Long-lived connection between southern Siberia and northern Laurentia in the Proterozoic

Precambrian supercontinents Nuna-Columbia (1.7 to 1.3 billion years ago) and Rodinia (1.1 to 0.7 billion years ago) have been proposed. However, the arrangements of crustal blocks within these supercontinents are poorly known. Huge, dominantly basaltic magmatic outpourings and intrusions, covering up to millions of square kilometres, termed Large Igneous Provinces, typically accompany (super) continent breakup, or attempted breakup and offer an important tool for reconstructing supercontinents. Here we focus on the Large Igneous Province record for Siberia and Laurentia, whose relative position in Nuna-Columbia and Rodinia reconstructions is highly controversial. We present precise geochronology—nine U–Pb and six Ar–Ar ages—on dolerite dykes and sills, along with existing dates from the literature, that constrain the timing of emplacement of Large Igneous Province magmatism in southern Siberia and northern Laurentia between 1,900 and 720 million years ago. We identify four robust age matches between the continents 1,870, 1,750, 1,350 and 720 million years ago, as well as several additional approximate age correlations that indicate southern Siberia and northern Laurentia were probably near neighbours for this 1.2-billion-year interval. Our reconstructions provide a framework for evaluating the shared geological, tectonic and metallogenic histories of these continental blocks

The precambrian mafic magmatic record, including large igneous provinces of the kalahari craton and its constituents : A paleogeographic review

The study of Precambrian dyke swarms, sill provinces and large igneous provinces on the Kalahari craton in southern Africa has expanded greatly since the pioneering work initiated almost four decades ago. The main contributors to this progress have been a large number of precise U–Pb crystallization ages of mafic rocks, published in a number of recent papers. This information is compiled here into a series of maps that provide a nearly 3 billion year intraplate magmatic record of the Kalahari craton and its earlier constituents, the proto-Kalahari, Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons. We also review their possible paleogeographic relations to other cratons or supercontinents. This review provides a more accessible overview of individual magmatic events, and mostly includes precise U–Pb ages of mafic dykes and sills, some of which can be linked to stratigraphically well-constrained volcanic rocks. The extrusion ages of these volcanic units are also starting to be refined by, among others, in situ dating of baddeleyite. Some mafic dyke swarms, previously characterized entirely on similarity in dyke trends within a swarm, are found to be temporally composite and sometimes consist of up to three different generations. Other mafic dyke swarms, with different trends, can now be linked to protracted volcanic events like the stratigraphically well preserved Mesoarchean Nsuze Group (Pongola Supergroup) and Neoarchean Ventersdorp Supergroup. Following upon these Archean events, shorter-lived Proterozoic large igneous provinces also intrude the Transvaal Supergroup, Olifantshoek Supergroup and Umkondo Group, and include the world’s largest layered intrusion, the Bushveld Complex. Longer-lived late Paleoproterozoic magmatic events are also preserved as mafic intrusions and lava units within the Waterberg and Soutpansberg groups as well as the granitic basement. Many gaps in our knowledge of the Precambrian mafic record of the Kalahari craton remain, but further multi-disciplinary studies combining the latest advances in U–Pb geochronology and both paleomagnetism and geochemistry will help solve the Precambrian paleogeographic puzzle