Barbara M. Hill

Direct dating of Adirondack massif anorthosite by U-Pb SHRIMP analysis of igneous zircon: Implications for AMCG complexes

The low abundance of igneous zircon in Proterozoic massif anorthosites has presented a major obstacle to the acquisition of direct absolute ages of crystallization for these important rocks. Indirect dating that relies on zircon ages from associated mangerite-charnockite-granite granitoids assumes that they have a coeval relationship with anorthosite that requires documentation. SHRIMP (sensitive, high-resolution ion-microprobe) U-Pb zircon-dating techniques provide a powerful means for directly dating the small populations of zircons in anorthositic rocks and for resolving problems with inheritance. Within the Adirondack Mountains, 10 samples of massif anorthosite have yielded more-than-sufficient quantities of igneous zircon to establish directly the ages of the region9s classic anorthosite occurrences (e.g., the Marcy and Oregon Dome massifs). In addition, a ferrogabbro, a ferrodiorite, and a coronitic olivine metagabbro, all crosscutting massif anorthosite, were dated. The average age of this suite of 13 anorthositic samples is 1154 ± 6 Ma (MSWD [mean square of weighted deviates] = 0.26, probability = 0.99). In addition, eight associated granitoids have been dated by SHRIMP techniques and complement another five previously dated by multi-grain thermal-ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) methods. The 13 granitoids yield an average age of 1158 ± 5 (MSWD = 0.89, probability = 0.60) and are broadly coeval with the massif anorthosite. The overlapping ages provide evidence that these rocks constitute a single, composite anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) suite intruded at ca. 1155 Ma, an age corresponding to the ages of major AMCG suites in the Grenville province in Canada (e.g., Morin and Lac St-Jean). Although rocks of the Adirondack AMCG suite are now documented as broadly coeval, it does not follow that the constituent AMCG lithologies were comagmatic. Field relationships and mineral disequilibria in transitional zones are inconsistent with derivation from a single parental magma. Moreover, the presence of older (ca. 1.2–1.3 Ga) inherited cores in some zircons from AMCG granitoids conflicts with derivation of these rocks from magmas that formed anorthosite, gabbro, or ferrodiorite, or jotunite, in which zircons are highly soluble. The slightly older ca. 1158 Ma average age of the mangeritic and charnockitic members of the AMCG suite is consistent with an origin as early lower-crustal anatectites that left behind pyroxene-plagioclase restites. This refractory material then reacted (by assimilation–fractional crystallization [AFC]) with ponded, mantle-derived gabbroic magmas to produce plagioclase-rich crystal mushes with crustal isotopic signatures, as proposed much earlier by R.F. Emslie. These magmas are considered to be parental to the Adirondack anorthosite, and upon ascent they were emplaced in proximity to still hot, earlier mangeritic and charnockitic bodies where they underwent further fractionation. The composite nature of the Marcy massif documents that this process was repeated in several sequential pulses.

Paleoproterozoic rocks of central Colorado: Accreted arcs or extended older crust?

Paleoproterozoic (1770–1735 Ma) bimodal volcanic rocks in central Colorado have been considered to represent southward growth of Laurentia by arc accretion. Although the bimodality of these rocks suggests an extensional continental setting rather than continental or oceanic arcs, there has been little evidence for pre–1800 Ma crust south of the Wyoming craton other than the 1840 ± 1 Ma Elves Chasm pluton in the Upper Granite Gorge of the Grand Canyon, Arizona. We report SHRIMP U-Pb ages of inherited zircons from metarhyolites and plutons in central Colorado that are latest Archean–earliest Proterozoic (2520–2000 Ma) and Trans-Hudson–Penokean (1878–1814 Ma). Associated quartzites contain detrital zircons with mean ages of 1735 Ma, indicating only local derivation. A meta-arkose, however, contains detrital zircons of Trans-Hudson–Penokean and Archean ages. We believe it likely that the 1900–1800 Ma Trans-Hudson–Penokean orogens, including Archean enclaves, extended farther south and west than is currently thought, and were the source of the bimodal volcanic rocks and associated plutons during the period 1770–1700 Ma.

Timing of anatexis in metapelites from the Adirondack lowlands and southern highlands: A manifestation of the Shawinigan orogeny and subsequent anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite magmatism

Anatectic leucogranites are common in metapelites within both the highlands and lowlands terranes of the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State. The formation of these igneous bodies, which are folded in the lowlands and commonly mylonitized in the highlands, has been widely considered an event accompanying the ca. 1050 Ma Ottawan orogeny, during which metamorphic grade reached granulite facies in the highlands, while the lowlands experienced amphibolite facies metamorphism. Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) analyses of zircons separated from leucosomes and melanosomes in both the southern highlands and the lowlands indicate that primary anatexis occurred ca. 1180–1160 Ma, and is thus a manifestation of heating during the earlier Shawinigan orogeny (ca. 1210– 1160 Ma) and associated anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) magmatism (ca. 1165–1150 Ma). The absence of Ottawan overgrowths on Shawinigan zircons in these leucosomes suggests that by Ottawan time the rocks were too dry for further melting or zircon growth to occur. However, electron microprobe analyses of monazites from the southern highlands reveal multiple age zones, including cores with ages of ca. 1170–1180 Ma, consistent with primary growth during Shawinigan orogenesis, complex zones formed ca. 1140–1155 Ma during AMCG magmatism, and ca. 1050–1020 Ma formed during Ottawan orogenesis and high-grade metamorphism. Throughout the Adirondacks, leucosomes and melanosomes contain older, ca. 1320 Ma, zircons that are considered to be remnant detrital zircons derived from arc rocks of the Elzevirian terrane. The apparent absence of Archean detrital zircons suggests that the protoliths of the metapelites were deposited in restricted basins that did not receive detritus from the Superior craton.

