Zircon geochronology and paleomagnetism of an Archean harzburgite intrusion, eastern Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming

Abstract

A harzburgite intrusion, which is part of the trailside mafic complex) intrudes ~2900-2950 Ma gneisses in the hanging wall of the Laramide Bighorn uplift west of Buffalo, Wyoming. The harzburgite is composed of pristine orthopyroxene (bronzite), clinopyroxene, serpentine after olivine and accessory magnetite-serpentinite seams, and strike-slip striated shear zones. The harzburgite is crosscut by a hydrothermally altered wehrlite dike (N20°E, 90°, 1 meter wide) with no zircons recovered. Zircons from the harzburgite reveal two ages: 1) a younger set that has a concordia upper intercept age of 2908±6 Ma and a weighted mean age of 2909.5±6.1 Ma; and 2) an older set that has a concordia upper intercept age of 2934.1±8.9 Ma and a weighted mean age 2940.5±5.8 Ma. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) was used as a proxy for magmatic intrusion and the harzburgite preserves a sub-horizontal Kmax fabric (n=18) suggesting lateral intrusion. Alternating Field (AF) demagnetization for the harzburgite yielded a paleopole of 177.7 longitude, -14.4 latitude. The AF paleopole for the wehrlite dike has a vertical (90°) inclination suggesting intrusion at high latitude. The wehrlite dike preserves a Kmax fabric (n=19) that plots along the great circle of the dike and is difficult to interpret. The harzburgite has a two-component magnetization preserved that indicates a younger Cretaceous chemical overprint that may indicate a 90° clockwise vertical axis rotation of the Clear Creek thrust hanging wall, a range-bounding east-directed thrust fault that accommodated uplift of Bighorn Mountains during the Eocene Laramide Orogeny.