Anthony N. LeCheminant

Gunbarrel mafic magmatic event: A key 780 Ma time marker for Rodinia plate reconstructions

Precise U-Pb baddeleyite dating of mafic igneous rocks provides evidence for a widespread and synchronous magmatic event that extended for >2400 km along the western margin of the Neoproterozoic Laurentian craton. U-Pb baddeleyite analyses for eight intrusions from seven localities ranging from the northern Canadian Shield to northwestern Wyoming–southwestern Montana are statistically indistinguishable and yield a composite U-Pb concordia age for this event of 780.3 ± 1.4 Ma (95% confidence level). This 780 Ma event is herein termed the Gunbarrel magmatic event. The mafic magmatism of the Gunbarrel event represents the largest mafic dike swarm yet identified along the Neoproterozoic margin of Laurentia. The origin of the mafic magmatism is not clear, but may be related to mantle-plume activity or upwelling asthenosphere leading to crustal extension accompanying initial breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia and development of the proto– Pacific Ocean. The mafic magmatism of the Gunbarrel magmatic event at 780 Ma predates the voluminous magmatism of the 723 Ma Franklin igneous event of the northwestern Canadian Shield by ∼60 m.y. The precise dating of the extensive Neoproterozoic Gunbarrel and Franklin magmatic events provides unique time markers that can ultimately be used for robust testing of Neoproterozoic continental reconstructions.

Enriched Archean lithospheric mantle beneath western Churchill Province tapped during Paleoproterozoic orogenesis

Ultrapotassic rocks of the Christopher Island Formation (Baker Lake basin) were emplaced across an enormous area (240 000 km 2 minimum) of the western Churchill Province ca. 1.83 Ga. These rocks extend across the Snowbird zone, a geophysical feature postulated by others to represent a Paleoproterozoic suture that welded the Rae and Hearne domains. Minette dikes and flows of the Rae and Hearne domains display identical ϵ Nd, 1830 values and incompatible element patterns, and thus appear to have originated from a common lithospheric-mantle source. Christopher Island Nd model ages cluster at 2.8 Ga, and ϵ Nd data from one Archean lamprophyre and three 2.45 to ca. 2.2 Ga mafic suites suggest that enriched lithospheric-mantle sources beneath both the Rae and Hearne domains existed well before ca. 1.83 Ga, inconsistent with Paleoproterozoic suturing along the Snowbird zone. In contrast to commonly invoked models that envisage melting of local enriched domains, Christopher Island ultrapotassic rocks appear to have originated from an extensive reservoir. We suggest that such a reservoir was created during an Archean metasomatic event, perhaps owing to flat subduction, and that it remained in nearly complete isolation until tapped during Paleoproterozoic extension related to squeezing of western Churchill crust between flanking Wopmay and Trans-Hudson orogens.

Geochemistry and origin of the Proterozoic ultrapotassic rocks of the Churchill Province, Canada

