TECTONOTHERMAL EVOLUTION OF THE NORTHERN MINTO BLOCK, SUPERIOR PROVINCE, QUEBEC, CANADA

Abstract

Previously considered one of Earth’s largest granulite terranes, the Minto block, in northern Quebec, consists dominantly of granitic rocks with sparse supracrustal remnants that record low-pressure, high-temperature metamorphism to the amphibolite and granulite facies at ca. 2.7 Ga. Much of the region is underlain by plutonic rocks, including igneous charnockitic bodies, that provide little evidence of metamorphism. In contrast, pelitic assemblages in low-grade greenstone belts and their higher-grade shoulders define four metamorphic zones: 1) sub-staurolite-grade slates, found only in the Duquet belt, 2) staurolite – andalusite – sillimanite – garnet-zone schists, present in all belts, 3) marginal garnet – sillimanite ± kyanite migmatites, and 4) garnet – sillimanite ± cordierite and garnet – orthopyroxene granulites, as enclaves within plutonic units. A prograde low-pressure, hightemperature regional facies-series is defined by andalusite – sillimanite assemblages, thermobarometric analyses that indicate peak conditions ranging from 3 kbar, 560°C to 8.4 kbar, 840°C, and short segments of anticlockwise P–T trajectories preserved in two of the lowest-grade areas. Kyanite occurs in migmatites in the vicinity of a ca. 2.81 Ga shear zone bounding two distinct supracrustal assemblages and marks an earlier Barrovian event. All belts are polydeformed, with a common, broadly synmetamorphic, NNW-striking, steep foliation and down-dip lineation related to regional-scale F2 folds. Distributed late-metamorphic dip-slip shear appears responsible in some areas for cross-strike juxtaposition of low- and high-grade metamorphic zones. Older, generally poorly preserved D1 deformation, recognized in several belts, may represent accretionary structures. Variably developed younger deformation includes NNW dextral transcurrent brittle–ductile shear zones (S3), variably developed east-trending F4 folds, and WNW-striking pseudotachylite zones. U–Pb monazite ages of 2702 Ma date high-grade metamorphism of a pelitic granulite, crystallization of two diatexites, and staurolite-zone metamorphism in one schist. Together with similar zircon ages of crust-derived granites, these data point to a major collisional orogeny at this time. Older titanite (2748–2765 Ma) indicates areas that escaped >650°C metamorphism during the 2.7 Ga event. Younger monazite occurs in a migmatite-grade rock (2688, 2672 Ma) and staurolite-zone schists (2679–2642, 2648, 2637, and 2642–2628 Ma), similar to titanite ages in greenstones (2643–2550 Ma) and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar hornblende ages (2.64–2.56 Ga). These post-peak metamorphic ages in the greenstone belts based on monazite and titanite are attributed to hydrothermal growth from fluids channeled along permeable zones; they may reflect late reheating events observed throughout the Superior Province as leucogranitic magmatism, metamorphism in the deep crust, and mineral growth in shear zones.