Petrogenesis and high-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology of the Howley Islands intrusions, Central Newfoundland Appalachians: Hydrous magmatism of Emsian age (ca. 400 Ma) along a multi-million-ounce orogenic gold belt

The Howley Islands intrusions consist of three coarse-grained amphibole-phlogopite/biotite quartz gabbro dykes and one medium-grained amphibole-biotite quartz diorite body that cut rocks of the Exploits Subzone in central Newfoundland along strike from the multi-million-ounce Valentine gold deposits. The petrogeneses and ages of these rocks were investigated to better constrain the process evolution of the orogenic gold belt that extends for more than 200 km across central Newfoundland.

The quartz gabbro dykes are composed of magnesio-ferri-hornblende-cummingtonite-phlogopite/biotite macrocrysts mantled by plagioclase (labradorite to oligoclase)-quartz coronas. The gabbros are LILE- and LREE-enriched, transitional arc-like rocks that formed from a different melt source and parental magma than the quartz diorite body. The quartz diorite is plagioclase-rich (50 modal % andesine), contains only trace cummingtonite, lacks phlogopite, and preserves rare diopside overgrown by magnesio-ferri-hornblende. This intrusion is more alkaline and OIB-like than the quartz gabbros and exhibits the influence of a deeper, more enriched mantle component, although both melts variably interacted with deep lithosphere. The quartz gabbro dykes and quartz diorite body may represent melts of the lower lithosphere and upper asthenosphere, respectively.

The abundance of coarse- to medium-grained amphibole and phlogopite/biotite in the samples is consistent with crystallization of hydrous magmas and rapid, water-enhanced crystal growth, with cooling paths recorded by chemically zoned grains of magnesio-ferri-hornblende and plagioclase. One quartz gabbro displays reverse core to rim chemical zoning of plagioclase from andesine to labradorite, which may reflect decreasing pressure during magma ascent and crystallization, magma mixing of evolved and more primitive magmas, and/or fluctuations in H₂O content. The presence of cummingtonite suggests crystallization at relatively low temperatures in shallow, low-pressure, upper crustal magma chambers. The quartz gabbros may represent melts equivalent to the nearby Howley Islands gabbro body, whereas the quartz diorite may represent a plagioclase cumulate along the margin of another melt chamber.

U-Pb CA-ID-TIMS zircon geochronology yielded ages of ca. 400.3 Ma for the gabbro dykes and 399.9 Ma for the quartz diorite intrusion, within the ca. 410–377 Ma age range for mineralization of the nearby Valentine gold deposits. The ca. 400 Ma intrusions, when considered in conjunction with regional models, reflect melting and hydrous magmatism in the mantle wedge above a retreating Avalonian slab that was dehydrating during the Acadian orogenic cycle. The coincidence of Pridoli (ca. 422 Ma) to Emsian (ca. 400 Ma) bimodal magmatism and orogenic gold mineralization in central Newfoundland reflects more than twenty million years of high geothermal gradients and fluid flow, which when combined with structural focusing along faults, was apparently optimal for the formation of orogenic gold deposits of significant economic potential.