Evidence for an Early Archean component in the Middle to Late Archean gneisses of the Wind River Range,west-central Wyoming: conventional and ion microprobe U-Pb data |
| |
| Authors: | John N Aleinikoff Ian S Williams William Compston John S Stuckless Ronald G Worl |
| |
| Institution: | (1) US Geological Survey, Box 25046, 80225 Denver, CO, USA;(2) Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra, ACT, Australia |
| |
| Abstract: | Gneissic rocks that are basement to the Late Archean granites comprising much of the Wind River Range, west-central Wyoming,
have been dated by the zircon U-Pb method using both conventional and ion microprobe techniques. A foliated hornblende granite
gneiss member from the southern border of the Bridger batholith is 2670±13 Ma. Zircons from a granulite just north of the
Bridger batholith are equant and faceted, a typical morphology for zircon grown under high grade metamorphic conditions. This
granulite, which may be related to a second phase of migmatization in the area, is 2698±8 Ma. South of the Bridger batholith,
zircons from a granulite (charnockite), which is related to an earlier phase of migmatization in the Range, yield a discordia
with intercept ages of about 2.3 and 3.3 Ga. However, ion microprobe analyses of single zircon grains indicate that this rock
contains several populations of zircon, ranging in age from 2.67 to about 3.8 Ga. Based on zircon morphology and regional
geologic relationships, we interpret the data as indicating an age of ≃3.2 Ga for the first granulite metamorphism and migmatization.
Older, possibly xenocrystic zircons give ages of ≃3.35, 3.65 and ≃3.8 Ga. Younger zircons grew at 2.7 and 2.85 Ga in response
to events, including the second granulite metamorphism at 2.7 Ga, that culminated in the intrusion of the Bridger batholith
and migmatization at 2.67 Ga. These data support the field and petrographic evidence for two granulite events and provide
some temporal constraints for the formation of continental crust in the Early and Middle Archean in the Wyoming Province. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
