Remagnetization (∼1100 Ma) of Voosges lake tuff (1542 Ma) and other mid-proterozoic rocks, Nipigon graben, northern Ontario

Abstract

Recently discovered horizons of non-deformed felsic welded crystal tuff in the Proterozoic rift system of northern Ontario yield a geologically stable paleomagnetic vector. Using alternating field (AF), thermal (TD) and low-temperature demagnetization (LTD) techniques, a single stable characteristic remanence (ChRM) vector is found in all specimens (declination/inclination = 115°/−73.5°; α 95 = 2.1°, n = 58). It is overprinted by a Bruhnes’ epoch VRM. The tuffs paleopole position coincides with that of ubiquitous sub-horizontal diabase sheets which intruded at ∼1110 Ma during Late Proterozoic Keewanawan Volcanism. The latter produced numerous volcanic and intrusive rocks along the margins of the Lake Superior paleo-rift system, during the interval 1087–1120 Ma, but the sills are most extensive. Although the Voosges Lake Tuff shares the same paleopole location as the diabase sheets (1109 Ma), the nearby Seagull pluton (1112 Ma) and the Keweenawan volcanic rocks, its primary zircons yielded a Mesoproterozoic crystallization age of 1542 ± 3 Ma. This is similar to the nearby English Bay felsic intrusions dated at 1537 − 2 + 10 Ma [Davis, D.W., Sutcliffe, R.H., 1985. U-Pb ages from the Nipigon “Plate” (sic) and northern Lake Superior. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 96, 1572–1579]. Whereas the paleomagnetic magnetic signal appears primary in the 1542 Ma Voosges Tuff, it was completely reset by the Late Proterozoic Keewanawan paleofield (∼1100 Ma). The Tuff units are separated from the diabase sills by stratigraphic thicknesses of ≤50 m and show no traditional petrographic evidence of annealing or thermal metamorphism. Since it is improbable that the 1542 Ma tuff returned to the same paleolatitude at 1109 Ma, we postulate that metasomatic processes caused a ∼1109 Ma remagnetization. A similar event could explain unusual ChRMs reported for certain other pre-Keweenawan Proterozoic sites with adjacent Keewanawan diabase sheets. For example, some paleopoles reported for the Gunflint Formation (1878 Ma) and Sibley Formation (>1339 Ma, perhaps ∼1537 Ma by association with the English Bay intrusions) might have been acquired due to secondary remagnetization.