Ediacaran U–Pb zircon dates for the Lac Matapédia and Mt. St.-Anselme basalts of the Quebec Appalachians: support for a long-lived mantle plume during the rifting phase of Iapetus opening

Abstract

It has been suggested that the rifting phase of Iapetus Ocean opening in Quebec involved a long-lived mantle plume centered near the Sutton Mountains whose dominant magmatism was first of continental flood basalt composition and later of ocean-island basalt (OIB) composition. We dated the Lac Matapédia and Mt. St.-Anselme basalts, which are thought to have originated from this plume and have dominant OIB-like composition. The U–Pb dating was done on individual zircon crystals using a laser ablation microprobe linked to an inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometer. Zircons from two basalt flows at Lac Matapédia yielded ages of 565 ± 6 and 556 ± 5 Ma. Zircons from a basalt flow at Mt. St.-Anselme yielded an age of 550 ± 7 Ma. Although the basalts are allochthonous, these should be their ages of extrusion onto Laurentia, as shown by Grenvillian ages yielded by inherited zircons in both Lac Matapédia flows and by zircons in a granitic pebble from the Mt. St.-Anselme Formation. Our dating supports the hypothesis of a long-lived (~615 to ~550 Ma) Sutton Mountains mantle plume involved in Iapetus rifting. It does so by closing a possible gap of ~10 Ma between the end of flood basalt and the beginning of OIB magmatism, and by supporting ~540 (rather than ~570) Ma for the rift-to-drift transition in Quebec. Because plumes move slowly, this hypothesis implies that Laurentia moved slowly from ~615 to ~550 Ma. This is consistent with paleomagnetic evidence, although very rapid true polar wander at ~590 Ma may need to be invoked.