U–Pb age constraints on arenaceous and volcanic rocks of the Wakeham Group, eastern Grenville Province

Abstract

Combined sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) and thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) U–Pb zircon data from a tightly constrained stratigraphic context of the Wakeham Group provide a precise depositional age for sedimentation within this extensive basin of the Grenville Province. Metavolcanic rocks at the eastern exposure of the Wakeham Group yield ages of 1511 ± 13, 1506 ± 11, 1502 ± 9, and 1491 ± 7 Ma. A crosscutting 1493 ± 10 Ma porphyry vein marks the end of volcanism. The older two volcanic rocks rest stratigraphically above metasediments, with a 1517 ± 20 Ma maximum age of sedimentation derived from the youngest detrital zircons of an arenite. Five 1.61–1.55 Ga inherited zircons in the volcanics, reinforced by coeval inheritance in nearby plutons, indicate a Labradorian basement source to the supracrustals. The predominant arenite detrital zircons dates are in the 1.95–1.75 Ga range, however, and feature both trace element and morphological evidence for metamorphism in the source terrane. Together with zircons as old as 2.95 Ga, the detrital age spectrum is consistent with a circum-Superior provenance. The ages obtained imply that Wakeham Group volcanism and sedimentation were, at least in part, coeval with the onset of 1.52–1.46 Ga Pinwarian plutonism along the southeastern margin of Laurentia. U–Pb zircon analyses record a late Grenvillian metamorphic event around 1019 Ma. U–Pb monazite analyses from one sample yield 1010–1000 Ma ages, and the end of Grenvillian metamorphism is marked by 990 Ma U–Pb titanite ages.