Vol. 6 | 2004

Palaeoproterozoic age of a basement gneiss complex in the Charcot Land tectonic window, East Greenland Caledonides

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Published December 30, 2004
Kristine Thrane
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Published December 30, 2004
Black and white photo of cliffs.
Abstract
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Keywords

Caledonides, East Greenland, geochronology, Palaeoproterozoic

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GEUS Bulletin is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal published by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). This article is distributed under a CC-BY 4.0 licence, permitting free redistribution and reproduction for any purpose, even commercial, provided proper citation of the original work. Author(s) retain copyright over the article contents. Read the full open access policy.

Abstract

The Charcot Land tectonic window exposes crystalline basement gneisses, which form part of the foreland of the East Greenland Caledonides. These gneisses were previously believed to be Archaean in age, on the basis of imprecise K-Ar analyses carried out in the early 1980s on hornblende from amphibolitic bands and inconclusive Rb/Sr isotope data. New U-Pb singlezircon ion microprobe analyses on the gneisses of the window yield upper intercept ages of 1916 ± 21 and 1928 ± 11 Ma, and are interpreted to represent the age of crystallisation of the igneous protolith. The foreland gneisses of the Charcot Land window are similar in age to parts of the allochthonous gneiss complexes of structurally overlying thrust sheets, but the two terranes have different lithological and structural characteristics. No Archaean rocks have been identified with certainty in any of the East Greenland Caledonian foreland windows.

Keywords

Caledonides, East Greenland, geochronology, Palaeoproterozoic

License Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

GEUS Bulletin is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal published by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). This article is distributed under a CC-BY 4.0 licence, permitting free redistribution and reproduction for any purpose, even commercial, provided proper citation of the original work. Author(s) retain copyright over the article contents. Read the full open access policy.

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Edited by A.K. Higgins and Feiko Kalsbek

The Caledonian orogen of East Greenland has been intensely studied over the last 30 years during a series of regional mapping expeditions. The orogen that extends between 70°N and 81°30´N in East Greenland, is now completely covered by five geological map sheets in the [...]