Lithos 358–359 (2020) 105384

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Lithos

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Letter

The complex tectonic evolution of the craton-adjacent northern margin

of the Palaeoproterozoic Ketilidian Orogen, southeastern Greenland:
Evidence from the geochemistry of mafic to intermediate and
granitic intrusions
Leon Bagas a,b,⁎, Jochen Kolb c, Troels F.D. Nielsen d, David I. Groves e,f
a
Centre for Exploration Targeting, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
b
Xi'an Center of China Geological Survey, 438 Youyi Road, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi, China
c
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Applied Geosciences, Department of Geochemistry and Economic Geology, Adenauerring 20b, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
d
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
e
Orebusters Pty Ltd, Gwelup 6018, Western Australia, Australia
f
State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes, and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Archaean Thrym Complex, exposed in southeastern Greenland, is part of the North Atlantic Craton. Its south-
Received 2 October 2019 ernmost part is in a transitional zone containing Archaean orthogneiss to the north, and Palaeoproterozoic
Received in revised form 14 January 2020 paragneiss and granitic rocks to the south that are part of the Ketilidian Orogen. This 50 km wide transitional
Accepted 15 January 2020
zone includes ca. 2830 Ma orthogneiss that is similar in age to orthogneiss in the central and northern parts of
Available online 21 January 2020
the complex, and ca. 2740 Ma orthogneiss that is synchronous with the ca. 2790–2700 Ma Skjoldungen Orogeny.
A significant difference between this zone and the complex to the north is the presence of greenschist-facies sed-
Keywords:
imentary rocks unconformably overlying orthogneiss and intruded by ca. 1820–1800 Ma granitic and mafic to in-
Greenland
Archaean
termediate intrusions. These intrusions are within the ca. 1854–1799 Ma age-range of the Julianehåb Igneous
Thrym Complex Complex, with suites, both older and younger than ca. 1830 Ma, that are not restricted to specific zones within
Palaeoproterozoic Ketilidian Orogen the Ketilidian Orogen. The geochemistry of the Palaeoproterozoic mafic to intermediate rocks in the transitional
Plate tectonics zone shows contamination by orthogneiss from the Thrym Complex, and emplacement within an oceanic-
continental transition in a within-plate setting unrelated to subduction. In contrast, the Palaeoproterozoic gran-
ites were sourced entirely from Archaean orthogneiss of the Thrym Complex, making them technically I-type
granites that have inherited their petrogenetic signature from the orthogneiss. As a result, the Palaeoproterozoic
granites and intermediate to mafic igneous rocks have similar chondrite-normalised patterns to the orthogneiss
in the Archaean complex. This demonstrates that discrimination diagrams cannot be assumed to be unequivocal
for the rocks studied unless the geochemistry of the source rocks is also known.
© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The Archaean Thrym Complex is a remote and poorly exposed part
of the North Atlantic Craton (NAC) in Greenland located north of the
Palaeoproterozoic Ketilidian Orogen, and south of the Palaeoproterozoic
Trans Hudson-Nagssugtoqidian Orogen (Figs. 1 and 2; Bagas et al.,
2013). The rocks in the complex are high-metamorphic grade
orthogneiss and migmatite, with the older units metamorphosed at ca.
⁎ Corresponding author at: Centre for Exploration Targeting, The University of Western
Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
E-mail address: Leon.Bagas@uwa.edu.au (L. Bagas).
