U–Pb zircon ages for the Rice Lake area, southeastern Manitoba

Abstract

The Archean Rice Lake greenstone belt in southeastern Manitoba is made up of mafic to felsic volcanic rocks and associated intrusive and metasedimentary rocks. The belt is flanked to the north by the Wanipigow River granitic complex and to the south by the Manigotagan gneissic belt. The Ross River quartz diorite pluton is intrusive into the centre of the greenstone belt. U–Pb zircon ages indicate a major volcanic and plutonic event in the area at 2730 Ma. Ages for two volcanic units of the Rice Lake Group are 2731 ± 3 and 2729 ± 3 Ma. The Ross River pluton yields an age of 2728 ± 8 Ma and the Gunnar porphyry gives an age of 2731 ± 13 Ma; both intrude rocks of the Rice Lake Group. Granitic rocks of the Wanipigow River granitic complex give ages of 2731 ± 10 and 2880 ± 9 Ma, while a post-tectonic granite in the Manigotagan gneissic belt has an age of 2663 ± 7 Ma.