u pb ages of neoarchean granitoids from the black hills south dakota usa implications for crustal evolution in the archean wyoming province abstract zircons in basement rocks from the eastern wyoming province black hills south dakota usa have been analyzed by ion microprobe shrimp in order to determine precise ages of archean tectonomagmatic events in the northern black hills nbh near nemo phanerozoic and proterozoic meta sedimentary rocks are nonconformably underlain by archean biotite feldspar gneiss bfg and little elk gneissic granite leg both of which intrude older schists the archean granitoid gneisses exhibit a pervasive nw se trending fabric whereas an earlier ne sw trending fabric occurs sporadically only in the bfg which is intruded by the somewhat younger leg zircon crystals obtained from the leg and bfg exhibit double terminations oscillatory zoning and th u ratios of 0 6 0 3 thereby confirming a magmatic origin for both lithologies in situ analysis of the most u pb concordant domains yields equivalent 207 pb 206 pb ages upper intercept u pb concordia of 2559 6 and 2563 6 ma both 2 for the leg and bfg respectively which constrains a late neoarchean age for sequential pulses of magmatism in the nbh unzoned in bse patches of 2560 ma zircon commonly truncate coeval zonation in the same crystals with no change in th u ratio suggesting that deuteric fluid assisted recrystallization accompanied post magmatic cooling a xenocrystic core of magmatic zircon observed in one leg zircon yields a concordant age of 2894 6 ma 2 this xenocryst represents the oldest crustal material reported thus far in the black hills whether this older zircon originated as unmelted residue of 2900 ma crust that potentially underlies the black hills or as detritus derived from 2900 ma crustal sources in the wyoming province cannot be discerned in the southern black hills sbh the peraluminous granite at bear mountain bmg of previously unknown age intrudes biotite plagioclase schist zircon crystals from the bmg are highly metamict and altered but locally preserve small domains suitable for in situ analysis a u pb concordia upper intercept age of 2596 11 ma 2 obtained for zircon confirms both the late neoarchean magmatic age of the bmg and a minimum age for the schist it intrudes taken together these data indicate that the neoarchean basement granitoids were emplaced at 2590 2600 ma sbh and 2560 ma nbh most likely in response to subduction associated with plate convergence final assembly of supercontinent kenorland in contrast thin rims present on some leg bfg zircons exhibit strong u pb discordance high common pb and low th u ratios suggesting growth or modification under hydrothermal conditions as previously suggested for similar zircons from se wyoming the leg bfg zircon rims yield a nominal upper intercept date of 1940 2180 ma which may represent a composite of multiple rifting events known to have affected the nemo area between 2480 and 1960 ma together these observations confirm the existence of a paleoproterozoic rift margin along the easternmost wyoming craton moreover the 2480 1960 ma time frame inferred for rifting in the black hills nemo area corresponds closely to a 2450 2100 ma time frame previously inferred for the fragmentation of supercontinent kenorland

lu hf and pbsl geochronology of apatites from proterozoic terranes a first look at lu hf isotopic closure in metamorphic apatite abstract the mineral apatite is characterized by elevated and highly variable lu hf ratios that in some cases allow for single crystal dating by the lu hf isotopic system apatites from the adirondack lowlands and otter lake area in the grenville province and from the black hills south dakota yield lu hf ages that are consistently older than their respective pb step leaching ages isotopic closure for the lu hf system therefore occurs before u pb system closure in this mineral in the adirondack lowlands where h2o activity was low lu hf systematics of cm sized apatite crystals remained undisturbed during upper amphibolite facies metamorphism 700 to 675 c at 1170 1130 ma the relatively old lu hf ages of 1270 and 1230 ma observed for these apatites correlate with decreasing crystal size in contrast apatite from the fluid rich otter lake area and black hills yields unrealistically low apparent lu hf closure temperatures implying that in these apatites fluids facilitated late exchange the lu hf ages for the metamorphic apatites were thus controlled either by the prevailing temperature and grain size or by fluid activity

textural geochronological and chemical constraints from polygenetic titanite and monogenetic apatite from a mid crustal shear zone an integrated epma sims and tims study abstract titanites extracted from a 520 9 ma syn orogenic syenite at otjimbingwe damara orogen namibia show shape colour and u pb systematics that vary with position in the syenite relative to a major shear zone most titanite fractions from syenite cropping out outside the shear zone are characterized by a medium brown anhedral core overgrown by a pale brown subhedral rim empa and sims analyses show that the cores are enriched in al fe and sometimes na mg and mn but also in ree nb and zr relative to the rim tims u pb ages from these titanites gave relatively imprecise 207pb 206pb ages between 680 21 ma and 695 20 ma as well as 570 8 ma to 604 9 ma mainly due to their low 206pb 204pb ratios combined th u pb relationships suggest that these titanites contain a component similar to ca 715 750 ma old titanite populations observed so far only in neoproterozoic syenites from the northern part of the orogen titanites from syenites within the shear zone are dark brown mostly euhedral to subhedral and display only occasionally a pale brown rim these titanites show decreasing concentrations of na mg al and fe and increasing concentrations of mn from core to rim interpreted to reflect growth zonation abundances of mree hree y nb and zr are higher in the rim than in the core 207pb 206pb ages obtained on these titanites range from 470 2 ma to 538 3 ma for most samples only the samples with the highest 206pb 204pb ratios between 350 and 230 have u pb ages similar to the previously published u pb zircon age of 520 9 ma from the same complex other titanite fractions with lower 206pb 204pb ratios have slightly older ages than ca 520 ma indicating some inheritance inherited titanite survived multiple metamorphic episodes in the damara orogen between ca 750 ma and 470 ma and the igneous event that lead to the intrusion of the otjimbingwe syenite at 520 ma these data imply a high closure temperature of u pb in titanite of 650 700 c consistent with previous studies coeval apatite has no apparent inheritance low 206pb 204pb ratios between 55 and 170 and u pb ages similar to or only slightly younger than the u pb zircon or titanite age obtained on the titanite fractions with the highest 206pb 204pb ratios assuming a closure temperature for u pb of 900 c for zircon 700 c for titanite and 450 c for apatite initial fast cooling of the complex can be inferred our data demonstrate that titanite can contain multiple age domains preserving a chronological and chemical record of previous igneous events