2800 Ma (Fig. 1; Kolb et al., 2013). The complex represents the
now-exposed lower crust that formed at a depth of over 25 km at tem-
peratures of at least 800 °C and pressures of around 0.8 GPa (Bagas et al.,
2013; Berger et al., 2014). These Archaean rocks are unconformably
overlain by, or faulted against, metamorphosed Palaeoproterozoic
volcanic and sedimentary units, and both are intruded by
Palaeoproterozoic granites, and mafic and lesser intermediate dykes
(MIDs). This is different from the previously interpreted terrane bound-
ary between the Complex and Ketilidian Orogen in southeastern Green-
land, and the geochemistry of coeval Palaeoproterozoic granitic and
mafic rocks in this border region offers new insights into the tectonic
evolution of the region. A better understanding of the tectonic setting

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2020.105384
0024-4937/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
2 Letter
of the margin between the Ketilidian Orogen and southern margin of
the Thrym Complex leads to a clear understanding of the NAC, which
is the topic explored in this contribution, and that involves the classifi-
cation of Palaeoproterozoic igneous rocks, using their geochemical sig-
natures in the context of field studies. This is supported by
geochronology that yields an age framework for the local timing of the
various stages in the Palaeoproterozoic tectono-magmatic evolution at
the northern margin of the Orogen, and the geodynamic setting of the
NAC.
2. Regional geology
2.1. Archaean Thrym Complex of southeastern Greenland
The Thrym Complex forms the northeastern boundary of the
Ketilidian Orogen and southern boundary of the NAC, which extends
from Canada across Greenland through to the Lewisian Complex of
the Hebridean Terrane in northwestern Scotland, and probably into
Norway to the east (Fig. 1; Bridgwater et al., 1973; Escher and Nielsen,
1983; Bagas et al., 2013; Kolb et al., 2013; Sajeev et al., 2013; Guice
et al., 2018). The complex has been metamorphosed under granulite-
facies conditions compared to the Archaean greenschist facies granite-
greenstone belts of Canada, East Pilbara Craton in Western Australia
Fig. 1. Map showing the correlation of principal geological units of eastern Canada and Greenland during the pre-Cretaceous before opening of the Atlantic Ocean (modified after St-Onge
et al., 2009).
and South Africa, but at similar granulite-facies conditions to those in
the North China Block, South Dharwar Craton in India, and the Limpopo
Belt in southern Africa (Eriksson et al., 2009; Kröner et al., 2018; Nelson
et al., 1999; Roering et al., 1992; Singh and Slabunov, 2016; Wang et al.,
2018). At least some of the mafic granulites, ultramafic rocks, and
orthogneiss exposed in the central and northern parts of the Thrym
Complex represent the root zone of the Skjoldungen Orogen that argu-
ably formed ca. 2740 Ma (Bagas et al., 2013; Kolb et al., 2013). The Ar-
chaean rocks exposed in the southern-most part of the complex are
predominantly orthogneiss with lenses of mafic granulite and amphib-
olite (Bridgwater et al., 1973; Friend and Nutman, 2001).
2.2. Ketilidian Orogen
The Ketilidian Orogen is a 250–350 km wide belt with its central por-
tion covered by ice (Fig. 2). The orogen is considered to have formed
during the assembly of the Nuna (Columbia) Supercontinent and is cor-
related with the Canadian Makkovik Province of Labrador to the west (c.
f. St-Onge et al., 2009; Hinchey et al., 2019).
To the east, the Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic Lewisian Gneiss Com-
plex in Scotland represents a fragment of Laurentian crust that was sep-
arated from North America during the late Mesozoic to early Cenozoic
with the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean (Holdsworth et al., 2019
 Letter 3

Fig. 2. Geology of: (a) southern Greenland showing the tentative locations of the Northern, Central and Southern domains (after Steenfelt et al., 2016); and (b) northeastern part of the
Ketilidian Orogen, southeastern Greenland with photographs illustrating the nature of multiply foliated migmatitic gneiss and Palaeoproterozoic leucocratic granodiorite containing mafic
granulite xenoliths.
4 Letter
and references therein). The complex was variably intensely reworked
during the Palaeoproterozoic during the ca. 1800 to 1700 Ma Laxfordian
event, evoking similarities to the Nagssugtoqidian belt that marks the
northern boundary of the Thrym Complex in southeastern Greenland
(Holdsworth et al., 2019 and references therein). Continuation of the
Ketilidian Orogen further to the east, into Baltica, is not certain (Garde
et al., 2002a, 2002b; Ketchum et al., 2002).
