The paleomagnetism of Huronian red beds and Nipissing diabase; Post-Huronian Igneous Events and apparent polar path for the interval −2300 to −1500 Ma for Laurentia

Abstract

Thermal, chemical, and alternating field (and two-stage) cleaning treatments of Huronian sediments and Nipissing diabase (which intrudes the sediments) from the Cobalt area yield five directions of magnetizations (A–E) of high stability; A, B, C, and E are found in the sediments, and C, D, and E in the diabase. It is suggested that magnetization B (337°, +52°; α95 = 8°; pole 158 °E, 67 °N) was acquired shortly after deposition of the Firstbrook beds [Formula: see text]; magnetization C (259°, +82°; α95 = 5°; pole 258 °E, 42 °N), found in both the diabase and sediments in contact with the diabase, was acquired during cooling following emplacement of the diabase [Formula: see text]; and magnetizations D and E, yielding poles at 264 °E, 15 °S and 000°, 09 °N respectively, were produced during the Hudsonian orogeny (−1850 to −1700 Ma). This interpretation resolves the previous inconsistencies between poles and age determinations. Good agreement between results from the Nipissing diabase and other igneous bodies indicate that widespread igneous events occurred in the time range approximately −2200 to −2100 Ma, immediately following deposition of Huronian sediments. This is referred to as 'Post-Huronian Igneous Events'. A proposed apparent polar path relative to Laurentia shows two distinct motions; for the 2300–1850 Ma interval, a latitudinal change (roughly along longitude 250° E) from high [Formula: see text] to low [Formula: see text] latitudes and, for the 1850–1500 Ma interval, a displacement along the present-day equator with first an eastward motion to about 000° longitude followed by a westward motion to 240° E longitude; the apex of the eastward excursion is given a date of [Formula: see text]. It is possible that this reflects a rotation of Laurentia about a vertical axis at the time of and following the Hudsonian orogeny. Subsequent uplift and cooling would explain the many overprinted stable magnetizations yielding poles distributed along the equator (track 4). Latitude maps indicate that Laurentia was in high latitudes from 2200–2000 Ma and in intermediate to low latitudes from 1900–1500 Ma.