direct ion microprobe u pb dating of fossil tooth of a permian shark abstract we report here direct ion microprobe dating of fossil tooth dentine of a permian fresh water shark orthacanthus senckenbergianus using the shrimp instrument recently installed at hiroshima university fifteen spots on the small sample approximately 2 mm 1 mm indicate a 238 u 206 pb isochron age of 266 18 ma and a tera wasserburg concordia intercept age of 266 24 ma in a three dimensional 238 u 206 pb 207 pb 206 pb 204 pb 206 pb diagram these permian ages are consistent with a 235 u 207 pb age of 453 170 ma and a 232 th 208 pb age of 235 310 ma suggesting indistinguishable depositional and early diagenetic ages of the fossil in its sedimentary sequences the success of the method depends on the chemical fractionation of uranium from lead in a specimen a few hundred microns in size and the consequent variations in lead isotopic compositions due to radioactive decay

high closure temperatures of the u pb system in large apatites from the tin mountain pegmatite black hills south dakota usa abstract the cores of several large 1 2 cm apatites from the early proterozoic tin mountain pegmatite black hills south dakota have concordant u pb ages the age uncertainties of these samples are less than 5 ma the lead isotopic compositions of muscovite and k feldspar coexisting with the apatites were used for initial lead isotopic corrections the resulting u pb concordia ages agree well with u pb and pb pb isochron ages based solely on multiple fragments from single apatites this agreement justifies the use of coexisting muscovite and k feldspar for initial lead corrections the precision of these u pb ages is comparable to those of the u pb systems of more commonly analyzed minerals such as zircon monazite and sphene the estimated u pb closure temperature t c of these apatites is about 620 c this t c is in close agreement with the t c calculated for 0 5 cm diffusion radii and published data for diffusivity and activation energy of lead diffusion in apatite apatite can therefore yield high precision u pb ages that are close to its crystallization age in igneous rocks

nd o and sr isotopic constraints on the origin of precambrian rocks southern black hills south dakota abstract the nd o and sr isotopic characteristics of precambrian metasedimentary metavolcanic and granitic rocks from the black hills of south dakota are examined two late archean granites 2 5 2 6 ga have t dm ages of 3 05 and 3 30 ga suggesting that at least one of the granites was derived through the melting of significantly older crust early proterozoic metasedimentary rocks have t dm ages that range from 2 32 to 2 45 ga these model ages in conjunction with probable stratigraphic ages ranging from 1 9 to 2 2 ga indicate that mantle derived material was added to the continental crust of this region during the early proterozoic previous studies of the harney peak granite complex have reported u pb and rb sr ages of about 1 71 ga and most granite samples examined in this study have sr isotopic compositions consistent with that age two granite samples taken from the same sill however give two point rb sr and sm nd ages of 2 08 0 08 and 2 20 0 20ga 2200 nd 15 5 respectively in addition whole rock and apatite samples of the spatially associated tin mountain pegmatite give a sm nd isochron age of 2000 100 ma 2200 nd 5 8 1 8 the sm nd o and rb sr isotopic systematics of these granitic rocks have been complicated to some degree by both crystallization and post crystallization processes and the age of the pegmatite and parts of the harney peak granite complex remain uncertain processes that probably complicated the isotopic systematics of these rocks include derivation from heterogeneous source material assimilation mixing of ree between granite and country rock during crystallization via a fluid phase and post crystallization mobility of sr the nd isotopic compositions of the pegmatite and the harney peak granite indicate that they were not derived primarily from the exposed metasedimentary rocks

petrogenesis of early proterozoic pelitic schists of the southern black hills south dakota constraints on regional low pressure metamorphism the late archean to early proterozoic terrain exposed in the black hills south dakota records a history of deformation metamorphism and igneous activity extending from 2 5 to 1 7 ga metamorphism began during crustal thickening however maximum temperatures were attained after crustal thickening during a regional low pressure high temperature event coinciding with the emplacement of the harney peak granite at 1 7 ga metamorphic grade increased over a distance of 10 to 15 km from garnet grade in the northern part of the terrain to sillimanite k feldspar grade in the southern part isograds mapped in the terrain include the first appearance of staurolite biotite andalusite biotite sillimanite sillimanite biotite garnet and sillimanite k feldspar in the extreme western exposure of the terrain kyanite biotite occurs instead of andalusite biotite geobarometry indicates that metamorphism occurred between 2 0 and 4 4 kbar geothermometry indicates that temperature increased from 469 500 c in the garnet zone to 528 555 c in the sillimanite zone on the northern flank of the harney peak granite higher temperatures are recorded along the southern flank of the granite in the sillimanite biotite garnet zone 585 c and in the sillimanite k feldspar zone 662 c the distributions of isograds and isotherms indicate that the harney peak granite was at the locus of a regional thermal high and that doming during granite emplacement was partly responsible for exposure of the low pressure high temperature metamorphic terrain