Allaart (1976) and Chadwick and Garde (1996) subdivided the
Ketilidian Orogen on lithological grounds into the Border Zone in
the north, Julianehåb Igneous Complex (JIC) in the centre, and the
Psammite and Pelite zones to the south. This was based on regional re-
connaissance mapping that was too broad to map the boundaries
between these units in detail. Steenfelt et al. (2016) recently subdivided
the orogen into the Northern, Central, and Southern domains, terminol-
ogy which is used here (Fig. 2a). The subdivision is simplistic,
non-genetic, and overcomes difficulties in local application of the strat-
igraphic partitions.
The oldest units are in the Northern Domain, comprising the border
region between the Thrym Complex and Ketilidian Orogen. The domain
includes Archaean mafic granulite and orthogneiss, which are uncon-
formably overlain by Palaeoproterozoic meta-volcanic and
metasedimentary rocks (Fig. 2; Bondesen, 1970; Higgins, 1970; Friend
and Nutman, 2001; Garde et al., 1999, 2002b; Windley and Garde,
2009). Metamorphism and deformation in the Palaeoproterozoic rocks
increases to a pressure of up to 4 kbars and temperature of up to
800 °C to the south in western Greenland (Allaart, 1976; Harrison
et al., 1988).
The Central Domain, a 50–150 km wide wedge-shaped zone taper-
ing to the east, consists of polyphase calc-alkaline, and variably meta-
morphosed and deformed intrusive rocks assigned to the JIC (Fig. 2a;
Kalsbeek et al., 1990; Steenfelt et al., 2016). The predominant units
have been described as granodiorite and monzogranite, with lesser vol-
umes of tonalite, and subordinate MIDs (Chadwick and Garde, 1996;
Garde et al., 2002b; Kalsbeek et al., 1990). The spread in the ages
given by U\\Pb zircon geochronology indicates distinct emplacement
periods at ca. 1854–1836 Ma and ca. 1818–1799 Ma (Garde et al.,
2002b; McCaffrey et al., 2004). The implication is that intrusions related
to synchronous magmatic events are present outside and northeast of
the igneous complex.
Local shear zones in the Central Domain have a near-vertical folia-
tion, trending NNE-NE parallel to the Kobberminebugt Fault and aero-
magnetic anomalies of the North-central Ketilidian Lineament, with a
near-horizontal mineral stretching lineation (Chadwick and Garde,
1996; Garde et al., 2002a, 2002b). The area around Søndre Sermilik
Fjord is characterised by up to 1.5 km wide near-vertical, NNE-
trending shear zones (Fig. 2a; Chadwick and Garde, 1996), with
mylonite zones indicating sinistral deformation (Chadwick and Garde,
1996). The Sârdloq Shear Zone, which hosts a syn-kinematic aplite
dated at ca. 1816 Ma and is crosscut by ca. 1800 Ma intrusions is one ex-
ample (Garde et al., 2002b).
Sub-horizontal sills of quartz monzonite, granodiorite and
monzogranite (previously referred to as the Rapakivi granites) have
been dated between ca. 1755 and 1723 Ma in the South and Central do-
mains (Chadwick and Garde, 1996; Garde et al., 2002a, 2002b).
Steenfelt et al. (2016) include these rocks in the Ilua Plutonic Suite.
The Southern Domain includes metamorphosed sedimentary and
volcanic units which, along the east coast of Greenland, show high-
grade metamorphism that progress from ~3 kbar and 580 °C in the
Danell Fjord area to 5 kbar and 800 °C further south (Fig. 2; Chadwick
and Garde, 1996; Garde et al., 1998). The rocks are paragneiss, granulite
and migmatite. Zircons from the paragneiss and migmatite yield ages of
ca. 1794–1762 Ma, with Garde et al. (2002a, 2002b) interpreting these
dates as representing the ages of detrital zircons, and hence the maxi-
mum depositional ages of the precursor sedimentary rocks. This inter-
pretation, however, is questioned by new geochronological data on
hydrothermal alteration and metamorphism that overlap the zircon
age range, and indicate that those ages date metamorphic growth, and
therefore represent a minimum age for the sedimentary precursors to
the paragneiss (Bell et al., 2017).
