Neoarchean to Paleoproterozoic fragments in the Brunovistulia terrane, S Poland: a component of the Columbia Supercontinent?

Abstract

The composite terrane of Brunovistulia includes basement of the Upper Silesia Block, southern Poland. In its NE part, the basement is elevated by the Rzeszotary Horst. In the Rzeszotary 2 borehole (Rz2) drilled in the horst, partly migmatized amphibolites, felsic gneisses and granites occur. An Na-plagioclase-phengite-K-feldspar neosome contained zircons that yielded U-Pb SHRIMP ages ~2.75–2.6 Ga (cores and single grains) and ~2.0 Ga (rims and single grains). The older ages are interpreted as the time of origin of the igneous protolith of the migmatized amphibolites. The younger ages recorded metamorphism and migmatization that affected both the magmatic precursor of the amphibolites and accompanying felsic rocks during a contractional tectonic/orogenic event. Migmatization was greatly enhanced by an influx of alkali-bearing fluids which heralded intrusion of late-orogenic unfoliated K-granite in an extensional regime, terminating the 2.0 Ga event. It is proposed that the entire orogenic edifice, of which the Brunovistulian rocks drilled in Rz 2 are a small part, represents fragments of the Columbia Supercontinent that was assembled in the Paleoproterozoic and broken up in the Mesoproterozoic. In Ediacaran times, these fragments became eventually incorporated into the Cadomian orogen in the form of its foreland and contributed to the formation of the composite terrane of Brunovistulia. Such a scenario explains why the U-Pb zircon age spectra in the Rzeszotary terrain differ dramatically from those in the remainder of Brunovistulia, which is thought to be the Cadomian hinterland.