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U–Pb zircon dating and Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic evidence to support a juvenile origin of the ~ 634 Ma El Shalul granitic gneiss dome, Arabian–Nubian Shield

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2011

K. ALI ,
A. ANDRESEN ,
W. I. MANTON ,
R. J. STERN ,
S. A. OMAR  and
A. E. MAURICE
K. ALI
Affiliation:
Geosciences Department, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75080USA Department of Mineral Resources and Rocks, Faculty of Earth Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
A. ANDRESEN*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, P. O. Box 1047, University of Oslo, Blindern, O316 Oslo, Norway
W. I. MANTON
Affiliation:
Geosciences Department, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75080USA
R. J. STERN
Affiliation:
Geosciences Department, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75080USA
S. A. OMAR
Affiliation:
Nuclear Materials Authority, P. O. Box 530, El Maadi, Kattamyia, Egypt
A. E. MAURICE
Affiliation:
Geology Department, Faculty of Earth Science, Beni Suef University, 62517 Beni Suef, Egypt
*
†Author for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

The calc-alkaline, gneissic El Shalul granite is the westernmost gneiss dome or core complex within the Arabian–Nubian Shield. Previous studies have indicated that it represents either a window into the underlying pre-Neoproterozoic Sahara metacraton or a melt derived from the metacraton. U–Pb LA-ICP-MS dating of magmatic zircons from two samples of the variably foliated El Shalul pluton gives ages of 637 ± 5 Ma and 630 ± 6 Ma, excluding it from representing exhumed cratonic rocks. The ages are, however, indistinguishable from the age of the Um Ba'anib pluton, constituting the core of the Meatiq Gneiss Dome, as well as several other plutons in the Eastern Desert, indicating an important magmatic pulse in the Arabian–Nubian Shield in Late Cryogenian time. Major and trace element data indicate a within-plate setting. Bulk rock Nd-isotope and Hf-isotope data on zircons from the El Shalul pluton indicate derivation of the primary melt from a relatively juvenile source, either the lower crust of a mid-Neoproterozoic volcanic arc or as a result of fractionation of a mantle-derived mafic melt. Sm–Nd bulk rock isotopic data indicate a model age of c. 720 Ma for the protolith from which the melt was derived. Time-corrected Hf-isotope data obtained on the magmatic zircons indicate that the bulk of the source rock was extracted from the mantle around 810 Ma.

Keywords

Eastern Desertgneiss domegeochronologygeochemistry
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 149 , Issue 5 , September 2012 , pp. 783 - 797
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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