events in a classic low-suphidation epithermal bonanza deposit: El Peñon, northern Chile

The epithermal El Peñon gold–silver deposit consists of quartz–adularia veins emplaced within a late Upper Paleocene rhyolitic dome complex, located in the Paleocene–Lower Eocene Au–Ag belt of northern Chile. Detailed K–Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology on volcano–plutonic rocks and hydrothermal minerals were carried out to constrain magmatic and hydrothermal events. The Paleocene to Lower Eocene magmatism in the El Peñon area is confined to a rhomb-shaped basin, which was controlled by N–S trending normal faults and both NE- and NW-trending transtensional fault systems. The earliest products of the basin-filling sequences comprise of Middle to Upper Paleocene (～59–55 Ma) welded rhyolitic ignimbrites and andesitic to dacitic lavas, with occasional dacitic dome complexes. Later, rhyolitic and dacitic dome complexes (～55–52 Ma) represent the waning stages of volcanism during the latest Upper Paleocene and the earliest Eocene. Lower Eocene porphyry intrusives (～48–43 Ma) mark the end of the magmatism in the basin and a change to a compressive tectonomagmatic regime. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology of hydrothermal adularia from the El Peñon deposit yields ages between 51.0±0.6 and 53.1±0.5 Ma. These results suggest that mineralization occurred slightly after the emplacement of the El Peñon rhyolitic dome at 54.5±0.6 Ma (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age) and was closely tied to later dacitic–rhyodacitic bodies of 52 to 53 Ma (K–Ar ages), probably as short-lived pulses related to single volcanic events.     

内蒙古大青山逆冲推覆体系中生代逆冲构造活动的40Ar-39Ar定年

内蒙古大青山呼和浩特段北侧发育3条走向北东东、指向北西的逆冲断层,并与被其分割的3个逆冲席体及一个原地系构成大青山逆冲推覆体系。逆冲断层上盘底部发育较深层次的糜棱岩,下盘顶部多发育低温的千糜岩。本研究在构造地质调查基础上,结合宏-微观岩石矿物学分析,采用⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar定年对该逆冲体系的活动时间进行约束。逆冲断层带内3个千糜岩绢云母⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar年龄范围为120~119Ma,另一样品给出了120Ma的概率统计峰值年龄。千糜岩为低温同变形变质产物,细粒绢云母为同变形新生矿物,其⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar年龄可代表变形年龄。侵位在断层内弱变形的花岗闪长岩为同构造晚期侵位,角闪石⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar年龄限定其冷却时间下限为121Ma,概率统计峰值年龄为119Ma。逆冲断层上盘底部发育较高温的糜棱岩,而低温千糜岩的形成时间应属于变形后期。因此,120Ma至119Ma期间,大青山逆冲推覆体系的逆冲作用应已是处于变形晚期。     

U-Pb and Ar/Ar geochronological constraints on the exhumation history of the North Qinling terrane, China

The amphibolite facies grade North Qinling metamorphic unit forms the centre of the Qinling orogenic belt. Results of LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar amphibole and biotite dating reveal its Palaeozoic tectonic history. U-Pb zircon dating of migmatitic orthogneiss and granite dykes constrains the age of two possible stages of migmatization at 517 ± 14 Ma and 445 ± 4.6 Ma. A subsequent granite intrusion occurred at 417 ± 1.6 Ma. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of amphibole ranging from 397 ± 33 Ma to 432 ± 3.4 Ma constrain the cooling of the Qinling complex below ca. 540 °C and biotite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages at about 330–368 Ma below ca. 300 °C. The ages are used to construct a cooling history with slow/non-exhumation during 517– 445 Ma, a time-integrated cooling at a rate < 2.5 °C/Ma during the period of 445–410 Ma, an acceleration of cooling at a rate of 8 °C/Ma from 397 Ma to 368 Ma, and subsequently slow/non-cooling from 368 to 330 Ma. The data show a significant delay in exhumation after peak metamorphic conditions and a long period of tectonic quiescence after the suturing of the North China and South China blocks along the Shangdan suture. These relationships exclude classical exhumation models of formation and exhumation of metamorphic cores in orogens, which all imply rapid cooling after peak conditions of metamorphism.     

风化壳40Ar/39Ar年代学研究意义：进展、问题与展望

风化壳是不同地质历史时期风化作用的环境和物质记录,其组成、厚度、成熟度、保存程度等是古气候条件、区域构造活动性及地貌演化的直接反映。风化壳的形成年代是风化壳研究的关键内容,精确的风化壳年龄数据是查明一系列区域甚至全球事件的重要途径。风化壳中次生矿物（主要是钡硬锰矿族矿物和明矾石族矿物）的40Ar/39Ar年代学研究首次实现了对风化壳和风化作用的直接和精确定年,所获得的年龄数据为风化壳的形成演化、区域古气候古环境恢复、化学风化历史与矿床次生富集过程及新构造运动和山脉隆升历史等一系列重大地质问题的解决提供了重要途径。然而,风化壳中次生矿物定年存在的潜在问题及风化壳剖面取样的不完整性,有可能使风化壳的年龄分布变得相当复杂,导致对化学风化历史、风化壳形成过程和形成环境等的认识出现困难。为此,必须开展对风化壳的详细野外地质研究和精细取样,并综合采用多种先进测试手段,才能获得可靠的风化壳年龄数据。在对风化壳年龄数据进行解释时,还需要系统分析多种地质、环境资料（如古生物、盆地沉积物等）,才可能获得有意义的地貌、构造和古气候信息。我国华南地区广泛分布的红色风化壳中含有丰富的钡硬锰矿族矿物,是研究该区新生代以来化学风化、大规模次生富集成矿及古气候古环境演变的理想对象。     