age of the dahongliutan rare metal pegmatite deposit west kunlun xinjiang nw china constraints from la icp ms u pb dating of columbite fe and cassiterite abstract dahongliutan is a medium size li be ta nb rare metal pegmatite deposit in the tianshuihai terrane west kunlun orogenic belt nw china in this paper la icp ms u pb ages of columbite fe and cassiterite are reported to constrain the metallogenic age columbite fe with high u and low th yielded a late triassic weighted mean 206 pb 238 u age of 211 9 2 4 ma whilst cassiterite yielded a 206 pb 238 u 207 pb 235 u concordia lower intercept age of 218 12 ma and a tera wasserburg lower intercept age of 218 12 ma which is identical to the columbite fe u pb age and thus represents the emplacement age of the pegmatite dikes the ore hosting pegmatite dikes are intimately time space related to the dahongliutan s type granite ca 220 217 ma indicating that they may have been cogenetic integrating new and published geological data we suggest that the dahongliutan pegmatites may have evolved from the granitic magma represented by the dahongliutan s type pluton in a post collisional tectonic setting regionally the tianshuihai terrane is the western extension of the songpan ganzi block and thus the kunlun li mineralization belt may have been connected to the songpan ganzi li mineralization belt which contains eleven lithium deposits with about 9 8 of li 2 o reserves in china implying that the dahongliutan pegmatite deposit may also have favorable ore forming conditions the similar columbite fe and cassiterite ages demonstrate that these minerals can be precisely dated and could provide useful alternatives to accurately constrain the timing and evolution of rare metal mineralization

rapid cooling and exhumation in the western part of the mesoproterozoic albany fraser orogen western australia abstract the albany fraser orogen of southwestern australia is an understudied orogenic belt which is interpreted to record the mesoproterozoic suturing of the yilgarn craton of western australia to the mawson craton of east antarctica during rodinia assembly previous u pb geochronology has dated peak amphibolite to granulite facies metamorphism in the orogen at ca 1180 ma here we report the first 40ar 39ar thermochronology of hornblende biotite and muscovite grains from a 360 km transect across the western albany fraser orogen and uncover a record of strikingly fast syn orogenic cooling and exhumation to the north muscovites from the northern foreland record cooling at ca 1159 ma in the central and southern domains of the orogen the biranup and nornalup zones hornblende yields ca 1169 ma cooling ages and biotite yields ca 1172 1144 ma cooling ages the new cooling ages imply that the three domains were exhumed rapidly following peak metamorphism at ca 1180 ma attained a similar structural level by ca 1159 ma and have experienced a uniform exhumation history since that time to constrain mineral closure temperatures and post peak metamorphic cooling rates we conducted a monte carlo simulation which fully propagates uncertainty and minimises error correlations modelling of cooling from hornblende to biotite closure temperatures ca 585 c and 365 c respectively in the nornalup and biranup zones yields fast cooling rates of 33 9 17 c ma and 22 5 7 c ma respectively these fast cooling rates imply rapid exhumation in an active tectonic setting undergoing peak metamorphism although the structural evolution of the albany fraser orogen remains poorly constrained the transpressional tectonic activity associated with deformation in the western part of the albany fraser orogen may have been an active driver of this fast exhumation this is distinctly different from exhumation models for granulite facies domains in other mesoproterozoic orogens which typically experience post orogenic slow 1 5 c ma cooling driven by mechanisms such as orogenic collapse and erosion we consider that the observed differences reflect the interpreted syn tectonic transpressional exhumation history of the albany fraser orogen which is an underrepresented tectonic regime in the mesoproterozoic cooling record

multistage exhumation and juxtaposition of lower continental crust in the western canadian shield linking high resolution u pb and 40ar 39ar thermochronometry with pressure temperature deformation paths 1 new u pb titanite apatite rutile and 40ar 39ar hornblende muscovite biotite data are linked with existing pressure temperature deformation paths to impose detailed temporal constraints on the juxtaposition and unroofing of domains in an extensive 20 000 km2 region of exhumed lower crust in the east lake athabasca region of the western canadian shield in the 200 m y between circa 1 9 ga high pressure granulite facies metamorphism and circa 1 7 ga unconformable deposition of athabasca basin sediments on the exhumed rocks our analysis reveals at least three distinct phases of unroofing at different rates specifically we distinguish 1 an early phase of extensional unroofing in the chipman domain at rates of 1 5 2 0 km m y from 1 0 gpa to 0 8 gpa associated with mafic magmatism and metamorphism 2 an episode of regional contractional uplift and associated unroofing along the legs lake shear zone at circa 1850 ma from 0 7 0 8 gpa to 0 4 0 5 gpa and 3 a final period of extensional unroofing at rates of 0 2 0 3 km m y from 0 4 to 0 5 gpa that culminated in transport of current exposures to near surface conditions the cooling patterns and retrograde assemblages are consistent with pauses between exhumational phases the apparent convergence of disparate higher temperature histories in several deep crustal domains at circa 1 89 1 88 ga implies their juxtaposition at 0 7 0 8 gpa conditions regional east directed thrusting of the deep crustal domains as a coherent unit at 1 85 ga juxtaposed the granulites with middle crustal hearne domain rocks at 0 4 0 5 gpa conditions the detailed exhumational history allows correlation with changing regional tectonic regimes associated with the amalgamation of laurentia the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of exhumation patterns in the east lake athabasca region may be a common feature of the unroofing histories of lower crustal rocks

