The 3.98–3.63 Ga zircons as indicators of major processes operating in the ancient continental crust of the east Antarctic shield (Enderby Land)

Abstract

This study presents new results on zircons from the enderbite-charnockite rocks of Enderby Land, East Antarctica. U-Pb age of 3981 ± 8 Ma (SIMS SHRIMP II), which was first obtained for a protolith of massive enderbites from Aker Peaks, eastern Napier Mts, suggests that the existence of sialic crust in the study area at 4 Ga. Although there was only one magmatic zircon (of 150 grains analyzed) in the study area known with the oldest age, its significance cannot be overestimated, since it may indirectly evidence the existence of an Early Archean crustal block with a minimum age of 4 Ga, which extends for over 300 km across Enderby Land from its western to eastern part. Based on the U-Pb systematics, REE and trace element distributions in zircons from charnockite and enderbite gneisses, high-aluminous gneisses, and basic granulites, we first revealed that an early high-temperature metamorphic event accompanied by the emplacement of granodiorite intrusions occurred in the vicinity of Aker Peaks at 3620–3630 Ma. Although the 2850–3050 metamorphic overprints are clearly observed in some other areas of Enderby Land and are widely considered to be of critical importance on a regional scale, their metamorphic signatures are apparently absent from the U-Pb systematics of the studied zircon, thus suggesting the presence of similar old zircons in the study area. At the same time, all samples in this study record a 2480–2550 Ma granulite-amphibolite facies overprint represented as new zircon growths or recrystallization of earlier phases.