A widespread unit of metamorphosed volcanoclastic feldspathic
sandstone, with lesser volumes of meta-conglomerate has been
mapped close to the contact with the JIC (Garde et al., 2002b). The max-
imum deposition age of the unit is interpreted to be ca. 1815 Ma based
on the age of a granite pebble in a conglomerate, providing a minimum
age for the uplift and exposure of the igneous complex (Garde et al.,
2002b). Geochronological data on zircons dated from different samples
in the area reported by Garde et al. (2002b) cluster at ca. 1800 Ma
(Baden et al., 2019), which approximates the age of peak metamor-
phism. The rocks are interpreted as migmatites derived from
orthogneiss based on their uniform zircon population, fine metamor-
phic banding, monzogranitic composition, and their regionally high
metamorphic grades.
Meta-volcanic units are exposed in the Southern Domain in the
Kutseq Fjord on the east coast and Nanortalik areas on the west coast
(Fig. 2). The Nalunaq gold deposit is located 30 km north of Nanortalik
in amphibolite within the Southern Domain (Figs. 1 and 2; Bell et al.,
2017). A ca. 1808 Ma low-metamorphic grade metasedimentary and
meta-volcanic succession occurs close to the contact with the JIC in
the east (Mueller et al., 2002). The contact with the underlying gneisses
and rocks of the JIC are either interpreted as unconformable or struc-
tural (Mueller et al., 2002; McCaffrey et al., 2004).
2.3. Deformation
Five deformation stages are recognised at the contact between the
Southern and Central domains by Chadwick and Garde (1996), Garde
et al. (2002a, 2002b) and McCaffrey et al. (2004). The earliest stage pro-
duced a NE-trending S1 foliation, and upright, tight- to- isoclinal (F1)
folds. The F1 folds plunge gently to the NE with an axial planar S1 folia-
tion and local NE-directed transport associated with D1.
During D2, both minor F2 folds coaxial to the D1 fabrics and a new
axial planar S2 foliation developed (Garde et al., 2002a; McCaffrey
et al., 2004). The intensity of the NE-trending S2 foliation in the domain
increases both eastward and southward, together with the metamor-
phic grade, with D1 fabrics completely transposed into the S2 foliation
in these regions, and leucosomes parallel to D2 fabrics are indicative of
deformation during peak metamorphism (Garde et al., 2002a, 2002b).
The near-vertical fabrics close to the contact with the Central Domain
become flat-lying in the south and east. The D2 deformation in the
east is NE-vergent (Garde et al., 2002a, 2002b; McCaffrey et al., 2004),
whereas D2 thrusting in the south and southwest is NW-vergent (Bell
et al., 2017). Garde et al. (2002a, 2002b) document a thermal ionisation
mass spectrometer- (TIMS) U\\Pb zircon age of 1792 ± 1 Ma for a felsic
dyke with a foliation (S2) that is folded in F3. The date potentially yields
the age of the D2 stage and maximum age for the D3 stage, but the date is
based on the age of a single zircon and is thus only tentative. The D2
stage at Nalunaq is estimated to be ca. 1783–1762 Ma, based on laser ab-
lation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)
titanite U\\Pb data from hydrothermal alteration zones, indicating a
possible younger age of deformation in the area (Bell et al., 2017).
The D3 stage is characterised by close to tight, recumbent to inclined
(F3) folds verging NW, with a NE-trending axial planar crenulation foli-
ation (S3; Chadwick and Garde, 1996; McCaffrey et al., 2004). Granitic
sheets that were emplaced parallel to S3 yield Sensitive High-
Resolution Ion-microprobe (SHRIMP) U\\Pb zircon ages between ca.
