Shebandowan Greenstone Belt, Western Superior Province: U-Pb Ages, Tectonic Implications, and Correlations
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Shebandowan greenstone belt, western Superior Province: U-Pb ages, tectonic implications, and correlations F. Corfu* Jack Satterly Laboratory, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C6, Canada G. M. Stott Ontario Geological Survey, Willet Green Miller Centre, 933 Ramsey Lake, Road, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 6B5, Canada ABSTRACT ated at high crustal levels by 2680 Ma and GEOLOGICAL SETTING AND SAMPLE escaped the younger and intense deforma- CHARACTERISTICS The Shebandowan greenstone belt of the tional-metamorphic events recorded in western Wawa Subprovince consists of suc- greenstone belts farther east in the central General Features cessions of volcanic and sedimentary rocks Wawa Subprovince as well as in the immedi- impinging onto the metasedimentary Queti- ately adjacent migmatitic Quetico Sub- The Shebandowan area comprises three ma- co Subprovince to the north and cored by a province to the north. jor geological domains: (1) the Shebandowan batholithic complex to the south. U-Pb geo- greenstone belt in the north to northeast; (2) the chronology using mainly zircon and titanite INTRODUCTION Saganagons greenstone belt in the southwest; demonstrates a relatively rapid accretion of and (3) the Northern Light–Perching Gull Lakes the greenstone belt in the late Archean. The The Wawa Subprovince in the southwestern batholithic complex in the south (Fig. 1). Al- oldest ages were obtained for 2750 Ma Superior Province comprises a number of though disrupted by faults and granitoid intru- tonalitic gneiss and sporadic 2830–2750 Ma Archean greenstone belts, separated by grani- sions, the two greenstone belts appear to be part detrital or xenocrystic zircons. A major toid terranes, and locally disrupted or covered of a single succession of supracrustal rocks. The phase of greenstone belt construction at by Proterozoic igneous rocks and sedimentary Shebandowan greenstone belt impinges onto 2720 Ma formed ultramafic to felsic volcanic sequences of the Lake Superior region. The the metasedimentary Quetico Subprovince to rocks and peridotitic, gabbroic, and an- greenstone belts share some common geologi- the north and in the southwest it extends toward orthositic bodies, probably in an extensional cal characteristics but also display distinct struc- the Soudan and Newton belts of the Vermilion arc–backarc setting. These units are later- tural and metamorphic records and mineral de- district of northern Minnesota (Williams et al., ally correlative with volcanogenic massive posit types. Unraveling the geological histories 1991). The southeastern part of the region is sulfide-bearing assemblages in the central of each area is important in order to assess met- overlain by Proterozoic strata of the Animikie Wawa Subprovince and probably with simi- allogenetic correlations across the Subprovince, basin and by Keweenawan volcanic and gab- lar successions in northern Minnesota. The reconstruct the orogenic evolution of the Supe- broic complexes of the Midcontinent rift. second major stage of felsic volcanism and rior Province, and understand the overall mech- Supracrustal rocks of the Shebandowan green- plutonism at about 2695 Ma was associated anisms of Archean crustal development. stone belt define a steeply north-dipping to sub- with D1 compression causing thrusting, im- This geochronological study is focused on the vertical oroclinal arc. They have traditionally brication, and sedimentation. This was suc- Shebandowan greenstone belt, parts of the neigh- been subdivided into (1) an older “Keewatin- ceeded by the deposition of an uncon- boring Saganagons greenstone belt, and the sur- type” succession of ultramafic to felsic volcanic formable sequence of calc-alkalic to alkalic rounding batholiths (Fig. 1). We address questions rocks and associated mafic-ultramafic com- volcanic and sedimentary rocks and em- concerning the early magmatic accretion and plexes, and (2) a younger, unconformably over- placement of tonalitic to syenitic plutons at stratigraphic correlations of the Shebandowan lying “Timiskaming-type” assemblage of clastic about 2690 Ma. Transpressive deformation greenstone belt and examine the relations between sedimentary rocks and calc-alkalic to alkalic vol- (D2), constrained between 2685 and 2680 felsic volcanic rocks and the abundant mafic-ul- canic units (Shegelski, 1980). On the basis of Ma, caused the development of locally pene- tramafic complexes characteristic of the belt and the information from early regional mapping trative structures and deposition of clastic their relations to similar units elsewhere in the the “Keewatin-type” successions were tentative- sedimentary packages. The emplacement of