COMMENTS ON THE ARTICLE AUTHORED BY M.V. MINTS AND K.A. DOKUKINA – THE BELOMORIAN ECLOGITE PROVINCE (EASTERN FENNOSCANDIAN SHIELD, RUSSIA): MESO-NEOARCHEAN OR LATE PALEOPROTEROZOIC?

The comments are given on the article authored by M.V. Mints and K.A. Dokukina – The Belomorian Eclogite Province (Eastern Fennoscandian Shield, Russia): Meso-Neoarchean or Late Paleoproterozoic? (Geodynamics & Tectonophysics 2020, 11 (1), 151–200). The Belomorian (White Sea) province of the Fennoscandia Shield is a key site for studying the tectonics of the early periods because numerous Precambrian eclogites have been found there. It was not anticipated, but the problem of age determinations of the eclogite metamorphism of gabbroids in the White Sea mobile belt has turned out to be extremely relevant not only for this region, but also for the Precambrian geology in general. The reason is that a number of authors determine the age of eclogites as Archean (2.7–2.8 Ga), which makes the White Sea mobile belt the only example of the Archean eclogite metamorphism in the world and, therefore, the only dated evidence in support of the plate tectonic model of the evolution of the Earth’s crust at the earliest stage of its formation. The article consistently provides a critical analysis of the arguments put forward by the supporters of the Archean age of the eclogites of the White Sea mobile belt. Special emphasis is made on the isotope geochronological and geochemical features of the composition of zircons from eclogite samples, as well as on the phase and chemical compositions and distribution patterns of mineral inclusions. Considering the age of eclogite metamorphism that led to the formation of eclogites in the White Sea mobile belt, we propose our interpretation based on a set of independent isotope geochemical dating methods, including the local U- Pb method for heterogeneous zircons with magmatic cores and eclogite rims, the Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd methods for the minerals of eclogite paragenesis (garnet and omphacite). And this age interpretation is fundamentally different from the one described in the commented article: all the three methods independently determine the eclogite metamorphism as Paleoproterozoic and yield the same age of circa 1.9 Ga. According to our data, the eclogites of the White Sea mobile belt are among the most ancient high-pressure rocks, their reliably established age of metamorphism is circa 1.9 Ga, and the age of the magmatic protolith is the range of 2.2–2.9 Ga.

1. Balagansky V., Shchipansky A., Slabunov A., Gorbunov I., Mudruk S., Sidorov M., Azimov P., Egorova S., Stepanova A., Voloshin A., 2015. Archean Kuru-Vaara Eclogites in the Northern Belomorian Province, Fennoscandian Shield: Crustal Architecture, Timing and Tectonic Implications. International Geology Review 57 (11–12), 1543–1565. https://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2014.958578.

2. Bau M., Dulski P., 1999. Comparing Yttrium and Rare Earths in Hydrothermal Fluids from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Implications for Y and REE Behaviour during Near-Vent Mixing and for the Y/Ho Ratio of Proterozoic Seawater. Chemical Geology 155 (1–2), 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2541(98)00142-9.

3. Belousova E.A., Griffin W.L., O’Reilly S.Y., Fisher N.L., 2002. Igneous Zircon: Trace Element Composition as an Indicator of Source Rock Type. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 143, 602–622. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-002-0364-7.

4. Berezin A.V., Skublov S.G., 2014. Eclogite-Like Apogabbro Rocks in Sidorov and Bolshaya Ileika Islands, Keret Archipelago, White Sea: Compositional Characteristics, Metamorphic Age and Conditions. Petrology 22 (3), 234–254. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591114030035.

5. Berezin A.V., Skublov S.G., Marin Y.B., Mel’nik A.E., Bogomolov E.S., 2013. New Occurrence of Eclogite in the Belomorian Mobile Belt: Geology, Metamorphic Conditions, and Isotope Age. Doklady Earth Sciences 448, 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X13010029.

6. Berezin A.V., Travin V.V., Marin Y.B., Skublov S.G., Bogomolov E.S., 2012. New U-Pb and Sm-Nd Ages and PT Estimates for Eclogitization in the Fe-Rich Gabbro Dyke in Gridino Area (Belomorian Mobile Belt). Doklady Earth Sciences 444, 760–765. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X12060207.

7. Berman R.G., 1988. Internally–Consistent Thermodynamic Data for Minerals in the System Na2O–K2O–CaO–MgO–FeO–Fe2O3–Al2O3–SiO2–TiO2–H2O–CO2. Journal of Petrology 29 (2), 445–522. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/29.2.445.

