Discordant RbSr and PbPb whole rock isochron ages for the Archaean basement of Sierra Leone

Beckinsale, R.D.; Gale, N.H.; Pankhurst, R.J.; Macfarlane, A.; Crow, M.J.; Arthurs, J.W.; Wilkinson, A.F.. 1980 Discordant RbSr and PbPb whole rock isochron ages for the Archaean basement of Sierra Leone. Precambrian Research, 13 (1). 63-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-9268(80)90059-5

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0301-9268(80)90059-5

Abstract/Summary

Field mapping and structural studies in northern Sierra Leone by an I.G.S. team have established a stratigraphic sequence in this part of the Archaean of the West African Craton. An older “Leonian” granite-greenstone terrain is identified which experienced a tectonic-metamorphic event before the formation of the granite-greenstone terrain which ended with the Liberian tectonic-metamorphic event. Granite gneisses in the Fadugu district with Leonian structures yield statistically acceptable but discordant Pb-Pb and Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron ages of 2959±50 Ma and 2753±61 Ma, respectively (2 σ errors). These ages may be correlated with radiometric ages for the Leonian and Liberian structures elsewhere in Sierra Leone, and it is concluded that the Fadugu Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron has been reset by the Liberian event. The Pb-Pb whole-rock isochron for the Fadugu gneisses and a previously determined (but recomputed and partially checked) Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron age of 2980+80 Ma for granite gneisses from southeastern Sierra Leone provide a definitive age for the Leonian tectonic-metamorphic event at about 2970 Ma. Both the initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios and present-day first-stage model 238U/204Pb value for the Leonian granitoids are indistinguishable from mantle values, but do not preclude the possibility that these granitoids were derived from parental material with a short history in the crust or lower crust. The Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron age of 2753+61 Ma for the Fadugu granite gneiss provides a definitive age for the Liberian event in northern Sierra Leone. A succession of rocks older than the Leonian (i.e., older than 2970 Ma) has been identified in the field but not yet dated.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-9268(80)90059-5
ISSN:	03019268
Date made live:	27 Aug 2019 11:00 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/524861

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-9268(80)90059-5

ISSN:

03019268

Date made live:

27 Aug 2019 11:00 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/524861