Tectono-thermal evolution of the India-Asia collision zone based on<Superscript>40</Superscript>Ar-<Superscript>39</Superscript>Ar thermochronology in Ladakh,India

New⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar thermochronological results from the Ladakh region in the India-Asia collision zone provide a tectono-thermal evolutionary scenario. The characteristic granodiorite of the Ladakh batholith near Leh yielded a plateau age of 46.3 ± 0.6 Ma (2σ). Biotite from the same rock yielded a plateau age of 44.6 ± 0.3 Ma (2σ). The youngest phase of the Ladakh batholith, the leucogranite near Himya, yielded a cooling pattern with a plateau-like age of ∼ 36 Ma. The plateau age of muscovite from the same rock is 29.8 ±0.2 Ma (2σ). These ages indicate post-collision tectono-thermal activity, which may have been responsible for partial melting within the Ladakh batholith. Two basalt samples from Sumdo Nala have also recorded the post-collision tectono-thermal event, which lasted at least for 8 MY in the suture zone since the collision, whereas in the western part of the Indus Suture, pillow lava of Chiktan showed no effect of this event and yielded an age of emplacement of 128.2 ±2.6 Ma (2σ). The available data indicate that post-collision deformation led to the crustal thickening causing an increase in temperature, which may have caused partial melting at the base of the thickened crust. The high thermal regime propagated away from the suture with time.     

桐柏——大别山主要构造热事件及40Ar/39Ar地质定年研究

桐柏——大别山是一条复合造山带。在其演化过程中曾经历了扬子旋回（1000Ma-761Ma）和加里东旋回（470Ma-401Ma）两个板块构造旋回的俯冲-碰撞造山作用，之后又经历了早、中华力西（357Ma-314Ma）的平移走滑和晚华力西（286Ma-261Ma）、印支期（224Ma-185Ma）、燕山期（130Ma-111Ma）逆掩或逆冲推覆的陆-陆叠覆造山作用。印支期的高压超高压变质岩系是在陆-陆叠覆造山作用下形成的。燕山期的造山不仅具显著的深层次构造岩浆作用特点，而且还伴随快速的隆升作用。     

内蒙古呼和浩特变质核杂岩韧性拆离带40Ar-39Ar定年及其构造含义

晚中生代,内蒙古大青山依次经历晚侏罗世盘羊山逆冲推覆、早白垩世呼和浩特变质核杂岩伸展、早白垩世大青山逆冲推覆断层及早白垩世以来高角度正断层复杂构造演化。其中,呼和浩特变质核杂岩韧性剪切带的冷却时间和抬升机制的制约尚不明确。本文在野外考察和显微构造分析基础上,采用逐步加热40Ar-39Ar定年法对韧性剪切带内不同单矿物的冷却年龄进行了测定。角闪石、白云母、黑云母和钾长石单矿物40Ar-39Ar冷却年龄处于120~116Ma之间。结合已有年龄数据及单矿物封闭温度,构建了韧性剪切带的冷却曲线。结果表明,韧性剪切带在122~115Ma期间存在一个明显的快速冷却过程。这一阶段快速冷却是与变质核杂岩拆离断层相关核部杂岩拆离折返作为大青山逆冲推覆断层上盘抬升的结果。     

40Ar/39Ar geochronology constraints on the Middle Tertiary basement extensional exhumation,and its relation to ore-forming and magmatic processes in the Eastern Rhodope (Bulgaria)