8. Bingen B., Austrheim H., Whitehouse M.J., Davis W.J., 2004. Trace Element Signature and U–Pb Geochronology of Eclogite-Facies Zircon, Bergen Arcs, Caledonides of W Norway. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 147, 671–683. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-004-0585-z.

9. Craddock P.R., Bach W., Seewald J.S., Rouxel O.J., Reeves E., Tivey M.K., 2010. Rare Earth Element Abundances in Hydrothermal Fluids from the Manus Basin, Papua New Guinea: Indicators of Sub-seafloor Hydrothermal Processes in Back-Arc Basins. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 74 (19), 5494–5513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2010.07.003.

10. Dokukina K.A., Bayanova T.B., Kaulina T.V., Travin A.V., Mints M.V., Konilov A.N., Serov P.A., 2012. The Belomorian Eclogite Province: Sequence of Events and Age of the Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks of the Gridino Association. Russian Geology and Geophysics 53 (10), 1023–1054. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.2012.08.006.

11. Dokukina K.A., Kaulina T.V., Konilov A.N., Mints M.V., Wan K.V., Natapov L.M., Belousova E.A., Simakin S.G., Lepekhina E.N., 2014. The Belomorian Eclogite Province: Sequence of Events and Age of the Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks of the Gridino Association. Gondwana Research 25 (2), 585–613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2013.02.014.

12. Dokukina K.A., Konilov A.N., 2011. Metamorphic Evolution of the Gridino Mafic Dyke Swarm (Belomorian Eclogite Province, Russia). In: L. Dobrzhinetskaya, S. Cuthbert, W. Faryad, S. Wallis (Eds), Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphism. 25 Years after the Discovery of Coesite and Diamond. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 579–621. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385144-4.00017-5.

13. Dokukina K.A., Konilov A.N., Bayanova T.B., Kaulina T.V., Travin A.V., 2010. New Geochronological Data on Metamorphic and Igneous Rocks from the Gridino Village Area (Belomorian Eclogitic Province). Doklady Earth Sciences 432, 255–258. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X10050260.

14. Dokukina K.A., Mints M.V., 2019. Subduction of the Mesoarchaean Spreading Ridge and Related Metamorphism, Magmatism and Deformation by the Example of the Gridino Eclogitized Mafic Dyke Swarm, the Belomorian Eclogite Province, Eastern Fennoscandian Shield. Journal of Geodynamics 123, 1–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jog.2018.11.003.

15. Herwartz D., Skublov S.G., Berezin A.V., Mel’nik A.E., 2012. First Lu-Hf Garnet Ages of Eclogites from the Belomorian Mobile Belt (Baltic Shield, Russia). Doklady Earth Sciences 443, 377–380. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X12030130.

16. Holtz F., Johannes W., Tamic N., Behrens H., 2001. Maximum and Minimum Water Contents of Granitic Melts Generated in the Crust: A Reevaluation and Implications. Lithos 56 (1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0024-4937(00)00056-6.

17. Hoskin P.W., Kinny P.D., Wyborn D., Chappell B.W., 2000. Identifying Accessory Mineral Saturation during Differentiation in Granitoid Magmas: An Integrated Approach. Journal of Petrology 41 (9), 1365–1396. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/41.9.1365.

18. Hoskin P.W.O., Schaltegger U., 2003. The Composition of Zircon and Igneous and Metamorphic Petrogenesis. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 53, 27–62. https://doi.org/10.2113/0530027.

19. Karpov G.A., Nikolaeva A.G., Alekhin Y.V., 2013. Abundances and Sources of Rare-Earth Elements in the Modern Volcanogenic Hydrothermal Systems of Kamchatka. Petrology 21 (2), 145–157. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591113020045.

20. Kaulina T.V., Yapaskurt V.O., Presnyakov S.L., Savchenko E.E., Simakin S.G., 2010. Metamorphic Evolution of the Archean Eclogite-like Rocks of the Shirokaya and Uzkaya Salma Area (Kola Peninsula): Geochemical Features of Zircon, Composition of Inclusions, and Age. Geochemistry International 48 (9), 871–890. https://doi.org/10.1134/S001670291009003X.

21. Konilov A.N., Shchipansky A.A., Mints M.V., Dokukina K.A., Kaulina T.V., Bayanova T.B., Natapov L.M., Belousova E.A., Griffin W.L., O’Reilly S.Y., 2011. The Salma Eclogites of the Belomorian Province, Russia: HP/UHP Metamorphism through the Subduction of Mesoarchean Oceanic Crust. In: L. Dobrzhinetskaya, S. Cuthbert, W. Faryad, S. Wallis (Eds), Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphism. 25 Years after the Discovery of Coesite and Diamond. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 623–670. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385144-4.00018-7.

