Integrating zircon trace-element geochemistry and high-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology to resolve the timing and petrogenesis of the late Ediacaran-Cambrian Wichita igneous province, Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, USA

The bimodal Wichita igneous province (WIP) represents the only exposed Ediacaran to Cambrian anorogenic magmatic assemblage present along the buried southern margin of Laurentia and was emplaced during rifting in the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen prior to Cambrian opening of the southern Iapetus Ocean. Here, we establish the first high-precision U-Ph zircon geochronological framework for the province. Weighted mean Pb-206/U-238 dates from mafic and felsic rocks in the Wichita Mountains indicate emplacement in a narrow time frame from 532.49 +/- 0.12 Ma to 530.23 +/- 0.14 Ma. Rhyolite lavas in the Arbuckle Mountains farther east yield weighted mean Pb-206/U-238 dates of 539.20 +/- 0.15 Ma and 539.46 +/- 0.13 Ma. These dates for the WIP indicate that magmatism in the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen postdated the ca. 540 Ma rift-drift transition along the Appalachian margin to the east. Whole-rock trace-element and isotopic geochemistry, supplemented by trace elements in zircon, tracks the evolution of magma sources during WIP petrogenesis. These data indicate that initial melting and assimilation of subcontinental mantle lithosphere by an uprising mantle plume were followed by increasing involvement of asthenospheric melts with time. We suggest that upwelling of this plume in the area of the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen triggered an inboard jump of the spreading center active along the eastern margin of Laurentia, which led to separation of the Precordillera terrane (now located in Argentina) from the Ouachita embayment present in the southern Laurentian margin.

Automated summary

This study establishes a high-precision zircon geochronological framework for the Wichita igneous province (WIP), showing that magmatism was emplaced within a narrow time frame and tracking the evolution of magma sources. The results suggest that the upwelling of a mantle plume triggered an inboard jump of the spreading center, leading to the separation of terranes between North and South America.