The interaction of distinct geologic processes involved during late orogenic extensional exhumation history of the metamorphic units in the Eastern Rhodope is refined by new and reviewing ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronological and structural data. Minerals with different closure temperatures from metamorphic rocks investigated in this study are combined with those from magmatic and ore-forming hydrothermal rocks in two late stage metamorphic domes – the Kesebir-Kardamos and the Biala reka-Kehros domes. The 38-37 Ma muscovite and biotite cooling ages below 350°-300°C characterize basement metamorphic rocks that typified core of the Kesebir-Kardamos dome, constraining their exhumation at shallow crustal levels in the footwall of detachment. These ages are interpreted as reflecting last stage of ductile activity on shear zone below detachment, which continued to operate under low-temperature conditions within the semi-ductile to brittle field. They are close to and overlap with existing cooling ages in southern Bulgaria and northern Greece, indicating supportively that the basement rocks regionally cooled between 42-36 Ma below temperatures 350°-300°C. The spatial distribution of ages shows a southward gradual increase up structural section, suggesting an asymmetrical mode of extension, cooling and exhumation from south to the north at latitude of the Kesebir-Kardamos dome. The slightly younger 36.5-35 Ma crystallization ages of adularia in altered rocks from the ore deposits in the immediate hanging-wall of detachments are attributed to brittle deformation on high-angle normal faults, which further contributed to upper crustal extension, and thus constraining the time when alteration took place and deformation continued at brittle crustal levels. Silicic dykes yielded ages between 32-33 Ma, typically coinciding with the main phase of Palaeogene magmatic activity, which started in Eastern Rhodope region in Late Eocene (Priabonian) times. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages from the above distinct rock types span time interval lasting approximately ca. 6 Ma. Consequently, our geochronologic results consistently indicate that extensional tectonics and related exhumation and doming, epithermal mineralizations and volcanic activity are closely spaced in time. These new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age results further contribute to temporal constraints on the timing of tectonic, relative to ore-forming and magmatic events, suggesting in addition that all above mentioned processes interfered during the late orogenic extensional collapse in the Eastern Rhodope region.     

新疆尼勒克县布谷拉超钾质岩浆岩的~(40)Ar-~(39)Ar年龄和地球化学特征

本文在西天山尼勒克县布谷拉地区厘定出了具有构造指示意义的超钾质岩浆岩,它侵位在石炭纪大哈拉军山组地层中,出露面积约为0.02km2,在空间上该类岩石与铜的矿化异常带或矿化带紧密共生。布谷拉超钾质岩浆岩具有典型的斑状结构,斑晶以钾长石、橄榄石、辉石为主,偶见白榴石残留体或假象。造岩矿物及岩石化学组成特征显示,布谷拉超钾质岩浆岩为斜长白榴岩类超钾质岩浆岩。布谷拉超钾质岩浆岩微量元素蛛网图表现为Nb-Ta、Zr-Hf、Ti的负异常和Pb的正异常,暗示该超钾质岩浆岩形成于造山阶段。微量元素地球化学特征显示,布谷拉超钾质岩浆岩是含金云母的石榴石尖晶石二辉橄榄岩部分熔融的产物,其形成深度介于70～80km狭窄的范围内。布谷拉超钾质岩浆岩的40Ar-39Ar有效坪年龄为274.2±1.6Ma,等时线年龄为274.3±4.4Ma,表明该类岩石形成于早二叠世。布谷拉超钾质岩浆岩的地球化学特征及40Ar-39Ar定年研究结果显示,在早二叠世至少阿吾拉勒山的东段仍处于造山演化阶段。     

Precise 40Ar/39Ar dating of volcanic tuffs within the upper Messinian sequences in the Melilla carbonate complex (NE Morocco): implications for the Messinian Salinity Crisis

The Melilla carbonate complex (NE Morocco) is the only area of the Paleo-Mediterranean Sea where volcanic activity was present throughout most of the Messinian. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of volcanic tuffs interbedded within the upper Messinian sedimentary deposits, known as the Terminal Carbonate Complex (TCC), yields accurate ages of paleoenvironmental and sea-level changes related to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The new chronologic data (1) provide an average of 5.95–5.99 Ma for the base of the TCC, thus being synchronous with the onset of the Messinian Salinity Crisis, (2) demonstrate for the first time that the basal unconformity of the TCC does not represent a hiatus of long duration, (3) define a precise time line at 5.87±0.02 Ma (2σ) corresponding to sedimentary rocks exhibiting a lateral transition between continental and marine deposits typical of the TCC and (4) yield evidence that emersion of the Melilla platform during deposition of the TCC is partly related to tectono-magmatic activity. An erosional surface, capping the TCC deposits in the Melilla basin, is related to the major Messinian Mediterranean drawdown. The duration of the hiatus, associated with this surface, is estimated to be at most 450 kyr, but is probably shorter.     

北山中部增生造山过程:构造变形和~(40)Ar-~(39)Ar年代学制约

北山造山带是诠释中亚造山带南缘增生构造过程的关键区域之一。北山中部变质杂岩及相关侵入岩经历了复杂变质变形作用,是解剖北山增生构造演化过程的关键。本文在详细野外观察基础上,结合显微构造变形和黑云母~(40)Ar-~(39)Ar年代学研究,厘定北山中部相关岩石的变质变形时限。北山中部岩石普遍经历了韧性剪切变形。4个样品的黑云母~(40)Ar-~(39)Ar坪年龄分别为323.1±3.6Ma、296.0±3.7Ma、261.2±3.1Ma和209.2±4.0Ma,具有自北向南逐渐变年轻的特征。结合区域上岩石大地构造单元的展布特征,这些年龄反映了北山中部地区古生代至早中生代古洋壳(牛圈子洋盆)向北俯冲、造山带往南增生的过程。北山最晚的增生造山事件可能延续到三叠纪。