Mafic and ultrapotassic rocks from the Canyon domain (central Grenville Province): geochemistry and tectonic implications

Abstract

The Canyon domain and the Banded complex in the Manicouagan area of the Grenville Province preserve a record of magmatic activity from ∼1.4 to 1 Ga. This study focuses on 1.4–1.2 Ga mafic rocks and 1 Ga ultrapotassic dykes. Geochemistry and Sm–Nd isotopic signatures were used to constrain the origin of these rocks and evaluate the changing role of the mantle with time and tectonic setting from the late evolution of the Laurentian margin to the Grenvillian orogeny, in the Manicouagan area. The mafic rocks include layers inferred to represent flows, homogeneous bodies in mafic migmatite, and deformed dykes, all of which were recrystallized under granulite-facies conditions during the Grenvillian orogeny. In spite of the complexities inherent in these deformed and metamorphosed mafic rocks, we were able to recognize suites with distinctive geochemical and isotopic signatures. Integration of this data along with available ages is consistent with a 1.4 Ga continental arc cut by 1.2 Ga non-arc basalts derived from depleted asthenospheric mantle, with varied degrees of crustal contamination and inferred to represent magmatism in an extensional environment. The 1 Ga ultrapotassic dykes postdate the Grenvillian metamorphism. They are extremely enriched in incompatible elements, have negative Nb anomalies, relatively unradiogenic Sr-isotopic compositions (initial 87Sr/86Sr ~ 0.7040) and εNd –3 to –15. Some dykes have compositional characteristics consistent with derivation from the mantle, ruling out crustal contamination as a major process in their petrogenesis. The most likely source region for the ultrapotassic dykes is a metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle, with thermal input from the asthenosphere in association with post-orogenic delamination.