U–Pb detrital zircon analysis of the lower allochthon of NW Iberia: age constraints,udprovenance and links with the Variscan mobile belt and Gondwanan cratons

摘要

Detrital U–Pb laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry zircon ages from sixudsiliciclastic samples from the lower allochthon of NW Iberia are analysed to constrain their maximum sedimentationudage and provenance, and to evaluate the connections to the adjacent tectonostratigraphic domains.udDeposited in the external sections of the Gondwana platform, their maximum depositional age is latest Neoproterozoicud(c. 560 Ma). Comparison of the age populations of the lower allochthon with those of the rest ofudthe allochthonous and autochthonous units of NW Iberia suggests that the terranes located in the footwall ofudthe Variscan suture should not be considered as exotic elements, but as contiguous pieces of the same continentaludmargin transported onto the adjacent Gondwana mainland in Variscan times. The data are in agreementudwith the regional trend defined by the drop in Early Neoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic zircon contentudupward in the tectonic pile, which had been previously proposed as a marker of proximity to the eastern partudof the West African Craton. Based on the age spectra, the palaeoposition for the time of sedimentation isudplaced in northern Africa, between the West African and Saharan cratons. Particular attention is paid to theudoccurrence of an Early Neoproterozoic input, probably derived from the Pan-African Hoggar suture