Anatomy of a Neoarchean continental arc-backarc system in the Cross Lake-Pipestone Lake region, northwestern Superior Province, Canada

Abstract

The Neoarchean Cross Lake-Pipestone Lake terrain, northwestern Superior Province, consists of the Cross Lake greenstone belt, the Pipestone Lake anorthosite complex, and multiple generations of granitoids. The Cross Lake greenstone belt includes an assemblage of basalt, picrite, gabbro, and sedimentary rocks (Pipestone Lake Group) that formed between 2790 Ma and 2760 Ma, and an assemblage of polymictic conglomerate, sandstone, and siltstone (Cross Lake Group) that were deposited between 2704 Ma and 2691 Ma. The Pipestone Lake anorthosite complex is composed of gabbro, megacrystic anorthosite and leucogabbro, and mafic dykes. The Pipestone Lake Group and the Pipestone Lake anorthosite complex are intruded by ca 2760 Ma and younger granitoids. The trace element systematics of the granitoids suggest that they originated in a volcanic-arc to syn-collisional tectonic setting, whereas the trace element signatures of the basalt, picrite, gabbro, anorthosite and leucogabbro association are consistent with a back-arc setting. Whole-rock initial εNd values, zircon initial εHf values and 207Pb/206Pb zircon ages for the granitoids and the anorthosite complex are consistent with long-term depleted mantle sources and variable degrees of crustal contamination during their interaction with Mesoarchean to Paleoarchean continental crust. Zircon trace element data indicate that the granodiorite and the anorthosite complex formed in a continental crust to oceanic crust transition zone at an arc-related setting. On the basis of the field relationships, and trace element and isotopic data, we suggest that the Pipestone Lake anorthosite complex and the spatially and temporally associated Pipestone Lake Group formed in a continental back-arc setting. During and after the closure of the back-arc basin, both the Pipestone Lake Group and the anorthosite complex were intruded by arc-derived granitoids. Accordingly, we interpret the association of the Pipestone Lake Group and Pipestone Lake anorthosite complex as a Neoarchean suture zone. Following the collision and closure of the back-arc basin, the region was dissected by strike-slip faults resulting in the formation of pull-apart basins and deposition of the Cross Lake Group as Timiskaming-type sedimentary rocks.