The Paleogeography of Laurentia in Its Early Years: New Constraints From the Paleoproterozoic East?Central Minnesota Batholith

The ca. 1.83 Ga Trans-Hudson orogeny resulted from collision of an upper plate consisting the Hearne, Rae, and Slave provinces with a lower Superior province. While geologic record peak metamorphism within orogen suggests that these were single amalgamated craton this time onward, lack paleomagnetic poles province following orogenesis has made coherency difficult to test. We develop high-quality pole for northeast-trending diabase dikes post-Penokean East-Central Minnesota Batholith (pole longitude: 265.8°; latitude: 20.4°; A95: 4.5°; K: 45.6 N: 23) whose age we constrain be 1,779.1 ± 2.3 Ma (95% CI) new U-Pb dates. Demagnetization low-temperature magnetometry experiments establish dike remanence held by low-Ti titanomagnetite. Thermochronology data intrusions have cooled below magnetite blocking temperatures upon initial emplacement mild subsequent thermal history stable craton. similarity Rae establishes Laurentia orogenesis. This consistency supports interpretations older discrepant 2.22–1.87 positions between are result differential motion through mobile-lid tectonics. northern Europe North America connection Fennoscandia cratons. can used jointly reconstruct cratons 1,780 strengthening paleogeographic position major constituents hypothesized late Paleoproterozoic supercontinent Nuna.