Partial thermal resetting of 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages in western Spitsbergen, Svalbard: possible evidence for Tertiary metamorphism

Abstract

AbstractHornblende and muscovite within high-grade Caledonian metamorphic rocks exposed in Albert I Land (northwest Spitsbergen) display internally concordant 40Ar/39Ar age spectra providing no record of any post-Silurian thermal history. Both minerals record 420−425 Ma plateau ages indicating that relatively rapid cooling followed Silurian metamorphism. Muscovite within some metamorphic sequences exposed within the Tertiary tectonic zone of Oscar II Land (west-central Spitsbergen) displays a low-temperature 40Ar/39Ar age spectra discordance suggestive of a slight, post-Caledonian thermal disturbance. This is consistent with a post-Palaeozoic thermal overprint documented elsewhere in Oscar II Land and indicates that, at least locally, metamorphism may have accompanied the Tertiary orogeny.