Archean and Paleoproterozoic zircons in Paleozoic sandstones in southern New Zealand: evidence for remnant Nuna supercontinent and Ur continent rocks within Zealandia

Abstract

Detrital zircon age patterns are reported from quartz sandstones and metaquartzites in the Russet and Wangapeka formations (Western Province, Takaka Terrane) in Fiordland and northwest Nelson, and the Pegasus Group on Stewart Island. The latter indicate a possible maximum early Carboniferous depositional age with a significant Lower Devonian zircon component that suggests a source on the Campbell Plateau or Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica. In contrast, Russet Formation ages indicate a correlation with Upper Ordovician, Wangapeka Formation quartz sandstones in northwest Nelson. These zircon age patterns have two major groups: late Mesoproterozoic (1200–1000 Ma) of Rodinia origin and Cambrian–late Neoproterozoic (700–500 Ma) of early Gondwana derivation. Both groups have local Zealandia provenances. In addition, there are unusually high proportions (to 20%) of early Paleoproterozoic and Archean zircons, 3500–2000 Ma, with significant age components, 2550–2450 Ma and ca 2800 and 2650 Ma, which are characteristic of an Expanded-Ur continent. Their high proportions of euhedral grains indicate a local source within a postulated Archean basement block at or near the eastern margin of the Takaka Terrane. A proposed Rodinia supercontinent reconstruction locates this Precambrian basement as a Zealandia component placed between Gawler and North Australia cratons of Australia and Yangtze Block of the South China Craton.

KEY POINTS

1. Pegasus Group, metaquartzites, Stewart Island are not correlated with the Russet Formation, Fiordland but are an Upper Devonian or lower Carboniferous sedimentary unit.

2. Russet Formation high-grade metasandstones in Fiordland are correlated with the lower-grade and fossiliferous Upper Ordovician Wangapeka Formation in Nelson.

3. Upper Ordovician sandstones in Western Province, New Zealand contain unusually high proportions of Neoarchean euhedral detrital zircons that suggest a local Zealandia source.

4. An Archean block is proposed within the Rodinia supercontinent, between the Gawler and North Australia cratons of Australia and Yangtze Block of the South China Craton.

Keywords:

• U–Pb detrital zircon ages
• sediment provenance
• Zealandia
• Western Province
• Archean
• Paleoproterozoic
• Rodinia supercontinent
• Nuna supercontinent
• Ur continent

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgements

We celebrate the contribution of the late Russell Beck, a friend and colleague over many years, to this present study; as a true Renaissance Man, he deflected our geological investigations in many unexpected directions. Will Powell, Norman Pearson and Yi-Jen Li are thanked for their technical assistance at the GEMOC and CCFS analytical facilities in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney. The preparation of diagrams by Louise Cotterall is acknowledged. We thank Nick Mortimer for his review on an early version of this manuscript and collating zircon images.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available as Supplementary Data Tables (SDT) as follows: SDT1 Technical Details, SDT2 Analytical Details (full), SDT3 Analytical Details (abbreviated) in Figshare data repository at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19669149.v1 and also SDT4 Australian Ordovician U–Pb detrital zircon data of Adams and Campbell (2021) in Figshare data repository at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19352498.

Additional information

Funding

We also thank the Southern Institute of Technology, Invercargill for the support of Fiordland fieldwork and a grant for ICPMS zircon analyses at Macquarie University, Sydney.