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SHRIMP and electron microprobe chronology of UHT metamorphism in the Napier Complex, East Antarctica: implications for zircon growth at >1,000 °C

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Abstract

Zircons in ultra-high-temperature (UHT) metamorphosed paragneisses from Mt. Riiser-Larsen in the Napier Complex, East Antarctica, were dated by using ion microprobe (SHRIMP) and electron microprobe (EMP). Both SHRIMP and EMP analyses yield consistent 2520–2460 Ma age populations for garnet–orthopyroxene-bearing paragneiss and leucosomes enclosed within. The peak UHT event was dated at 2480 Ma by SHRIMP analyses on metamorphic zircons from the garnet–orthopyroxene paragneiss and those on magmatic zircons from the leucosomes which are interpreted to be formed at syn-UHT. As obtained by SHRIMP, the UHT metamorphic event was terminated no later than 2460 Ma. Minor 2520-Ma SHRIMP age suggests either the onset of prograde metamorphism or another high-grade metamorphic event unrelated to the UHT. EMP analyses on metamorphic zircons from sapphirine–quartz and osumilite-bearing magnesian paragneisses give c. 2500–2450 Ma ages. Inherited igneous zircon cores of the magnesian paragneisses yield relatively scattered EMP ages ranging over c. 3000–2650 Ma, suggesting that igneous materials of these ages sourced the protoliths of the paragneisses and that they were deposited during the interval c. 2650–2520 Ma.

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Acknowledgements

Field work in Antarctica was carried out as a geological project of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE), and H. Ishizuka, M. Ishikawa and S. Suzuki are thanked for their cooperation in the field. T. Hokada acknowledges the National Institute of Polar Research for enabling him to participate in JARE. Y. Motoyoshi, H. Kaiden, A.P. Nutman and C.M. Fanning are thanked for their help in SHRIMP analyses and sample preparation. M. Shigeoka is thanked for her help in electron microprobe analyses. Comments by Y. Motoyoshi were also made on two of the earlier drafts which improved the manuscript. We thank C.R.L. Friend and P.D. Kinny for constructive reviews and I. Parsons for the editorial work, which improved the manuscript considerably. This study was financially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) to T. Hokada and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the JSPS to K. Shiraishi (No. 12440151).

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  1. National Institute of Polar Research, 1-9-10 Kaga, Itabashi, 173-8515, Tokyo, Japan

    Tomokazu Hokada, Keiji Misawa, Kazuyuki Shiraishi & Akira Yamaguchi

  2. Department of Polar Science, the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, 1-9-10 Kaga, Itabashi, 173-8515, Tokyo, Japan

    Tomokazu Hokada, Keiji Misawa, Kazuyuki Shiraishi & Akira Yamaguchi

  3. National Science Museum, 3-23-1 Hyakunin-cho, Shinjuku, 169-0073, Tokyo, Japan

    Kazumi Yokoyama

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  1. Tomokazu Hokada
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Correspondence to Tomokazu Hokada.

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Hokada, T., Misawa, K., Yokoyama, K. et al. SHRIMP and electron microprobe chronology of UHT metamorphism in the Napier Complex, East Antarctica: implications for zircon growth at >1,000 °C. Contrib Mineral Petrol 147, 1–20 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-003-0550-2

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