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Late Neoproterozoic amphibolite-facies metamorphism of a pre-Caledonian basement block in southwest Wedel Jarlsberg Land, Spitsbergen: new evidence from U–Th–Pb dating of monazite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2008

JAROSLAW MAJKA*
Affiliation:
AGH, University of Science and Technology, Department of Mineralogy, Petrography and Geochemistry, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
STANISLAW MAZUR
Affiliation:
University of Wrocław, Institute of Geological Sciences, Pl. M. Borna 9, 50-204 Wrocław, Poland
MACIEJ MANECKI
Affiliation:
AGH, University of Science and Technology, Department of Mineralogy, Petrography and Geochemistry, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
JERZY CZERNY
Affiliation:
AGH, University of Science and Technology, Department of Mineralogy, Petrography and Geochemistry, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
DANIEL K. HOLM
Affiliation:
Kent State University, Department of Geology, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA
*
Author for correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract

Southwest Spitsbergen, Wedel Jarlsberg Land, consists of two Proterozoic crustal blocks with differing metamorphic histories. Both blocks experienced Caledonian greenschist-facies metamorphism, but only the southern block records an earlier pervasive M1 amphibolite-facies metamorphism and strong deformational fabric. In situ EMPA total-Pb monazite geochronology from both matrix and porphyroblast inclusion results indicate that the older M1 metamorphism occurred at 643 ± 9 Ma, consistent with published cooling ages of c. 620 Ma (hornblende) and 580 Ma (mica) obtained from these same rocks. This region thus contains a lithostratigraphic profile and metamorphic history which are unique within the Svalbard Archipelago. Documentation of a pervasive late Neoproterozoic Barrovian metamorphism is difficult to reconcile with a quiescent non-tectonic regime typically inferred for this region, based on the occurrence of rift-drift sequences on the Baltic and Laurentian passive margins. Instead, our new metamorphic age implies an exotic origin of the pre-Devonian basement exposed in SW Spitsbergen and supports models of terrane assembly postulated for the Svalbard Archipelago.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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Footnotes

§

Now at GETECH, Kitson House, Elmete Hall, Elmete Lane, Leeds LS8 2LJ, UK

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