The Seiland Igneous Province, of which 5400 km2 is exposed, is hosted within a discrete terrane within the northernmost part of the Caledonian orogenic belt. The Province consists of numerous mafic and ultramafic plutons emplaced into a sedimentary succession indicative of a continental setting. Accompanying this mafic magmatism is a significant volume of intermediate monzonitic and dioritic rock (10% of the total exposed igneous rock), as well as numerous nepheline syenite and carbonatitic intrusions. This study reports ID-TIMS U-Pb analyses on magmatic zircons from a range of intrusions, which indicate that the bulk of the Seiland magmatism took place between 560 Ma and 570 Ma, whereas previous studies had produced a range of ages between 420 Ma and 830 Ma. The data indicate that only one magmatic episode is represented in the rocks of the Seiland Igneous Province, invalidating previous models involving multiple rifting events over a period of 300 m.y. Detailed geochemical investigation of several plutons from an evolved high alkali suite of gabbroic intrusions in the Seiland Igneous Province has shown that these plutons are generally enriched in trace elements compared to layered intrusions from other areas across the globe, but that geochemically the gabbros are relatively homogenous. The rocks yield εHf and εNd values for the gabbroic rocks ranging from +8 to -6 and from +4 to -4, respectively, indicative of the contamination of mantlederived material with crustal material. The most primitive isotopic values are similar to those obtained from the carbonatites and nepheline syenites, indicating the same mantle source gave rise to the magmas that were subsequently emplaced as the Seiland Igneous Province. The homogeneous trace element content of the different mafic rocks most likely indicates a relatively homogeneous mantle source for the original magmas of the province, which has subsequently been affected by processes of assimilation and crustal contamination. The monzonitic and dioritic bodies in the Seiland Igneous Province are not derived from melted silicic crustal material and may have been formed by the melting of pre-existing mafic material. The new geochronology invalidates the metamorphic framework previously proposed for the Seiland Igneous Province, which postulated several orogenic events between the emplacement of the magmas and the Caledonian Orogeny. There is no evidence for metamorphic activity in the period between 570 Ma and 420 Ma, and there are monazites in gneissic rocks hosted within mafic rocks of Seiland age that preserve an age of 640 Ma. This leads to the conclusion that only one metamorphic event, the 420 Ma Caledonian Orogeny caused by the collision of Baltica and Laurentia, affected the Seiland terrane after the emplacement of the Seiland magmas. The new data obtained lead to a model for the evolution of the Seiland Province in which a number of heavily modified and contaminated mantle-derived mafic magmas derived from the mantle were emplaced into the continental crust of the Seiland nappe between 560 and 570 Ma. This magmatism was accompanied by the injection of alkaline magmas into the same area of the crust, and the melting of mafic rock emplaced earlier. This magmatic event is considered to have occurred in an extensional stress regime, possibly during intracontinental rifting or back-arc spreading. This event took place well before the 420 Ma Caledonian Orogeny, and thus the Seiland Igneous Province can be considered a remnant of an older geological terrane that was emplaced onto the margin of Baltica during the Caledonian Orogeny.

