Discovery of an albite gneiss from the Ile de Groix (Armorican Massif, France): geochemistry and LA-ICP-MS U–Pb geochronology of its Ordovician protolith

Abstract

For the first time, an albite orthogneiss has been recognised and dated within the HP–LT blueschist facies metabasites and metapelites of the Ile de Groix. It is characterised by a peraluminous composition, high LILE, Th and U contents, MORB-like HREE abundances and moderate Nb and Y values. A U–Pb age of 480.8 ± 4.8 Ma was obtained by LA-ICP-MS dating of zircon and titanite. It is interpreted as the age of the magmatic emplacement during the Early Ordovician. Morphologically different zircon grains yield late Neoproterozoic ages of 546.6–647.4 Ma. Zircon and titanite U–Pb ages indicate that the felsic magmatism from the Ile de Groix is contemporaneous with the acid, pre-orogenic magmatism widely recognised in the internal zones of the Variscan belt, related to the Cambro-Ordovician continental rifting. The magmatic protolith probably inherited a specific chemical composition from a combination of orogenic, back-arc and anorogenic signatures because of partial melting of the Cadomian basement during magma emplacement. Besides, the late Devonian U–Pb age of 366 ± 33 Ma obtained for titanite from a blueschist facies metapelite corresponds to the age of the HP–LT peak metamorphism.