Laurence Page

Timing of ophiolite obduction in the Grampian orogen

This study addresses the timing and pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions of ophiolite obduction, one of the proposed causes of the ca. 470 Ma Grampian orogeny of Scotland and Ireland. This event gave rise to the main structural and metamorphic characteristics of the Grampian terrane-the type area for Barrovian metamorphism, the cause of which remains enigmatic despite a century of research. Zircons from the Highland Border ophiolite, Scotland, define a 499 +/- 8 Ma U-Pb concordia age, which is interpreted as dating magmatism. Its metamorphism is dated by a 490 +/- 4 Ma Ar-40-Ar-39 hornblende age, and a 488 +/- 1 Ma Ar-40-Ar-39 muscovite age from a metasedimentary xenolith within it, from which P-T estimates of 5.3 kbar and 580 degrees C relate to ophiolite obduction. Metamorphism of the Deerpark complex ophiolitic melange (Irish correlative of the Highland Border ophiolite) is constrained by a 514 +/- 3 Ma Ar-40-Ar-39 hornblende age, while mica schist slivers within it yield detrital zircon U-Pb ages consistent with Laurentian provenance and Rb-Sr and Ar-40-Ar-39 muscovite ages of ca. 482 Ma. P-T values of 3.3 kbar and 580 degrees C for the mica schist constrain the conditions of ophiolite obduction. Metamorphic mineral ages from the Grampian terrane (Dalradian Supergroup) are substantially younger (ca. 475-465 Ma) than those from the ophiolites. If conductive heating in overthickened crust was the cause of Barrovian metamorphism, then collisional thickening must have started soon after ophiolite obduction at ca. 490 Ma in order to generate the ca. 470 Ma metamorphic peak in the Grampian terrane. (Less)

40Ar/39Ar geochronology across the Mylonite Zone and the Southwester Granulite Province in the Sveconorwegian Orogen of S Sweden

Abstract The crustal segment between the Mylonite Zone (MZ) and the Protogine Zone in southern Sweden (the Southwestern Granulite Province, SGP) is characterized by numerous occurrences of granulite and upper amphibolite-facies rocks including migmatitic gneisses, mafic granulites, garnet amphibolites and charnockites. The southwest part of the Mylonite Zone (north of Varberg) marks a tectonic upper boundary of the SGP. A 40 Ar 39 Ar study was initiated across the Mylonite Zone and within the SGP in order to constrain and compare the ages obtained from within the SGP with those obtained north of and within the Mylonite Zone. 23 homblendes and one muscovite have been analyzed. The results of these analyses indicate the following. (1) Hornblendes from within and near the MZ yield 40 Ar 39 Ar hornblende ages of ∼ 915 Ma. These ages are interpreted to date the dynamic crystallization or cooling below 500°C of the deformation associated with the MZ. (2) Away from the MZ there is a distribution of ages between those which yield younger Sveconorwegian ages of 931–934 Ma, and those which yield older Sveconorwegian ages generally between 960 and 1007 Ma. The younger age may be associated with orogenic uplift, while the older one may be associated with an earlier Sveconorwegian crustal thickening event. (3) The one muscovite age of 904 Ma would indicate a late cooling rate of at least 6–15°C/Ma. Cooling rates of this magnitude may suggest that the final uplift of the Sveconorwegian orogen was related to large-scale crustal extension

The tectonothermal evolution and provenance of the Tyrone Central Inlier, Ireland: Grampian imbrication of an outboard Laurentian microcontinent?

The Tyrone Central Inlier is a metamorphic terrane of uncertain affinity situated outboard of the main Dalradian outcrop (south of the Fair Head–Clew Bay Line) and could represent sub-arc basement to part of the enigmatic Midland Valley Terrane. Using a combination of isotopic, structural and petrographic evidence, the tectonothermal evolution of the Tyrone Central Inlier was investigated. Sillimanite-bearing metamorphic assemblages (c. 670 °C, 6.8 kbar) and leucosomes in paragneisses are cut by granite pegmatites, which post-date two deformation fabrics. The leucosomes yield a weighted average 207Pb/206Pb zircon age of 467 ± 12 Ma whereas the main fabric yields a 40Ar–39Ar biotite cooling age of 468 ± 1.4 Ma. The pegmatites yield 457 ± 7 Ma and 458 ± 7 Ma Rb–Sr muscovite–feldspar ages and 40Ar–39Ar step-heating plateaux of 466 ± 1 Ma and 468 ± 1 Ma, respectively. The metasedimentary rocks yield Palaeoproterozoic Sm–Nd model ages and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detrital zircon U–Pb analyses from a psammitic gneiss yield age populations at 1.05–1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2.7 and 3.1 Ga. Combined, these data permit correlation of the Tyrone Central Inlier with either the Argyll or the Southern Highland Group of the Dalradian Supergroup. The inlier was thus part of Laurentia onto which the Tyrone ophiolite was obducted.

