Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:16:24.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The petrology of the Harkerbreen Group, Ny Friesland, Svalbard: protoliths and tectonic significance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

G. M. Manby
G. M. Manby
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Department, University of London, Goldsmiths College, Creek Road, London SE8 3BU, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The late Precambrian–early Palaeozoic rocks of Ny Friesland, which have been subjected to Caledonian deformation and metamorphism, constitute part of the Eastern Province or Terrane of Svalbard. The Harkerbreen group and other divisions of the Stubendorffbreen supergroup form a high-grade and intensely deformed core complex to this terrane which is bounded to the west by the Billefjorden Fault Zone and to the east by a major north–south shear zone. The Stubendorffbreen rocks exhibit two gneissic foliations, one axial planar to a large scale, F1 fold nappe closing to the east and the other axial planar to kilometre-scale upright F2 folds subsidiary to the Atomfjella Arch. Metamorphism in the mid-amphibolite facies range coincided with generation of these folds, and F3.crenulation folding was accompanied by waning P–T conditions. A significant proportion of the gneisses within the Harkerbreen group display silica–major element covariation patterns consistent with their position in the granodiorite field on the AFM plot. Incompatible, immobile element ratios Zr/Ti v. Nb/Y indicate affinities with rhyolites to rhyodacites which is also suggested by their REE profiles. Normalized multi-element plots of the gneisses are similar to those of granites from attenuated within-plate settings such as Mull and Skaergaard. The amphibolites which were intruded in the D1–D2 interval appear to be derivatives of fractionated basalts. They plot across the calk-alkaline tholeiite boundary on the AFM diagram, and the calc-alkaline character of some of the amphibolites is further suggested by their Yb-normalized Ce-Ta abundances. Zr-Ti-Y and REE abundances would support their derivation from a related suite of fractionated basalt liquids. On the Zr/Y v. Zr discrimination diagram the amphibolites appear to have compositions transitional between Mid Ocean Ridge and Within-Plate basalts whilst the Zr-Nb-Ta plot indicates Volcanic Arc Basalt affinities. Th-Hf-Ta and multi-element plots, however, indicate a marginal to back-arc basin setting possibly above a mature subduction zone. The late Caledonian Chydenius granite is an adamellite with mixed within-plate and syn-orogenic characteristics typical of post-collisional granites.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 127 , Issue 2 , March 1990 , pp. 129 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Basaltic Volcanism Study Project, 1981. Basaltic Volcanism on the Terrestrial Planets. New York: Pergamon Press. 1286 pp.Google Scholar
Bell, T. H. 1985. Deformation partitioning and porphyroblast rotation in metamorphic rocks; a radical reinterpretation. Journal of Metamorphic Geology 3, 109–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhatia, M. R. & Crook, K. A. W. 1986. Trace element characteristics of graywackes and tectonic setting discrimination of sedimentary basins. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 92, 181–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birkenmajer, K. 1985. The Geology of Svalbard,. The Western Part of the Barents Sea and the Continental Margin of Scandinavia. In The Caledonide Orogen – Scandinavia and Related Areas (ed. Gee, D. G. and Sturt, B. A.), pp. 265–329. London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Cullers, R. L. & Graf, J. L. 1984. Rare earth elements of the continental crust: predominantly basic and ultra-basic rocks. In Rare Earth Geochemistry (ed. Henderson, P.), pp. 237–74. Amsterdam: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flood, B., Gee, D. G., Hjella, A., Siggerud, T. & Winsnes, T. S. 1969. The Geology of Nordaustlandet, Northern and Central Parts. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter, no. 146.Google Scholar
Floyd, P. A. & Winchester, J. A. 1978. Identification and discrimination of altered and metamorphosed volcanic rocks using immobile elements. Chemical Geology 21, 291–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gayer, R. A. 1969. The Geology of the Femmilsjøen Region of North-west Ny Friesland, Spitsbergen. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter, no. 157, 77 pp.Google Scholar
Gayer, R. A., Gee, D. G., Harland, W. B., Miller, J. A., Spall, H. R., Wallis, R. H. & Wisnes, T. S. 1966. Radiometric Age Determinations on Rocks from Spitsbergen. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter, no. 137.Google Scholar
Gayer, R. A. & Wallis, R. H. 1966. The Petrology of the Harkerbreen Group of he Lower Hecla Hoek of Ny Friesland and Olav V Land, Spitsbergen. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter, no. 140, 32 pp.Google Scholar
