Cambrian ages for metavolcanic rocks in the Lower Köli Nappes, Swedish Caledonides: implications for the status of the Virisen arc terrane

Abstract

The Köli Nappe Complex (KNC) of the Scandinavian Caledonide orogen originated as oceanic terranes within the Iapetus Ocean. These terranes have characteristics of magmatic arcs and associated forearc or back-arc basins and underwent several periods of rifting and magmatism prior to their accretion to the Baltican margin. We present new U–Pb zircon ages from the Lower Köli Ankarede Volcanite Formation in Västerbotten, Sweden. U–Pb ages of magmatic zircon grains from metamorphosed dacitic to andesitic rocks show ages of 512 ± 3.5, 497 ± 2, 491 ± 1 and 488 ± 4 Ma. The three younger ages fit with previous ages for Lower Köli volcanic rocks, but the 512 Ma age is older than any previous age for this unit. These dates constrain the age of magmatism in an ensimatic arc system within Iapetus. We compare this evolution with published information from the other Köli nappes. Magmatic ages within the KNC overlap with ages for an early episode of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphism within the underlying Seve Nappe Complex (SNC), supporting the hypothesis that attributes UHP metamorphism within the SNC to subduction beneath the island arc now preserved within the Lower Köli Nappes. Supplementary material: Photographs of sampled exposures (S1), BSE images of selected zircons (S2), charts of zircon trace elements (S3) and analyses of zircon (S4, S5) are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6843787 Thematic collection: This article is part of the Caledonian Wilson cycle collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/topic/collections/the-caledonian-wilson-cycle