New constraints upon the structural and isotopic age of the Oughterard Granite, and on the timing of events in the Dalradian Rocks of Connemara, Western Ireland

Abstract

A Lower Ordovician age for the Oughterard Granite is established by Rb–Sr dating of magmatic white micas from pegmatites cutting two of the satellite bodies found 12–15 km west of the main granitic intrusions. These micas give a minimum age of c. 473 Ma for the emplacement of the satellite bodies, and for the completion of the D3 deformation in the Dalradian host rocks. The main granite intrusions are post-D4 in age, but some of the small outlying sheet-like intrusions are either deformed by D4 folds, or were present during this deformation and were responsible for the development of locally disharmonic D4 minor folds. The correlation of the smaller granite bodies with the main bodies of Oughterard Granite is supported by their similar field appearance, petrography and trace element geochemistry. In common with other late orogenic granites, such as the 470 Ma Aberdeen Granite in NE Scotland, the Oughterard Granite is thought to have been part of a discontinuous magmatic arc, which formed along the southern margin of the Dalradian outcrop in Connemara and in NE Scotland in the early Ordovician. Members of the Oughterard Granite suite were emplaced during the final stages of the Grampian orogeny, from post-D3 to post-D4, while the country rocks were still at an elevated temperature (>500°C) following the peak of the regional metamorphism. The new minimum age of intrusion of c. 473 Ma, together with existing radiometric data, confirms that emplacement of the metagabbro and gneiss complex in southern Connemara, followed by the D3 structural and metamorphic events, all took place during a period of less than 20 Ma. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.