A. Saeed

Taking the pulse of the Earth: linking crustal and mantle events

Modern geochronology has moved beyond the acquisition of dates: the goal is to understand the significance of these numbers for the geodynamic evolution of Earth at all scales. The coupling of the laser-ablation microprobe (LAM) to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (ICPMS, multicollector (MC)-ICPMS) has revolutionised geochronology and geochemistry over the last 10 years. These systems enable the rapid and precise in situ analysis of trace-element patterns and isotopic systems, while adding information related to microstructural context and major-element composition. The integration of these multiple sources of data is crucial in constraining the origin of the sample and the processes leading to its formation, so that we can understand the meaning of a date in terms of geological events. LAM-ICPMS measurement of U–Pb ages and trace-element patterns in zircon, coupled with LAM-MC-ICPMS analysis of Hf isotopes in the same grains, gives new insights into the processes of magma genesis. Applied to detrital zircons from modern drainages or sedimentary rocks (the TerraneChron® approach), it becomes a powerful tool to investigate problems of crustal evolution on scales ranging from single terranes to continents. The in situ analysis (LAM-MC-ICPMS) of Re–Os systematics in single grains of sulfides in mantle-derived peridotites has demonstrated that most mantle rocks contain several generations of Os-bearing sulfides; whole-rock analyses are mixtures reflecting multiple melting and metasomatic events in the lithospheric mantle. These deep-seated events are commonly mirrored in the crust; Os model-age spectra from xenolith suites show age ‘peaks’ that correspond to the ages of thermal/tectonic events in the overlying crust, suggesting strong linkages between crust and mantle. Integrated studies of the timing and nature of crustal and mantle events, using these techniques, will be important for understanding the large-scale dynamics of the Earth.

U–Pb detrital zircon ages in synorogenic deposits of the NW Iberian Massif (Variscan belt): interplay of Devonian–Carboniferous sedimentation and thrust tectonics

Detrital zircons from Devonian and Carboniferous synorogenic flysch deposits occurring in an imbricate stack have been dated by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to: (1) obtain a maximum depositional age to constrain the maximum age limit for thrusting of exotic terranes in the NW Iberian Massif; (2) correlate the zircon age populations with published ages in nearby units to establish their possible source areas. The maximum depositional ages are Late Devonian for rocks high in the structural nappe pile (Gimonde Formation), in accordance with palynomorph dating, and around the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary for structurally lower samples (San Vitero Formation). Used in conjunction with previously published ages, the new ages are interpreted in terms of the advance of the thrust system responsible for the emplacement of exotic terranes upon the Iberian autochthon during the Variscan collision. Early Variscan zircon population ages indicate the exotic terranes as the source of synorogenic sediments, whereas their scarcity suggests derivation from the Iberian autochthon. One of the samples analysed lacks Variscan detrital zircons; this feature, together with the absence of an Early Palaeozoic zircon age population, puts into question its synorogenic character and suggests that the sample may be representative of the preorogenic parautochthon.

Barren Miocene granitoids in the Central Andean metallogenic belt, Chile: Geochemistry and Nd-Hf and U-Pb isotope systematics