pbpb dating of apatite by a stepwise dissolution technique abstract apatites from different geologic settings have been dated by a new sequential dissolution method the procedure is based on stepwise exposure of apatite to weak intermediate acids a pegmatite sample from the kerala khondalite belt in southern india yielded an age of 509 25 ma apatites from an enderbite sample from the northern marginal zone of the limpopo belt in southern africa yielded an age of 1970 26 ma which is in agreement with the high grade metamorphism at around 2 0 ga reported from the triangle shear zone and amphibolite facies metamorphism in the transition zone apatites from an amphibolite facies gneiss from the transition zone south of the nmz yielded an age of 1878 18 ma this age is somewhat younger than a sphene age on the same rock of 1971 17 ma and is believed to reflect the time of retrograde metamorphism in the presence of a fluid phase the sequential dissolution method is a new tool that allows dating of apatites which have relatively unradiogenic pb ratios because the spread can be significantly increased and no correction for common lead is needed this study further demonstrates that apatites from magmatic and high grade metamorphic rocks yield ages very close to those of monazite zircon or garnet unless the rock subsequently interacted with a fluid phase

crystallization conditions and evolution of magmatic fluids in the harney peak granite and associated pegmatites black hills south dakota evidence from fluid inclusions abstract a microthermometric study of inclusions in granites and pegmatites in the proterozoic harney peak granite system identified four types of inclusions type 1 inclusions are mixtures of co2 and h2o and have low salinities on average 3 5 wt nacleq type 2 inclusions are aqueous solutions of variable salinities from 0 to 40 wt nacleq type 3 inclusions are carbonic dominated by co2 with no detectable water and type 4 inclusions consist of 20 to 100 solids with the remaining volume occupied by a co2 h2o fluid many inclusions have a secondary character however a primary character can be unambiguously established in several occurrences of the type 1 inclusions these inclusions were trapped above the solidus and represent the exsolved magmatic fluid the secondary populations of types 1 2 and 3 probably formed as a result of reequilibration and unmixing of the type 1 fluid that progressively changed composition and density with decreasing temperature and pressure and was finally trapped along healed microfractures under subsolidus conditions type 4 inclusions are primary and are interpreted to be trapped fluid bearing complex silicate melts that subsequently solidified or underwent other posttrapping changes it is demonstrated that primary type 1 fluid inclusions that coexist with crystallized melt inclusions in the complex li bearing tin mountain pegmatite were trapped along the two fluid phase boundary in the system co2 h2o nacleq consequently the temperature and pressure conditions of trapping are identical to the bulk homogenization conditions on average 340 c and 2 7 kbar these conditions indicate that this li cs rb p and b rich pegmatite crystallized at some of the lowest known temperatures for a silicate melt in the crust an internally consistent empirical solvus surface in p t xco2 coordinates was generated for the pseudobinary co2 h2o 4 3 wt nacleq pegmatite fluid system distribution coefficients for the major species co2 h2o nacl and ch4 between the immiscible co2 rich and h2o rich fluid phases as a function of pressure and temperature were extracted from data for the two cogenetic fluid inclusions types

isotopic dating in metamorphic belts isotopic dating in metamorphic rocks is concerned with the timing of processes whose operation is controlled by continually changing physical conditions of these temperature has a pervasive influence and the use of physical models to elucidate the ways in which temperature is likely to vary is briefly reviewed the central concept of closure temperature is critically discussed and quantitative estimates for biotite and hornblende are evaluated in order to illustrate the factors which control closure temperatures and limit their application in practice the possibility of dating crystallization using minerals which crystallize below their respective closure temperatures is examined taking examples involving k ar rb sr sm nd and u pb analyses the indirect dating of metamorphism via structurally dated plutons is briefly considered and the problems of interpreting both discordant u pb zircon ages and rb sr whole rock isochrons in metamorphosed granites are discussed the value of near concordant zircon ages is emphasized the extent of isotopic equilibration during metamorphism specifically of sr isotopes in metasediments is shown not to be a simple function of metamorphic grade the flow of fluids produced by metamorphic reactions appears to be crucial and there is a potential for dating metamorphism using whole rock samples where such flow can he demonstrated independently the concluding discussion briefly examines existing data for the dalradian and indicates the potential for further progress using both well established and novel approaches

u th pb rb sr and ar ar mineral and whole rock isotopic systematics in a metamorphosed granitic terrane southeastern california mesozoic structural domes are developed in an older proterozoic crystalline basement of granitic to granodioritic foliate metaplutonic rocks in the halloran hills southeastern california isotopic analyses of whole rocks and mineral separates from these rocks by u th pb rb sr and ar ar techniques yield a complex pattern of discordance that is the result of a fairly simple geologic history individual mineral isotopic systems have variably equilibrated with each other in response to mesozoic regional metamorphism and locally to later heating during mesozoic batholith emplacement discordant u th pb zircon data indicate that the granitic core rocks are 1 710 ma and that one dioritic phase may be slightly older rb sr whole rock model dates scatter about 1 700 ma rb sr amphibole whole rock and u th pb amphibole dates are also proterozoic potassium feldspars retain a 207 pb 206 pb signature of their proterozoic age ar ar amphibole spectra from the flank of the main dome reveal disturbed dates of 1 450 ma to 1 100 ma and the dates become younger toward the structurally deeper core of the dome all remaining isotopic determinations yield mesozoic or younger dates for mineral whole rock systems rb sr whole rock apatite feldspar biotite analyses show nonequilibration of strontium isotopes with resultant mineral pair dates from 4 foliate plutonic rocks ranging from 200 to 50 ma no single metamorphic age is indicated by the rb sr data rb sr whole rock biotite dates are consistently younger than any other determinations and may be reduced by weathering or gain of nonradiogenic strontium from ground water u pb sphene and apatite analyses from rocks that yield 1 710 ma zircon dates are nearly concordant at 140 ma an amphibole from the structurally deepest rocks of the main dome that yield 140 to 150 ma u pb sphene dates has an ar ar plateau date of 144 ma the u pb sphene and ar ar amphibole analyses are believed to be the best age estimate for the end of the highest temperature phase of regional metamorphism th pb sphene and apatite dates and ar ar biotite dates cluster at 90 5 ma as a consequence of regional cooling during late cretaceous time following extensive mesozoic plutonism in the region at 97 to 90 ma we interpret the discordant mineral date patterns to have resulted from metamorphism of 1 700 ma plutonic rocks during the jurassic 140 50 ma and subsequent uplift and cooling to 200 c at about 90 ma on the basis of this study the isotope dating systems ranked in decreasing order of resistance to resetting are u th pb zircon concordia intercept rb sr whole rock rb sr amphibole u th pb amphibole pb pb whole rock ar ar amphibole rb sr sphene u pb sphene and apatite rb sr plagioclase potassium feldspar apatite th pb sphene and apatite ar ar biotite u pb feldspars rb sr biotite

