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The Shuram–Wonoka event recorded in a high-grade metamorphic terrane: insight from the Scandinavian Caledonides

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2007

V. A. MELEZHIK ,
D. ROBERTS ,
A. E. FALLICK  and
I. M. GOROKHOV
V. A. MELEZHIK*
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Norway, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
D. ROBERTS
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Norway, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
A. E. FALLICK
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, G75 0QF East Kilbride, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
I. M. GOROKHOV
Affiliation:
Institute of Precambrian Geology and Geochronology, nab. Makarova, 2, 199034 St Petersburg, Russia
*
†Author for correspondence: victor.melezhik@ngu.no
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Abstract

An approximately 250 m thick polydeformed and polymetamorphosed, isotopically unusual, variegated marble (locally termed the ‘Leivset marble’) shows a great lateral extent in the Scandinavian Caledonides. Its extremely 13C-depleted primary nature (−7.9±1.2‰ on average, n=93) makes the Leivset marble unique. This, together with a high Sr content (up to 8740 ppm) that buffered 87Sr/86Sr ratios between 0.70802 and 0.70872, suggests correlation with the worldwide Shuram–Wonoka isotopic event occurring within the 600–550 Ma time interval during the Ediacaran (Vendian) period. Despite a high-grade deformation and metamorphism, the Leivset marble has retained its original carbon and strontium isotope ratios. A combination of the variegated colour with unusually low δ13Ccarb can potentially be used for stratigraphic correlations in high-grade, non-fossiliferous, marble-dominated terranes across the Caledonian orogenic belt in Baltica and Laurentia. Isotope chemostratigraphy has identified a prominent cryptic stratigraphic discontinuity and suggests that the Ediacaran Leivset marble was tectonically juxtaposed above low-grade, Llandovery-age, fossiliferous marbles during the Scandian orogeny.

Keywords

CaledonidesEdiacaranmarblecarbonstrontiumisotopes
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 145 , Issue 2 , March 2008 , pp. 161 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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