Zircon U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope microanalysis was conducted in (meta)-igneous units of Ammouliani island to characterize crust-forming and reworking events in the Serbo-Macedonian massif. Zircon grains from an orthogneiss of the Vertiskos unit yielded a U–Pb crystallization age for the igneous precursor at 458.8 ± 11 Ma with dominantly subchondritic ϵHf values indicating reworking of Neoproterozoic basement. A weighted mean ϵHf value of 0.7 ± 2.4 from oscillatory zoned zircon grains of the Ouranoupoli granodiorite indicates juvenile crustal input at 52.1 ± 0.6 Ma. The U–Pb–Hf zircon archive records discrete stages in the crustal evolution of the Serbo-Macedonian massif.

U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope analyses of detrital zircon from the latest Ordovician (Hirnantian) Langøyene Formation, the Late Silurian Ringerike Group and the Late Carboniferous Asker Group in the Oslo Rift were obtained by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Overall the U–Pb dating yielded ages within the range 2861–313 Ma. The U–Pb age and Lu–Hf isotopic signatures correspond to virtually all known events of crustal evolution in Fennoscandia, as well as synorogenic intrusions from the Norwegian Caledonides. Such temporally and geographically diverse source areas likely reflect multiple episodes of sediment recycling in Fennoscandia, and highlights the intrinsic problem of using zircon as a tracer-mineral in ‘source to sink’ sedimentary provenance studies. In addition to its mostly Fennoscandia-derived detritus, the Asker Group also have zircon grains of Late Devonian – Late Carboniferous age. Since no rocks of these ages are known in Fennoscandia, these zircons are inferred to be derived from the Variscan Orogen of central Europe.

Between 1271 and 1246 Ma, dolerite dykes and sills of the Central Scandinavian Dolerite Group intruded into the Fennoscandian Shield during three distinct magmatic pulses. They are distributed around five large magmatic complexes extending from Sweden to western Finland and record large-scale intracratonic tensional stress. Coeval plutonism is observed in the westernmost terrane of the Sveconorwegian orogen in southern Norway, but differs in the sense of a bimodal character and uncertain Fennoscandian ancestry of the host terrane. We report a U–Pb baddeleyite age of 1269 ± 12 Ma for a gabbronoritic member of an E-trending set of dykes, called the Moslätt Dolerites, near Lake Vättern in southern Sweden, much farther to the south than any previously known Central Scandinavian Dolerite Group rock. A similar age of approximately 1275 Ma is obtained for a meta-dolerite sheet in the Børgefjell basement window in the Scandinavian Caledonides in Mid-Norway. The initial epsilon-Hf values for these two dykes are +3.9 and +10.1, respectively, and correspond to the range of values for other occurrences of the Central Scandinavian Dolerite Group (+4.7 to +10.3). They add to the evidence that the Central Scandinavian Dolerite Group is characterized by more positive epsilon values (depleted source) than other mafic Proterozoic suites in Fennoscandia. These results extend the distribution of c. 1270–1245 Ma mafic magmatism in Fennoscandia, particularly when accounting for significant Caledonian shortening. The Central Scandinavian Dolerite Group and coeval bimodal magmatism in S Norway may represent distal magmatic events related to a Mesoproterozoic subduction along the western margin of Fennoscandia rather than hotspot (mantle plume) activity as previously suggested.