Juvenile crust formation in the Zimbabwe Craton deduced from the O-Hf isotopic record of 3.8–3.1 Ga detrital zircons

Hafnium and oxygen isotopic compositions measured in-situ on U-Pb dated zircon from Archaean sedimentary successions belonging to the 2.9-2.8 Ga Belingwean/Bulawayan groups and previously undated Sebakwian Group are used to characterize the crustal evolution of the Zimbabwe Craton prior to 3.0 Ga. Microstructural and compositional criteria were used to minimize effects arising from Pb loss due to metamorphic overprinting and interaction with low-temperature fluids. 207 Pb/206 Pb age spectra (concordance >90%) reveal prominent peaks at 3.8, 3.6, 3.5, and 3.35 Ga, corresponding to documented geological events, both globally and within the Zimbabwe Craton. Zircon delta O-18 values from +4 to +10% point to both derivation from magmas in equilibrium with mantle oxygen and the incorporation of material that had previously interacted with water in near-surface environments. In epsilon(Hf)-time space, 3.8-3.6 Ga grains define an array consistent with reworking of a mafic reservoir ((176) Lu/(177) Hf similar to 0.015) that separated from chondritic mantle at similar to 3.9 Ga. Crustal domains formed after 3.6 Ga depict a more complex evolution, involving contribution from chondritic mantle sources and, to a lesser extent, reworking of pre-existing crust. Protracted remelting was not accompanied by significant mantle depletion prior to 3.35 Ga. This implies that early crust production in the Zimbabwe Craton did not cause complementary enriched and depleted reservoirs that were tapped by later magmas, possibly because the volume of crust extracted and stabilised was too small to influence (asthenospheric) mantle isotopic evolution. Growth of continental crust through pulsed emplacement of juvenile (chondritic mantle-derived) melts, into and onto the existing cratonic nucleus, however, involved formation of complementary depleted subcontinental lithospheric mantle since the early Archaean, indicative of strongly coupled evolutionary histories of both reservoirs, with limited evidence for recycling and lateral accretion of arc-related crustal blocks until 3.35 Ga. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Extensional faulting on Tinos island, Aegean sea, Greece: How many detachments?

Zircon and apatite fission track (ZFT and AFT) and (U-Th)/He, 40Ar/39Ar hornblende, and U-Pb zircon ages from the granites of Tinos Island in the Aegean Sea, Greece, suggest, together with published ZFT data, that there are three extensional detachments on Tinos. The Tinos granites crosscut the Tinos detachment. Cooling of the granites was controlled by the Livadi detachment, which occurs structurally above the Tinos detachment. Our U-Pb zircon age is 14.6 ± 0.2 Ma and two 40Ar/39Ar hornblende ages are 14.4 ± 0.4 and 13.7 ± 0.4 Ma. ZFT and AFT ages go from 14.4 ± 1.2 to 12.2 ± 1.0 Ma and 12.8 ± 2.4 to 11.9 ± 2.0 Ma. (U-Th)/He ages are from 10.4 ± 0.2 to 9.9 ± 0.2 Ma (zircon) and 11.9 ± 0.5 to 10.0 ± 0.3 Ma (apatite). All ages decrease northeastward in the direction of hanging wall transport on the Livadi detachment and age-distance relationships yield a slip rate of 2.6 (+3.3 / −1.0) km Ma−1. This rate is smaller than a published slip rate of 6.5 km Ma−1 for the Vari detachment, which is another detachment structurally above the Tinos detachment. Because of the different rates and because published ZFT ages from the footwall of the Vari detachment are ∼10 Ma, we propose that the Vari detachment has to be distinguished from the older Livadi detachment. We discuss various models of how the extensional detachments may have evolved and prefer a scenario in which the Vari detachment cut down into the footwall of the Livadi detachment successively exhuming deeper structural units. The thermochronologic ages demonstrate the importance of quantitative data for constraining localization processes during extensional deformation

Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution

Life requires a wide variety of bioessential trace elements to act as structural components and reactive centers in metalloenzymes. These requirements differ between organisms and have evolved over geological time, likely guided in some part by environmental conditions. Until recently, most of what was understood regarding trace element concentrations in the Precambrian oceans was inferred by extrapolation, geochemical modeling, and/or genomic studies. However, in the past decade, the increasing availability of trace element and isotopic data for sedimentary rocks of all ages has yielded new, and potentially more direct, insights into secular changes in seawater composition – and ultimately the evolution of the marine biosphere. Compiled records of many bioessential trace elements (including Ni, Mo, P, Zn, Co, Cr, Se, and I) provide new insight into how trace element abundance in Earth's ancient oceans may have been linked to biological evolution. Several of these trace elements display redox-sensitive behavior, while others are redox-sensitive but not bioessential (e.g., Cr, U). Their temporal trends in sedimentary archives provide useful constraints on changes in atmosphere-ocean redox conditions that are linked to biological evolution, for example, the activity of oxygen-producing, photosynthetic cyanobacteria. In this review, we summarize available Precambrian trace element proxy data, and discuss how temporal trends in the seawater concentrations of specific trace elements may be linked to the evolution of both simple and complex life. We also examine several biologically relevant and/or redox-sensitive trace elements that have yet to be fully examined in the sedimentary rock record (e.g., Cu, Cd, W) and suggest several directions for future studies

Carbonaceous cherts in the Barberton greenstone belt and their significance for the study of early life in the Archean record

The 3.5-3.2 Ga old volcano-sedimentary succession of the Barberton greenstone belt (South Africa) is characterized by lithological units that are-repeated in a regular manner. Komatiitic, basaltic, and dacitic volcanic and volcaniclastic sequences are-capped by zones of silica enrichment, followed by bedded carbonaceous cherts. Stratiform and crosscutting carbonaceous chert veins are common in silica alteration zones and bedded cherts. A detailed field study of several chert horizons and chert veins that range in age from 3.47 to 3.30 Ga revealed the importance of syndepositional hydrothermal activity for their origin. Bedded, cherts; consist of silicified detrital and tuffaceous sediments that were deposited on the seafloor. Silicification took place at the sediment-water interface as a result of diffuse upflow of low-temperature hydrothermal fluids, which gave rise to the formation of impermeable chert caps. Fluid overpressure resulted in the breaching of the cap rocks at times. Chert veins contain angular host rock fragments, replace wall rocks, and show evidence of multiple vein fillings and in situ brecciation of earlier generations of vein fillings. They represent hydraulic fractures that were initiated by overpressuring of the hydrothermal system. The vein networks were infilled, partly by hydrothermal chert precipitates, and partly by still unconsolidated (not yet silicified) sedimentary material derived from overlying sedimentary horizons. Field, petrographic, isotopic, and trace element evidence indicate that most carbonaceous matter represents sedimentary material that originated by biogenic, processes in the Archean oceans and not by hydrothermal processes in the subsurface

Zircon in amphibolites from Naxos, Aegean Sea, Greece: Origin, significance and tectonic setting