Wawa Subprovince. We also address the orogenic ly subdivided into discrete assemblages by plutons at 2683–2680 Ma concluded the evo- history as revealed by mutual relationships be- Williams et al. (1991): a predominantly north- lution of the greenstone belt. Titanite (and tween structures, sedimentary basins, “Timiskam- younging Burchell assemblage in the northern rutile) yield ages in the same range as zircon, ing-type” volcanic assemblages, and syntectonic part of the Shebandowan greenstone belt; a showing that the greenstone belt was situ- to late tectonic plutonic suites, and compare the south-younging Greenwater assemblage in the timing of these events with those recorded else- southern part of the Shebandowan greenstone *E-mail: [email protected]. where in the Superior Province. belt; and the north-younging Saganagons assem- GSA Bulletin; November 1998; v. 110; no. 11; p. 1467–1484; 9 figures; 1 table. 1467 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/110/11/1467/3382864/i0016-7606-110-11-1467.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 CORFU AND STOTT Auto Road ass. granitoid rocks Dc SV Mb N Fig. 2 Fn Sh Shebandowan pluton T1-2 Au Northern Light Gneiss o , 91 W Ke 48o30 N Auto Road assembly Quetico Shebandowan assembly Md Knife Lake Group N2 Gc Cn Thunder Bay Lake Vermilion Formation Bm Pm Pg St Ad Kashabowie assembly Sa Mr Greenwater assembly N1 Ely greenstone Newton Lake Formation Ic 92o W Newton Lake Superior o Canada Belt 48 N o Northern Light- o 48 N Perching Gull Lakes 48 N U.S.A. 91o W batholithic complex 90o W Knife Lk. Gp. Quetico Abitibi Manitouwadge Soudan Nipigon Winston Belt Embayment Lake 49o Shebandowan Giants Range Quetico Michipicoten batholith CanadaSchreiber-Hemlo o 48o U.S.A 48 Mishibishu 25 km Saganagons Animikie Gamitagama Kapuskasing50 Zone km Vermilion 90o Basin 84o Figure 1. Geological map of the Shebandowan and Saganagons greenstone belts, and the Vermilion district of northern Minnesota, showing main geological subdivisions and sample locations. SV—alkalic volcanic breccia, Shebandowan Group (= sample C-83-39 in Corfu and Stott, 1986); description of other samples is given in Table 1. Inset shows distribution of greenstone belts and position of map area within the Wawa Subprovince. blage in the Saganagons greenstone belt. More Greenwater and Saganagons Assemblages in the Saganagons Belt (Harris, 1968). Sample extensive recent mapping and the present Sk was taken from a massive felsic flow south of geochronological survey, however, have led to a The Greenwater assemblage comprises tholei- Skimpole Lake. Bv1 and Bv2 represent tuffs reevaluation and modifications of the proposed itic basalts with minor komatiitic basalts and as- from two sites about 10 m apart of the same py- subdivisions. In this report, most areas previously sociated komatiitic flows (Carter, 1985, 1986; roclastic unit near Beaver Lake, southwest of the assigned to the Burchell assemblage are now Rogers and Berger, 1995; Osmani, 1997). Inter- Shebandowan Mine (Osmani and Payne, 1993). considered to be part of the Greenwater assem- mediate to felsic volcanic flows and pyroclastic Layered mafic plutons and thick sills of peri- blage, because they are indistinguishable in terms units are intercalated with the generally more dotitic, gabbroic, and anorthositic composition of age—all are roughly 2720 Ma—and because, voluminous basaltic flows. The dominant east- are prominent northwest of Upper Shebandowan in spite of local reversals due to folding, the west arrangement, apparent cyclicity, and facing Lake (Osmani et al., 1992) and east of Greenwa- thicker sections of volcanic flows show consist- directions formed the basis for the subdivision ter Lake (Watkinson and Irvine, 1964; Osmani ent younging directions throughout the area. Part into cycles and assemblages (Williams et al., and Payne, 1993; Osmani, 1997). A gabbro-peri- of the Burchell assemblage in the northern part of 1991). A number of felsic volcanic units have dotite sill hosts Ni-Cu-Pt-Co mineralization of the the belt, however, is separated into a distinct as- been sampled throughout the belt to verify their Shebandowan Mine (Osmani and Payne, 1993). semblage. These units consist of ca. 2695 Ma potential stratigraphic correlations (Figs. 1 and The Haines gabbroic complex (Farrow, 1993) supracrustal rocks and in this paper are assigned 2). They include a felsic tuff from a mainly inter- shows north-northeastern–trending layering and to an (informal) “Kashabowie assemblage.” This mediate to mafic volcanic succession east of is composed of medium-grained, mesocratic gab- assemblage represents either an early expression Kabaigon Lake (Osmani, 1996)(samples Kb), a bro with minor melanocratic gabbro, anorthosite, of, or a distinct magmatic phase predating depo- felsic tuff (Gc) at Gold Creek (Rogers and and pegmatitic domains