Four Middle-to-Late Miocene barren plutonic complexes that occur between the giant porphyry copper deposits of the central Chilean Andes were selected for U-Pb LA-ICPMS geochronology and Hf-isotope systematics on single zircon grains. Major and trace elements and Sr-Nd-Hf isotope whole rock geochemical studies were undertaken to compare with slightly younger or coeval barren and fertile intrusive rocks between 32° and 34°S. The studied granitoids yield resolvable crystallization ages of 11.3±0.1 Ma (Cerro Meson Alto massif), 10.3±0.2 Ma (La Gloria pluton), 14.9±0.2 Ma/14.9±0.1 Ma (Yerba Loca stock) and 11.2±0.1 Ma/14.7±0.1 Ma (San Francisco Batholith). Major and trace elements discard an adakitic signature as suggested for coeval porphyric intrusions at 32°S, slightly younger mineralized porphyries at Rio Blanco-Los Bronces deposit and other Cenozoic adakites. Volcanic host rocks are less fractionated than the intrusive rock units. The same observation can be made for the unmineralized northern plutons compared to the southern ones. Initial Sr-Nd isotope data show insignificant variation (0.703761-0.704118 and 0.512758- 0.512882), plotting in the mantle array. Trace element enrichment can be explained by addition of subducted-slab fluids and/or terrigenous sediments to the mantle wedge prior to and/or slight crustal input during magma ascent. Zircon grains separated from these barren intrusives share a similar initial eHf-data variation for the younger age group (10-12 Ma; 7.04-9.54) and show a more scattered range for the older one (14-15 Ma; 8.50-15.34); both sets plot between the DM and CHUR evolution lines. There is evidence that magma evolution was slightly distinct through time from older to younger barren magmatism, compared to a few fertile porphyritic rocks from Rio Blanco-Los Bronces porphyry copper deposit. It is suggested that chronological inconsistencies within these complexes might be related to differential shortening across the NE-SW-trending Yeso Valley transfer fault, assumed as coeval, which also explains the local lack of easterly magmatic arc front migration.

East Antarctic sources of extensive Lower–Middle Ordovician turbidites in the Lachlan Orogen, southern Tasmanides, eastern Australia

ABSTRACT Lower to upper Middle Ordovician quartz-rich turbidites form the bedrock of the Lachlan Orogen in the southern Tasmanides of eastern Australia and occupy a present-day deformed volume of ∼2–3 million km3. We have used U–Pb and Hf-isotope analyses of detrital zircons in biostratigraphically constrained turbiditic sandstones from three separate terranes of the Lachlan Orogen to investigate possible source regions and to compare similarities and differences in zircon populations. Comparison with shallow-water Lower Ordovician sandstones deposited on the subsiding margin of the Gondwana craton suggests different source regions, with Grenvillian zircons in shelf sandstones derived from the Musgrave Province in central Australia, and Panafrican sources in shelf sandstones possibly locally derived. All Ordovician turbiditic sandstone samples in the Lachlan Orogen are dominated by ca 490–620 Ma (late Panafrican) and ca 950–1120 Ma (late Grenvillian) zircons that are sourced mainly from East Antarctica. Subtle differences between samples point to different sources. In particular, the age consistency of late Panafrican zircon data from the most inboard of our terranes (Castlemaine Group, Bendigo Terrane) suggests they may have emanated directly from late Grenvillian East Antarctic belts, such as in Dronning Maud Land and subglacial extensions that were reworked in the late Panafrican. Changes in zircon data in the more outboard Hermidale and Albury-Bega terranes are more consistent with derivation from the youngest of four sedimentary sequences of the Ross Orogen of Antarctica (Cambrian–Ordovician upper Byrd Group, Liv Group and correlatives referred to here as sequence 4) and/or from the same mixture of sources that supplied that sequence. These sources include uncommon ca 650 Ma rift volcanics, late Panafrican Ross arc volcanics, now largely eroded, and some <545 Ma Granite Harbour Intrusives, representing the roots of the Ross Orogen continental-margin arc. Unlike farther north, Granite Harbour Intrusives between the Queen Maud and Pensacola mountains of the southern Ross Orogen contain late Grenvillian zircon xenocrysts (derived from underlying relatively juvenile basement), as well as late Panafrican magmatic zircons, and are thus able to supply sequence 4 and the Lachlan Ordovician turbidites with both these populations. Other zircons and detrital muscovites in the Lachlan Ordovician turbidites were derived from relatively juvenile inland Antarctic sources external to the orogen (e.g. Dronning Maud Land, Sør Rondane and a possible extension of the Pinjarra Orogen) either directly or recycled through older sedimentary sequences 2 (Beardmore and Skelton groups) and 3 (e.g. Hannah Ridge Formation) in the Ross Orogen. Shallow-water, forearc basin sequence 4 sediments (or their sources) fed turbidity currents into outboard, deeper-water parts of the forearc basin and led to deposition of the Ordovician turbidites ∼2500–3400 km to the north in backarc-basin settings of the Lachlan Orogen.