Spatiotemporal relationships of dike magmatism in the Kola region, the Fennoscandian Shield

Abstract

A brief geological and petrographic characterization of the Early Precambrian dike complexes of the Kola region is given along with data on new estimates of dike age and analysis of their distribution over the entire Fennoscandian Shield. The emplacement of dikes in the Archean core of the shield continued after consolidation of the sialic crust 2.74–1.76 Ga ago. After the Svecofennian Orogeny, dikes continued to form in the west in the area of newly formed crust, while the amagmatic period began in the Archean domain. The intense formation of dikes in the Svecofennian domain lasted approximately for 1 Ga (1.8–0.84 Ga). The younger igneous rocks in the crustal domains of different age are less abundant and localized at their margins. A similar distribution of dikes is characteristic of other shields in different continents. This implies that the formation of the sialic crust in the shields is not completed by its consolidation and formation of the craton. For 1 Ga after completion of this process, the crust is underplated by mantle-derived magmas. This process is reflected at the Earth’s surface in the development of mantle-derived mafic and anorogenic granitoid magmatism. The process of crust formation is ended as the subcratonic lithosphere cools and the amagmatic period of the craton history is started. Beginning from this moment, the manifestations of cratonic magmatism were related either to the superposed tectonomagmatic reactivation of the cold craton under the effect of crust formation in the adjacent mobile belts or to the ascent of mantle plumes.