Constraints from 40Ar/39Ar geochronology on the tectonothermal history of the Kapuskasing uplift in the Canadian Superior Province

Abstract

The Kapuskasing uplift (KU) in the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield has been interpreted as an oblique cross section through the Archean mid-crust. However, the time of juxtaposition of the granulites of the KU against the lower grade rocks of the Abitibi greenstone belt (AGB) along the Ivanhoe Lake fault zone is problematic. To constrain the postmetamorphic tectonothermal history of the KU, we have conducted 57 40Ar/39Ar step-heating analyses on mineral and rock samples collected in a transect across the southern KU and adjacent AGB. The age spectra record a complex thermal history. Amphiboles from the AGB in the footwall of the Ivanhoe Lake fault zone have ca. 2.66 Ga dates, similar to closure ages for amphiboles from farther east in the AGB. Amphibole dates of 2.46–2.52 Ga from the deepest structural levels of the KU place an upper limit on the time of major uplift of the granulites and their juxtaposition with the AGB. Biotite and muscovite dates from the transect cluster into three age groups. The presence in the deepest structural levels of the KU of biotite with 2.40–2.45 Ga dates indicates that significant uplift (15–20 km or more) of the granulites had occurred by this time. Micas with dates in the 2.25–2.30 Ga range are close to fault zones; these dates may indicate a ca. 2.30 Ga episode of fault reactivation. Feldspar, fault-related whole rocks, and some micas record events post 2.1 Ga. These correspond to the emplacement of mafic and lamprophyric dykes and fault reactivation.