November 2009 LIP of the Month

Proterozoic Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) of Siberia

Dmitry P. Gladkochuba,*, Sergei A. Pisarevskyb, Tatiana V. Donskayaa, Richard E. Ernstc, Michael T.D. Wingated, Ulf Söderlunde, Anatoliy M. Mazukabzova, Eugene V. Sklyarova, Michael A. Hamiltonf, John A. Hanesg

a Institute of the Earth’s Crust, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 128 Lermontov Str., Irkutsk 664033, Russia

b School of GeoSciences, the University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, The King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburg EH9 3JW, UK

cErnst Geosciences, 43 Margrave Avenue, Ottawa, K1T 3Y2, Canada

dGeological Survey of Western Australia, East Perth, WA 6004, Australia

eGeoBiosphere Science Centre, Department of Geology, University of Lund, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden

fDepartment of Geology, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 3B1, Canada

gDepartment of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, K7L 3N6, Canada

The Siberian craton hosts a number of Proterozoic diabase dyke swarms, sill provinces, ultramafic alkaline intrusions and associated volcanic complexes, that have intraplate characteristics and in most cases probably represent the erosional remnants of a Large Igneous Provinces (LIP) (Figs. 1 and 2). Herein we provide a brief review of that record extracted from Gladkochub et al. (in press). Events are recognized at >1900 Ma (Fig. 3) , ca. 1880-1860 (Fig. 4), ca. 1750-1720 Ma (Fig. 5), 1500 Ma (Fig. 6), 1380 Ma (Fig. 7), 1100-1000 Ma (Fig. 8),  ca 800-700 Ma (Fig. 9), and ca. 640 Ma (Fig. 10).

The Siberian craton (Fig. 1) is a Paleoproterozoic collage of mostly Archean granulite-gneiss and granite-greenstone complexes, surrounded by major Phanerozoic suture zones. However, the basement is exposed only in two shields, Aldan-Stanovoy and Anabar, and in some outcrops of the Olenek (north), Kan, Biryusa, Sharyzhalgai, and Baikal (south-west) uplifts (Fig. 1). Precambrian mafic intrusions are abundant in these shields and uplifts (e.g. Okrugin et al., 1990; Shpount and Oleinikov, 1987)  (Fig. 1).

Most known mafic-ultramafic intrusions in Siberia have either not been dated or are dated imprecisely. However, several new SHRIMP U–Pb and 40Ar–39Ar dates have been published in recent years (e.g., Rainbird et al., 1998; Ernst et al., 2000; Sklyarov et al., 2003; Yarmolyuk et al. 2005; Gladkochub et al., 2006, 2007; Ernst et al., 2008; Ernst and Hamilton, 2009; Wingate et al., 2009). These new geochronological data, together with recent paleomagnetic reports (Gallet et al., 2000; Ernst et al., 2000; Metelkin et al. 2006; Pavlov et al., 2000, 2002; Pisarevsky et al., 2008; Veselovskiy et al., 2006; Wingate et al., 2009), have allowed us to define a number of discrete magmatic events of potentially large (i.e. LIP) scale.

Figure 2 illustrates the temporal distribution, or the ‘barcode’ (Bleeker and Ernst, 2006), of mafic magmatic events for three regions: southwestern, southeastern and northern Siberia. Numbers are keyed to Table 1 in Gladkochub et al. (in press). Figures 3-9 show the spatial distribution of each age group of units based on U-Pb and Ar-Ar geochronology. Full details are available in Gladkochub et al. (in press). Of particular interest is a possible 1750 Ma radiating dyke swarm system centred on the eastern Viluiy region (Fig. 5). 


Figure 1: Distribution of the Precambrian mafic complexes within the Siberian craton. Numbers are keyed to entries in Table 1 of Gladkochub et al. (in press).


Figure 2: Bar-code data of the Precambrian mafic complexes of Siberia. Numbers in columns are keyed to entries in Table 1 of Gladkochub et al. (in press).


Figure 3:Event at >1900 Ma


Figure 4: Event at ca. 1860 Ma


Figure 5:Event at ca. 1750 Ma


Figure 6:Event at 1500 Ma


Figure 7:Event at 1380 Ma


Figure 8:Event at ca. 1100 Ma


Figure 9:Event(s) at ca. 800-700 Ma


Figure 10: Event at ca. 640 Ma

References

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Ernst, R.E. 2007. Mafic-ultramafic large igneous provinces (LIPs): Importance of the pre-Mesozoic record. Episodes, 30 (2): 108-114.

Ernst, R.E., Hamilton, M.A., 2009. 725 Ma U–Pb baddeleyite age for the Dovyren mafic-ultramafic intrusion of southwestern Siberia; reconstruction with the giant 723 Ma Franklin Large Igneous Province (LIP) of northern Laurentia. In: Geology of the Polar Regions of the Earth, Annual Moscow Tectonics Conference. GEOS, Moscow, pp. 330–332 (in Russian).

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Sklyarov, E.V., Gladkochub, D.P., Mazukabzov, A.M., Menshagin, Y.V., Watanabe, T., Pisarevsky, S.A., 2003. Neoproterozoic mafic dike swarms of the Sharyzhalgai metamorphic massif (southern Siberian craton). Precamb. Res. 122, 359–376.

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