Eastern Margin of the Neoarchean Tunguska Superterrane: Data from Boreholes in the Central Part of the Siberian Platform

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents data on granites and gneisses recovered by Kulindinskaya-1 hole drilled in the central part of the Siberian Craton. The biotite granites retain a porphyritic texture, correspond to I-type according to their compositional features, are enriched in LREE and moderately depleted in HREE, and have negative Eu, Sr, and Nb and positive Zr anomalies. The U−Pb zircon age of the granites is Neoarchean (2525 ± 10 Ma), with single cores of zircon grains dated at about 2.6 Ga, which likely suggests a crustal source of the granitic magmas. The model age TNd(DM) = 2.77 Ga of the granite shows that the crust from which the initial melts were derived had been formed shortly before the melting episode. In terms of age and all characteristics, the granites are close to those of the Yurubchen massif, which was drilled through in the western part of the Tunguska superterrane. The biotite gneiss was apparently derived from sedimentary rocks and was heavily reworked when the granites were emplaced. The enrichment of the gneiss in Cr and Ni is probably inherited from the sedimentary protolith, whereas the REE, HFSE, and LILE concentrations and distribution in the gneiss are similar to those of the granite. The concordant (D < 1%) U−Pb zircon ages (according to LA-ICP-MS data) broadly vary from 3284 to 2620 Ma, with two major peaks at 2717 and 2678 Ma. The model age of the gneiss TNd(DM) = 2.91 Ga confirms a contribution of the ancient crustal component to the sedimentary protolith of the rock. The minimum age of the detrital zircon, 2.62 Ga, determines the maximum age limit for sedimentation, and the minimum age limit is set by the age of the granite intrusions at 2.53 Ga. According to our data, the Archean gneisses and granites recovered by the Kulindinskaya-1 drillhole probably compose the eastern part of the Neoarchean Tunguska superterrane. Ereminskaya-101 drillhole, which was drilled 20 km northeast of Kulindinskaya-1, recovered gneisses with model ages TNd(DM) from 2.30 to 2.37 Ga, which belong to the adjacent Taimyr−Baikal suture zone with widespread Paleoproterozoic rocks. The contrasting crustal history of the adjacent complexes provides grounds to suggest that they were tectonically combined, which is an additional reason to consider the Taimyr−Baikal suture zone as a Paleoproterozoic collisional orogen.