The Ertsberg-Grasberg Mining District of Papua, Indonesia (Western New Guinea) hosts the Ertsberg Cu-Au Skarn, the giant Grasberg Porphyry Cu-Au deposit, and several other orebodies. Two 1700-meter-long cores beneath the Kucing Liar ore skarn (KL98-10-22) and the Grasberg Igneous Complex (KL98-10-21) contain high concentrations of vein and disseminated molybdenite. KL98-10-22, the focus of this study, intersects two previously unencountered intrusions, the “Tertiary intrusion Kucing Liar” (Tikl) and “Tertiary Pliocene intrusion” (Tpi). An intense dilatational quartz vein stockwork cuts Tikl and Ekmai Sandstone (Kkes) units, predating Tpi intrusion. Prior to these ultradeep cores, which extend almost 3 km below pre-mining surface, molybdenite was rarely observed in the district. Geochemistry and isotopic data indicate that Tikl and Tpi intrusions originated from the same large magmatic system that emplaced other ore-forming Ertsberg-Grasberg district intrusions. Magma in a lower crustal chamber was recharged at least twice, according to Sr-Nd data. Laser-ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry of magmatic zircons yields 238U-206Pb ages between 3.40 ± 0.12 Ma (Dalam Andesite) and 2.77 ± 0.15 Ma (Ertsberg intrusion), revealing a shorter period of igneous activity than previously measured by K-Ar and Ar-Ar dating. Analyses include composite ages of 3.28 ± 0.08 Ma for Tikl and 3.18 ± 0.11 Ma for Tpi. Inherited zircon cores indicate Precambrian (mostly Proterozoic) basement. Molybdenite veining beneath the Kucing Liar Skarn and Grasberg Igneous Complex postdates stockwork veining and occurred before the 2.99 ± 0.11 Ma Kali dikes. Only one molybdenite vein was observed cutting Tpi. Molybdenites yielded ~3 Ma Re-Os ages and anomalous >4 Ma and <0.5 Ma ages; anomalous ages were not reproducible in follow-up analyses (this study). Smearing deformation of molybdenite (through fault activity) causes crystal strain, likely leading to annealing recrystallization. Recrystallization possibly redistributes daughter-product Os, resulting in anomalous ages from annealed material. Fluids with high Mo/Cu ratios (which were likely supercritical) precipitated late-stage molybdenite deep in the system. These fluids developed through magma chamber crystallization, which concentrated molybdenum in the melt as an incompatible element, and stripping of Cu from the magma chamber during hydrothermal activity. / text

The Ertsberg-Grasberg Mining District of Papua, Indonesia (Western New Guinea) hosts the Ertsberg Cu-Au Skarn, the giant Grasberg Porphyry Cu-Au deposit, and several other orebodies. Two 1700-meter-long cores beneath the Kucing Liar ore skarn (KL98-10-22) and the Grasberg Igneous Complex (KL98-10-21) contain high concentrations of vein and disseminated molybdenite. KL98-10-22, the focus of this study, intersects two previously unencountered intrusions, the “Tertiary intrusion Kucing Liar” (Tikl) and “Tertiary Pliocene intrusion” (Tpi). An intense dilatational quartz vein stockwork cuts Tikl and Ekmai Sandstone (Kkes) units, predating Tpi intrusion. Prior to these ultradeep cores, which extend almost 3 km below pre-mining surface, molybdenite was rarely observed in the district. Geochemistry and isotopic data indicate that Tikl and Tpi intrusions originated from the same large magmatic system that emplaced other ore-forming Ertsberg-Grasberg district intrusions. Magma in a lower crustal chamber was recharged at least twice, according to Sr-Nd data. Laser-ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry of magmatic zircons yields 238U-206Pb ages between 3.40 ± 0.12 Ma (Dalam Andesite) and 2.77 ± 0.15 Ma (Ertsberg intrusion), revealing a shorter period of igneous activity than previously measured by K-Ar and Ar-Ar dating. Analyses include composite ages of 3.28 ± 0.08 Ma for Tikl and 3.18 ± 0.11 Ma for Tpi. Inherited zircon cores indicate Precambrian (mostly Proterozoic) basement. Molybdenite veining beneath the Kucing Liar Skarn and Grasberg Igneous Complex postdates stockwork veining and occurred before the 2.99 ± 0.11 Ma Kali dikes. Only one molybdenite