SummaryEarly Proterozoic ultrapotassic dikes, lava flows, and pyroclastic rocks of the Christopher Island Formation (CIF) erupted throughout an area 600 × 300 km within the Churchill Province of the Canadian Shield at 1.84 Ga. The rocks range from mafic lamprophyres (mg # ⩾ 60; SiO2 47–54%, mean K2O/Na2O > 4) with phenocrysts of phlogopite + diopside + apatite ± olivine ± magnetite, to phenocryst-poor felsic rocks and sanidine porphyries (SiO255–69%). All samples have high incompatible element contents and display large depletions of high field strength elements relative to K, Rb, Sr, Ba, and Th. The CIF has geochemical and petrographic characteristics of both minettes and lamproites, but overall most closely resembles young Mediterranean lamproites. Felsic rocks of the CIF were produced by crystal fractionation and crustal contamination of mafic ultrapotassic magma, and include both high-silica lamproites strongly enriched in Zr, U, and Th, and weakly potassic to sodic rocks of trachytic composition. Flows and feeder dikes have relatively homogeneous ɛNd, 1840 Ma (−6 to −11) but highly variable ES., 1840 Ma (−40 to + 100); samples classified as lamproites have higher average ɛSr. Dike samples have highly variable present-day Pb isotope compositions, ranging from moderately to strongly nonradiogenic. Geochemical and isotopic data are consistent with contributions from depleted Archean lithospheric mantle, and OIB-type convecting mantle, both metasomatized by subduction-related processes during the Early Proterozoic. The lithospheric mantle probably contained Archean enriched domains as well. Proterozoic enrichment may have accompanied shallow underplating of subducted oceanic lithosphere beneath the Churchill Province during amalgamation of the Laurentian supercontinent. There are strong analogies in isotopic composition, and interpreted source region history, between the CIF and lamproites and minettes of the Wyoming Province and western Greenland, which suggest the existence of a Laurentian ultrapotassic “superprovince”.ZusammenfassungAltproterozoische, ultrapotassische Gänge, Lavaströme und pyroklastische Gesteine der Christopher Island Formation (CIF), eruptierten in einem Gebiet von 600 × 300 km in der Churchill Provinz des Kanadischen Schildes vor 1.84 Ga. Die Zusammensetzung dieser Gesteine variiert von mafischen Lamprophyren (mg > 60; SiO2 = 47–54%, durchschnittliches K2O/Na2O > 4) mit Phänokristallent von Phlogopit + Diopsid + Apatit + Olivin + Magnetit, bis zu phänokristallarmen felsischen Gesteinen und Sanidinporphyren (SiO2 = 55–69%). Alle Proben zeigen hohe Gehalte an inkompatiblen Elementen und zeigen beträchtliche Verarmung an “high field strength” Elementen relativ zu K, Rb, Sr, Ba und Th. Die CIF hat geochemische und petrographische Eigenschaften sowohl von Minetten wie von Lamproiten, aber im allgemeinen ähnelt sie am stärksten jungen mediterranen Lamproiten. Felsische Gesteine der CIF wurden durch Fraktionierung und Krustenkontamination aus mafischen ultrapotassischen Magmen gebildet. Letztere umfassen sowohl siliziumreiche Lamproite, die deutlich an Zr, U und Th angereichert sind und schwach potassische bis sodische Gesteine von trachytischer Zusammensetzung. Lavenergüsse und zufuhrgänge zeigent ein relativ homogenes ɛNd, 1840 Ma (−6 bis −11) aber ein sehr variables ɛSr, 1840 Ma (-40 bis + 100); Proben die als Lamproite klassifiziert wurden, zeigent höhere durchschnittliche ɛSr-Werte. Proben von Gängen haben sehr variable Bleiisotopen-Zusammensetzungen, die von mäßig bis stark nichtradiogen variieren. Geochemische und Isotopendaten weisen auf Beiträge aus verarmtem archaischen lithosphärischen Mantel und aus konvektierendem OIB-Typ Mantel hin, die beide während des Alproterozoikums durch Subduktions-Vorgänge metasomatisiert wurden. Der lithosphärische Mantel enthielt wahrscheinlich auch angereicherte archaische Domänen. Proterozoische Anreicherungsvorgänge dürften seichtes Underplating subduzierter ozeanischer Lithosphäre unter der Churchill Provinz während der Amalgamation des laurentischen Superkontinentes begleitet haben. Es gibt starke Analogien in der Isotopenzusammensetzung und in der interpretierten Geschichte der Ursprungsregion, zwischen den CIF und Lamproiten und Minetten der Wyoming Provinz, und des westlichen Grönland. Diese weisen auf die Existenz einer laurentischen ultrapotassischen “Superprovinz” hin.

An Early Ordovician 40Ar-39Ar age for the ∼50 km Carswell impact structure, Canada

The formation age of the large (∼50 km) Carswell impact structure, Canada, has been a matter of debate ever since its discovery five decades ago, with proposed ages ranging from Mesoproterozoic to Early Cretaceous. Here, we present new 40Ar-39Ar data for aliquots of euhedral adularia, separated from vesicles in an impact melt rock from the central uplift of the structure. The analyses of the adularia yielded a statistically robust Early Ordovician crystallization age of 481.5 ± 0.8 Ma (2σ, mean square of weighted deviates = 1.06, P = 0.30). The most plausible explanation for the formation of vesicle-filling adularia is through low-temperature mineral precipitation during residual hydrothermal circulation that followed the impact, as no other known major intrusive, extrusive, or thermal events have occurred in the Carswell region in the Phanerozoic. The new age of the Carswell impact structure overlaps within uncertainty with the most precise Ar-Ar ages proposed for the L-chondrite parent body breakup event, but not with the age of the stratigraphic sequence from which the meteorites and micrometeorites from this event were recovered. Thus, either the Carswell impact represents a separate, unrelated impact event, or the dynamic evolution of the L-chondrite parent body breakup is more complicated than presently understood, and Carswell represents one of the earliest and largest known impacts of this event on Earth. (Less)