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Long-lived connection between southern Siberia and northern Laurentia in the Proterozoic

Nature Geoscience volume 9, pages 464–469 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Precambrian supercontinents Nuna-Columbia (1.7 to 1.3 billion years ago) and Rodinia (1.1 to 0.7 billion years ago) have been proposed. However, the arrangements of crustal blocks within these supercontinents are poorly known. Huge, dominantly basaltic magmatic outpourings and intrusions, covering up to millions of square kilometres, termed Large Igneous Provinces, typically accompany (super) continent breakup, or attempted breakup and offer an important tool for reconstructing supercontinents. Here we focus on the Large Igneous Province record for Siberia and Laurentia, whose relative position in Nuna-Columbia and Rodinia reconstructions is highly controversial. We present precise geochronology—nine U–Pb and six Ar–Ar ages—on dolerite dykes and sills, along with existing dates from the literature, that constrain the timing of emplacement of Large Igneous Province magmatism in southern Siberia and northern Laurentia between 1,900 and 720 million years ago. We identify four robust age matches between the continents 1,870, 1,750, 1,350 and 720 million years ago, as well as several additional approximate age correlations that indicate southern Siberia and northern Laurentia were probably near neighbours for this 1.2-billion-year interval. Our reconstructions provide a framework for evaluating the shared geological, tectonic and metallogenic histories of these continental blocks.

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Figure 1: LIP event barcodes for southern Siberia and northern Laurentia (apart from the Chieress event, which is from northern Siberia).
Figure 2: LIP events of southern Siberia and northern Laurentia.

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Acknowledgements

This is publication number 53 of the Large Igneous Provinces—Supercontinent Reconstruction—Resource Exploration Project funded by an industry consortium and Canadian grant NSERC CRDPJ 419503-11 (www.supercontinent.org; www.camiro.org/exploration/ongoing-projectsCAMIROProject08E03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada

    R. E. Ernst

  2. Faculty of Geology and Geography, Tomsk State University, Tomsk 634050, Russia

    R. E. Ernst

  3. Jack Satterly Geochronology Laboratory, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada

    M. A. Hamilton

  4. Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Lund University, 223 62 Lund, Sweden

    U. Söderlund

  5. Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada

    J. A. Hanes

  6. Institute of the Earth’s Crust, Siberian Branch of the RAS, Irkutsk 664033, Russia

    D. P. Gladkochub

  7. Diamond and Precious Metal Geology Institute, Yakutsk 677000, Russia

    A. V. Okrugin

  8. Institute of Geochemistry, Irkutsk 664033, Russia

    T. Kolotilina & A. S. Mekhonoshin

  9. Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 0E8, Canada

    W. Bleeker & K. L. Buchan

  10. Geological Survey of Canada (retired), 5592 Van Vliet Road, Manotick, Ontario K4M 1J4, Canada

    A. N. LeCheminant

  11. Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071, USA

    K. R. Chamberlain

  12. Kosygin Institute of Tectonics and Geophysics, Khabarovsk 680063, Russia

    A. N. Didenko

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  1. R. E. Ernst
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Contributions

R.E.E. led and coordinated the research and manuscript preparation. M.A.H. and U.S. produced key ID-TIMS U–Pb ages and their interpretation. J.A.H. produced key Ar–Ar ages and their interpretation. K.R.C. assisted in the interpretation of the geochronology results. A.V.O., T.K., A.S.M. and A.N.L. provided key samples for U–Pb dating and assisted in the interpretation of their results. D.P.G. and A.N.D. assisted in the interpretation of the Russian data and its geological context. W.B. provided insight into the LIP correlations and their limitations. K.L.B. provided the background palaeomagnetic context. M.A.H., K.L.B. and A.N.L. were also heavily involved in aspects of preparation, revision and/or finalizing of the overall manuscript.

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Correspondence to R. E. Ernst.

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Ernst, R., Hamilton, M., Söderlund, U. et al. Long-lived connection between southern Siberia and northern Laurentia in the Proterozoic. Nature Geosci 9, 464–469 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2700

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