U–Pb geochronology of reactivated Archean basement and of Hudsonian metamorphism in the northern Labrador Trough

Abstract

The Labrador Trough is a Proterozoic orogenic belt bordering the eastern margin of the Archean Superior Province. The volcano-sedimentary sequences of the trough were deformed and metamorphosed during the Hudsonian Orogeny (ca. 1800 Ma). The eastern basement, present as domal inliers, was remobilized during this orogeny, whereas the western basement remained unaffected.In this study we present U–Pb ages of the western and eastern basement of the Proterozoic Labrador Trough orogen between Leaf River and Koksoak River and of the northernmost extension of the DePas batholithic complex farther east. From the western basement, the Leaf Bay granodiorite has an age of 2721 ± 3 Ma (zircon). From the gneiss domes of the eastern basement the ages are as follows: Lac Moyer—2883 ± 6 Ma (zircon), 1793 ± 5 Ma (monazite), and 1746 Ma (minimum age, rutile); Lac Boulder—an upper-intercept age of 2868 ± 8 Ma and a lower-intercept age of 1783 ± 11 Ma (zircon–titanite regression) and an age of 1740 ± 5 Ma (rutile); Lac Olmstead Lake—2721 ± 4 Ma (zircon) and 1774 ± 5 Ma (titanite); Leaf Strait—2719 ± 7 Ma (zircon) and 1783 ± 2 Ma (monazite). The DePas Batholith contains four generations of zircon: the minimum ages of the three oldest are 2688, 2779, and 2922 Ma; we also obtained a monazite age of 1808 ± 2 Ma.These results lead us to the following conclusions: (i) The age of the Leaf Bay granodiorite, 2721 ± 3 Ma, is a minimum age of the gneisses of the Minto Subprovince, (ii) The westernmost gneiss domes of the eastern basement (Lac Moyer and Lac Boulder), bounded by two major faults, contain zircon formed during metamorphic events dated at 2868 ± 8 and 2883 ± 6 Ma and may be part of an allochthon. (iii) The Lac Olmstead and Leaf Strait domes contain metamorphic zircon dated at 2719–2721 Ma. (iv) The minimum age of migmatization of the DePas complex is 2688 Ma. (v) The monazite ages date the latest phase of metamorphism in the area, (vi) The titanite ages probably represent post-deformational cooling, whereas the rutile ages could represent late-metamorphic hydrothermal activity, (vi) The available data suggest the presence of continuous Archean basement—remobilized during the Hudsonian Orogeny—between the Labrador Trough and the DePas Batholith, which could represent a collision zone. The final stages of this collision could be slightly older (1808 Ma) than the equivalent activity in the Labrador Trough. These speculations raise the possibility that the evolution of the Labrador Trough is closely related in time and space to events occurring in its "hinterland".