Abstract
Abstract A geochronological study of the Kapuskasing structural zone (KSZ), a section of Late Archean lower crust within the southern Superior Province, Canadian Shield, was undertaken to test a plate tectonic model for the Late Archean Abitibi‐Opatica terrane as a modified large igneous province (LIP). New geochronological data allow us to interpret (1) construction of the LIP in an environment where inherited zircons were derived from an older sialic crust and preserved in the granulite‐grade lower crust and (2) high‐grade metamorphism in the lower crust related to crustal refinement of the LIP. U/Pb and Pb/Pb dates were obtained by LA‐ICP‐MS with beams of 8–30 μm. The study yielded 21 interpretable zircon dates spanning 500 m.yr. from one mafic granulite and two garnetiferous metatonalites. Nine of the dates are significantly older than the oldest known magmatic event recorded in the upper crust of the Abitibi‐Opatica terrane and indicate >2760‐Ma proto‐crustal material in the KSZ lower crust. The rema...
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