Abstract

The 2.05 Ga Otanmäki suite represents a globally rare occurrence of Paleoproterozoic non-orogenic A1-type magmatism. It consists of a broad variety of A-type felsic and intermediate igneous rocks including monzodiorites, monzonites, syenites and peralkaline to peraluminous granites, containing both plutonic and subvolcanic members. The suite has chemical characteristics similar to those of A1-type suites formed in intraplate hotspots or continental rifts by differentiation of variably crustally contaminated, mafic mantle-derived magmas. However, compared to the Otanmäki rocks, most A1-type suites are considerably younger.

Unraveling the original geologic setting of the Otanmäki suite is challenging because the suite was disintegrated, deformed and metamorphosed under amphibolite facies conditions (T ~550–600 ºC, P ~4 kbar) during the Svecofennian collisional orogeny (ca. 1900 Ma), i.e., 150–200 Ma after its initial emplacement. As a result, Otanmäki suite rocks are now found as pervasively foliated rocks within two nappe units sandwiched between Archean granitoid gneiss complexes and Paleoproterozoic supracrustal belts. The occurrence of slivers of 1950 Ma ocean-continent-transition ophiolitic rocks in the same thrust belt and the proximity of the Otanmäki suite to the Karelia-Svecofennia margin suggest that the suite records an early stage of a slow, ca. 100-Ma-long extension-rifting process which, at ca. 1950 Ma, eventually led to the final break-up of the Karelia craton and formation of the nascent ocean basin witnessed by the Jormua ophiolite complex.