1786 and 1778 Ma, which Garde et al. (2002a) interpret as the mini-
mum age for the D3 event in the east. This event is contemporaneous
with the NW-vergent D2 deformation in the southwest (Bell et al.,
2017).
Kilometre-scale open to tight, upright F4 folds trend NE- and E. An
intermediate hornblende-bearing (appinite) dyke intruding a F4 axial
plane has a SHRIMP U\\Pb age of 1736 ± 2 Ma, which is thought to
 Letter
be the minimum age for D4 (Garde et al., 2002b). Open folds and large-
scale warps with variable trends characterise the youngest recognised
deformation in the area (D5; Garde et al., 2002a; McCaffrey et al., 2004).
The Ketilidian Orogen is interpreted to be the result of obliquely ori-
entated northward-subduction of an oceanic plate (Chadwick and
Garde, 1996). The Central Domain is thought to be the root of a large
volcanic-arc system and the Southern Domain as the fore-arc (Garde
et al., 2002b; Mueller et al., 2002).
3. Geology of the Ikermit and Otte Rud islands
The margin of the Thrym Complex extends south and eastward from
Ikermit Island along the southeast Greenland coast (Fig. 2b). The Ar-
chaean rocks in the area consist of leucocratic, fine- to medium-
grained, foliated, granodioritic to monzogranitic orthogneiss with
lenses and rafts of mafic granulite, amphibolite, and ultramafic rocks
(Garde et al., 1999; Figs. 2 and 3a). Granulite facies mineral assemblages
are only preserved in some of the large-scale lenses and bands of mafic
rocks (Kolb et al., 2013). This is typical for NAC and Archaean granulite-
gneiss terranes elsewhere (e.g. see McGregor and Friend, 1997 and
Dziggel et al., 2014 for discussion). The felsic orthogneiss is more easily
retrogressed than the mafic rocks and, therefore, does not preserve
granulite-facies peak assemblages (c.f. Schorn and Diener, 2019), and
the chemistry of granitic rocks do not necessarily allow the formation
of recognisable high-temperature metamorphic minerals. This making
accurate P-T conditions difficult to determine (c.f. Vezinet et al., 2018).
The interpretation is that Archaean granulite-facies peak metamor-
phic conditions were followed by Archaean retrogression in the am-
phibolite facies (Kolb et al., 2013). Secondary biotite, muscovite,
chlorite and actinolite indicate retrogression in the greenschist facies,
which likely took place during a Palaeoproterozoic overprint.
Rare Archaean metasedimentary rocks are restricted to rocks con-
taining a sillimanite-cordierite-garnet assemblage (Andrews et al.,
1971; Escher and Nielsen, 1983). The units are in mafic-dominated
bands with their proposed sedimentary protoliths based on their min-
eral assemblage (Escher and Nielsen, 1983). Detailed petrological de-
scriptions of the Archaean rocks in the area are given by Kolb et al.
(2013), and are presented in the geochemistry and geochronology sec-
tions below where relevant.
3.1. Archaean mafic granulite and ultramafic rocks
Sheets of Palaeoproterozoic granites intrude the mafic granulite,
both parallel to and crosscutting the foliation (Figs. 2 and 3a, b), and
mafic granulites in the study area are foliated, and commonly contain
leucosomes orientated parallel to the foliation (Fig. 3b, c). In addition,
mafic granulite bands are commonly located in strongly sheared zones
of the orthogneiss, and ultramafic rocks form discrete lenses or boudins
with sharp contacts within the mafic granulite and orthogneiss.
3.2. Archaean paragneiss
High-grade paragneiss forms bands of commonly discontinuous
lenses that are normally b100-m thick within the mafic granulite. The
paragneiss commonly has a red to brown colour, varies in grain size, lo-
cally has a rusty appearance due to the weathering of sulfides, and con-
tains garnet, biotite, sillimanite, quartz, and plagioclase (see fig. 2f in
Kolb et al., 2013). The garnet is up to 20 mm across and commonly
has a ‘snowball’ texture indicative of growth during shearing.
