Palaeomagnetism of the Tudor gabbro, Ontario: evidence for divergence between Grenvillia and interior Laurentia |
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| Authors: | David J Dunlop Hironobu Hyodo Todd Knight Alan G Steele |
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| Institution: | Geophysics Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 1A7, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Summary. After thermal and alternating field (AF) cleaning, the characteristic high blocking temperature A component of natural remanent magnetization (NRM) of the Tudor gabbro of southern Ontario has a mean direction D = 326°, I =–46° ( k = 132, α95= 4.8°, N = 8 sites). The corresponding palaeopole, 133°E, 12°N ( dp = 4°, dm = 6°), confirms the palaeopole 137°E, 17°N (α95= 8.4°) reported earlier by Palmer & Carmichael, based on AF cleaning only. The A NRM has unblocking temperatures > 515–525°C which exceed the estimated 500°C peak temperature reached locally during ～ 1050 Ma Grenvillian regional metamorphism. The A NRM therefore predates metamorphism and is probably a primary thermoremanence (TRM). The age of the Tudor NRM has previously been taken to be about 675 Ma, but recent 40Ar/39Ar dating by Baksi has shown that this is the time of post-metamorphic cooling to 200–250°C. Hornblendes record initial cooling of the intrusion to 590±20°C at 1110 Ma and this is the best estimate of the age of the A remanence. Successful Thellier-type palaeointensity determinations on 11 Tudor samples confirm that the A NRM is a TRM and indicate a palaeofield at this time of 18–27 μT, about 50–70 per cent of the present field intensity at 27° magnetic latitude. The anomalous Tudor A palaeopole, which lies well to the west of both 1000–800 Ma Grenvillian palaeopoles and 1100–1050 Ma poles from Interior Laurentia, is interpreted as recording divergence between Grenvillia and Interior Laurentia just before the Grenvillian orogeny, rather than a post-metamorphic extension of the apparent polar wander path as previously assumed. |
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| Keywords: | continental collisions Grenville Province Grenvillian orogeny palaeofield intensity palaeomagnetism Precambrian |
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