Abstract
New whole-rock lead (Pb) isotope analyses are presented in this study for granitoid orthogneisses from the Southwest Grenville Province in Ontario and Western Quebec. These data are used to test the location of a cryptic Archean-Proterozoic suture proposed on the basis of neodymium (Nd) isotope mapping. Immediately south of the inferred suture boundary, Pb isotope results show a crustal component derived solely from a juvenile Paleoproterozoic mantle source. These data are distinctly different from the reworked Archean craton to the northwest and strongly support the boundary derived from Nd isotope data. Pb signatures in the Paleoproterozoic crust suggest a southerly increase in magmatic reworking due to intensive plutonism during the late Paleoproterozoic and early Mesoproterozoic periods. The accretion of a juvenile arc to the Archean margin during the Penokean event (ca. 1.85 Ga) would have triggered subduction-zone reversal and the development of a long-lived ensialic arc on the composite margin. This was expressed as a 1.75 Ga Killarnian magmatic event and subsequent early Mesoproterozoic magmatism. This tectonic model for the Southwest Grenville Province shows that its crustal evolution is consistent with the Paleoproterozoic Makkovik-Ketilidian Orogen of Labrador and Southern Greenland. Hence, the application of whole-rock Pb isotope data in conjunction with Nd model ages provides data useful for mapping the extent of crustal terranes of differing age, which is essential for modeling the tectonic evolution of complex ancient accretionary orogens.
Highlights
The Great Proterozoic Accretionary Orogen (GPAO) along the southeast margin of Laurentia represents a major crust-forming event between 2.0 and 1.0 Ga [1,2]
1.75 Ga Killarnian magmatic event and subsequent early Mesoproterozoic magmatism. This tectonic model for the Southwest Grenville Province shows that its crustal evolution is consistent with the Paleoproterozoic Makkovik-Ketilidian Orogen of Labrador and Southern Greenland
The Grenville Province represents a long-lived ancient orogenic belt that contains remnants of Proterozoic crust accreted to the southeastern Laurentian margin during the GPAO (Figure 1a)
Summary
The Great Proterozoic Accretionary Orogen (GPAO) along the southeast margin of Laurentia represents a major crust-forming event between 2.0 and 1.0 Ga [1,2]. This study uses whole-rock lead (Pb) isotope analyses to constrain the Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic crustal evolution of the Southwest Grenville Province. A study of crustal formation in the Makkovik Province of Labrador demonstrated the usefulness of combined Pb. Nd isotope isotope analysis analysis [6]. NdNd isotope data to to determine the crustal formation ages of these rocks and the boundaries between them [8]. One of determine the crustal formation ages of these rocks and the boundaries between them [8]. One of these these terranes in Ontario and. Pb isotope analysis provides an independent method for testing the results of Nd isotope isotope analysis and constraining the location andoforigin of thisPaleoproterozoic cryptic Paleoproterozoic arc terrane. Analysis and constraining the location and origin this cryptic arc terrane
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