Constraints from Provenance Studies of Mesoproterozoic To
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Precambrian Research 259 (2015) 78–94 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Precambrian Research jo urnal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/precamres Proterozoic supercontinental restorations: Constraints from provenance studies of Mesoproterozoic to Cambrian clastic rocks, eastern Siberian Craton a,∗ b a c Andrei Khudoley , Kevin Chamberlain , Victoria Ershova , James Sears , d c,e f a Andrei Prokopiev , John MacLean , Galina Kazakova , Sergey Malyshev , f g h i Anatoliy Molchanov , Kåre Kullerud , Jaime Toro , Elizabeth Miller , j,k a,l l Roman Veselovskiy , Alexey Li , Don Chipley a Geological Department, St. Petersburg State University, 7/9 University Nab., St. Petersburg 199034, Russia b Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3006, Laramie, WY 82071, USA c Department of Geosciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA d Diamond and Precious Metal Geology Institute SB RAS, Lenin Avenue 39, Yakutsk 677980, Republic Sakha (Yakutia), Russia e Southern Utah University, 351 West University Boulevard, Cedar City, UT 84720, USA f All Russian Geological Research Institute (VSEGEI), Sredniy Prospect 74, St. Petersburg 199106, Russia g Department of Geology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway h Department of Geology & Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA i Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA j Geological Department, Moscow State University, 1 Vorob’evy Gory, Moscow 119899, Russia k Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth RAS, B. Gruzinskaya 10, Moscow 123995, Russia l Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: The Mesoproterozoic–Neoproterozoic sedimentary succession of the eastern part of the Siberian Craton Received 28 April 2014 consists of several unconformity-bounded, kilometer-scale siliciclastic-carbonate cycles. The overlying Received in revised form Lower Cambrian rocks are often compositionally similar to the uppermost units of the Neoproterozoic 26 September 2014 succession. Accepted 1 October 2014 Twenty-nine samples were collected for U–Pb detrital zircon study and 27 samples were analyzed Available online 14 October 2014 for whole-rock Sm–Nd isotopes. In total, 1491 detrital zircon grains were dated and 1148 grains were selected for provenance interpretation. Samples from the Uchur and Aimchan groups only contain detri- Keywords: tal zircons of Paleoproterozoic and Archean age. Samples from the Kerpyl Group located on the Siberian Eastern Siberian Craton Craton contain Paleoproterozoic and Archean grains as well, but samples from the Kerpyl Group in the Mesoproterozoic - Lower Cambrian U–Pb detrital zircon geochronology Sette-Daban Ridge have significant numbers of Mesoproterozoic detrital zircons. Mesoproterozoic detri- Sm–Nd isotopic study tal zircons predominate in samples from the Uy Group. In the northern part of the study area, samples Provenance from the uppermost Neoproterozoic and Lower Cambrian strata contain numerous ca. 790–590 Ma detri- Paleocontinent restoration tal zircons, whereas in the southern part of the study area only Paleoproterozoic and Archean grains have been found. The whole-rock Sm–Nd isotopic values of clastic rocks show that most samples have isotopic signatures typical for the Siberian Craton basement, whereas some samples from the Kerpyl Group and younger rock units have isotopic signatures typical of the Grenville Orogen. Most of the Archean and Paleoproterozoic detrital zircons were eroded from the basement of the Siberian Craton, although some ca. 2080–2030 Ma detrital zircons are likely to have a non-Siberian pro- venance. However, rocks younger than ca. 1700 Ma are not known in the Siberian Craton basement and all Mesoproterozoic and younger grains must therefore have a non-Siberian provenance. The detrital zircon age distributions and whole-rock Nd isotopic signatures of many samples from the Kerpyl Group and younger units are very close to those of the Grenville Orogen in North America, ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +7 9217573876. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Khudoley). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2014.10.003 0301-9268/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. A. Khudoley et al. / Precambrian Research 259 (2015) 78–94 79 suggesting that erosion of the latter contributed to clastic deposition along the Siberian margin. Three pale- ocontinental restorations proposed by Sears and Price (1978, 2003), Rainbird et al. (1998) and Pisarevsky and Natapov (2003) are invoked to explain the occurrence of Grenville-age detrital zircons in the Siberian sedimentary succession. The provenance of ca. 790–590 Ma detrital zircons is most likely to be located within the Central Taimyr accretionary belt formed along the northern margin of the Siberian Craton in the Neoproterozoic. