The Sandvik peridotite, Gurskøy, Norway: Three billion years of mantle evolution in the Baltica lithosphere

Abstract

The Sandvik ultramafic body, Island of Gurskøy, Western Gneiss Region, Norway, is a mantle fragment that contains polymetamorphic mineral assemblages and affords a unique view into the response of subcontinental lithospheric mantle to repeated orogenic/magmatic events. The Sandvik peridotite body and nearby outcrops record four paragenetic stages: 1) pre-exsolution porphyroclasts of ol + grt + opx (high-Ca ) + cpx (low-Ca), which equilibrated at 1100–1200 °C and 6.5–7.0 GPa; 2) kelyphite containing ol + grt + spl +opx (low-Ca) + am (high-Al), as well as exsolved pyroxene containing opx + cpx + spl in equilibrium with matrix olivine, at 725 °C and 1.5 GPa; 3) granoblastic matrix of ol + spl + opx (low-Ca) + am (high-Al), at 700 °C and 1.0 GPa. A nearby outcrop contains a fourth assemblage consisting of ol + chl + opx + am. Lu–Hf and Re–Os model ages of garnet peridotite indicate melt depletion at 3.3 Ga [Beyer, E.E., Brueckner, H.K., Griffin, W.L., O'Reilly, S.Y., Graham, S., 2004. Archean mantle fragments in Proterozoic crust, Western Gneiss Region, Norway. Geology 32, 609–612.; Lapen, T.J., Medaris, L.G. Jr., Johnson, C.M., and Beard, B.L., 2005. Archean to Middle Proterozoic evolution of Baltica subcontinental lithosphere: evidence from combined Sm–Nd and Lu–Hf isotope analyses of the Sandvik ultramafic body, Norway. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 150, 131–145.], marking the time of separation from the convecting mantle. Lu–Hf whole rock and mineral isochron ages of constituent garnet peridotite and garnet pyroxenite layers in the Sandvik body reflect cooling and emplacement at ~ 1.25 Ga and ~ 1.18 Ga, respectively, whereas Sm–Nd whole rock and mineral ages of the garnet pyroxenite layers and the garnet peridotite are consistent with metasomatic alteration at ~ 1.15 Ga [Lapen, T.J., Medaris, L.G. Jr., Johnson, C.M., and Beard, B.L., 2005. Archean to Middle Proterozoic evolution of Baltica subcontinental lithosphere: evidence from combined Sm–Nd and Lu–Hf isotope analyses of the Sandvik ultramafic body, Norway. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 150, 131–145.]. The isochron ages likely record lithospheric modification associated with the 1.25–1.00 Ga Sveconorwegian orogeny and represent the youngest age of the Stage 1 mineral assemblage equilibration. A 606 ± 39 Ma Sm–Nd isochron age of the Stage 2 kelyphite assemblage is consistent with partial re-equilibration of the porphyroclastic assemblage during continental rifting associated with opening of the Iapetus Ocean between Baltica and Laurentia at ~ 600 Ma, or extension between Baltica and Siberia that may have been associated with opening of the Ægir Sea. The age of kelyphite, therefore, places the Sandvik peridotite in the uppermost mantle prior to Silurian shortening between the Baltic and Laurentian continents.