electron probe ultrachron microchronometry of metamorphic monazite unraveling the timing of polyphase thermotectonism in the easternmost wyoming craton black hills south dakota a metapelite from the easternmost wyoming craton black hills south dakota has been analyzed by microstructural methods to unravel polyphase deformational history associated with 1800 1700 ma assembly of southern laurentia three deformational fabrics are recognized in oriented thin sections an ene trending s 1 fabric preserved as oblique inclusion trails in garnet porphyroblasts a nnw trending s 2 fabric preserved as microlithons in the rock matrix and a flattening fabric s 3 which transposed s 1 s 2 and dominates the matrix a complex monazite porphyroblast has been analyzed in situ with the electron microprobe ultrachron to constrain the timing of s 1 s 3 fabric formation associated with monazite growth the core of this grain uniquely preserves the s 1 s 2 fabrics as sigmoidal inclusion trails the mean total pb age of this domain is 1750 10 ma all dates reported at 95 confidence n 39 spots which is equivalent to the published 2 0 7 pb 2 0 6 pb age for the same domain these results validate the total pb dating method in general and the ultrachron in particular for reliable age determination in low th monazite and are interpreted as 1750 ma minimum ages for the s 1 s 2 fabrics and sequential d 1 d 2 collisional events that imposed them n directed arc accretion and e w continental collision respectively a higher th y rim of this same rosetta grain truncates the s 1 s 2 sigmoid and is associated with resorption textures in garnet porphyroblasts coupled release of y and an s 3 fabric that pervasively overprinted s 1 s 2 in the rock matrix the mean ultrachron date of this domain is 1692 5 ma n 17 spots which is slightly younger that the published isotopic age for all monazite rims combined these results support a 1715 1690 ma timeframe for localized doming d 3 related to granite magmatism the onset of which has been dated independently at 1715 3 ma the timing of post d 3 cooling through 350 and 300 c is constrained by 4 0 ar 3 9 ar dates of 1610 and 1480 ma obtained for separates of d 3 matrix muscovite and biotite respectively which are interpreted as closure ages this study shows that fabrics in poly deformed rocks can be dated by linking monazite spot ages to key microtextures further the results of this micrometer scale study enhance previous knowledge of local thermotectonism black hills and regional terrane assembly laurentia

petrologic and geochemical links between the post collisional proterozoic harney peak leucogranite south dakota usa and its source rocks abstract the proterozoic terrane of the black hills south dakota includes the composite harney peak leucogranite and associated pegmatites that were emplaced into metamorphosed pelites and graywackes available dates indicate that granite generation post dated regional metamorphism and deformation that have been attributed to collision of the wyoming and superior cratons at 1760 ma previous radiogenic and stable isotope work indicates that the exposed metasedimentary rocks are equivalent to sources of the leucogranites in this study whole rock and mineral compositions of the metasedimentary rocks were used to calculate the likely average residue mineralogies and melt fractions that would be generated by muscovite dehydration melting of the rocks these were then used to model observed trace element compositions of the granites using published mineral melt distribution coefficients model trace element melt compositions using pelitic and graywacke protoliths yield similar results the models reproduce well the observed depletion of transition metals and ba in the granites relative to metasedimentary protoliths the depletion is due mainly to high proportion of biotite with variable amounts of k feldspar in the model residue sr is also depleted in the granites compared to source rocks but to a lesser relative extent than ba this is because of the low biotite melt distribution coefficient for sr and because high proportion of plagioclase in the residue is compensated by high sr concentrations in protoliths rubidium cs and ta behaved as slightly compatible to incompatible elements and therefore were not strongly fractionated during melting of the considered elements only b appears to have been highly incompatible relative to residue during melting the protoliths had sufficient b to allow tourmaline crystallization in those parts of the harney peak granite in which ti concentration was sufficiently low not to enhance crystallization of biotite the reproducibility of observed trace element concentrations in the harney peak granite by the models supports the often made proposition that metapelites and metagraywackes are common sources for leucogranites this argues against mass input from the mantle into metagraywacke and metapelitic crustal sources or melting of amphibolites to generate the post collisional harney peak and other similar peraluminous granite suites

