A detailed 40Ar/39Ar age study of an Abitibi dike from the Canadian Superior Province

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 1060-1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Hanes ◽  
Derek York

40Ar/39Ar step-heating analyses were performed on 11 felsic and mafic mineral separates from a 90 m wide Precambrian diabase dike of the Abitibi swarm in the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. Deuterically altered minerals from the dike interior define a primary age of 2150 ± 25 Ma. Updated ages, obtained from felsic separates within 30, and mafic within 1.5 m of the dike border, are evidence of a previously undetected 'Hudsonian' (1.7–1.8 Ga) hydrothermal event in the area. It is possible to distinguish the deuteric from the later hydrothermal alteration by both dating and petrographic methods. The data from this study demonstrate the successful application of 40Ar/39Ar dating to early Proterozoic dikes which have suffered low grade metamorphism. The ages support a north to south sense of motion of the Track 5 apparent polar wander path (APWP). A monotonic decrease in apparent age of felsic spectra indicates reactor induced recoil effects which are correlated with the fine-grained saussurite in the feldspar.

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth L. Buchan ◽  
Anthony N. LeCheminant ◽  
Otto van Breemen

The NE-trending Malley dyke swarm, dated herein at 2231 ± 2 Ma (U–Pb baddeleyite), extends from the central Slave craton to the vicinity of the Kilohigok basin, and may continue farther to the northeast as the geochemically similar Brichta dyke swarm, having been offset sinistrally along the prominent Bathurst fault. It carries a characteristic high unblocking temperature paleomagnetic component of single polarity directed up SE (mean direction: D = 138.3°, I = –53.8°), with corresponding paleopole at 50.8°S, 50.0°W. Lower unblocking temperature components, in some cases directed down SE, similar to ca 1.75 Ga post-Hudsonian overprints, are easily removed using combined alternating field (AF) thermal demagnetization, but difficult to remove using AF cleaning alone. The characteristic remanence has not been demonstrated primary, but is significantly older than 2.03 Ga, the age of Lac de Gras dykes, based on a baked contact test at a Lac de Gras – Malley dyke intersection. In addition, an E- to ESE-trending dyke carries a down WNW remanence, typical of 2.19 Ga Dogrib dykes near Yellowknife, suggesting that regional overprinting has not affected the study area since Dogrib emplacement, and that the Malley remanence was acquired at or shortly after Malley emplacement. Comparing Malley and Lac de Gras paleopoles with the 2.22–2.00 Ga Superior craton apparent polar wander path indicates that the two cratons were (i) not in their present relative orientation at 2.23 or 2.03 Ga, and (ii) likely not drifting in close proximity to one another as parts of a single (super)continent throughout the 2.23–2.03 Ga interval.


1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 1725-1737 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. J. Schwarz ◽  
G. N. Freda

One hundred and forty-two oriented cores were collected from redbeds of the Sakami Formation near LG-4 (85), Dieter (19), Cambrian (18), and Snow-ball (4) lakes, all in Quebec, and from two outliers in Labrador: Evening Lake (6) and Sims Lake (10). A further 73 oriented drill cores were collected from the strongly folded Chakonipau Formation redbeds (44) in the Labrador Trough and undeformed redbeds near Lac Imbault (29) on the western edge of the trough. Thermal demagnetization of the trough redbeds yielded 52 core directions, each of which showed good specimen end points and sufficient homogeneity of magnetization, and 101 such core directions were obtained for the outlier redbeds. In most of these samples, there are no indications that the stable remanence is multi-component, and the fold test yields (for LG-4 Sakami Formation and the Chakonipau Formation) a significant (95% probability) improvement of the dispersion parameter K. Thus, the Chakonipau Formation remanence is probably pre-Hudsonian and the Sakami Formation remanence is probably pre-faulting (not dated). Furthermore, a near reversal (165°) in the Chakonipau Formation suggests that the stable remanence was acquired during or soon after deposition. The pole positions for Circum-Superior orogen rocks, the Proterozoic outliers, and the Sutton Lake inlier suggest: (1) a time-stratigraphic correlation between the LG-4 Sakami, Dieter Lake, Sutton Lake, and the upper part of the Belcher Island sequences; and (2) a time-stratigraphic correlation between the lower part of the Belcher Islands sequence and the Richmond Gulf sequence, which must be substantially older than group 1. The Circum-Superior apparent polar wander path (APWP) is drawn through magnetic North poles from the group 1 poles to the group 2 poles, yielding a slightly lower age for the trough sediments represented by the Chakonipau Formation (two opposing polarities) and the Lac Imbault redbeds. The general North American APWP is simplified by the deletion of the Richmond Gulf South poles, and seems to be positioned as much as about 30° north of the Circum-Superior APWP down to about 1800 Ma ago. This may indicate (pre-) Hudsonian movement between the northeastern part of the Canadian Shield and paleomagnetically better investigated parts to the (south-) west.


