Gridino melange zone of the Belomorian eclogite province: Succession of tectonic events and structural position of mafic dyke swarms

Abstract

Based on relationships between Paleoproterozoic mafic dykes, lithotectonic complexes, and tectonic structures of the Gridino Zone in the Belomorian eclogite province of the Fennoscandian Shield, deformations have been divided into groups differing in age and the succession of tectonic events has been reconstructed. The formation of Neoarchean eclogite-bearing melange was related to disintegration of large eclogite sheets in the course of near-horizontal ductile flow accompanied by syntectonic granitoid magmatism, multiple migmatization, and granulite-to amphibolite-facies metamorphism. The exotic blocks, including eclogites, were incorporated into TTG gneisses as sheets and lenses up to a few hundreds of meters in thickness and oriented conformably with gneissic banding. As a result of ductile flow, the lithotectonic complexes were transported at the level of discrete brittle-ductile deformations expressed as strike-slip faults and associated folds. Under conditions of a relatively rigid medium, individual structural elements underwent rotation approximately through 90° in plan view. Under the extension regime in the Early Paleoproterozoic, several swarms of mafic dykes were injected into the already cold framework rocks, as is evident from dyke morphology. The dykes crosscut all predated structures, included turned blocks, and are therefore important reference points for subdivision of Neoarchean and Paleoproterozoic processes. The Svecofennian postdyke tectonic activity was accompanied by local shearing and boudinage of metabasic rocks, development of quartz and pegmatite veins along tension cracks, disharmonic folding, and discrete retrograde metamorphism up to amphibolite-facies conditions. The postdyke deformations did not exert a substantial effect on the previously formed regional structure.