The Qassiarsuk (formerly spelled Qagssiarssuk) complex is located in a roughly E–W trending graben structure between Qassiarsuk village and Tasiusaq settlement in the northern part of the Precambrian Gardar rift, South Greenland. The complex comprises a sequence of alkaline silicate tuffs and extrusive carbonatites interlayered with sandstones, and their subvolcanic equivalents, which represent possible feeders for the extrusive rocks. The Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd and Pb isotopic characteristics of 65 samples of extrusive carbonatite- and silicate tuffs and carbonatite diatremes have been determined by mass spectrometry. The Qassiarsuk complex can be dated to c. 1.2 Ga by Rb-Sr and Pb-Pb isochrons on whole-rocks and mineral separates, agreeing with previous isotopic ages for the volcanic rocks of the Eriksfjord formation in the Eriksfjord area of the Gardar rift, but not with previous, indirect age estimates of >1.31 Ga for assumed Eriksfjord equivalents in the Motzfeldt area further east. Recalculated isotopic compositions at 1.2 Ga indicate that the Qassiarsuk carbonatite- and alkaline-silicate magmas were comagmatic and derived from a depleted mantle source (εNd>4, εSr<−13, time-integrated, single- stage 238U/204Pb ≤ 7.4). The mantle-derived magmas were contaminated with crustal material, equivalent to the local, pre-Gardar granites and gneisses and sediments derived from these. The crustal component has a depleted mantle Nd model age of 2.1-2.6 Ga; at 1.2 Ga it was characterized by εSr = +76, εNd = −8.4, time-integrated, single- stage 238U/204Pb = 8.2−8.3. Strong decoupling of the Pb from the Sr and Nd isotopic systems suggests that the contamination happened only after carbonatitic and alkaline-silicate magmas had evolved from a common parent, by processes such as liquid immisicibility and/or fractional crystallization. Post-magmatic hydrothermal alteration (oxidation, hydration of mafic silicates, carbonatization of melilite) may have contributed further to the contamination of the carbonatite and alkaline silicate rocks of the Qassiarsuk complex.

The Gardar Rift in southern Greenland developed within Palaeoproterozoic rocks of the Ketilidian orogen, near its boundary with the Archaean craton. The Eriksfjord Formation was deposited at c. 1.3 Ga on a basement of c. 1.8 Ga Julianehåb I-type granite. Detrital zircons from the lower sandstone units shows a range of ages and εHf compatible with proto sources within the Archaean craton and the Nagssugtoquidian mobile belt north and east of the craton; zircons that can be attributed to juvenile Ketilidian sources are less abundant. This suggests a predominance of distant sources, probably by recycling of older and no longer preserved cover strata. A significant fraction of c. 1300 Ma zircons have εHf between 0 and −38. Rather than originating from a hitherto unknown igneous body within the Gardar Rift, these are interpreted as Palaeoproterozoic to late Archaean zircons that have lost radiogenic lead during diagenesis and post-depositional thermal alteration related to Gardar magmatism. Although the sediments originate from sources within Greenland, the age and initial Hf isotope distribution of Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean zircons mimics that of granitoids from the Fennoscandian Shield. This may reflect parallel evolution and possible long-range exchange of detritus in Proterozoic supercontinent settings. The lesson to be learned is that detrital zircon age data should not be used to constrain the age of sedimentary deposition unless the post-depositional history is well understood, and that recycling of old sediments, long-range transport and parallel evolution of different continents make detrital zircons unreliable indicators of provenance.