Palaeoproterozoic reworking of early Archaean lithospheric blocks: Rocks and zircon records from charnockitoids in Volgo-Uralia

The Volgo-Uralia segment, which constitutes one fourth of the East European Craton, is covered by sedimentary deposits. From geophysical studies and examination of thousands of drillcores, Volgo-Uralia has been recognised as a vast high-grade terrain with a complex crustal history extending from the Palaeoarchaean to the Palaeoproterozoic. Our recent studies are focused on the search for the oldest crust formation event by extracting whole rock Sm-Nd and zircon U-Th-Pb and Lu-Hf isotope information from samples recovered by drilling in southern Volgo-Uralia. Particular attention is devoted to the Kolyvan charnockitoid rock suite, which makes up several large areas of gneisses and granitoids of enderbite, charnockite and tonalite composition.

The zircon from the granitoids show complex internal structures and consists of large magmatic cores with oscillatory zoning, surrounded by CL black-and-bright bands of metamorphic rims. The crystallisation age of the cores is defined as 3140 ± 7 Ma (SHRIMP) and 3127 ± 46 Ma (LA-ICPMS), while the CL-bright rims are dated at 1950 ± 25 Ma (LA-ICPMS). The ingressive recrystallisation of primary magmatic zircon correlates with depletion in REE, which is observed in each studied core-rim pair. No differences in O-isotopic compositions have been detected between the cores and the rims. δO18 values with an average of 5.8 ± 0.3‰ (1SD) implying that no supracrustal rocks were involved in the source of the Kolyvan melts. The Hf-isotope compositions of magmatic cores (−3 to −9 εHfT) and metamorphic rims (−14 to −28 εHfT), and their similar crustal model ages from 3.42 to 3.86 Ga indicate Eo- to Palaeoarchaean crustal sources for the charnockitic magmas. Sm-Nd model ages of ca 3.46 Ga for the Kolyvan rocks are consistent with the zircon Hf-isotope data and indicate a long crustal prehistory of a source of the Mesoarchaean magmas.

We conclude that the Mesoarchaean Kolyvan suite rocks was formed by reworking of Eo- to Palaeoarchaean lithosphere, which probably had been widespread throughout Volgo-Uralia. The obtained geochemical and isotope data can be reconciled in a model of deep mantle-plume activity at 3.1 Ga causing mantle underplating, extension of the Palaeoarchaean crust and high-T magmatism.