Chapter 9 Continental magmatic arc and siliciclastic sedimentation in the far-field part of a 1.7 Ga accretionary orogen

Abstract

AbstractTrachyandesitic to trachybasaltic lavas, interlayered siliciclastic sedimentary rocks and subaerial ignimbrites with a rhyolitic to trachydacitic composition lie unconformably above metamorphic rocks in west-central Sweden. These volcanic rocks erupted at 1711 + 7/−6 to 1691 ± 5 Ma and belong to a high-K, calc-alkaline to shoshonitic suite deposited in a continental arc setting. Positive ɛNd values and Nb/Yb ratios in the trachyandesitic to trachybasaltic rocks indicate an enriched mantle source. Coeval, 1710 ± 11 to 1681 ± 16 Ma plutonic and subvolcanic rocks are mainly granitic or quartz syenitic in composition. Subordinate components include quartz monzonite, quartz monzodiorite and monzogabbro or gabbro. ɛNd values in the range −1.0 to + 1.1 overlap with those in the inferred 1.9–1.8 Ga source rocks. All these rocks belong to the youngest phase of the lithodemic unit referred to as the Transscandinavian Igneous Belt. This magmatic province extends in a roughly NNW direction for at least 900 km, variably deformed and metamorphosed equivalents occurring inside and beneath younger orogenic belts to the south (Sveconorwegian) and north (Caledonian). The part of the province in west-central Sweden addressed here represents a far-field and shallow crustal component in this 1.7 Ga accretionary orogenic system.