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Evidence for both vertical and horizontal movement is well preserved in the Cross Lake greenstone belt in the northwestern Superior Province. The vertical movement components are concentrated in high-strain zones along pluton–greenstone contacts and are characterized by pluton-side-up or greenstone-side-down movement, and the geometry, kinematics, and strain distribution are consistent with a vertical tectonic model involving diapirism and sagduction. The horizontal components are concentrated in major east-southeast-trending dextral high-strain zones and in subordinate northeast-trending sinistral, antithetic high-strain zones and can be readily explained by a horizontal tectonic model involving dextral transpression. Results of a detailed structural analysis indicate that the vertical and horizontal tectonism were more or less synchronous, and there was a transition from dominantly vertical tectonism at the early stages to dominantly horizontal tectonism at the late stages. The Cross Lake Group, consisting of Timiskaming-type sedimentary rocks, was deposited in a synclinal keel between granitoid domes associated with vertical tectonism. It is suggested that synchronous vertical and horizontal tectonism was a common process in the Neoarchean and might represent a transition from dominant vertical tectonism in the Mesoarchean (and Paleoarchean?) to dominant horizontal tectonism in the Proterozoic and Phanerozoic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Two stages (Meso- and Neoarchean) of south-dipping subduction along northern margin of North Caribou Terrane are proposed. [•] U–Pb zircon age data show two events of deformation at >∼2.72Ga and ∼2.70Ga. [•] Terminal collision occurred at ca. 2.70Ga. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We present ages of detrital zircons from a Neoarchean sedimentary sequence. [•] The age pattern supports basin formation by diapirism and sagduction. [•] Sagduction can bring such sedimentary rocks deep into the crust soon after deposition. [•] This is evidenced by a conglomerate in the mid to lower crust in the Kapuskasing uplift. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Archean Bird River greenstone belt (BRGB) is located on the southwestern edge of the Superior Province between the 3.2Ga old Winnipeg River subprovince to the south and the metasedimentary belt of the English River subprovince (ERSP) to the north. This position between two major subprovinces makes the BRGB a primary target for investigating the geodynamic and kinematic evolution of a major structural boundary. New structural and geochronological data have allowed us to present an evolutionary framework for the southern boundary of the North Caribou superterrane. The BRGB underwent 3 main deformation phases. The D1 event took place ca. 2698Ma and displays a north-side-up shearing. The D2 event, occurring at ca. 2684Ma in a transpressive context, presents a complex structural pattern mixing vertical tectonics in the BRGB and strike-slip tectonics along the boundaries of the greenstone belt with other subprovinces. Between the BRGB and the ERSP, the 2832–2858Ma old Maskwa batholith acted as a rigid passive block during the collision and marks the boundary between pure dextral strike-slip tectonics along his northern boundary with the ERSP and vertical south-side-up motion in the BRGB. The BRGB can be considered as a pop-up structure with anastomosed shear zones displaying different horizontal offset according to the orientation of the shear zones. The southern boundary with the Winnipeg River subprovince is represented by a sinistral south-side-up shear zone. The same pattern is found at the regional scale where major shear zones acted as a conjugate set in the horizontal plane. At ca. 2640Ma, the D3 event occurred in a general dextral transpressive tectonic regime coeval with the emplacement of rare-elements pegmatitic plutons in a still hot (400–500°C) country rock. The geodynamical and mechanical significance of the partitioning between pure strike-slip tectonics in the English River subprovince and vertical motion in the BRGB can be explained by the rheological behaviour of a hot and weak lithosphere undergoing transpressive strain. The structural framework of the BRGB is the result of strong interactions between hot and weak domains, coeval with widespread plutonism, and a rigid older domain (Maskwa batholith) during the D2 transpressive event. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Assean Lake Crustal Complex (ALCC) located at the northwest periphery of the Superior Province in northern Manitoba, Canada, hosts an ancient assembly of rocks that record a complex and prolonged crustal history spanning more than two billion years from ∼3.9 to 1.8 Ga. A supracrustal assemblage consisting of amphibolite-grade greywacke, quartz arenite, arkose, mafic to intermediate volcanics, and to a lesser extent iron formation dominates the ALCC and likely formed in a shallow marine arc/back-arc setting. The supracrustal rocks are intruded by amphibolite-grade, calc-alkaline tonalite to granite orthogneiss. Nd model ages for felsic para- and orthogneisses range from ∼3.5 to 4.2 Ga and suggest that Paleoarchean basement may be preserved at Assean Lake. SHRIMP U–Pb zircon ages and ID-TIMS conventional U–Pb zircon and monazite ages show that felsic magmatism occurred at ∼3.1–3.2 Ga whereas a record extending back to at least 3.9 Ga is preserved in detritus in paragneiss that may have a depositional age of ∼3.2 Ga. Orthogneiss was metamorphosed at ∼2.68 Ga whereas local migmatisation of paragneiss occurred at ∼2.61 Ga. Monazite growth events at ∼2.6, 2.45, and 1.8 Ga might represent episodes of accretion of Archean crustal segments including the ALCC and possibly the Sask craton (Trans-Hudson basement) along the northwest Superior Province margin. At present, matching segments of the exotic ALCC are unknown but remnants may exist in parts of the Sask craton. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]