U-Pb Age and Hf Isotope Systematics of Zircon from Eclogite Xenoliths in Devonian Kimberlites: Preliminary Data on the Archaean Roots in the Junction Zone between the Sarmatian and Fennoscandian Segments of the East European Platform

Abstract

The results of a laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) U–Pb dating and a Hf isotope study of zircon crystals separated from small eclogite xenoliths found in Devonian kimberlites within the Prypyat horst, Ukraine, have been reported. The studied area is located in the junction zone between the Sarmatian and Fennoscandian segments of the East European Platform. Four laser ablation sites on two zircon grains yielded Paleoproterozoic U–Pb ages between 1954 ± 24 and 1735 ± 54 Ma. In contrast, three of four Hf sites revealed negative εHf values and Paleoarchean to Mesoarchean model ages, excluding the possibility that the eclogite xenoliths represented segments of a juvenile Paleoproterozoic subducted slab or younger mafic melts crystallized in the subcontinental lithospheric mantle. A single laser ablation Hf spot yielded a positive εHf value (+3) and a Paleoproterozoic model age. Two models for eclogite origin can be proposed. The first foresees the extension of the Archean lower-crustal or lithospheric roots beneath the Sarmatia–Fennoscandia junction zone for over 200 km from the nearest known outcrop of Archean rocks in the Ukrainian Shield. The second model is that the Central Belarus Suture Zone represents a rifted-out fragment of the Kola–Karelian craton that was accreted to Sarmatia before the actual collision of these two segments of Baltica.