We report U–Pb zircon ages of c. 700–550 Ma, 262–220 Ma, 47–38 Ma and 15–14 Ma from amphibolites on Naxos Island in the Aegean extensional province of Greece. The zircon has complex internal structures. Based on cathodoluminescence response, zoning and crosscutting relationships a minimum of four zircon growth stages are identified: inherited core, magmatic core, inner metamorphic (?) rim and an outer metamorphic rim. Trace element compositions of the amphibolites suggest igneous differentiation and crustal assimilation. Zircon solubility as a function of saturation temperatures, Zr content and melt composition indicates that the zircon did not originally crystallize in the mafic bodies but was inherited from felsic precursor rocks, and subsequently assimilated into the mafic intrusives during emplacement. Zircon inheritance is corroborated by the complex, xenocrystic nature of the zircon in one sample. Ages of c. 700–550 Ma and 262–220 Ma are assigned to inherited zircon. Available geochemical data suggest that the 15–14 Ma metamorphic rims grew in situ in the amphibolites, corresponding to a high-grade metamorphic event at this time. However, the geochemical data cannot conclusively establish if the c. 40 Ma zircon rims also grew in situ, or whether they were inherited along with the xenocrystic cores. Two scenarios for emplacement of the mafic intrusives are discussed: (i) Intrusion during late-Triassic to Jurassic ocean basin development of the Aegean realm, in which case the 40 Ma zircon rims would have grown in situ, and (ii) emplacement in the Miocene as a result mafic underplating during large-scale extension. In this case, only the 15–14 Ma metamorphic outer rims would have formed in situ in the amphibolitic host rocks.R.B. acknowledges financial support from the University of Canterbury through a postdoctoral fellowshi

An integrated zircon geochronological and geochemical investigation into the Miocene plutonic evolution of the Cyclades, Aegean Sea, Greece: Part 1: Geochronology

We use 369 individual U-Pb zircon ages from 14 granitoid samples collected on five islands in the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea, Greece, for constraining the crystallisation history of I- and S-type plutons above the retreating Hellenic subduction zone. Miocene magmatism in the Cyclades extended over a time span from 17 to 11 Ma. The ages for S-type granites are systematically ~2 million years older than those for I-type granites. Considering plutons individually, the zircon data define age spectra ranging from simple and unimodal to complex and multimodal. Seven of the 14 investigated samples yield more than one distinct zircon crystallisation age, with one I-type granodiorite sample from Mykonos Island representing the most complex case with three resolvable age peaks. Two samples from S-type granites on Ikaria appear to have crystallised zircon over 2-3 million years, whereas for the majority of individual samples with multiple zircon age populations the calculated ages deviate by 1-1. 5 million years. We interpret our age data to reflect a protracted history involving initial partial melting at deeper lithospheric levels, followed by crystallisation and cooling at shallower crustal levels. Our study corroborates published research arguing that pluton construction is due to incremental emplacement of multiple magma pulses over a few million years. Assuming that multiple age peaks of our 14 samples can indeed serve to quantify time spans for magmatic emplacement, our data suggest that Aegean plutons were constructed over a few million years. Our tectonic interpretation of the U-Pb ages is that the S-type granites resulted from partial melting and migmatisation of the lower crust, possibly starting at ~23 Ma. The I-type granites and associated mafic melts are interpreted to reflect the magmatic arc stage in the Cyclades starting at ~15 Ma

U-Th-Pb fractionation in Archaean lower continental crust: Implications for terrestrial Pb isotope systematics

Pb isotopic compositions are reported for leached feldspars and whole rock samples of felsic to ultramafic, aillphibolite to granulite facies xenoliths from the Bearpaw Mountains in the northern Wyoming Craton, Montana, USA. Two-point dates obtained for leached feldspar-whole rock pairs provide a record of Pb isotopic homogenisation at 1.6-2.1 Ga, during an inferred Palaeoproterozoic then-no-tectonic event. Model ages for leached feldspars, assuming single-stage melt extraction front depleted mantle, indicate formation of the protoliths from 2.8 to 4.0 Ga. The inferred timing of the Palaeoproterozoic high-grade metamorphism and extended Archaean crust formation is in agreement with available geochronological data for the Wyoming Craton. Following Palaeoproterozoic isotope resetting, the second stage of Ph isotope evolution Suggests prolonged residence in a low U/Pb environment. Isotope resetting was apparently accompanied by a significant decrease in U-238/Ph-204 (mu-values), reflecting substantial loss of the highly incompatible and mobile element U and, by inference, other heat-producing elements. Geothermal considerations suggest that unstratified continental crust, as approximated by a "reconstituted" average xenolith composition from the Wyoming Craton, would have been thermally unstable at lower crustal levels at the time of formation and metamorphism, if abundances of heat-producing elements had been unaffected by the U-Th-Pb fractionation event. In contrast, differentiated continental crust comprising a chemically depleted lower layer and an enriched upper layer would have reached thermal stability at the time of high-grade metamorphism. On this basis, the Wyoming Craton xenoliths data are proposed as an approximation to the lower continental crust. In Pb-207/Pb-204 vs. Pb-206/Pb-204 space the xenoliths plot to the left of the meteorite isochron and above the depleted mantle evolution curve, in contrast to most previous data from lower crustal xenolith suites. Simple mass balance, using an average of the studied xenoliths from the Wyoming Craton as approximation to lower continental crust and published compositions for upper continental crust, yields a Pb isotopic composition of bulk continental crust that plots close to the meteorite isochron. Hence, it is proposed that Archaean lower crust, as exemplified by the Wyoming Craton xenoliths, displays the essential geochemical and isotopic requisites to be a major reservoir to balance the Ph isotope composition of bulk silicate earth. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Redox state of the Dharwar craton root as inferred from eclogite and peridotite sourced mantle cargo, with implications for kimberlite and lamproite magma formation

