Post-1.9 Ga evolution of the south Rae craton (Northwest Territories, Canada): A Paleoproterozoic orogenic collapse system

Abstract

The Trans-Hudson Orogen (THO), formed from the convergence between the Superior craton and the composite Churchill Upper Plate (CUP), is one of the best-preserved examples of a collisional orogen in the Paleoproterozoic. Similar to modern collision systems such as the Himalayan orogen, it is characterized by a composite upper plate in which terrane accretion established a continental plateau that was tectonically and magmatically active for >100 myr. Our study presents new petrological and geochronological data for four samples collected in three lithotectonic domains of the south Rae craton (one of the CUP terranes). The results presented here allow us to re-define the previously proposed extent of THO reworking in the CUP and afford the opportunity to study and compare the evolution of various fragments that illustrate differing levels of a collapsed plateau in the CUP hinterland. The new data indicate that the south Rae craton locally preserves evidence for burial at 1.855–1.84 Ga with peak metamorphic conditions at approximately 790 °C and 9.5–12.5 kbar followed by rapid cooling and decompression melting (P < 6 kbar) at ca. 1.835–1.826 Ga.These results, which provide important and so far missing Pressure-Temperature-time (P-T-t) constraints on the evolution of the south Rae craton in the Northwest Territories at Trans-Hudson time, coupled with existing regional geochronological and geochemical data, are used to propose an updated model for the post-1.9 Ga THO collision and extensional collapse. Our results reveal that: i) initial thickening in the upper plate started at Snowbird time (ca. 1.94 Ga), then continued via Sask collision (with high-grade metamorphism recorded in the south Rae craton, ca. 1.85 Ga), and ended with Superior collision (ca. 1.83 Ga); ii) the extent of the THO structural and metamorphic overprint in the SW CUP is much broader across strike than previously recognized, and iii) T-t data in the south Rae are indicative of relatively fast cooling rates (8–25 °C/Ma) compared to other known Precambrian orogens. We suggest that the Paleoproterozoic THO represents the first record of a major ‘modern-style’ orogenic plateau collapse in Earth’s history.