Wyoming on the run—Toward final Paleoproterozoic assembly of Laurentia Taylor M. Kilian1*, Kevin R. Chamberlain2, David A.D. Evans1, Wouter Bleeker3, and Brian L. Cousens4 1Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA 2Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071-3006, USA 3Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E8, Canada 4Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre, Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada ABSTRACT investigate their positions at a crucial time inter- Paleoproterozoic suture zones mark the formation of supercontinent Nuna and provide val, providing initial conditions for the subse- a record of North America’s assembly. Conspicuously young ages (ca. 1.715 Ga) associated quent series of collisions that stitched Laurentia with deformation in southeast Wyoming craton argue for a more protracted consolidation of together. Coupled to existing geochronologic Laurentia, long after peak metamorphism in the Trans-Hudson orogen. Using paleomagnetic constraints on suturing along Wyoming’s mar- data from the newly dated 1899 ± 5 Ma Sourdough mafic dike swarm (Wyoming craton), we gins, we present a novel kinematic model for the compare the relative positions of Wyoming, Superior, and Slave cratons before, during, and late stages of assembly of Laurentia. after peak metamorphism in the Trans-Hudson orogen. With these constraints, we refine a collisional model for Laurentia that incorporates Wyoming craton after Superior and Slave COLLISIONAL CONSTRAINTS cratons united, redefining the Paleoproterozoic sutures that bind southern Laurentia. The best exposures of Wyoming’s Paleopro- terozoic suture zones are found along the south- INTRODUCTION becoming a late addition to Laurentia (Chamber- eastern and northern margins of the craton. In Paleoproterozoic amalgamation of Lauren- lain et al., 2002; Dahl et al., 1999)? the south, the Medicine Bow orogeny and the tia’s Archean cratons likely involved closure of We present a precisely dated primary paleo- Cheyenne belt are well defined by metamorphic expansive oceans (Hoffman, 1988) born from magnetic pole for the ca. 1.899 Ga Sourdough and deformational pulses from 1.78 to 1.74 Ga fragmentation of Neoarchean supercratonic land- dikes, which represent a newly recognized (Chamberlain, 1998; Houston et al., 1989; Jones masses (Bleeker, 2003). One ancestral connec- swarm and a significant addition to the mafic et al., 2010) and have been interpreted to doc- tion, between Superior and Wyoming cratons, magmatic record of Wyoming craton. By com- ument accretion of the Yavapai arc terrane to is compatible with both stratigraphic (Roscoe paring this new paleomagnetic datum with Wyoming craton (Condie, 1992). The best age and Card, 1993) and paleomagnetic (Kilian et coeval data from Superior and Slave cratons, we constraints for sutures along Wyoming’s eastern al., 2015) records from both blocks, while their 2.1–2.0 Ga mafic dike swarms (Bowers and Figure 1. Geologic map Trans-Hudson Precambrian exposures Chamberlain, 2006; Cox et al., 2000; Mueller of Precambrian basement Orogen (THO) near Wyoming 110ºW (1.92-1.78 Ga) Sourdough dikes from central Laurentia with Inferred faults and lineaments et al., 2005) document their rifting and breakup. Taltson(2.0-1.9 Orogen Ga) Archean cratons (green) (Sims and Peterman, 1986) This breakup initiated a brief period of indepen- 52ºN Hearne Craton Inferred aeromag. lineaments and orogens labeled and (2.7-1.8 Ga) (Bankey et al., 2002) dent movement of Wyoming craton prior to its colored according to rock Cheyenne belt mag 1.740-1.715 Ga shortening dir- aero g. incorporation into Laurentia. Because the dates age. Dark gray area rep- an lo ections (Allard and Portis, 2013) lc w u of sutures surrounding Wyoming craton sug- resents 1.715 Ga suture (>2.6 Ga) V Lake Clearwater Superior discussed in this study. Medicine HatSGH gest multiple episodes of deformation, meta- B (3.3-2.8 Ga) s Superior lo LSC—Little Sand Creek ck Craton morphism, and arc collisions after development Great Fall LSC ctonicFTZ) zone (>2.5 Ga) xenoliths (Barnhart et te (G LBM n of the Trans-Hudson orogen (THO), especially Black Hills/ e al., 2012; Bolhar et al., g Big Sky Dakotan Orogens ro along the northwestern and eastern margins, 2007); SGH—Sweet Grass Orogen BT 1.715 Ga) O (1.8-1.76/ t f Highland i Hills xenoliths (Davis et R there is some question of when Wyoming craton Mtns. Black BGH t Tobacco Hills n n al., 1995); LBM—Little a e joined Laurentia and which pieces were contigu- Root Mtns. e n k i o t Belt Mountains; BT— Hartville n n Central Plai e o ous with Wyoming craton prior to its docking LM Uplift P Beartooth Mountains; Grouse -C Creek Wyoming Craton Orogen id (Fig. 1). Was Wyoming craton fused to the Medi- (1.8 ns M BGH—Bighorn Mountains; (>2.5 Ga) (>2.5 Ga) -1.7 cine Hat block (MHB) long before collision with LM—Laramie Mountains; Ga) Hearne craton (Boerner et al., 1998)? Was Wyo- aeromag.