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 2. Geologic setting and stratigraphy of Meso- to Neoproterozoic rock units The Siberian Craton is the largest structural unit of northeast Asia, consisting of Archean to Paleoproterozoic basement and a The study area, located in eastern Siberia, occupies the east- thick overlying Mesoproterozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary cover. It ern and central parts of the Siberian Craton and the foreland is bordered by the Taimyr, Verkhoyansk, and Central Asian fold and of the adjacent Verkhoyansk Fold and Thrust Belt (Verkhoyansk thrust belts to the north, east and south respectively, which display FTB), underlain by Archean and Paleoproterozoic crystalline base- a series of extensional and compressional events related to the for- ment varying in age from ca. 3570 Ma to ca. 1700 Ma (e.g. Smelov mation and break-up of paleocontinents from the Precambrian to et al., 2001, and references therein) (Fig. 1). Recent overviews Mesozoic time. emphasize the distribution of ca. 2000–1850 Ma, 2600–2500 Ma Since the study by Sears and Price (1978), many authors and 3100–2900 Ma rocks in the Siberian Craton basement that also have discussed the relationship between the Siberia paleo- have Nd model ages (TDM) older than ca. 2100 Ma (Rosen et al., continent and other continents in the Precambrian. The most 2006; Smelov and Timofeev, 2007; Glebovitsky et al., 2008). studied connection has been the one between Siberia and Lau- The Meso- to Neoproterozoic stratigraphy of the strata dis- rentia, with differing reconstructions modeling a connection cussed here was established by Semikhatov and Serebryakov between northern Laurentia and various parts of the Siberian (1983), and mainly followed by Shenfil (1991), and Melnikov et al. Craton, including: northern Siberia (Hoffman, 1991; Pelechaty, (2005). This stratigraphy was significantly revised as isotopic dat- 1996), eastern Siberia (Condie and Rosen, 1994), southeast- ing of magmatic and carbonate rocks was carried out (see overview ern Siberia (Frost et al., 1998), and southern Siberia (Rainbird in Khudoley et al., 2007, and references therein). In this paper et al., 1998; Gallet et al., 2000; Pavlov et al., 2002; Didenko we mainly follow the correlations presented by Khudoley et al. et al., 2003). In the reconstructions proposed by Sears and (2007) with the incorporation of new data discussed here. How- Price (1978, 2003), western Laurentia was connected to east- ever, available isotopic studies are still scarce and often insufficient ern Siberia, whereas some studies rule out a Laurentia–Siberia for reliable correlation; therefore the stratigraphic chart, proposed connection (Smethurst et al., 1998). From 1999 to 2004 an inter- in this paper (Fig. 2) should be considered as a first-order approxi- national team addressed the problems concerning reconstruction mation only. of the late Mesoproterozoic–Neoproterozoic Rodinia superconti- According to Semikhatov and Serebryakov (1983), the most nent with Siberia forming a promontory of the supercontinent complete Meso- and Neoproterozoic succession is located along (Li et al., 2008) following ideas discussed earlier by Pisarevsky the southeastern margin of the Siberian Craton and correspond- and Natapov (2003). However, just a few years later, new stud- ing parts of the Verkhoyansk FTB. The Meso- and Neoproterozoic ies provided support for a southern Siberia–northern Laurentia succession here is divided into the following six widely recognized connection (Evans and Mitchell, 2011; Metelkin et al., 2012) and units: the Uchur Group, Aimchan Group, Kerpyl Group, Lakhanda an eastern Siberia–western Laurentia connection (MacLean et al., Group, Uy Group and Yudoma Group (Fig. 2). According to Rus- 2009; Sears, 2012). sian stratigraphic nomenclature the first five groups are Riphean, These contrasting reconstructions result from a paucity of com- whereas the Yudoma Group is Vendian in age (e.g. Melnikov et al., parative geological data. At least three concurrent models of the 2005; Khudoley et al., 2007). The Uchur, Aimchan and Kerpyl groups Siberian Craton basement age and composition are widely dis- are unconformity-bounded, kilometer-scale siliciclastic-carbonate cussed (Rosen, 2003; Smelov and Timofeev, 2007; Glebovitsky transgressive cycles. Significant unconformities are documented at et al., 2008), casting doubt on any restoration based on matching the base of the Yudoma Group and at the base of its upper unit basement structures from different continents. Provenance