The Paleoproterozoic Hedesunda granite complex, east-central Sweden, a composite intrusion

Abstract

The Hedesunda granite complex covers a rectangular area of ca 800 km2 within the Bergslagen lithotectonic unit of the Paleoproterozoic Svecofennian orogen in east-central Sweden. It is dominated by coarse porphyritic and generally undeformed granitoids whose position within the Svecofennian orogenic evolution has been controversial. New U–Pb SIMS dating of zircon confirms earlier TIMS results, showing that it is a composite intrusion made up of an older phase at ca 1865 Ma, forming the bulk of the massif, and a younger phase at ca 1785 Ma, forming a circular intrusion in the north-central area and an elongated body further west. The two generations have very different geochemistry. The older Hedesunda I intrusion ranges from diorite through tonalite and granodiorite to granite in composition, is dominantly metaluminous, calc-alkaline, magnesian, I-type and volcanic arc-related, and probably formed by melting of juvenile Svecofennian lower crust due to basaltic underplating during an extensional ‘intra-orogenic’ phase shortly after the main subduction-related early-orogenic Svecofennian magmatism. The younger Hedesunda II intrusions are purely granitic, dominantly peraluminous, alkali-calcic, K-rich, and ferroan, with A-type and within-plate-type characteristics, and formed penecontemporaneously with post-collisional shoshonitic intrusions in southern Finland, again presumably by crustal melting due to basaltic underplating in an extensional setting towards the end of the Svecofennian orogeny.