22. Levskii L.K., Skublov S.G., Gembitskaya I.M., 2009. Isotopic–Geochemical Study of Zircons from Metabasites of the Kontokki Dike Complex: Age of Regional Metamorphism in the Kostomuksha Structure. Petrology 17 (7), 669–683. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591109070030.

23. Li X., Zhang L., Wei C., Slabunov A.I., Bader T., 2017. Neoarchean-Paleoproterozoic Granulite-Facies Metamorphism in Uzkaya Salma Eclogite-Bearing Mélange, Belomorian Province (Russia). Precambrian Research 294, 257–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2017.03.031.

24. Li X., Zhang L., Wei C., Slabunov A.I., Bader T., 2018. Quartz and Orthopyroxene Exsolution Lamellae in Clinopyroxene and the Metamorphic P–T Path of Belomorian Eclogites. Journal of Metamorphic Geology 36 (1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmg.12280.

25. Melnik A.E., 2015. Eclogites from the Northwestern Part of the White Sea Mobile Belt: Geochemical Characteristics and Time of Metamorphism. PhD Thesis (Candidate of Geology and Mineralogy). Saint Petersburg, 196 p. (in Russian) [Мельник А.Е. Эклогиты северо-западной части Беломорского подвижного пояса: геохимическая характеристика и время метаморфизма: Дис. … канд. геол.-мин. наук. СПб., 2015. 196 с.].

26. Melnik A.E., Skublov S.G., Marin Yu.B., Berezin A.V., Bogomolov E.S., 2013. New Data on the Age (U–Pb, Sm–Nd) of Garnetites from Salma Eclogites of the Belomorian Mobile Belt. Doklady Earth Sciences 448, 78–85. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X13010133.

27. Melnik A.E., Skublov S.G., Rubatto D., Müller D., Li X.-H., Li Q.-L., Berezin A.V., Herwartz D., Machevariani M.M., 2021. Garnet and Zircon Geochronology of the Paleoproterozoic Kuru-Vaara Eclogites, Northern Belomorian Province, Fennoscandian Shield. Precambrian Research 353, 106014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2020.106014.

28. Mills K., 2011. The Estimation of Slag Properties. Short Course Presented as Part of Southern African Pyrometallurgy. Imperial College, London, 52 p.

29. Mints M.V., Belousova E.A., Konilov A.N., Natapov L.M., Shchipansky A.A., Griffin W.L., O’Reilly S.Y., Dokukina K.A., Kaulina T.V., 2010. Mesoarchean Subduction Processes: 2.87 Ga Eclogites from the Kola Peninsula, Russia. Geology 38 (8), 739–742. https://doi.org/10.1130/G31219.1.

30. Mints M.V., Dokukina K.A., 2020. The Belomorian Eclogite Province (Eastern Fennoscandian Shield, Russia): Meso-Neoarchean or Late Paleoproterozoic? Geodynamics & Tectonophysics 11 (1), 151–200 (in Russian) [Минц М.В., Докукина К.А., 2020. Субдукционные эклогиты Беломорской эклогитовой провинции (восток Фенноскандинавского щита, Россия): мезоархей, неоархей или поздний палеопротерозой? // Геодинамика и тектонофизика. 2020. Т. 11. № 1. С. 151–200]. https://doi.org/10.5800/GT-2020-11-1-0469.

31. Mints M.V., Dokukina K.A., Konilov A.N., 2014. The Meso-Neoarchaean Belomorian Eclogite Province: Tectonic Position and Geodynamic Evolution. Gondwana Research 25 (2), 561–584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2012.11.010.

32. O’Reilly S.Y., Griffin W.L., Pearson N.J., Jackson S.E., Belousova E.A., Alard O., Saeed A., 2008. Taking the Pulse of the Earth: Linking Crustal and Mantle Events. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 55 (6–7), 983–995. https://doi.org/10.1080/08120090802097450.

33. Page F.Z., Essene E.J., Mukasa S.B., Valley J.W., 2014. A Garnet-Zircon Oxygen Isotope Record of Subduction and Exhumation Fluids from the Franciscan Complex, California. Journal of Petrology 55 (1), 103–131. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egt062.

34. Rosen O.M., Shchipansky A.A., Turkina O.M., 2008. Geodynamics of the Early Earth: Evolution and Stability of Geological Processes (Ophiolites, Island Arcs, Cratons, and Sedimentary Basins). Nauchny Mir, Moscow, 184 p. (in Russian) [Розен О.М., Щипанский А.А., Туркина О.М. Геодинамика ранней Земли: эволюция и устойчивость геологических процессов (офиолиты, островные дуги, кратоны, осадочные бассейны). М.: Научный мир, 2008. 184 с.].

