Ion microprobe U Pb zircon geochronology and isotopic evidence for a trans-crustal suture in the Lapland–Kola Orogen, northern Fennoscandian Shield

The Lapland–Kola Orogen (LKO; former Kola craton) in the northern Fennoscandian Shield comprises a collage of partially reworked late Archaean terranes with intervening belts of Palaeoproterozoic juvenile crust including the classic Lapland Granulite Terrane. Rifting of Archaean crust began at c 2.5–2.4 Ga as attested by layered mafic and anorthositic intrusions developed throughout the northernmost Fennoscandian Shield at this time. Oceanic separation was centred on the Lapland Granulite, Umba Granulite (UGT) and Tersk terranes within the core zone of the orogen. Importantly, Sm Nd data show that Palaeoproterozoic metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks within these terranes contain an important, generally dominant, juvenile component over a strike length of at least 600 km. Evidently, adjacent Archaean terranes, with negative oNd signatures, contributed relatively little detritus, suggesting a basin of considerable extent. Subduction of the resulting Lapland–Kola ocean led to arc magmatism dated by the NORDSIM ion probe at c 1.96 Ga in the Tersk Terrane in the southern Kola Peninsula. Accretion of the Tersk arc took place before c 1.91 Ga as shown by ion probe U Pb zircon dating of post-D1, pre-D2 pegmatites cutting the Tersk arc rocks, juvenile metasediments as well as Archaean gneisses in the footwall of the orogen. Deep burial during collision under high-pressure granulite-facies conditions was followed by exhumation and cooling between 1.90 and 1.87 Ga based on Sm Nd, U Pb and Ar Ar data. Lateral variations in deep crustal velocity and Vp/Vs ratio, together with reflections traversing the entire crust observed in reprocessed seismic data from the Polar Profile, may be interpreted to image a trans-crustal structure — possibly a fossilised subduction zone — supporting an arc origin for the protoliths of the Lapland Granulite, UGT and Tersk terranes and the location of a major lithospheric suture — the Lapland–Kola suture. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.