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Coupling thermodynamic modeling and high-resolution in situ LA-ICP-MS monazite geochronology: evidence for Barrovian metamorphism late in the Grenvillian history of southeastern Ontario

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An Erratum to this article was published on 21 February 2015

Abstract

The Flinton Group is a greenschist to upper amphibolite facies package of metasediments in southeastern Ontario that was metamorphosed during the Ottawan Orogeny. Thermodynamic modeling of metapelitic mineral assemblages suggests an increase in peak conditions of metamorphism across the 40 km wide study area from 3.5 to 7.9 kbar and 540 to 715 °C. Garnet isopleth thermobarometry applied to the cores of compositionally zoned porphyroblasts reveals remarkably similar P-T conditions of initial crystallization at approximately 3.7–4.0 kbar and 512–520 °C, corresponding to a relatively high geothermal gradient of ca. 34–45 °C km−1. It is inferred from modeling and reaction textures that metamorphism was along Barrovian P-T paths. Major and trace element zoning in garnet from one sample records a complex growth history as evidenced by major and trace element zoning and the distribution of xenotime, allanite and monazite inclusions. High-resolution (6 μm) LA-ICP-MS U-Pb geochronology performed on monazite in the rock matrix and included in the outer 150 μm of garnet rim-ward of a Y annulus revealed an age of 976 ± 4 Ma. The age is interpreted to reflect monazite growth at the expense of allanite and apatite late in garnet’s growth history over the P-T interval 4.5–6.8 kbar and 540–640 °C. This new age estimate for near peak metamorphism fits well into the regional framework but is significantly younger than previously reported ages for Ottawan metamorphism. Based on microstructures this new age suggests that compressional tectonics were operating much later in the history of the Grenville of southeastern Ontario than previously thought.

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Acknowledgments

This manuscript represents a component of T.McCarron’s MSc. thesis at Carleton University. Financial support for this study was provided through NSERC Discovery Grant 386491 to F.G., an NSERC post-graduate scholarship to T.M. and in-kind contributions from the Ontario Geological Survey and University of New Brunswick. The authors would like to thank T. Kell and D. Crabtree for assistance with WDXRFA and EPMA respectively. The manuscript benefited significantly from constructive reviews from Christoph Hauzenberger and an anonymous reviewer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1S 5B6

    Travis McCarron, Fred Gaidies & Peter Jones

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Brunswick, 2 Bailey Drive, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, E3B 5A3

    Christopher R. M. McFarlane

  3. Ontario Geological Survey, Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, 933 Ramsay Lake Road, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, P3E 6B5

    R. Michael Easton

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  1. Travis McCarron
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  2. Fred Gaidies
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  3. Christopher R. M. McFarlane
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Correspondence to Travis McCarron.

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Editorial handling: R. Abart

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McCarron, T., Gaidies, F., McFarlane, C.R.M. et al. Coupling thermodynamic modeling and high-resolution in situ LA-ICP-MS monazite geochronology: evidence for Barrovian metamorphism late in the Grenvillian history of southeastern Ontario. Miner Petrol 108, 741–758 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-014-0343-5

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