35. Rubatto D., 2002. Zircon Trace Element Geochemistry: Partitioning with Garnet and the Link between U–Pb Ages and Metamorphism. Chemical Geology 184 (1–2), 123–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2541(01)00355-2.

36. Rubatto D., Angiboust S., 2015. Oxygen Isotope Record of Oceanic and High-Pressure Metasomatism: A P-T-Time-Fluid Path for the Monviso Eclogites (Italy). Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 170, 44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-015-1198-4.

37. Sanditov D.S., 2016. On the Nature of the Liquid-to-Glass Transition Equation. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics 123 (3), 429–442. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063776116070219.

38. Schaltegger U., Fanning C.M., Günther D., Maurin J.C., Schulmann K., Gebauer D., 1999. Growth, Annealing and Recrystallization of Zircon and Preservation of Monazite in High-Grade Metamorphism: Conventional and in-Situ U-Pb Isotope, Cathodoluminescence and Microchemical Evidence. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 134, 186–201. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004100050478.

39. Schiffman P., Liou J.G., 1980. Synthesis and Stability Relations of Mg–Al Pumpellyite, Ca4Al5MgSi6O21(OH)7. Journal of Petrology 21 (3), 441–474. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/21.3.441.

40. Schulz B., Klemd R., Brätz, H., 2006. Host Rock Compositional Controls on Zircon Trace Element Signatures in Metabasites from the Austroalpine Basement. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 70 (3), 697–710. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2005.10.001.

41. Shchipansky A.A., Khodorevskaya L.I., Slabunov A.I., 2012. The Geochemistry and Isotopic Age of Eclogites from the Belomorian Belt (Kola Peninsula): Evidence for Subducted Archean Oceanic Crust. Russian Geology and Geophysics 53 (3), 262–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.2012.02.004.

42. Silver L., Stolper E., 1985. A Thermodynamic Model for Hydrous Silicate Melts. The Journal of Geology 93 (2), 161–177. https://doi.org/10.1086/628938.

43. Skublov S.G., Balashov Yu.A., Marin Yu.B., Berezin A.V., Mel’nik A.E., Paderin I.P., 2010. U-Pb Age and Geochemistry of Zircons from Salma Eclogites (Kuru-Vaara Deposit, Belomorian Belt). Doklady Earth Sciences 432, 791–798. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X10060188.

44. Skublov S.G., Berezin A.V., Berezhnaya N.G., 2012. General Relations in the Trace-Element Composition of Zircons from Eclogites with Implications for the Age of Eclogites in the Belomorian Mobile Belt. Petrology 20 (5), 427–449. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591112050062.

45. Skublov S.G., Berezin A.V., Mel’nik A.E., 2011. Paleoproterozoic Eclogites in the Salma Area, Northwestern Belomorian Mobile Belt: Composition and Isotopic Geochronologic Characteristics of Minerals and Metamorphic Age. Petrology 19 (5), 470–495. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591111050055.

46. Skublov S.G., Berezin A.V., Melnik A.E., Astafiev B.Y., Voinova O.A., Alekseev V.I., 2016. Protolith Age of Eclogites from the Southern Part of Pezhostrov Island, Belomorian Belt: Protolith of Metabasites as Indicator of Eclogitization Time. Petrology 24 (6), 594–607. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869591116040056.

47. Skublov S.G., Mel’nik A.E., Berezin A.V., Bogomolov E.S., Marin Yu.B., Ishmurzin F.I., 2013a. New Data on the Age (U-Pb, Sm-Nd) of Metamorphism and a Protolith of Eclogite-Like Rocks from the Krasnaya Guba Area, Belomorian Belt. Doklady Earth Sciences 453, 1158–1164. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X13110184.

48. Skublov S.G., Myskova T.A., Marin Yu.B., Astaf’ev B.Yu., Bogomolov E.S., L’vov P.A., 2013b. Geochemistry of Zircon Rims with Different Ages in Gneisses of the Kola Series (SIMS, SHRIMP-II) and the Problem of Early Caledonian Thermal Activization of the Kola Craton. Doklady Earth Sciences 453, 1250–1256. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X13120167.

49. Zanotto E.D., Cassar D.R., 2017. The Microscopic Origin of the Extreme Glass-Forming Ability of Albite and B2O3. Scientific Reports 7 (1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep43022.