Basins transcend terrane boundaries: Large-scale zircon geochronology of the Western Grenville Province metasedimentary rocks

The assembly of the Grenville Province is often debated including the relationships between different crustal blocks and their origin, particularly within the Grenville Allochthonous Belt. Large-scale, LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb geochronology of graphite-bearing metasedimentary sequences across the Allochthonous Belt in the Western Grenville Province, Quebec, Canada, allow the investigation of the pre-Grenvillian tectonic architecture and basin economic potential. New detrital zircon data indicate that protoliths for the metasedimentary rocks within the Mont-Laurier and Morin terranes and within the Parent-Haute-Mauricie area were deposited at similar times (1290–1220 Ma), but could not have been deposited into the same basin system due to the general absence of Archean detrital zircon in the Parent-Haute-Mauricie area. Multi-dimensional scaling and cumulative age distribution analysis on new and compiled published detrital zircon dates from Quebec, Ontario and New York state identifies three types of detrital zircon distributions that correspond to three types of basins: Type 1, Extensional intracratonic basin with no singular major age peaks containing early Mesoproterozoic or older detritus (1460–3300 Ma); Type 2, Extensional intracratonic basin with dominant 1900–1800 Ma age peaks and lesser early Mesoproterozoic and older detritus (1460–3200 Ma); Type 3, Fore/Backarc basin with detritus more heavily weighted to younger detrital zircons and little to no Paleoproterozoic and older detritus. The connections between regions based on detrital zircon distribution types transcends traditional terrane and domain nomenclature, which is based on the last stage of orogenesis. Neither style of pre-Grenvillian plate margin configuration, the Laurentian-affinity nor the exotic model, are presently able to account for the distribution of metasedimentary rocks with and without Paleoproterozoic and older detritus. Detrital zircon analysis to constrain basin geodynamics coupled with detrital zircon distribution types can support resource exploration in orogenic belts, revealing a first-order control on graphite, Zn, and Cu endowment.