New high precision U-Pb ages and Hf isotope data from the Karoo large igneous province; implications for pulsed magmatism and early Toarcian environmental perturbations

Abstract

To better constrain the age and duration of the magmatism associated with the Karoo large igneous province (LIP), we present new U-Pb ID-TIMS dates and εHf values from baddeleyite and zircon grains from Karoo basin mafic sills and from felsic samples from the Lebombo and Mwenezi monoclines, together with an ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age database of Karoo rocks that has been filtered for true plateau ages with >70% of ³⁹Ar released and in which all ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages were recalculated using the current best estimates for the decay constants. Zircon and baddeleyite ages from three Karoo basin sills range from 183.36 ± 0.17/0.27 to 183.06 ± 0.07/0.21 Ma, where the two uncertainties reflect the analytical error and the additional error associated with decay constant uncertainty. Zircon from the Mutandawhe pluton are dated to 176.84 ± 0.06/0.20 Ma, which represents the first high-precision U-Pb age of the late stage Karoo-LIP magmatism in the northern Lebombo-Mwenezi region. Initial hafnium isotopes are close to chondritic for the Karoo basin and central Lebombo samples (εHf from −2 to +3), but more negative for zircon grains from the Mutandawhe pluton (−11.3 ± 1.1, 2SD). In combination with previous studies and in agreement with the updated ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages, we show that the sill complex that intruded the Karoo basin was short-lived at ~320 ± 180 ka and that it pre-dated the magmatism of the Ferrar-LIP by around 460 ka, whereas the entire Karoo-LIP was emplaced over a period of ca. 6.5 Ma. Based on high-precision U-Pb geochronology, Karoo-LIP magmatism occurred after 183.36 ± 0.17 Ma and therefore postdated the extinction pulses of the late Pliensbachian and likely the Pliensbachian-Toarcian boundary. However, we support previous conclusions that the start of the Karoo-LIP activity agrees with the onset of the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event and the early Toarcian warming, indicating that these environmental changes were likely a response to the magmatic activity of the Karoo-LIP.