Grampian orogenesis and the development of blueschist-facies metamorphism in western Ireland

Rb–Sr and 40Ar/39Ar step-heating and in situ 40Ar/39Ar laserprobe dating of fabric-forming micas provide new constraints on the timing of Grampian orogenesis and the associated development of blueschist-facies metamorphism at the Laurentian margin in NW Ireland. Early (MP1) blueschist-facies assemblages were developed in metabasites of the Dalradian Supergroup deposited near the edge of the incipient Laurentian margin, contemporaneous with Barrovian metamorphism in the Dalradian closer to the Laurentian foreland. The regional D2 event is associated with the formation of orogen-scale fold nappes and is constrained in the Dalradian by S2 muscovite ages of c. 460 Ma, which are probably recording crystallization. Importantly, the Clew Bay Complex, previously considered as an exotic terrane (correlated with the Highland Border Complex of Scotland) and the Dalradian are in structural continuity. Muscovite from the S2 nappe fabric in the Clew Bay Complex also yields identical c. 460 Ma ages. During D3, dextral shearing tilted the recumbent D2 nappes into a vertical, downward-facing orientation adjacent to the Laurentian margin. D3 is constrained by S3 muscovite ages of c. 448 Ma. Synchronous deformation of the Dalradian Supergroup and the Clew Bay Complex in the mid-Ordovician Grampian orogeny casts doubt on both the validity of Silurian microfossil dates obtained from the Clew Bay Complex and the exotic status of both this ‘terrane’ and the correlative Highland Border Complex of Scotland.

40Ar/39Ar geochronological constraints from the southeasternmost part of the Eastern segment of the Sveconorwegian orogen: Implications for timing of granulite‐facies metamorphism

Abstract The Southwest Swedish Granulite Region is characterized by mafic granulite‐ and upper amphibolite‐facies rocks, charnockites, and deformed and migmatized granitic to intermediate gneisses. A 40Ar/39 geochronological study was carried out focusing on the mafic rocks. Three granulites and four amphibolites have been analysed. The obtained ages range between 930 and 1030 Ma. The older 40Ar/39 ages are interpreted to be associated with crustal thickening, while the younger 40Ar/39 ages may be associated with final orogenic uplift. Wang X.‐D., Page, L.M. & Lindh, A., 1996: 40Ar/39 geochronological constraints from the southeasternmost part of the Eastern segment of the Sveconorwegian orogen: Implications for timing of granulite‐facies metamorphism. GFF, Vol. 118 (Pt. 1, March), pp. 1–8. Stockholm. ISSN 1103–5897.

Tectonic response of the central Chilean margin (35–38°S) to the collision and subduction of heterogeneous oceanic crust: a thermochronological study

Along-strike geological segmentation in the Andean chain has been recognized at various scales and is usually attributed to changes in plate motion vectors, as well as the upper-plate expression of differing subducted slab age, strength and composition. We present new multi-phase 40Ar/39Ar, apatite fission-track and zircon and apatite (U–Th)/He data from a north–south-oriented traverse between 35 and 38°S along the Principal Andean Cordillera of Chile that reveal (1) rapid cooling at 18 and 15 Ma, which can be attributed to both thermal relaxation following magmatic intrusion and regional-scale exhumation, and (2) along-strike differences in the extent of exhumation since 7.5 Ma that may be a consequence of the subduction of the Juan Fernandez Ridge above the flat-slab segment at 32°, since 10 Ma. A comparison of the response of the South American Plate to the collision of the Carnegie, Nazca and Juan Fernandez ridges suggests that slab flattening is not the dominant driving force that exhumes the upper plate in these settings. Rather, the extent of exhumation is controlled by pre-existing structural weaknesses, the time duration of the dynamically supported topography, and climate.

40Ar/39Ar geochronological constraints on the tectonothermal evolution of the Eastern Segment of the Sveconorwegian Orogen, south-central Sweden

Abstract A 40Ar/39Ar study to constrain the tectonothermal evolution across the Eastern Segment of the Sveconorwegian Orogen has been initiated in the area north and east of lake Vänern, south-central Sweden. This segment of the orogen is confined by two major deformation zones, the Sveconorwegian Frontal Deformation Zone (SFDZ) in the east and the Mylonite Zone in the west. Previous structural work and the prograde character of the metamorphism within the study area suggest that an older (< c. 1.57 Ga), regional foliation was formed by ductile shear deformation in a compressional tectonic regime. The orientation of this foliation was subsequently modified by later rotation along younger ductile shear zones in the easternmost, frontal part of the orogen (SFDZ). The 40Ar/39Ar ages for hornblende suggest that the regional foliation is Sveconorwegian. Furthermore, white mica ages demonstrate that the Sveconorwegian tectonothermal overprint continues at least 40 km east of the traditionally accepted limit situated along the ‘Protogine Zone’. These results also provide age constraints for different phases of Sveconorwegian tectonothermal evolution with an older group of ages from 1009–965 Ma and a younger set from 930–905 Ma. The older ages are inferred to constrain a minimum age for crustal thickening during which the regional foliation and metamorphism developed, while the younger are associated with later compressional movement along the SFDZ.

