Ion microprobe (SHRIMP) dating of detrital zircon grains from quartzites of the Eckergneiss Complex, Harz Mountains (Germany): implications for the provenance and the geological history

Abstract

The Eckergneiss Complex (EGC) is a geologically unique medium- to high-grade metamorphic unit within the Rhenohercynian domain of the Mid-European Variscides. A previously, poorly defined conventional lower U–Pb intercept age of about 560 Ma from detrital zircons of metasedimentary rocks has led to speculations about an East Avalonian affinity of the EGC. In order to unravel the provenance and to constrain the age of the sediment protolith, we carried out sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe U–Pb analyses on detrital zircons from five different EGC quartzite occurrences. The obtained age spectrum indicates a SW Baltica provenance of the detritus. Sveconorwegian ages between 0.9–1.2 Ga are particularly well represented by analyses from metamorphic recrystallization/alteration zones penetrating into igneous zircon. Cadomian (Pan-African) ages, which might reflect a metamorphic event, could not be substantiated. Instead, zircons of igneous origin yielded concordant Lower Devonian and Silurian ages of 410±10, 419±10, and 436±6 Ma (1σ), implying that sedimentation of the EG protolith must have taken place after 410±10 Ma. The lower age limit of the EGC metamorphism is constrained by 295 Ma intrusion ages of the adjacent, nonmetamorphosed Harzburg Gabbronorite and Brocken Granite. Sedimentation and metamorphism must thus have taken place between about 410 Ma and 295 Ma. Given that this time span coincides with most of the sedimentation within the virtually nonmetamorphosed (lowest grade) Rhenohercynian in the Harz Mountains, including the direct vicinity of the EGC, along with the high-grade metamorphism, the EGC can hardly be seen as uplifted local basement. A possible candidate for the root region is an easterly, concealed marginal segment of the Rhenohercynian domain of the Variscides, which is tectonically overridden and suppressed by the Mid-German Crystalline Rise during continent collision. However, based on the concept of strike-slip movement of Variscan terranes with different P–T–t histories as a result of postaccretion intraplate deformation, the EGC could also represent a fault-bounded complex with an origin located far east or south east of the present location.