Early Devonian sinistral shearing recorded by retrograde monazite-(Ce) in Oscar II Land, Svalbard

Abstract

Abstract The Southwestern Basement Province of Svalbard extends northward from Sørkapp Land in the south to Oscar II Land. In the north, the Müllerneset Formation characterized by polymetamorphosed Proterozoic sedimentary rocks crops out. In this study we used an integrated tectonic and petrochronological approach to gain an insight into the structural and metamorphic evolution of the unit and surrounding basement. The Müllerneset Formation consists of two separate tec-tonic blocks. NNW-SSE trending retrograde foliation is associated with mineral and stretching lineation and kinematic indicators consistent with left-lateral to oblique sinistral shearing in the western block. The eastern block is characterized by the opposite sense of shear that was overturned during the Eurekan event as evidenced by unconformably overlaying Carboniferous sedimentary rocks. Conventional geothermobarometry yields the prograde peak pressure metamorphic conditions of 6.6 - 7.1 kbar at 480 - 520°C followed by peak temperature at 5.1 - 5.9 kbar and 530 - 560°C. Subsequent retrograde greenschist facies overprint is related to left-lateral NNW-SSE trending shearing. Tiny monazite occurs within foliation or overgrows allanite-(Ce), thus is interpreted as growth along a retrograde path. Th-U-total Pb dating of monazite-(Ce) provided an early Caledonian age (ca. 450 Ma) and younger population of ca. 410 ± 8 Ma. This age is consistent with previously reported 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages (410 ± 2 Ma) of muscovite supporting a retrograde growth of monazite. Petrochronological evidence combined with structural observations suggests that the Müllerneset Formation has been tectonically exhumed in the Early Devonian due to the NNW-SSE trending left-lateral shearing. Coeval folding and thrusting in the remaining basement of Oscar II Land to the east indicate a transpressional regime of the deformation in the Early Devonian. Similarly oriented contemporaneous tectonic zones within the Southwestern Basement Province of Svalbard may account for the same set of shear zones dispersing the Ordovician subduction complexes along western Spitsbergen.