U-Pb geochronology of detrital zircons in metasedimentary rocks from southern Baffin Island: implications for the Paleoproterozoic tectonic evolution of Northeastern Laurentia
A geochronological investigation of metasedimentary rocks from southern Baffin Island using the Geological Survey of Canada SHRIMP II (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe) has characterized the ages of detrital zircon populations to determine their provenance, bracket timing of deposition, and distinguish potentially distinct sequences of rocks. Four lithologically and structurally distinct metasedimentary packages have been identified; each appears to have been derived from a different source region. In the structurally lowest package, all analysed zircons are Archean, and > 90% have ages between 2.83 and 2.63 Ga; these rocks are interpreted as the northernmost exposures of the Paleoproterozoic Povungnituk Group of the Cape Smith Belt, northern Quebec, with detritus derived from the Superior craton. Occupying the intermediate structural levels, the most abundant supracrustal rocks on southern Baffin Island are siliciclastic and carbonate units of the Lake Harbour Group, and the Tasiuyak paragneiss. ...