1990 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1031-1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. Vandall ◽  
D. T. A. Symons

Paleomagnetic measurements have been completed on 400 specimens from dated Archean granites and Matachewan dikes in the Michipicoten and Gamitagama greenstone belts in the western Wawa Subprovince of the Superior Province, Ontario. Detailed alternating-field and thermal step demagnetization analyses were used to isolate stable remanence directions. A single-component remanence was isolated within three adjacent dated granitic plutons on the eastern margin of the Michipicoten belt, including the Hawk Lake trondhjemite, the Southern external granite, and the Eastern external granite (HSE). The maximum possible age for this remanence is constrained by the intrusion of the last pluton at 2694 Ma. The corresponding HSE paleopole is located at 10°W, 41°S (dp = 8°, dm = 13°). A second paleopole, NB, is derived from the Northern external granite and the Baldhead River quartz monzonite, which give U–Pb zircon ages of 2662 and 2668 Ma, respectively. Their single-component remanence defines a paleopole on the Archean apparent polar wander path (APWP) at 15°E, 27°S (dp = 8°, dm = 13°), with a maximum possible age of 2.66 Ga. A third paleopole, GD, is derived from the north-northwest-trending Gamitagama diabase dikes and yields a position of 57°E, 41°N (dp = 7°, dm = 14°), which agrees with poles determined by other workers from the 2454 Ma Matachewan dike swarm. The GD pole, along with previously determined Matachewan dike poles, demonstrates that a tectonically stable craton has existed since intrusion of this extensive dike swarm, and it improves the precision of the 2454 Ma Matachewan pole on the APWP. These poles, when compared with coeval poles from the eastern side of the Kapuskasing Structural Zone in the Superior Province, imply no tectonic rotation or translation between the Wawa and Abitibi subprovinces along this Early Proterozoic structure.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Yves Jean Antonio ◽  
Ricardo Ivan ferreira da Trindade ◽  
Maria Helena B. M. Hollanda ◽  
Bruno Giacomini

<p>The Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic transition (~541 Ma) was a turning point in Earth’s history resulting in great biological changes between the microbial Precambrian life and the Ediacaran biotic revolution with the occupation of the sedimentary substrate, the dawn of biomineralization and the appearance of the earliest multicellular organisms. In parallel, this period is marked by a large plate reorganization leading to the assembly of Gondwana and by major climatic changes (extreme glacial events). Due in part to a poor paleomagnetic database for the different cratons in the Ediacarian-Cambrian times, the global paleogeography at that time still remains controversial. In this study we present a new paleomagnetic pole (Q= 6) for the Monteiro dike swarms in the Borborema Province (NE Brazil). They are fine-grained hornblende dolerite dated by U-Pb on zircon at ~538 Ma. Rock magnetic data indicate that magnetite and pyrrhotite are the main remanence carriers. Positive baked-contact tests support the primary remanence obtained for these dikes (19 sites). A positive reversal test (classified C) was also obtained from the 14 sites with normal polarity and the 5 sites with reversed polarity, indicating that the secular variations was eliminated with our sampling. Our new key pole is not consistent with the classical Apparent Polar Wander Path of the West Gondwana which consists of a long track from a southern polar position at ~590 Ma to an equatorial position at ~520 Ma. The Monteiro paleomagnetic pole suggest instead rapid and small oscillations of the APW, or wobbles, after 560 Ma. These rapid oscillations may be related to inertial readjustments in response to true polar wander (TPW) of the spin axis. TPW events have been suggested from 615 to 590 and then from 575 to 565 Ma in previous works. These TPWs are supposedly caused by changes in the inertia tensor of the Earth due to internal mass redistribution, related to rapid changes in subduction velocity. Possible links between these events and life evolution will also be discussed.</p>