—aeromagen- ) ? tic. The Mid-Continent Yavapai ming craton connected with both the MHB and Mojave Rift System (ca. 1.1 Ga) is (2.0-1.7 Ga) (1.8-1.7 Ga Hearne craton before collision with Superior cra- stippled. Magnetic anoma- ton in the THO (Eglington et al., 2013)? Or was lies between Superior, Wyoming, and Hearne cratons may represent small crustal fragments Wyoming craton on its own (or with the MHB) (e.g., Sask) of Archean to early Proterozoic crust that were sutured into Trans-Hudson orogen during development of the THO, subsequently (THO) and Black Hills–Dakotan orogens. It is uncertain how far south THO extended and which fragments were connected before Wyoming craton arrived. Archean basement ages from drill cores in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana (USA) likely derive from fragments within Dakotan orogen (Peterman, 1981). Boundaries of Great Falls tectonic zone are estimated *E-mail: [email protected] from Ross (2002). Other margins modified after Foster et al. (2006) and Worthington et al. (2016). GEOLOGY, October 2016; v. 44; no. 10; p. 863–866 | Data Repository item 2016283 | doi:10.1130/G38042.1 | Published online 31 August 2016 GEOLOGY© 2016 Geological | Volume Society 44 | ofNumber America. 10 For | www.gsapubs.orgpermission to copy, contact [email protected]. 863 margin come from syn-deformational pegma- emplacement of numerous mafic dike swarms. trace elements (Fig. 2). The slopes of the rare tites in northwest-vergent thrusts of the Hartville Most of these are older than 2.0 Ga (Kilian et earth element (REE) patterns for all samples (Fig. uplift directly dated at 1714 ± 2 Ma (U-Pb zir- al., 2015), but herein we document one younger 2C and 2D) are consistent, with only minor varia- con; Krugh, 1997) and late deformational fabrics swarm. We name this the Sourdough swarm and tion among mostly the light REEs. Collectively, superimposed on Cheyenne belt metamorphism present its paleomagnetic, trace element geo- the data suggest that all dikes represent the same in the eastern Laramie Mountains (Wyoming) at chemistry, and U-Pb age results. magmatic event, with minor geochemical dif- 1722 ± 6 Ma (207Pb/206Pb titanite; Allard, 2003). Field and laboratory methods are described in ferences being the product of interactions with The Black Hills region (South Dakota and the GSA Data Repository1. The Sourdough dikes different crustal rocks. Wyoming) experienced WSW-ENE shortening crop out in the central Bighorn and Beartooth All analyses of baddeleyite (U-Pb isotope (1.770–1.740 Ga; Allard and Portis, 2013; Dahl uplifts where Laramide tilting is negligible. Most dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry et al., 1999), WNW-ESE compression (1.740– dikes have subophitic texture, dominated by pla- [ID-TIMS]) from dike BH10 are within 1.7% of 1.715 Ga; Allard and Portis, 2013; Dahl et al., gioclase, pyroxene, and magnetite (with minor the concordia curve (N = 3); one analysis is con- 2005), and thrust-related shear heating that pro- sericite), and typically have northwest-southeast cordant (Fig. 2B; see also the Data Repository). duced the Harney Peak granite (Dahl et al., 1999; trends (335°–290°) and widths ranging from A linear regression of the data yields an upper Nabelek and Liu, 1999) at 1.715 Ga (Redden et 0.3 m to ~30 m. The vast majority of samples intercept date of 1896 ± 3 Ma, with a weighted- al., 1990). This tectonic history contrasts greatly contain a single-component remanence held by mean 207Pb/206Pb date of 1899 ± 5 Ma. As the 2s with the timing of peak metamorphic conditions (titano)magnetite. Principal component analysis confidence intervals of each calculation method (ca. 1.81 Ga) for various locations of the THO (Fig. 2A) yielded notably steep northeast-down essentially overlap, we favor the more conserva- (Ansdell et al., 2005). (or southwest-up) directions that are confirmed tive weighted-mean 207Pb/206Pb date as the age On the northern margin of Wyoming cra- to record primary thermal remanence from the estimate for BH10, 1899 ± 5 Ma. This age is ton is the Great Falls tectonic zone (GFTZ), a time of initial cooling by two positive baked- applied to the primary magnetization of the Sour- broadly defined and poorly exposed orogenic contact tests into older mafic dikes (see the Data dough swarm; dike BH10 yielded typical paleo- belt that connects the MHB to Wyoming craton Repository). Geochemical analysis of 15 Sour- magnetic and geochemical results for the swarm. (Fig. 1; Boerner et al., 1998). The Little Belt dough dikes yielded similar concentrations of Mountains (Montana) host magmatic and defor- WYOMING’S RUN mational ages of ca. 1.87–1.86 Ga (Mueller et Incorporating the tectonic synthesis and new 1 GSA Data Repository item 2016283, supplemen- al., 2002), which are also prevalent in the Clear- tary text, nine figures, five tables, and references, is Sourdough swarm data presented above, we pro- water block in northern Idaho (Vervoort et al., available online at www.geosociety.org /pubs /ft2016 pose a novel hypothesis for the path of Wyo- 2016).