Green, T. H., Brunfelt, A. I. & Heier, K. S. 1969. Rare earth element distribution in anorthosites and associated high-grade metamorphic rocks, Lofoten-Vesteralen, Norway. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 7, 93–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, T. H., Brunfelt, A. I. & Heier, K. S. 1972. Rare earth element distribution and K/Rb ratios in granulites, mangerites and anorthosites, Lofoten-Vesteralen, Norway. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 36, 241–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harland, W. B. 1959. The Caledonian sequence of Ny Friesland, Spitsbergen. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 114, 307–42.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B. 1971. Tectonic transpression in Caledonian Spitsbergen. Geological Magazine 108, 27–42.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B. 1985. Caledonide Svalbard. In The Caledonide Orogen – Scandinavia and Related Areas (eds Gee, D. G. and Sturt, B. A.), pp. 999–1016. Wiley.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B., Cutbill, J. L., Friend, P. F., Gobbet, D. J., Holliday, D. W., Matons, P. T., Parker, J. R. & Wallis, R. H. 1974. The Billefjorden Fault Zone, Spitsbergen. The Long History of a Major Tectonic Lineament. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter, no. 161, 72 pp.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B., Wallis, R. H. & Gayer, R. A. 1966. A revision of the Lower Hecla Hoek succession in central North Spitsbergen and correlation elsewhere. Geological Magazine 103, 70–9.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B. & Wilson, C. B. 1956. The Hecla Hoek succession of Ny Friesland, Spitsbergen. Geological Magazine 93, 256–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harland, W. B. & Wright, N. J. R. 1979. Alternative Hypothesis for the pre-Carboniferous Evolution of Svalbard. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter, no. 167, 89–117.Google Scholar
Haskin, L. A., Wildeman, R. T., Frey, F. A., Collins, K. A., Keedy, C. R. & Haskin, M. A. 1966. Rare earths in sediments. Journal of Geophysical Research 71, 6091–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haskin, M. A. & Haskin, L. A. 1966. Rare earth elements in European shales. A re-determination. Science 154, 507–9.Google Scholar
Ibarguchi, J. I. G., Bowden, P. & Whitely, J. E. 1984. Rare earth element distribution in some Hercynian granitoids from the Finisterre region. NW Spain. Journal of Geology 92, 397–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasil'scikov, A. A. 1979. Stratigraphy and tectonics of the Precambrian Svalbard. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter, no. 167, 73–9.Google Scholar
Lamar, D. L., Reed, W. E. & Douglass, D. N. 1985. Billefjorden Fault Zone, Dicksonland, Spitsbergen: Is it part of a major Late Devonian Transform? Geological Society of America Bulletin 97, 1083–8.Google Scholar
Mann, A. C. 1983. Trace element geochemistry of high alumina basalt-andesite-decite-rhyodacite lavas of the main volcanic series of Santorini Volcano, Greece. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 84, 43–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meschede, M. 1986. A method of discriminating between different types of Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts and Continental Tholeiites with the Nb-Zr-Y diagram. Chemical Geology 56, 207–18.Google Scholar
Miyashiro, A. & Shido, F. 1975. Tholeiitic and calcalkaline series in relation to the behaviours of titanium, vanadium, chromium and nickel. American Journal of Science 275, 265–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohta, Y. 1982. Hecla Hoek Rocks in Central and Western Nordaustlandet. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter, no. 178, 59 pp.Google Scholar
Ohta, Y. 1985. Geochemistry of the late Proterozoic Kapp Hansteen igneous rocks of Nordaustlandet, Svalbard. Polar Research 3, 69–92.Google Scholar
Pearce, J. 1982. Trace element characteristics of lavas from destructive plate boundaries. In Andesites (ed. Thorpe, R. S.), pp. 525–48. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Pearce, J. A., Harris, N. B. W. & Tindle, A. G. 1984. Trace element discrimination diagrams for the tectonic interpretation of granitic rocks. Journal of Petrology 25, 956–83.Google Scholar
Pearce, J. & Norry, M. J. 1979. Petrogenetic implication of the Ti, Zr, Y, and Nb variations in volcanic rocks. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 69, 33–47.Google Scholar
Sandford, K. S. 1956. The stratigraphy and structure of the Hecla Hoek Formation and its relationship to a subjacent metamorphic complex in North-East Land (Spitsbergen). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 112, 339–62.Google Scholar
Saunders, A. & Tarney, J. 1984. Geochemical characteristics of basaltic volcanism within back-arc basins. In Marginal Basin Geology (ed. Kokelaar, B. P. and Howells, M. F.), pp. 59–76. Special Publication of the Geological Society of London no. 16.Google Scholar
Torsvik, T. H., Løvlie, R. & Sturt, B. 1985. Palaeomagnetic argument for a stationary Spitsbergen relative to the British Isles (Western Europe) since late Devonian and its bearing on North Atlantic reconstruction. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 75, 278–83.Google Scholar
Wallis, R. H. 1969. The Planetfjellet Group of the Lower Hecla Hoek of Ny Friesland, Spitsbergen. Norsk Polarinstitutt Årbok 1967, 80–108.Google Scholar
Winchester, J. A. & Floyd, P. A. 1977. Geochemical discrimination of different magma series and their differentiation products using immobile elements. Chemical Geology 20, 325–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, D. A., Joron, J.-L. & Treuil, M. 1979. A re-appraisal of the use of trace elements to classify and discriminate between magma series erupted in different tectonic settings. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 45, 326–36.Google Scholar