Strike-slip juxtaposition of ca. 2.72 Ga juvenile arc and >2.98 Ga continent margin sequences and its implications for Archean terrane accretion, western Superior Province, Canada,
The North Caribou terrane of the western Superior Province attained continental thickness (~35 km) by 2997 Ma. It records a subsequent 300 million years history of continental fragmentation, arc magmatism, and terrane accretion. At Lake Winnipeg the ~2978 Ma Lewis–Storey quartzite–komatiite–iron formation assemblage marks Mesoarchean breakup. Unlike the relatively continuous 2980–2735 Ma stratigraphic record of the Red Lake and Birch–Uchi greenstone belts to the east, little of this interval is recorded at Lake Winnipeg. Rather, two belts of younger, juvenile rocks are tectonically juxtaposed: the Black Island assemblage of isotopically depleted, 2723 Ma basalt, and calc-alkaline andesite; and Rice Lake greenstone belt of basalt, calc-alkaline andesite, and dacite (2731–2729 Ma). Collectively these terranes represent a short-lived island-arc–back-arc system that docked with the southwestern North Caribou margin along a northwest-trending, dextral, transpressive, D1 suture. This zone is marked by the highl...