the generation and crystallization conditions of the proterozoic harney peak leucogranite black hills south dakota usa petrologic and geochemical constraints the mineralogy petrology and geochemistry of the proterozoic harney peak granite black hills south dakota were examined in view of experimentally determined phase equilibria applicable to granitic systems in order to place constraints on the progenesis of peraluminous leucogranites and commonly associated rare element pegmatites the granite was emplaced at 3 4 kbar as multiple sills and dikes into quartz mica schists at the culmination of a regional high temperature low pressure metamorphic event principally along the periphery of the main pluton and in satellite intrusions the sills segregated into granite pegmatite couplets the major minerals include quartz k feldspar sodic plagioclase and muscovite biotite mg no molar mgo mgo feo 0 32 0 38 is the predominant ferromagnesian mineral in the granite s core whereas at the periphery of the main pluton and in the satellite intrusions tourmaline mg no 0 18 0 48 is the dominant ferromagnesian phase almandine spessartine garnet is also found in the outer intrusions there is virtually a complete overlap in the wide concentration ranges of sio2 cao mgo feo sr zr w of the biotite and tourmaline bearing granite suites with no discernable differentiation trends on harker diagrams precluding the derivation of one suite from the other by differentiation following emplacement this is consistent with the oxygen isotope compositions which are 11 5 0 6 for the biotite granites and 13 2 0 8 for the tourmaline granites suggesting derivation from different sources the concentrations of tio2 and possibly ba are higher and of mno and b are lower in the biotite granites the normative orthoclase albite ratio is extremely variable ranging from 0 26 to 1 65 in the biotite granites to 0 01 1 75 in the tourmaline granites very few sample compositions fall near the high pressure watersaturated haplogranite minima eutectic trend indicating that the granites for the most part are not minimum melts generated under conditions with a text h text 2 text o 1 instead most biotite granites are more potassic than the water saturated minima and eutectics and in analogy with experimentally produced granitic melts they are best explained by melting at 6 kbar a text h text 2 text o 1 and temperatures 800 c such high temperatures are also indicated by oxygen isotope equilibration among the constituent minerals nabelek et al 1992 several of the tourmaline granite samples contain virtually no k feldspar and have oxygen isotope equilibration temperatures 716 775 c therefore they must represent high temperature accumulations of liquidus minerals crystallized under equilibrium conditions from melts more sodic than the water saturated haplogranite minima or during fractionation of intruded melts into granite pegmatite couplets accompanied by volatile aided differentiation of the alkali elements the indicated high temperatures a text h text 2 text o 1 the relatively high tio2 and ba concentrations and the relatively low partial 18 text o values of the biotite granites suggest that they were generated by high extent biotite dehydration melting of an immature archean metasedimentary source the ascent of the hot melts may have triggered low extent muscovite dehydration melting of schists higher in the crust producing the high b low ti melts comprising the periphery of the main pluton and the satellite intrusions alternatively the different granite types may be the result of melting of a vertical section of the crust in response to the ascent of a thermal pulse with the low partial 18 text o biotite granites generated at a deeper hotter region and the high partial 18 text o tourmaline granites at a higher cooler region of the crust the low ti and high b concentrations in the high partial 18 text o melts resulted in the crystallization of tourmaline rather than biotite which promoted the observed differentiation of the melts into the granitic and pegmatitic layers found along the periphery of the main pluton and the satellite intrusions

inherited zircon and titanite upb systems in an archaean syenite from southwestern australia implications for upb stability of titanite abstract inherited zircon and titanite have been identified in a syenite from the archaean of southwestern australia conventional and shrimp analyses on euhedral zoned zircon and zoned rims on complex grains define a crystallisation age of 2654 5 ma for the syenite in addition shrimp analyses on zircon cores and unzoned subhedral zircons show that zircon has a ca 3250 ma inherited component conventional u pb ages on titanite also fall between ca 3250 ma and ca 2650 ma demonstrating that inherited titanite as well as zircon is present in the syenite the syenite has been affected by regional upper amphibolite facies metamorphism at an estimated temperature of 625 650 c retention of the inherited radiogenic pb in the titanite is evidence that the closure temperature for titanite is greater than 650 c the presence of inherited titanite and zircon also demonstrates a crustal source component for the syenite and indicates it originated by partial assimilation of crustal rocks by a potassic magma at

deep and bottom water of the weddell sea s western rim oceanographic observations from the ice station weddell 1 show that the western rim of the weddell gyre contributes to weddell sea bottom water a thin 300 meters highly oxygenated benthic layer is composed of a low salinity type of bottom water overlying a high salinity component this complex layering disappears near 66 s because of vertical mixing and further inflow from the continental margin the bottom water flowing out of the western rim is a blend of the two types additionally the data show that a narrow band of warmer weddell deep water hugged the continental margin as it flowed into the western rim providing the continental margin with the salt required for bottom water production

