A regional 1.92 Ga tectonothermal episode in Ostrobothnia, Finland: Implications for models of Svecofennian accretion

The mostly metasedimentary Svecofennian Western Pohjanmaa belt in Ostrobothnia, Finland, can be divided into two stratigraphic groups separated by a major unconformity that reflects deformation following regional metamorphism. The western Lappfors group, interpreted as a Svionian basement complex, has strong W-trending folding and aeromagnetic signatures that contrast with the overlying eastern Evijärvi group, interpreted as lower Bothnian, which has more open N-trending folding and magnetic patterns. Several lines of evidence date the unconformity at ∼1.92 Ga. Detrital zircons from two samples of Lappfors group metasediment, and a sample of the basal Nivala gneisses in the Eastern Pohjanmaa belt, have 1.92–1.91 Ga post-depositional low-Th/U metamorphic overgrowths. The maximum deposition age of the Lappfors sedimentary protoliths, based on detrital zircon ages, is between ∼1.99 and ∼1.95 Ga. Three samples of Bothnian sediments lack pervasive ∼1.91 Ga overgrowths, instead having a variety of detrital zircons as young as ∼1.95–1.91 Ga, reflecting recycling of the underlying basement complex. The maximum deposition age of the Bothnian sedimentary protoliths is inferred to be ∼1.91 Ga. The Niska granitoid, which intrudes the Evijärvi group and is deformed only by the younger tectonic episode affecting that sequence, has a zircon age of 1896 ± 6 Ma. That episode, which established the present relationships between basement and cover, is dated by ∼1.88 Ga metamorphic zircon overgrowths in both the Svionian and Bothnian samples, and by 1878 ± 4 Ma metamorphic monazite from a metasediment from the Savo belt, east of the Nivala district. The post-1.91 Ga volcanic sequences of the Svecofennian Province are unlikely to represent arc accretion. The Svionian metamorphic sequences are probably the remnants of a widespread marginal basin that formed between ∼1.97 and 1.92 Ga, then was accreted to the craton during an Early Svecofennian (∼1.92–1.91 Ga) orogenic phase, forming the basement on which the Bothnian volcano-sedimentary sequences were subsequently deposited.