An uncommon episode of mafic magmatism at 1347 Ma in the Mesoproterozoic Telemark supracrustals, Sveconorwegian orogen—Implications for stratigraphy and tectonic evolution

The Mesoproterozoic Telemark supracrustals in southern Norway comprise two major assemblages of bimodal volcanic and clastic metasedimentary rocks. The older Vestfjorddalen supergroup evolved from A-type, ca. 1500 Ma continental felsic volcanism, via within-plate type basaltic volcanism, into open sea siliciclastic sedimentation, and produced an at least 5 km thick, quartzite-dominated sequence, the Vindeggen group. It overlies a basement formed by just slightly older, 1550–1500 Ma mature arc rocks. The younger, 1170–1140 Ma Sveconorwegian supergroup was characterized by bimodal volcanism, associated with plutonism, and with several intervening periods of clastic sedimentation. The metadiabase dated in this study cuts the Vindeggen group at the top of the older supergroup and is itself delimited by an unconformity at the bottom of the younger supergroup. The 1347 ± 4 Ma age, obtained by ID-TIMS analysis of zircon, defines a mimimum age for deposition of the Vindeggen group. The age is unique in the regional context but in general terms it fits a pattern of episodic and locally intense magmatism that characterized the Mesoproterozoic development of the margins of Proto-Baltica and -Laurentia and has been related to the evolution of a long-lived convergent margin. The similarities between some of these terranes and distinctiveness from others, in both orogens, may indicate outboard evolution of the Telemarkia and Frontenac terranes before their aggregation within the Sveconorwegian–Grenvillian orogen.