isotopic peculiarities of an archaean pegmatite union mine mica south africa abstract an isotopic investigation rb sr u pb pb pb and sm nd of the archaean union mine pegmatite northern province south africa is reported the intrusion of this pegmatite devoid of zircon and monazite has been dated at 2912 2 6 ma by pb pb step leaching of magmatic garnet this age is supported by an identical two garnet apatite sm nd isochron of 2917 27 ma a rb sr k feldspar garnet albite isochron of 2023 11 ma corresponds to a later hydro thermal overprint isotope resetting during this overprint was incomplete and revealed that various parent daughter isotope pairs within minerals of the union mine pegmatite behaved in exceedingly different manners under the same physico chemical conditions sr isotope resetting was incomplete and resulted in open system behaviour of the pegmatite k feldspar almost quantitatively lost its radiogenic sr which had accumulated between the time of intrusion and the overprint sr loss from muscovite was variable and incomplete as indicated by a wide range in ages from 2088 74 ma to 2744 13 ma only insignificant portions of this sr were incorporated into adjacent albite as revealed by a micro drilled rb sr profile through a muscovite albite grain boundary the 87 sr 86 sr initial ratio is 0 8301 11 for the proterozoic isochron which is far less radiogenic than the calculated value of 2 24 for a closed system it is therefore concluded that sr was lost from the system and that the rb sr ratio of the whole rock was changed apatite on the other hand seems to have behaved as a closed system and retains a low initial sr ratio of 0 7125 u pb analyses of apatite reveal that this mineral has behaved as an almost closed system for pb diffusion as well but was open for u significant loss during the overprint this has resulted in high reverse discordance of apatite u pb analysis and in a geologically meaningless secondary pb pb isochron the data demonstrate that both preferential loss of daughter sr over parent rb and parent u over daughter pb isotopes can occur in some minerals of one and the same rock this process altered the parent daughter ratios to such an extent that in the case of apatite a secondary pb pb isochron with an erroneous age of 4119 66 ma was established it appears likely that preferential loss of daughter or parent isotopes is the reason for spurious secondary whole rock isochrons reported and reviewed by moorbath and taylor 1986 and moorbath et al 1986 such losses far exceeding predictions based on volume diffusion experiments may occur by means of fast transport diffusion which in part may depend on the micro textures of the host minerals geochemical studies of early archaean rocks require substantial back correction for radiogenic decay and the example of the union mine pegmatite shows that changes of parent daughter isotope ratios may occur long after rock formation however such changes may go unnoticed in high precision geochronology i e garnet dating in this study but will lead to erroneous correction for radiogenic decay and hence to erroneous conclusions regarding the origin of the studied samples

middle holocene coastal environment and the rise of the liangzhu city complex on the yangtze delta china abstract the large prehistoric city of liangzhu and its associated earthen dike emerged on the yangtze delta coast after two millennia of occupation in this area by scattered communities details of its development have been widely discussed in the literature our results reveal that the city was selectively built at the head of an embayment backed by hills with close access to food freshwater and timber and with protection from coastal hazards radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence osl dating shows that it was built around 4 8 4 5 ka and the earthen dike was constructed a little later at 4 1 ka during this time saltwater wetlands were changing to freshwater in response to rapid coastal progradation as the postglacial sea level rise stabilized this facilitated rice farming and furthered the development of the city with elaborate city planning the younger large scale earthen dike and artificial ponds possibly suggest increasing demand for flood mitigation and irrigation

upb systematics of stilbite bearing low temperature mineral assemblages from the malmberget iron ore northern sweden minerals with a low thermal stability strongly constrain the history of cooling and later tectonic reworking of an area provided these minerals can be dated the possible use of stilbite a ca al silicate of the zeolite group for geochronologic studies was investigated open fractures in the palaeoproterozoic malmberget iron ore northern sweden contain low temperature mineral assemblages with various combinations of apatite stilbite calcite biotite and less commonly titanite and monazite two generations of fractures that are characterized by calcite and stilbite with distinctly radiogenic initial 87sr 86sr at ca 0 720 and ca 0 708 are dated at ca 1740 ma monazite and 1620 1613 ma titanite respectively apatite samples even those intimately intergrown with ca 1740 ma old monazite yield u pb ages at 1620 1600 ma which indicates that apatite apparently recrystallized and reset its u pb system older stilbite yields a secondary lead isochron at 1730 6 4 ma 2 which unequivocally demonstrates that the ambient temperature in the malmberget area from then on remained below the thermal stability of stilbite ca 150 c stilbite is a natural ion exchanger and its u pb systematics indicates recent mobility of uranium and lead however the 1730 6 4 ma 2 age demonstrates that some of the older stilbite was not disturbed during younger fracturing hydrothermally altered and secondary stilbite samples yield scattered lead arrays that correspond to secondary isochrons at ca 1650 1600 d4a which agrees with the u pb titanite and apatite ages thus in combination with other geochronometers the generally imprecise stilbite ages provide information on the cooling history of an area

lead diffusion in apatite and zircon using ion implantation and rutherford backscattering techniques abstract ion implantation was used to introduce pb into the minerals zircon and apatite diffusion profiles were obtained using rutherford backscattering and the results were fitted with a model to determine the diffusion coefficients this approach is both simple and useful in studying diffusion over a temperature range of geologic interest without inordinate annealing times results for apatite over the temperature range 600 900 c are in good agreement with earlier results obtained for higher temperatures watson et al 1985 and are described by the following arrhenius law d 1 27 10 4 cm 2 s 1 exp 54 6 1 7 kcl mol 1 rt this suggests that radiation damage induced by ion implantation has little effect on pb diffusion in this case due to rapid annealing of induced damage at low temperatures the activation energy stated above is somewhat smaller than that previously determined 70 kcal mol 1 reflecting the larger range in 1 t sampled by the present results closure temperatures calculated with these diffusion parameters are in good agreement with those inferred from geochronologic data diffusion coefficients for pb in zircon determined in this study are greater than those obtained from a single experimental measurement and estimates of pb diffusion based on geochronologic data and u pb zoning in natural zircons the differing results for zircon and apatite obtained in this study appear to be related to each mineral s ability to anneal the radiation damage induced by ion implantation

