The southwesternmost piece of the Grenville Orogen in Laurentia – New U-Pb and Sm-Nd ages, and P-T estimates from the Sierra del Cuervo, Chihuahua, Mexico
Bodo Weber , C. Nayeli Chacón-Olivas , M. Daniela Tazzo-Rangel , Miguel Franco-Rubio , Reneé González-Guzmán , Felix E.D. Kaufmann , Dirk Frei
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper elucidates the origin and tectonic setting of Mesoproterozoic metaigneous rocks of the Sierra de Cuervo, Chihuahua, Mexico, providing new evidence for the southwestern extension of the Grenville Orogeny in North America. Several geochronological approaches were used, including U-Pb zircon dating by LA-ICP-MS and the Sm-Nd isochron technique, using ID-TIMS. Igneous zircon domains reveal crystallization ages for felsic igneous protoliths ranging from ∼ 1.38 Ga to ∼ 1.33 Ga, with ∼ 1.42 b.yr. old inherited zircon. Whole-rock Sm-Nd isotopic data define an isochron at 1.52 ± 0.03 Ga, suggesting crustal growth during the early Mesoproterozoic. The timing of metamorphism is constrained by Sm-Nd leached garnet-whole-rock isochrons and by U-Pb zircon dates between ∼ 1.06 and ∼ 1.05 Ga. Metamorphic pressure and temperature conditions were estimated from a metamafic rock sample at 6.4 ± 1 kbar and 520 ± 20 °C using conventional geothermobarometry and pseudosection modeling. The results contextualize the Precambrian rocks of the Sierra del Cuervo with metamorphic rocks of the West Texas Uplift thrust over the Laurentian margin. We propose that this thrust represents a remnant of the unexposed Grenville Front and that the Chihuahua and West Texas metamorphic basement is characterized by contemporaneous magmatism and reworked from the Granite-Rhyolite Province of the North American midcontinent during the Grenville Orogeny, comparable to the low-medium pressure allochthonous Ottawan metamorphic belt of the Grenville Province in Canada.
期刊介绍:
Precambrian Research publishes studies on all aspects of the early stages of the composition, structure and evolution of the Earth and its planetary neighbours. With a focus on process-oriented and comparative studies, it covers, but is not restricted to, subjects such as:
(1) Chemical, biological, biochemical and cosmochemical evolution; the origin of life; the evolution of the oceans and atmosphere; the early fossil record; palaeobiology;
(2) Geochronology and isotope and elemental geochemistry;
(3) Precambrian mineral deposits;
(4) Geophysical aspects of the early Earth and Precambrian terrains;
(5) Nature, formation and evolution of the Precambrian lithosphere and mantle including magmatic, depositional, metamorphic and tectonic processes.
In addition, the editors particularly welcome integrated process-oriented studies that involve a combination of the above fields and comparative studies that demonstrate the effect of Precambrian evolution on Phanerozoic earth system processes.
Regional and localised studies of Precambrian phenomena are considered appropriate only when the detail and quality allow illustration of a wider process, or when significant gaps in basic knowledge of a particular area can be filled.