Tectonic implications of ca. 1.45 Ga granitoid magmatism at the southwestern margin of the East European Craton

Abstract: Between ca 1.53 and 1.40 Ga, the southwestern margin of the East European Craton was subjected to extensive magmatism and deformation. While various suites of anorthositic, mangeritic and charnockitic-granitic rocks were emplaced between ca. 1.53 and 1.50 Ga, a major event of A-type granitic magmatism took place around 1.45 Ga. During that event, numerous voluminous plutons were intruded in a wide region around the southern Baltic Sea (“the SBS region”). Petrologically, the various SBS granitoids are rather similar to each other. Like many A-type granites worldwide, they are enriched in silica, high field strength elements (HFSE) and rare earth elements (REE), and have high Fe/Mg and K/Na ratios. The most common ferromagnesian silicate minerals are biotite and amphibole, clinopyroxene occurring occasionally. Another feature characteristic of the SBS plutons is their formation by the emplacement of multiple pulses of melt. Such pulses were occasionally responsible for separate suites of rocks and appear to have originated from slightly different sources. In general, however, the melt sources of the SBS granitoids were relatively juvenile and rich in aluminum and potassium as well as in HFSE:s and REE:s. The isotopic characteristics of the rocks may also suggest some interaction between crustal and mantle materials. During the ca.1.45-Ga event, the Blekinge-Bornholm region experienced notable regional compression and ENE-WSW shortening. That compression caused syn- and post-magmatic deformation of the involved granitoids as well as deformation and metamorphism of the host rocks. Due to its activity, also EW-striking shear zones were either developed or reactivated and apparently controlled the emplacement of the SBS granitoids. As different from the traditional concept of a liaison between A-type granitic magmatism and anorogenic extension of the crust, the present study thus strongly evidences that the SBS granitoids were intruded during compressional tectonic processes. Causally, they are interpreted to have been related to the Mesoproterozoic Danopolonian orogeny which may have led to the collision of the East European Craton with another proto-continent, possibly Proto-Amazonia (Bogdanova, 2001).