Deformation events in the Gridino zone, Belomorian Province, Fennoscandian Shield: relationships between mafic dike swarms and eclogite-bearing mélange

Abstract

Relationships between reference mafic dikes and deformations in the Gridino zone, Belomorian province, Fennoscandian Shield, make it possible to subdivide the deformations into three groups: pre-dike, synmagmatic, and post-dike. The Neoarchaean eclogite-bearing mélange was formed by disintegration of large eclogite slices in the course of ductile flow, which was associated with synkinematic granitoid magmatism and metamorphism varying from the granulite to amphibolite facies. Exotic blocks, including those of eclogites, are distributed in the TTG gneisses as layers and lenses, whose thicknesses range from a few to a few hundred metres and which are conformable with the foliation. Ductile flow brought the rock complexes to the depth level where brittle–ductile deformations were possible. As a result, certain parts of the mélange were deformed in a more rigid setting. A number of mafic dike swarms were emplaced into relatively cold rocks in an extensional environment in the earliest Palaeoproterozoic. The dikes cut across all earlier structures and are thus an important benchmark for distinguishing Neoarchaean and Palaeoproterozoic processes. Post-dike (~1.9 Ga) tectonic activity was associated with local deformations and discrete metamorphic retrogression to amphibolite facies. None of them significantly affected the pre-existing regional structure.