Coesite micro-inclusions and the U/Pb age of zircons from the Hareidland Eclogite in the Western Gneiss Region of Norway

Abstract

We have identified by laser micro-Raman spectroscopy that inclusions of coesite occur together with other eclogite-facies mineral phases within metamorphic zircons separated from the large eclogite body at Ulsteinvik–Dimnøy on Hareidland. This is the first identification of coesite from this portion of the northwestern Western Gneiss Region (WGR) and supports continuity of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphism between the documented coesite occurrences on Stadlandet to the south and the microdiamond and coesite pseudomorph localities on Fjørtoft in the Nordøyene to the north. The zircons, first analysed by U–Pb TIMS in 1973, have been re-analysed and have yielded a much more precise age of 401.6±1.6 Ma, that overlaps with the previously determined age. Our discovery of coesite and the indication of a close to 402 Ma formation age add to a growing number of mid–late Early Devonian ages that signal that the UHP metamorphism in this part of west Norway occurred relatively late in the Caledonian orogenic cycle. These observations should be incorporated in geodynamic models for the exhumation of these rocks and for the metastable preservation of eclogite-facies mineralogies.