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Research Paper GEOSPHERE Latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian detrital zircon facies of western Laurentia GEOSPHERE; v. 14, no. 1 William Matthews, Bernard Guest, and Lauren Madronich Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada doi:10.1130/GES01544.1 11 figures; 1 table; 1 supplemental file ABSTRACT 1963; Bond and Kominz, 1984; Lickorish and Simony, 1995; Fedo and Cooper, 2001), and are exposed along the length of the Cordillera from Mexico to the CORRESPONDENCE: [email protected] Late Neoproterozoic to Cambrian sandstone units are common in west- Northwest Territories of northern Canada (Stewart et al., 2001; Hadlari et al., ern Laurentia and record initial transgression of the craton after the for- 2012). These strata record the initial transgression of the Laurentian craton CITATION: Matthews, W., Guest, B., and Madronich, mation of the western passive margin during the latest Neoproterozoic to following the onset of thermal subsidence (Bond and Kominz, 1984; Bond et L., 2018, Latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian detrital zircon facies of western Laurentia: Geosphere, v. 14, earliest Cambrian. Detrital zircon measurements from 42 latest Neopro- al., 1984, 1985; Levy and Christie-Blick, 1991; Yonkee et al., 2014) and cover an no. 1, p. 243–264, doi:10.1130/GES01544.1. terozoic to Cambrian basal Sauk sequences and five older Neoproterozoic important period in the evolution of complex life (Marshall, 2006). sandstone samples from a region extending from the Mexico–United States The widespread occurrence of sandstone facies suitable for detrital zircon Science Editor: Shanaka de Silva border to central British Columbia, Canada, are combined with previous re- geochronology, and the relatively limited time span of their deposition, make Associate Editor: Christopher J. Spencer sults to characterize sediment source areas and dispersal systems. Detrital them ideally suited for understanding variations in provenance of Lauren- zircon populations in Neoproterozoic and Cambrian sedimentary rocks are tia-derived detritus along the mobile Cordilleran margin. These variations pro- Recieved 13 April 2017 Revison received 28 July 2017 divided into six facies based on a statistical comparison using multidimen- vide useful constraints on the paleogeographic position of displaced crustal Accepted 20 November 2017 sional scaling. Detrital zircon facies are found in unique geographical regions fragments in the Cordillera and contribute to a fuller understanding of large- Published online 20 December 2017 reflecting proximity to the major tectonic provinces of Laurentia. Samples scale early Paleozoic sediment dispersal patterns in Laurentia. from northern regions are dominated by Archean and Paleoproterozoic zir- Previous studies of Neoproterozoic to Cambrian deposits in western cons derived from Archean tectonic provinces and the orogenic belts that Laurentia have been sub-regional in extent (e.g., Stewart et al., 2001; Am- record the assembly of the Laurentian craton. More southerly sample loca- ato and Mack, 2012) or incorporated only a small number of widely spaced tions show an increase in detrital zircons derived from younger Paleopro- samples (Gehrels et al., 1995; Gehrels and Pecha, 2014). These studies reveal terozoic orogenic belts and early Mesoproterozoic intrusive suites. Detrital that latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian rocks exhibit significant geographic zircons from Grenville-aged sources are common in the south. The Transcon- variation in detrital zircon populations, reflecting proximity to the major tec- tinental Arch, a feature interpreted to have controlled large-scale sediment tonic provinces of Laurentia. However, the wide sample spacing in previous dispersal patterns in the mid- to late Cambrian, likely played a major role in studies and a lack of samples along the Canadian segment of the Cordillera isolating the southern and northern signatures. Our data set can be used to and from the thin cratonal successions exposed in Laramide structures to the test tectonic models for the Cordilleran orogen that invoke Jurassic or Cre- east has limited the usefulness of these variations in continent-scale paleo- taceous collision of a ribbon continent as the driving mechanism for orogen- geographic reconstructions. esis. Cambrian rocks of the Cassiar-Antler platform juxtaposed with North Here we report new detrital zircon results from Neoproterozoic and Cam- OLD 6 2 G America during the hypothetical ribbon continent collision show the same brian sandstones in a ~1 × 10 km region extending from the southern United geographic distribution of detrital zircon facies as similar-aged rocks from States to central British Columbia, Canada (Fig. 1). These data are integrated autochthonous and