This report presents SHRIMP U-Pb zircon geochronology results for 21 samples from the Musgrave Province, South Australia, acquired over the period 2007-2012 as part of the Tieyon 1:100 000 mapsheet (5645) mapping program. Some of the work (done on...
This report presents SHRIMP U-Pb zircon geochronology results for 21 samples from the Musgrave Province, South Australia, acquired over the period 2007-2012 as part of the Tieyon 1:100 000 mapsheet (5645) mapping program. Some of the work (done on all zircon grain mounts with the prefix GA) was undertaken as part of the National Geoscience Agreement (NGA), as a collaborative research program between the Geological Survey of South Australia, Mineral Resources Division (DMITRE) and Geoscience Australia (GA). The aim of the NGA is to provide geochronological constraints on geodynamic and tectonic models for provinces of South Australia, and help develop an improved geological and metallogenic framework for these provinces. Samples prepared as zircon grain mounts with the prefix RDU were analysed under a separate collaboration agreement that has been made with the School of Physical Sciences at Curtin University. The subject document is a technical report describing the samples analysed and their analytical results, followed by a brief discussion of their geochronological interpretation. The report is a companion to the explanatory notes for the Tieyon 1:100 000 mapsheet (Dutch et al., 2013), which provides the broader geological context of the samples including geological descriptions of the units and the broader geological evolution of the region. A summary of the U-Pb zircon ages obtained in this study is presented in table format at the start of the report. The full analytical dataset for each sample is available for download from Geoscience Australia's Geochron Delivery system: http://www.ga.gov.au/geochron-sapub-web/. Analytical techniques and standard information are presented in the appendices. Due to the limited existing field, geochemical and geochronological constraints on the basement units in the eastern Musgrave Province, there is currently little stratigraphic differentiation within the broad groupings of the Birksgate Complex and the Pitjantjatjara Supersuite. The sampling strategy utilised for this campaign was to collect and date each of the differentiated lithological units defined in the field mapping program and to collect a good geographical spread of samples to look for any stratigraphic variation across the map sheet. Ages recording metamorphism and magmatism during the Musgrave Orogeny in the Tieyon region indicate a thermal event that spanned ca 30 million years. The onset of metamorphism appears to have preceded magmatism by a few million years (with the caveat that data for metamorphism are sparse). Plutons of the Pitjantjatjara Supersuite were emplaced during a tight interval between ca 1143 – 1155 Ma, with all ages averaging 1147.4 ± 2.9 Ma. There is no clear demarcation between the three broad units identified in the field: (1) the early anatectic granites; (2) porphyritic granites; and (3) late crosscutting microgranitic and aplitic dykes. In fact, taken at face value, the anatectic granites for the most part are younger than the porphyritic granites, although locally, field relationships indicate the opposite. It is possible that melting of the Birksgate Complex basement to produce these anatectic granites was not confined to the early stages of the Musgrave Orogeny, but occurred throughout the orogeny as conditions locally became optimal for melting. It is also possible that it is beyond the resolution of the technique to discern temporal differences between the three units. Orthogneisses of the Birksgate Complex yielded protolith ages ranging between ca 1565 and 1617 Ma. Preliminary geochronology results from the adjacent Agnes Creek 1:100 000 map sheet area indicate protolith magmatic ages in a similar range, as well as older magmatism, as early as ca 1665 Ma. (Interpreted) detrital populations in the paragneisses, in the main, suggest that the detritus is locally derived from the Birksgate Complex granitoids.
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