vein was observed cutting Tpi. Molybdenites yielded ~3 Ma Re-Os ages and anomalous >4 Ma and <0.5 Ma ages; anomalous ages were not reproducible in follow-up analyses (this study). Smearing deformation of molybdenite (through fault activity) causes crystal strain, likely leading to annealing recrystallization. Recrystallization possibly redistributes daughter-product Os, resulting in anomalous ages from annealed material. Fluids with high Mo/Cu ratios (which were likely supercritical) precipitated late-stage molybdenite deep in the system. These fluids developed through magma chamber crystallization, which concentrated molybdenum in the melt as an incompatible element, and stripping of Cu from the magma chamber during hydrothermal activity. / text

The Ertsberg-Grasberg Mining District of Papua, Indonesia (Western New Guinea) hosts the Ertsberg Cu-Au Skarn, the giant Grasberg Porphyry Cu-Au deposit, and several other orebodies. Two 1700-meter-long cores beneath the Kucing Liar ore skarn (KL98-10-22) and the Grasberg Igneous Complex (KL98-10-21) contain high concentrations of vein and disseminated molybdenite. KL98-10-22, the focus of this study, intersects two previously unencountered intrusions, the “Tertiary intrusion Kucing Liar” (Tikl) and “Tertiary Pliocene intrusion” (Tpi). An intense dilatational quartz vein stockwork cuts Tikl and Ekmai Sandstone (Kkes) units, predating Tpi intrusion. Prior to these ultradeep cores, which extend almost 3 km below pre-mining surface, molybdenite was rarely observed in the district. Geochemistry and isotopic data indicate that Tikl and Tpi intrusions originated from the same large magmatic system that emplaced other ore-forming Ertsberg-Grasberg district intrusions. Magma in a lower crustal chamber was recharged at least twice, according to Sr-Nd data. Laser-ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry of magmatic zircons yields 238U-206Pb ages between 3.40 ± 0.12 Ma (Dalam Andesite) and 2.77 ± 0.15 Ma (Ertsberg intrusion), revealing a shorter period of igneous activity than previously measured by K-Ar and Ar-Ar dating. Analyses include composite ages of 3.28 ± 0.08 Ma for Tikl and 3.18 ± 0.11 Ma for Tpi. Inherited zircon cores indicate Precambrian (mostly Proterozoic) basement. Molybdenite veining beneath the Kucing Liar Skarn and Grasberg Igneous Complex postdates stockwork veining and occurred before the 2.99 ± 0.11 Ma Kali dikes. Only one molybdenite vein was observed cutting Tpi. Molybdenites yielded ~3 Ma Re-Os ages and anomalous >4 Ma and <0.5 Ma ages; anomalous ages were not reproducible in follow-up analyses (this study). Smearing deformation of molybdenite (through fault activity) causes crystal strain, likely leading to annealing recrystallization. Recrystallization possibly redistributes daughter-product Os, resulting in anomalous ages from annealed material. Fluids with high Mo/Cu ratios (which were likely supercritical) precipitated late-stage molybdenite deep in the system. These fluids developed through magma chamber crystallization, which concentrated molybdenum in the melt as an incompatible element, and stripping of Cu from the magma chamber during hydrothermal activity. / text

The Tjeliken Mountain in northern Jämtland, central Scandinavian Caledonides is by most authors considered to belong to the Lower Seve Nappe Complex (SNC). However, recently P-T conditions similar to the Middle Seve have been constrained for the eclogite at the top of the mountain, revitalizing the tectonic debate about Tjeliken. Also the timing of high-pressure metamorphism is debated. Two earlier studies of the eclogite yield ages between 464 Ma and 446 Ma. This study focuses on the garnet-phengite gneiss hosting the eclogite. By construction of P-T conditions and dating the two discrepancies above are investigated. U/Pb zircon dating by secondary ion mass spectrometry technique (SIMS) targeted on metamorphic rims yield a concordia age of 460.2 ± 2.7 Ma corresponding well to earlier c. 463.7 ± 8.9 Ma Sm/Nd dating of the eclogite. The inferred peak mineral assemblage of the gneiss is garnet + phengite + quartz + K-feldspar + titanite ± H2O. Thermodynamic modelling reveal that garnet cores equilibrated within 1.9 - 2.6 GPa and 600 - 700 oC. Fe2+-Mg garnet-phengite thermometry involving garnet rims yields temperatures of c. 650 - 715 oC revealing relatively similar temperatures during growth of garnet core and rim, respectively. Garnet chemistry is characterised by oscillatory zoning with an antithetic pattern of Ca and Fe. The former decreases from core to rim, whereas the latter increases. The opposite trend is observed in epidote-group minerals suggesting exchange between the two minerals during garnet growth. Skeletal textures and atoll textures together with observed chemical pattern may indicate multiple garnet growth episodes. The results of the study points toward similar P-T history of the Tjeliken eclogite and gneiss in favour of the interpretation of considering the whole Tjeliken to belong to the Lower Seve. The obtained U/Pb age support other age constraints in the area suggesting high-pressure metamorphism at c. 460 Ma related to a subduction event affecting the central Scandinavian Caledonides at c. 460 - 450 Ma. / Den skandinaviska fjällkedjan, vetenskapligt benämnd de skandinaviska Kaledoniderna, har bildats på samma sätt som Himalaya och har därför liknande uppbyggnad. Från början tros fjällen ha varit av samma storlek som Himalayas berg. Deras ålder på cirka 400 miljoner år gör dock att miljontals års påverkan från vatten och vind har eroderat ner dem till dagens betydligt lägre fjäll. Den bergsyta vi ser idag utgör därför vad som från början var fjällkedjans kärna. Därför utgör de skandinaviska Kaledoniderna en unik möjlighet att studera en bergskedjas inre, vilket kan ge viktig information om bergkedjebildande processer.Forskning har visat att fjällkedjan bildades då Japetushavet mellan kontinenterna Baltika och Laurentia stängdes. Detta resulterade till slut i en kollision mellan de två kontinenterna där stora flak (skollor) av mellanliggande havsbotten och kontinentalskorpa transporterades hundratals kilometer upp på Baltika. Skollorna utgör idag våra fjäll. Känt är också att innan kontinentalkollisionen så kolliderade Baltika med öar i havet, varvid dess kontinentalkant pressades djupt ner under jordskorpan, ända ner i manteln. Bevis för detta återfinns idag i Sevesskollan ibland annat de jämtländska fjällen i form av högtrycksbergarter. Dessa har bildats under de höga tryck och temperaturer som råder på stora djup i jordens inre. Genom att studera högtrycksbergarter kan man förstå fjällkedjans bildande. Fjället Tjeliken i norra Jämtland är en av de idag kända fyndplatserna av högtrycksbergarter. Dess topp består av bergarten eklogit och dess lägre delar av gnejs, samt kvarts. Tidigare studier av eklogiten visar att den har bildats vid tryck och temperatur på cirka 2.6 GPa och 700 °C, vilket motsvarar att den varit nedpressad cirka 80 km under jordytan. Den exakta tidpunkten då detta skedde har inte kunnat fastställas då olika dateringsmetoder gett olika resultat mellan cirka 464 till 446 miljoner år sedan. I denna studie studeras tryck- och temperaturförhållanden för gnejsen som jämförelse till eklogiten, för att kunna fastställa om de båda bergarterna har genomgått samma bildningsprocesser. En ny datering genomförs också för att bättre kunna fastställa tidpunkten för högtrycksfasen.Datering baserat på radioaktivt sönderfall av uran till bly i mineralet zirkon visar att högtrycksfasen inträffade för cirka 460 miljoner år sedan. Modellering baserat på termodynamiska principer visar att kärnorna i mineralet granat bildades inom tryck- och temperaturområdet 1.9–2.6 GPa och c. 680-700 °C. En komplex kemisk zonering av granaterna indikerar att de möjligen bildades under flera tillväxtfaser, vilka inom ramen för denna studie inte kunnat modelleras, då mer avancerade metoder krävs. Denna studie visar dock att eklogiten och gnejsen sannolikt delar en gemensam tryck- och temperaturhistoria, vilken är relaterad till den djupa nedpressningen av Baltikas kontinentalkant under sen ordovicium. Dateringen stödjer även övriga åldersdateringar i området av högtrycksfasen.