parautochthonous locations on the Laurentian margin. with previous studies to investigate large-scale provenance patterns in west- The concordance of detrital zircon facies across the proposed suture is a ern Laurentia during the Cambrian. These results provide a baseline with OPEN ACCESS negative result for models that predict large dextral displacements, on the which to compare Laurentia-derived detrital zircon populations in displaced order of 2000 km, across the suture. terranes. As a first application of this new data set, we evaluate tectonic mod- els for the Cordillera that involve the Cretaceous collision of composite ribbon continents as the driving force for Cretaceous orogenesis (SAYBIA of Johnston INTRODUCTION [2008], and Rubia of Hildebrand [2009]). To do this, we compare detrital zircon populations of samples from autochthonous and parautochthonous loca- This paper is published under the terms of the Laterally persistent latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian sandstone units tions known to be deposited on the western margin of Laurentia with those CC‑BY‑NC license. mark the base of the western Laurentian passive margin succession (Sloss, interpreted by some to have been deposited on the ribbon continent. © 2017 The Authors GEOSPHERE | Volume 14 | Number 1 Matthews et al. | Latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian detrital zircon facies of western Laurentia 243 Research Paper SAMPLED UNITS Neoproterozoic to Cambrian strata are common along the western mar- gin of Laurentia, and include latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian sandstones that form the base of the Sauk sequence (Sloss, 1963). These sandstones are referred to as basal Sauk sandstones in this paper. Forty-two samples of basal Sauk sandstones were collected at 26 locations (Figs. 1 and 2). See Table 1 for details of the sampled units, ages, and locations. Detailed descriptions of the sampled formations and locations are included in the Supplemental Informa- tion1. The western units, which are latest Neoproterozoic to middle Cambrian in age and were deposited on Mesoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic sedimentary successions, were sampled from allochthonous thrust sheets within the Rocky Mountains and Sevier fold-and-thrust belts or from structures associated with Basin and Range extension. To the east, basal Sauk sandstones, which are middle to late Cambrian in age and rest unconformably above ca. 1.1 Ga to ca. 2.7 Ga crystalline rocks of the Laurentian craton, were collected from autoch- thonous to parautochthonous units involved in Laramide, Rocky Mountains, and Sevier deformation. These new data were integrated with published data from 36 basal Sauk sandstones (Table 1). For consistency with the ribbon continent models for the Cordillera be- ing tested here, basal Sauk sequence sandstones are divided into two major groups. Western samples deposited on thick Mesoproterozoic and Neopro- terozoic sedimentary successions are part of the Cassiar (Canada and northern United States) or Antler platforms (United States). Eastern samples deposited Supplemental Information: Latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian on thin Neoproterozoic deposits or directly on crystalline rocks of Laurentia detrital zircon facies of Western Laurentia are part of the North American platform. Classifications for each sample are William Matthews, Bernard Guest, and Lauren Madronich given in Table 1, and the significance of the platform interpretation is dis- Supplementary Methods for Dang of Crystalline Rocks Samples were collected and zircon separated by the methods outlined in the methods secon of the cussed below. To facilitate provenance interpretations, five sandstone samples main paper. Unlike the detrital samples, zircon from crystalline rocks were hand-picked to be free of inclusions, inherited cores and fractures. Up to 25 grains were arranged on double-sided tape and cast in were collected from older Neoproterozoic formations that underlie basal Sauk epoxy. Mounts were finished and data acquired using the same methods described for the detrital samples. Ages presented below are 206Pb/238U for ages <1500 Ma and 207Pb/206Pb for ages >1500 sequence sandstones in some of the western locations. These samples were Ma. Uncertaines are quoted at 2σ and include all sources of uncertainty propagated as per Horstwood et al. (2017). collected to ascertain the importance of local recycling of detrital zircon popu- Sample Locaon Details for Samples Collected in this Study lations from older sedimentary successions during Sauk transgression. Sam- Sample 1: Yanks Peak near McBride, Brish Columbia (046-WMBC) The Yanks Peak exposed in a mine site adjacent to the Yellowhead Highway near the juncon with the ple locations for older Neoproterozoic samples are given in Table 1 and