Does the arc accretion model adequately explain the Paleoproterozoic evolution of southern Laurentia?: An expanded interpretation

A common model for the Paleoproterozoic crustal evolution of southern Laurentia involves southerly accretion of successively younger island arcs from 1780 to 1650 Ma. This model may be oversimplified, however, for although andesite and basaltic andesite, major components of modern island arcs, occur, they are relatively rare, and large volumes of rocks are dominantly bimodal metavolcanic assemblages and related granitoids. Ophiolites occur, but they are also rare, and only one accretionary melange has been described. Inherited zircons, and common Pb and Nd isotopic data indicate involvement of older crust in ca. 1750 Ma rocks of the Mojave Province of southeastern California and western Arizona and the bimodal assemblages of central Colorado. These data suggest that the bimodal volcanic rocks were derived from pre-existing continental crust, likely of ca. 1850 Ma Trans-Hudson–Penokean age, during extension and partial melting associated with the development of transpressional crustal-scale shear zones. The occurrence of the 1840 ± 1 Ma Elves Chasm pluton in the Grand Canyon demonstrates that rocks of Trans-Hudson–Penokean age are present in southwestern Laurentia.

Crustal evolution of southern Laurentia during the Paleoproterozoic: Insights from zircon Hf isotopic studies of ca. 1.75 Ga rocks in central Colorado

Lu-Hf depleted mantle model (TDM) ages, obtained by analysis of zircons previously dated by U-Pb methods, demonstrate that ca. 1.75 Ga bimodal Paleoproterozoic rocks in the Gunnison-Salida region of central Colorado, and by extension in much of the southwestern U.S., were formed by partial melting of preexisting crustal rocks, the ages of which mostly ages greater than 2.0 Ga indicate that range from 1.83 to 1.87 Ga. Some calculated Lu-Hf TDM even older crust was probably involved, consistent with the limited presence of ca. 2.5 Ga xenocrystic zircons in some rocks. These results suggest that rocks related to the Trans-Hudson and Penokean orogens are cryptically present much farther to the south than previously believed. Coupled with the bimodality of the volcanic suite in central Colorado, and indeed in much of the southwestern U.S., these results indicate that, in contrast to current juvenile arc-accretion models, melting of older crust related to extensional tectonics played an important role in the genesis of many magmatic rocks between 1.6 and 1.8 Ga.

Timing of anatexis in the eastern Adirondack Highlands: Implications for tectonic evolution during ca. 1050 Ma Ottawan orogenesis

U-Pb sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) analyses of zircons from migmatitic metapelites in the eastern Adirondack Highlands demonstrate that substantial anatexis took place ca. 1050 Ma during the late, but still high-grade, ca. 1090–1050 Ma Ottawan orogeny. These results contrast with data from metapelites of the southwestern Adirondack Highlands and Adirondack Lowlands, which indicate that anatexis occurred ca. 1200–1160 Ma, during the Shawinigan orogeny and subsequent (ca. 1155 Ma) anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) magmatism. Ca. 1180–1150 Ma zircons from this western regime do not contain ca. 1050 Ma (Ottawan) metamorphic overgrowths. The absence of ca. 1050 Ma Ottawan anatexis and overgrowths in the Adirondack Lowlands is explained by the observation that, consistent with titanite cooling ages, post–1150 Ma temperatures did not exceed ~700 °C. In the southwestern Adirondack Highlands, the absence of ca. 1050 Ma anatexis can be accounted for by earlier dehydration of metapelites during ca. 1180–1150 Ma Shawinigan-AMCG metamorphism. The occurrence of ca. 1050 Ma anatexis and formation of metamorphic zircons in the eastern Adirondacks cannot be explained by higher temperatures, because geothermometry indicates that all of the Adirondack Highlands reached a nearly uniform 750–800 °C during this period. Accordingly, the occurrence of ca. 1050 Ma Ottawan anatexis in the eastern regime is interpreted to be the result of: (1) infl uxes of hydrous fl uids at ca. 1050 Ma, or (2) decompression melting during late extensional exhumation. A recently recognized low-angle late Ottawan (ca. 1050 Ma) fault system may have provided both fl uid conduits and footwall decompression. The sense of displacement along the shear zone has not yet been unequivocally determined, but preliminary investigations of kinematic indicators demonstrate normal displacement. Thus, this structure may be an analogue of the ca. 1050 Ma northwest-dipping Carthage–Colton zone normal fault system that juxtaposed the Adirondack Lowlands against the Adirondack Highlands. In this context, these fault zones form a quasi-symmetrical core complex or gneiss dome, within which the high-grade core of the Adirondack Highlands was tectonically exhumed. A similar east-dipping, along-strike normal fault in Quebec (Tawachiche shear zone) exhumed the eastern Morin and Lac Taureau terranes at ca. 1050 Ma and may merge with the eastern Adirondack shear zone described here.

Does the arc-accretion model adequately explain the Paleoproterozoic evolution of southern Laurentia: An expanded interpretation: COMMENT AND REPLY REPLY

We were delighted to learn that [Karlstrom et al. (2007)][1] had written a Comment on our recent article in Geology ; one of our major purposes was to stir debate on the origin of the extensive Paleoproterozoic crust of the southwestern United States. This Reply is intended not so much as a point-by