Late Archaean—early proterozoic source ages of zircons in rocks from the Paleozoic orogen of western Galicia,NW Spain

U-Pb data are reported for nine suites of zircons and three monazites from the Paleozoic orogen in western Galicia (NW Spain): one paragneiss and six orthogneisses from the early Paleozoic basement, and two Carboniferous (ca. 310 Ma old) intrusions of two-mica granite. New whole-rock Rb-Sr analyses, along with earlier data, indicate an age of ca. 470-440 Ma (Ordovician) for the emplacement of the granitic precursors of the orthogneisses. Monazite from the paragneiss also yields an U-Pb age of ca. 470 Ma. For all nine investigated suites of zircons the U-Pb systematics signal the presence of a minor proportion of Precambrian zircon. The zircon data from two orthogneisses and the paragneiss display roughly linear arrays with upper intercepts between about 3.0 Ga and 2.0 Ga, and lower intercepts between ca. 480 and 460 Ma; the former are interpreted as approaching the age of the old zircon component, and the latter as reflecting either the time of crystallization of new zircons from the magma (orthogneisses), or the time of radiogenic lead loss from the old zircons (paragneiss). The suites of zircons from all other investigated orthogneisses suffered isotopic disturbance posterior to the granite emplacement 470-440 Ma ago, in most cases leading to ‘false’ discordias without geochronological significance. Similarly, the zircons of the two investigated two-mica granites do not produce meaningful discordias because of post-Paleozoic disturbance. The monazite U-Pb systems of the latter granites indicate (sub)recent lead loss.From the high initial ${}^{87}\text{Sr}{}^{86}\text{Sr}$ ratios an involvement of Precambrian continental crust material is evident in the generation of the early Paleozoic suite of granites, while the zircon U-Pb data give evidence of the presence of about 3.0-2.0 Ga old (late Archaean—early Proterozoic) components in the source material. Zircons from the oldest sedimentary rocks in the area, now present as catazonal paragneisses and a likely source for the granites, likewise reveal a provenance age of 3.0-2.0 Ga. The late Archaean—early Proterozoic source rocks in western Galicia probably formed part of an Archaean continental crust underlying much of western Europe, but mostly modified beyond recognition by younger events.