trace element constraints on pegmatite genesis tin mountain pegmatite black hills south dakota the tin mountain pegmatite is a small zoned granitic body that is extremely enriched in rb and li but has moderate concentrations of sr and ba these trace elements are modelled using granitic distribution coefficients in order to test the potentials of partial melting of metasedimentary rocks and fractionation of a less evolved granitic melt to have produced the parental liquid to the tin mountain pegmatite batch melting of any reasonable metasedimentary source rock would likely have yielded melts that were either insufficiently enriched in rb and li to be the parental liquid or that had sr and ba concentrations that were much higher than those estimated for the parental liquid the modelling of simple fractional crystallization and equilibrium crystallization of a granitic melt within the compositional range of the spatially associated harney peak granite gives calculated melt compositions with either lower sr and ba concentrations or inadequate rb and li enrichments to be the parent liquid of the pegmatite at least two variants from simple crystal liquid fractionation models can however successfully account for the derivation of the parent liquid 1 generation of a rb li ba and sr rich granitic melt outside of the compositional range of the sampled portions of the harney peak granite complex by low degrees of partial melting of metasedimentary rocks found in the black hills followed by moderate extents of fractional or equilibrium crystallization 2 derivation from harney peak granite via a complex multi stage crystal liquid fractionation process such as progressive equilibrium crystallization

40ar 39ar evidence for middle proterozoic 1300 1500 ma slow cooling of the southern black hills south dakota midcontinent north america implications for early proterozoic p t evolution and posttectonic magmatism 40ar 39ar total gas and plateau dates from moscovite and biotite in the southern black hills south dakota provide evidence for a period of middle proterozoic slow cooling early proterozoic 1600 1650 ma mica dates were obtained from metasedimentary rocks located in a synformal structure between the harney peak and bear mountain domes and also south of bear mountain metamorphic rocks from the dome areas and undeformed samples of the 1710 ma harney peak granite hpg yield middle proterozoic mica dates 1270 1500 ma two samples collected between the synform and bear mountain dome yield intermediate total gas mica dates of 1550 ma we suggest two end member interpretations to explain the map pattern of cooling ages 1 subhorizontal slow cooling of an area which exhibits variation in mica ar retention intervals or 2 mild folding of a middle proterozoic 1500 ma 300 c isotherm according to the second interpretation the preservation of older dates between the domes may reflect reactivation of a preexisting synformal structure and downwarping of relatively cold rocks during a period of approximately east west contraction and slow uplift during the middle proterozoic the mica data together with hornblende data from the black hills published elsewhere indicate that the ambient country rock temperature at the 3 4 kbar depth of emplacement of the hpg was between 350 c and 500 c suggesting that the average upper crustal geothermal gradient was 25 40 c km prior to intrusion the thermochronologic data suggest hpg emplacement was followed by a 200 m y period of stability and tectonic quiescence with little uplift we propose that crust thickened during the early proterozoic was uplifted and erosionally thinned prior to 1710 ma and that the hpg magma was emplaced into isostatically stable crust of relatively normal thickness we speculate that uplift and crustal thinning prior to hpg intrusion was the result of differential thinning of the subcrustal lithosphere beneath the black hills if so this process would have also caused an increase in mantle heat flux across the moho and triggered vapor absent melting of biotite to produce the hpg magma this scenario for posttectonic granite generation is supported in part by the fact that in the whole of the black hills the hpg is spatially associated with the deepest exposed early proterozoic country rock

lead isotopic evidence for mixed sources of proterozoic granites and pegmatites black hills south dakota usa abstract the lead isotopic compositions of k feldspars separated from the ca 1700 ma harney peak granite complex and spatially associated granitic pegmatites indicate that these rocks were derived from at least two sources it has been reported previously that the core of the harney peak granite complex is dominated by relatively lower gd18o avg 11 5 granites whereas higher gd18o avg 13 2 granites occur around the periphery of the complex the higher 18 o granites and one simple pegmatite have low values of 207 pb 204 pb for their 206 pb 204 pb thus they likely were derived from a source with a short crustal residence time this source may have been the pelitic schists into which the harney peak granite complex and pegmatites were intruded feldspars from granites with lower gd18o values have significantly higher 207 pb 204 pb for their 206 pb 204 pb the data define a linear array with a slope equivalent to an age of ca 2 6 ga with t2 defined to be 1 7 ga such a slope could represent a mixing array or a secondary isochron for the source these low 18o granites could have been derived from a source with a high u pb and with a crustal residence beginning before the proterozoic the source s of these granites may have been a sediment derived from late archean continental crust the highly evolved tin mountain pegmatite has lead isotopic systematics intermediate between those of the two granite groups suggesting either a mixed source or contamination two late archean granites the little elk granite and the bear mountain granite had precursors with high u pb and low th u histories the th u history of the bear mountain granite is too low for this rock to have been an important component of the source of the proterozoic granites however crustal rocks with lead isotopic compositions similar to those of the little elk granite were an important source of lead for some of the proterozoic granitic rocks

palaeoproterozoic thermal events recorded in the 4 0 ga acasta gneiss canada evidence from shrimp u pb dating of apatite and zircon u pb isotopes of apatites and zircons extracted from a sample of the acasta gneisses that occurs along the western margin of the slave craton in northwest territories of canada have been measured using a shrimp ii ion microprobe eleven apatite analyses 30 m spot give 238u 204pb 206pb 204pb and 204pb 206pb 207pb 206pb isochron ages of 1905 86 ma 2 and 1936 28 ma 2 respectively analyses 20 m spot on the partly recrystallised central portions of fourteen zircons mostly define a mixing array on a 238u 206pb 207pb 206pb concordia plot with concordia intercepts at 4014 25 ma 2 and 1967 93 ma 2 the former agrees with 3 96 4 02 ga protolith ages obtained on the oldest components of the acasta gneisses by other workers the lower concordia intercept for the zircon data is consistent with the u pb age of apatites and may be related to a 500 c thermal event perhaps early in the palaeoproterozoic wopmay orogeny