Despite over 400 occurrences of kimberlites and related rocks in India, mantle-derived xenoliths are known only from a few occurrences. This paucity of mantle-derived xenoliths in Indian kimberlites has hampered investigations of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM). Using a valuable selection of the rare xenolith inventory, we here report Fe3+/ΣFe measurements for garnets using the electron microprobe (EPMA) flank method, targeting six mantle eclogite xenoliths (KL2 pipe) and fourteen peridotitic garnet xenocrysts (P9 and P10 hypabyssal intrusions) from the Wajrakarur kimberlite field (WKF) on the Eastern Dharwar craton (EDC). These data provide some of the first direct constraints on the oxygen fugacity (fO2) of the lithospheric mantle beneath the Indian subcontinent. The measured Fe3+/ΣFe ratios vary between 0.02 and 0.05 (± 0.01) for the eclogite xenoliths and between 0.02 and 0.10 (± 0.01) for the peridotitic garnets. Calculated ΔlogfO2 values for the KL2 eclogites show a wide range from FMQ-3.9 to FMQ-0.9 (± 0.6), straddling the boundary between the diamond and carbonate stability fields. In terms of redox compositions, it appears that the KL2 eclogites are able to host diamond, which is consistent with the diamondiferous nature of this particular WKF locality and the presence of eclogitic garnet inclusions in diamonds from the nearby TK4 kimberlite body. The peridotitic garnet xenocrysts from the P9 and P10 kimberlite bodies, which were entrained between ~ 125 and 170 km depth, reveal ΔlogfO2 values between FMQ-4.5 and FMQ-2.6 (± 0.9). Garnet xenocrysts with ‘normal’ REE patterns exhibit higher Fe3+/ΣFe ratios compared to garnets with ‘sinusoidal’ REE patterns. Importantly, the Fe3+/ΣFe ratios of garnet xenocrysts with ‘normal’ REE patterns (~ 125–160 km depth) correlate with metasomatic Ti–Y–Zr–V enrichment, which suggests metasomatism-driven oxidation of the cratonic mantle at mid-lithospheric depths. Such melt-related mantle metasomatism was probably diamond-destructive within the otherwise diamond-fertile lithospheric keel. The observed wide range of ΔlogfO2 values for the Dharwar cratonic mantle lithosphere allows for stabilization of various metasomatic phases (e.g., amphiboles, micas, carbonates) that may have formed (or concentrated in) distinctly different metasome assemblages within the continental root that underpins Peninsular India. Changing the relative contributions from such highly diverse volatile-rich metasomes may explain the spatiotemporal association of kimberlites and various diamond-bearing potassic magma types such as orangeites, ultramafic lamprophyres and lamproites, a scenario that is influenced by the redox composition of the Dharwar craton root