40Ar/39Ar biotite and hornblende geochronology from the Oskarshamn area, SE Sweden: Discerning multiple Proterozoic tectonothermal events

Twelve 40Ar-39Ar biotite and four hornblende age determinations have been carried out to constrain the cooling history of the Proterozoic bedrock near Oskarshamn, SE Sweden; an area identified as a possible site for long-term nuclear waste storage. The bedrock hosts 1.80 Ga granites, granodiorites, quartz monzodiorites and diorites/gabbros of the Transscandinavian Igneous Belt and two 1.45-1.44 Ga granite intrusions, the Gotemar and Uthammar plutons. Biotite was selected from three surface samples, representing both the older rocks and the younger granites, and from three cored boreholes at nine different depth levels. Hornblende was extracted from samples at the top and bottom of one borehole and at two sub-surface levels of another borehole. Three age groups were distinguished: ≥ 1.62 Ga, 1.51-1.47 Ga and 1.43-1.42 Ga. In the first group, two hornblende analyses yielded ages of 1799±4 Ma and 1773±13 Ma, which indicate initial fast cooling after emplacement of the 1.80 Ga rocks of the Transscandinavian Igneous Belt. Two biotite ages of 1618±7 Ma and 1621±3 Ma are interpreted to date final cooling, through 300 °C, after the youngest suite (1.67 Ga) of the Transscandinavian Igneous Belt in southcentral Sweden. Seven biotite ages, in the range 1.51-1.47 Ga, are enigmatic to interpret but largely coincide with the cessation of widespread rapakivi magmatism in Fennoscandia and the initiation of the Danopolonian event. The 1.44-1.42 Ga hornblende and biotite ages reflect cooling after thermal heating from the 1.45-1.44 Ga Gotemar and Uthammar plutons. Later events thermally affected the bedrock in the Oskarshamn area as indicated by a poorly defined biotite age of 928±6 Ma, and other disturbed 40Ar-39Ar ages of samples bordering a complex deformation zone. (Less)

New dates (415 Ma) for the Etive Dyke Swarm and the end of the Caledonian Orogeny in the SW Grampian highlands of Scotland

New laser stepwise heating 40Ar–39Ar dates (415 ± 1.8 and 414 ± 2 Ma) from the Etive Dyke Swarm in the SW Grampian Highlands of Scotland indicate that the dykes are 10–20 Ma older than previously assumed. The dykes constitute the final phase of the Late Caledonian Granites in the region, which themselves define the end of the Caledonian Orogeny, therefore these dates can be taken as the end of the orogeny in this area. The dates show a temporal link between the Etive magmatism and early precious metal mineralization at Tyndrum as well as emphasizing the NW to SE diachronous nature of the end of Caledonian magmatism across Scotland.

Crenulation-slip development in a Caledonian shear zone in NW Ireland: evidence for a multi-stage movement history

Abstract In Scotland and Ireland, a Laurentian passive margin sequence, the Dalradian Supergroup, was deformed during the c. 470–460 Ma Grampian orogeny, resulting in the formation of crustal-scale recumbent nappes. In Ireland, this passive margin sequence is in general bounded to the SE by the Fair Head-Clew Bay Line (FHCBL), a segment of a major lineament within the Caledonides. Adjacent to the FHCBL, Dalradian metasediments in two separate inliers have undergone post-Grampian strike-slip movement, with the initially flat-lying Grampian nappe fabric acting as a décollement-like slip surface in both cases. As the orientation of these foliation slip surfaces was oblique to the local shear plane in both inliers, displacement along these pre-existing foliation surfaces was also accompanied by crenulation slip. However, the crenulation-slip morphologies produced imply the opposite sense of movement in the two inliers. 40Ar-39Ar dating of muscovite defining the crenulation-slip surfaces indicates that post-Grampian dextral displacement took place along the FHCBL at 448 ± 3 Ma. A subsequent phase of sinistral movement along the FHCBL took place at c. 400 Ma, based on previously published Rb-Sr muscovite ages for synkinematic pegmatites. The kinematic information obtained from crenulationslip morphologies combined with geochronology can thus be used to constrain the reactivation history of a major crustal-scale shear zone.