Borden dykes of Baffin Island, Northwest Territories: a Franklin U-Pb baddeleyite age and a paleomagnetic reinterpretation

U-Pb baddeleyite geochronology for two Borden diabase dykes of northern Baffin Island gives an intrusion age of ca. 720 Ma, coeval with the age established elsewhere for the Franklin igneous event. Thus, the Borden dykes belong to the Franklin dyke swarm, rather than forming a separate swarm that in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
Main Authors: Pehrsson, Sally J, Buchan, Kenneth L
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1999
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e98-091
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e98-091
Description
Summary:U-Pb baddeleyite geochronology for two Borden diabase dykes of northern Baffin Island gives an intrusion age of ca. 720 Ma, coeval with the age established elsewhere for the Franklin igneous event. Thus, the Borden dykes belong to the Franklin dyke swarm, rather than forming a separate swarm that intruded at ca. 950-900 Ma, as has been suggested previously on the basis of paleomagnetism and K-Ar ages. As a result, the paleopole from the Borden dykes can no longer be utilized to help constrain the ca. 1050-850 Ma Grenville Loop of the North American polar wander path. Reevaluation of paleomagnetic data for the dykes of northern Baffin Island suggests that Borden dyke magnetizations resulted from superposition of a steeply directed component of chemical remanent magnetization on normal and reversed primary Franklin components. The overprint direction is consistent with a Cretaceous-Tertiary age and is likely related to normal faulting and graben development during the opening of Baffin Bay.