U-Th-Pb isotope chronology of sulfide ores and rocks in the early Proterozoic metavolcanic belt of northern Wisconsin

Economic Geology
By: , and 

Links

Abstract

Lead was probably derived from 3.7-b.y.-old source material about 1.8 to 1.9 b.y. ago. Data on metavolcanic and granitic rocks from the belt show that the U-Th-Pb systems in most were reset about 1.6 b.y. ago; a time of shearing and retrogressive metamorphism. A concordia plot of the whole-rock lead data shows that many of the rocks lost lead relative to uranium and thorium during the interval 200 to 400 m.y. ago. Similar ores might be sought between the northern Wisconsin metavolcanic belt and the Upper Mississippi Valley because the lead lost from the basement there might be available for ore formation in overlying units. The lead in the early Proterozoic metavolcanic belt of northern Wisconsin seems to have been derived from the same mantle parent as the late Archean metavolcanic belts of northeastern Minnesota and southern Ontario.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title U-Th-Pb isotope chronology of sulfide ores and rocks in the early Proterozoic metavolcanic belt of northern Wisconsin
Series title Economic Geology
DOI 10.2113/gsecongeo.79.2.338
Volume 79
Issue 2
Year Published 1984
Language English
Publisher Society of Economic Geologists
Description 16 p.
First page 338
Last page 353
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details