This study contributes to the understanding of major river evolution in Southeast Asia during the Cenozoic. In order to trace the evolution of a hypothesized palaeo-Yarlung Tsangpo-Irrawaddy River, this work undertakes the first systematic provenance study of detrital minerals from Cenozoic synorogenic fluvial and deltaic sedimentary rocks of the Central Burma Basin, employing a combination of high precision geochronology, thermochronology, and geochemistry analytical techniques on single grain detrital zircon and white mica. The dataset is compared to published isotopic data from potential source terranes in order to determine source provenance and exhumation history from source to sink. A Yarlung Tsangpo-Irrawaddy connection existed as far back as ca. 42 Ma and disconnection occurred at 18–20 Ma, based on provenance changes detected using a combination of U-Pb ages and εHf(t) values on detrital zircons, and ⁴ºAr/³⁹Ar dating on detrital micas. During the Eocene and Oligocene, units are dominated by U-Pb age and high positive εHf(t) values, characteristic of a southern Lhasa Gangdese magmatic arc source. An antecedent Yarlung Tsangpo-Irrawaddy River system formed the major river draining the eastern Himalaya at this time. A significant change in provenance is seen in the early Miocene, where detritus is predominantly derived from bedrock of the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, western Yunnan and Burma, a region drained by the modern Irrawaddy-Chindwin river system characterized by Cenozoic U-Pb ages and negative εHf(t) values. This is attributed to the disconnection of the Yarlung-Irrawaddy River and capture by the proto-Brahmaputra River, re-routing Tibetan Transhimalayan detritus to the eastern Himalayan foreland basin. Re-set zircon fission track ages of 14-8 Ma present in all units is used to infer post-depositional basin evolution related to changes in the stress regime accommodating the continued northward migration of India. The early Miocene initiation of the Jiali-Parlung-Gaoligong-Sagaing dextral shear zone and the continued northward movement of the coupled India-Burma plate aided in focusing deformation inside the syntaxis contributing to the disconnection of the Yarlung Tsangpo-Irrawaddy system, linking surface deformation and denudation with processes occurring at deeper crustal levels.

The tectonic significance and age of carbonatite intrusions in the western Foreland Belt of the Canadian Cordillera are poorly constrained. Recent 1:5,000 scale field mapping of one of these carbonatite intrusions, the Aley carbonatite (NTS 94 B/5), has demonstrated that it was emplaced as a syn-kinematic sill, coeval with a major nappe-forming tectonic event. Determining the age of the Aley carbonatite therefore provides a means of directly dating tectonism related to carbonatite magmatism. A U-Pb titanite age of 365.9 +/- 2.1 Ma was obtained from the Ospika pipe, an ultramafic diatreme spatially and genetically related to the carbonatite. We interpret the Late Devonian age of the Ospika pipe to be the minimum possible age of the carbonatite and syn-magmatic nappe-forming tectonic event. The maximum possible age of the carbonatite is constrained by the Early Devonian age of the Road River Group (ca. 410 Ma), the youngest strata intruded by carbonatite dykes and involved in the nappe forming event. Our dating results for the Aley carbonatite closely correlate with U-Pb zircon and perovskite ages obtained for the Ice River carbonatite complex in the western Foreland Belt of the southern Canadian Cordillera, and support the interpretation of carbonatite intrusions of the western Foreland Belt as genetically linked components of an alkaline-carbonatitic magmatic province. Structural, stratigraphic, and geochronological data from the Aley area indicate that deformation was similar in style to, and coeval with, structures attributable to the Antler Orogeny, and are consistent with the Antler orogen having extended the length of Cordilleran margin from the southern United States to Alaska. Deformed alkaline-carbonatite intrusions that characterize continental suture zones in Africa and Tibet may provide an analogue for the Aley carbonatite and correlative alkaline-carbonatite complexes in the western Foreland Belt. / Graduate / 0372 / mcleish@uvic.ca

The studied area extends from the Ochtiná Unit in Western Carpathians to the Veitsch Nappe Eastern Alps. The thesis represents a complex multidisciplinary work that combines the structural analysis, petrology and geochronology. The three main objectives of this thesis: reevaluation of the structure, deformation and metamorphic records, and original position of the Ochtiná Unit, understanding the distinct metasomatic processes recorded along the contact of two major units of the Central Western Carpathians - in the Gemer-Vepor Contact Zone - and their relation to distinct tectono-metamorphic events, testing the possible links between the Ochtiná Unit in the Gemer-Vepor Contact Zone of the Western Carpathians and the Veitsch Nappe in the Greywacke Zone of the Easten Alps, both well known for the Lower Carboniferous shale/schist sequence accompanied by the abundant presence of magnesite ore bodies. Keywords: Central Western Carpathians, Greywacke Zone, Ochtiná Unit, Veitsch Nappe, U-Pb zircon dating, Phase equilibrium modelling

No description available.