1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. T. A. Symons ◽  
A. D. Chiasson

The 7 km2 circular Callander alkaline complex was emplaced into anorthositic and granitic gneisses of the Grenville Province in the Canadian Shield about 575 ± 5 Ma ago at the start of the Cambrian. The complex has not been subsequently metamorphosed or tilted. Detailed alternating-field and thermal step demagnetization of 252 specimens from 29 sites led to the identification of a characteristic A magnetization component with a direction of D = 82.2°, I = 82.7° (α95 = 3.1°, k = 83, N = 26 sites) in 5 sites of mesocratic to leucocratic syenite from the core of the complex, in 5 sites of fenitized host rock from its aureole, and in 16 sites of lamprophyre from radiating dikes. Isothermal remanent-magnetization tests show that the A component is retained by both magnetite and hematite in a complete spectrum of domain sizes. A reversals test suggests and a contact test shows the A component to be primary. Its pole position at 46.3°S, 121.4°E(dp = 5.9°, dm = 6.1°) does not fall on published but poorly defined Cambrian apparent polar wander paths, leading to speculation on an alternative Cambrian path.


1977 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 2737-2759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan M. Goodwin

Southern Superior Province of the Canadian Shield contains cratonic and basinal elements arranged in high- to low-grade metamorphic terranes such that higher grade gneissic cratons are interpreted to represent primary infrastructure to lower grade volcanic-rich (greenstone) basins. Ensimatic accumulation of volcanic components is favoured with derivation of gneissic (granitic) components by ensuing metamorphic differentiation and granitization processes. Such vertically reconstructed basin–craton complexes which are tentatively ascribed to initial Archean mantle convection, are viewed as building units of growing Precambrian shields.Globally, twenty-seven identified Archean cratons belong to three main age groups based on maximum recorded ages as follows: 3.5–3.8 Ga, 2.9–3.1 Ga, and 2.6–2.7 Ga. The three age groups that correspond to major periods of Archean orogeny may represent accretion superevents (after Moorbath).Most cratons as presently exposed display lithologic characteristics of lower superstructure–upper infrastructure of typical basin–craton complexes thereby suggesting a common degree of crustal buoyancy, hence level of erosion. Archean belts of southern Superior Province provide unique opportunity for reconstruction of the typical basin–craton complex.


Author(s):  
Gejing Li ◽  
D. R. Peacor ◽  
D. S. Coombs ◽  
Y. Kawachi

Recent advances in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and analytical electron microscopy (AEM) have led to many new insights into the structural and chemical characteristics of very finegrained, optically homogeneous mineral aggregates in sedimentary and very low-grade metamorphic rocks. Chemical compositions obtained by electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) on such materials have been shown by TEM/AEM to result from beam overlap on contaminant phases on a scale below resolution of EMPA, which in turn can lead to errors in interpretation and determination of formation conditions. Here we present an in-depth analysis of the relation between AEM and EMPA data, which leads also to the definition of new mineral phases, and demonstrate the resolution power of AEM relative to EMPA in investigations of very fine-grained mineral aggregates in sedimentary and very low-grade metamorphic rocks.Celadonite, having end-member composition KMgFe3+Si4O10(OH)2, and with minor substitution of Fe2+ for Mg and Al for Fe3+ on octahedral sites, is a fine-grained mica widespread in volcanic rocks and volcaniclastic sediments which have undergone low-temperature alteration in the oceanic crust and in burial metamorphic sequences.


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