Hf Isotopes and Geochemical Evidence Constrain the Nature and Sources of Melting During and After Progressive Accretion of the Wrangellia Composite Terrane to the Southern Alaska Margin

Abstract:

Plutonic rocks in the western Alaska Range were emplaced prior to, during, and after accretion of the Wrangellia Composite Terrane (WCT) to the southern Alaska margin (locally, Farewell terrane, FT). Docking between (mostly) oceanic WCT and (mostly) Paleozoic continental FT was done largely by ca. 80 Ma on the basis of youngest detrital zircon ages from an overlapping flysch basin and the oldest post-deformational plutons. Plutons before and during progressive basin closure and terrane accretion (~100-76 Ma) were emplaced in WCT basement or proximal to the WCT–FT margin, are calcalkaline diorite to granite, and likely products of the migrating arc associated with closure of the intervening ocean basin. Plutons emplaced after 76 Ma are organized axially and cross into both sides of the inferred suture zone, suggesting an association with faults formed during crustal shortening and transcurrent deformation. These Late Cretaceous gabbro to granodiorite plutons have arc to collisional affinity, some with “adakitic” compositions, possibly due to crustal thickening associated with WCT collision. In contrast, younger Paleocene plutons are spatially scattered and widespread fractionated granites. Hf isotopes and U/Pb ages were measured in zircons from ~110 to ~30 Ma plutons by LA-ICPMS using the split-stream configuration. Maximum eHf decreases gradually over time (+15 to +12) suggesting either more enriched mantle or an increasing role of crustal components in the melt source and/or during magma ascent and emplacement. However, most Late Cretaceous and a subset of Paleocene plutons have anomalously low eHf (+6 to –2). Paleocene granite isotopes correlate with location and basement type; plutons emplaced in Paleozoic basement have lower eHf compared with those in Mesozoic basement. This pattern, most extreme in Paleocene plutons, is also seen in Cretaceous to Eocene plutons where similar-aged rocks were emplaced in both domains, suggesting strong basement control on Hf isotopes. Peak zircon Th content in the Late Cretaceous indicates a significant role for mature sediment, and apparent isotopic correlation with basement suggests a crustal origin of the sediment. However, correlations between sediment signatures, collisional and adakitic affinities, and low eHf suggest this component is added at depth.