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A U/Pb age for the Sulitjelma Gabbro, North Norway: further evidence for the development of a Caledonian marginal basin in Ashgill–Llandovery time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Rolf-Birger Pedersen ,
Harald Furnes  and
Greg Dunning
Rolf-Birger Pedersen
Affiliation:
Geologisk Institutt, Avd. A, Allegt. 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
Harald Furnes
Affiliation:
Geologisk Institutt, Avd. A, Allegt. 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
Greg Dunning
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, MSS 2C6, Canada
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Abstract

The Sulitjelma Gabbro in the central Norwegian Caledonides has been dated with the U/Pb zircon/sphene method to 437±2 Ma. Geological relationships as well as trace-element geochemistry and Nd and Sr isotopic compositions suggest that the gabbro and associated dyke swarms and pillow lava formed during the initial stages of back-arc spreading. The age constrains the timing of juxtaposition of an older island-arc terrane and continental-margin lithologies exposed within the Caledonian nappes. The age of the gabbro is similar to that of the Solund–Stavfjord Ophiolite in west Norway, and confirms that spreading-related magmatism and marginal-basin development took place along the margin of Iapetus in late Ordovician–early Silurian times.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 128 , Issue 2 , March 1991 , pp. 141 - 153
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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