Post Jotnian basic Intrusions in the Fennoscandian Shield, and the break up of Baltica from Laurentia: a palaeomagnetic and AMS study

• A palaeomagnetic and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) study has been performed on dolerite sills of the Central Scandinavian Dolerite Group (CSDG) in the Fennoscandian Shield. The dolerites occur in four previously known complexes in central Sweden and Finland and from the results of this palaeomagnetic study another complex has been identified in northern Sweden. These complexes cover an area of at least 100 000 km2 and the palaeomagnetic data suggest a small difference in time between the intrusion of the dolerites. The measurements of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility reveal a magnetic fabric with almost horizontal foliation planes and lineations that indicate fairly uniform ca NW or SE directed magma flows. The dolerites of the CSDG are geochemically rather uniform and have compositions typical of mantle derived melts formed in continental tensional settings. In a palaeomagnetic reconstruction of Baltica versus Laurentia at ca 1.27 Ga the two continents were joined, with NE Greenland attached to NW Baltica. AMS data from a few dolerites and a basalt in NE Greenland indicate magma flow directions that in the tectonic reconstruction are more or less parallel to the flow of the dolerites in Sweden. This may suggest a common magma source located at the reconstructed contact between Baltica and Laurentia. Both the dolerites in Greenland and those in Sweden are of tholeitic composition indicating an intraplate origin, which supports the interpretation of joined continents at that time. The tensional regime, that is reflected by the huge sill complexes, is in our interpretation related to the break up of Baltica from Laurentia at ca 1.27 Ga ago.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Geofysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Geophysics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Applied Geophysics

Tillämpad geofysik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)