3.3. Migmatite and orthogneiss
Migmatite is strongly banded and generally has a light grey to brown
colour with strongly banded melano-, meso- and leucosomes (Fig. 3c,
d). The composition is quartz, plagioclase, hornblende, biotite and, lo-
cally, magnetite, orthopyroxene, and ternary feldspar (comprising
5
albite–orthoclase–anorthite), consistent with upper amphibolite to
granulite facies metamorphism.
Orthogneiss near the southern margin of the Thrym Complex, meta-
morphosed at the upper amphibolite to granulite facies, is strongly foli-
ated, and contains quartz ribbons recrystallised by sub-grain rotation
and bulging, saussuritised feldspars, and hornblende retrogressed by ac-
tinolite and epidote. The bulging recrystallisation is characterised by
bulges and small recrystallised grains along grain boundaries. The alter-
ation minerals are indicative of a greenschist facies retrogression. The
orthogneiss has elongate and deformed inclusions of the mafic granu-
lite, indicating that its protolith intruded that of the granulite (Fig. 3b).
3.4. Palaeoproterozoic meta-sedimentary rocks
Several occurrences of Palaeoproterozoic meta-sedimentary
rocks have been recorded on Ikermit and on Nunataks (glacial
islands) to the west and north of Otte Rud Øer (Garde et al., 1999).
On the Nunataks, mainly gentle NW-dipping, cross-bedded, sand-
stones and graded conglomerate is present and has tectonic contact
with Archaean gneiss (Garde et al., 1999; Nielsen et al., 1993). Dio-
rite sheets interpreted as Palaeoproterozoic cross cut the conglom-
erate (Garde et al., 1999). We provide the first detailed petrography
and geochemistry for these rocks.
A coarse-grained conglomerate, interbedded with poorly sorted
sandstone and shale, is exposed on a Nunatak on the mainland further
to the west (Figs. 2a and 3e; Nielsen et al., 1993). The occurrences are
in areas of very difficult access and no detailed investigations have
been conducted. The polymictic conglomerate at the Nunatak contains
angular to rounded clasts of predominantly sedimentary and
volcanoclastic rocks, with lesser fragments of plutonic rocks.
On Ikermit Island, a greenschist facies, upward-graded, coarse- to
fine-grained, poorly sorted sandstone (metagreywacke), containing
centimetre-scale green fragments, has a folded sharp unconformable
contact with orthogneiss (Fig. 3f). The metagreywacke consists of
quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase, green biotite, hornblende, and accessory
zircon, titanite, xenotime, ilmenite, epidote, and magnetite. Green frag-
ments consist of quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar, and hornblende re-
placed by actinolite and biotite. Plagioclase is saussuritised and K-
feldspar is partly altered to sericite. Quartz has undulose extinction,
subgrain recrystallisation, and a possibly weak subgrain-rotation
recrystallisation.
3.5. Palaeoproterozoic intrusive rocks
Palaeoproterozoic granite intrusions in the study area metamor-
phosed at greenschist facies, commonly form sheets and sill-like bodies,
and less commonly up to ~50 m wide plugs cross-cutting the mafic
granulite, migmatite and orthogneiss (Figs. 2 and 3). These intrusions
are leucocratic, fine- to medium-grained monzogranite and granodio-
rite, gabbro, porphyritic aplite, coarse-grained pegmatite, and small
rounded diorite plugs.
The monzogranite and granodiorite consist of strongly zoned plagio-
clase, quartz, hornblende, and biotite rims on clinopyroxene, minor K-
feldspar, ilmenite, pyrite, and rare cordierite. Similar cordierite-
bearing granites are recognised in the Southern Domain in southwest
Greenland.
Gabbro is medium-grained, poikilitic, and consists of plagioclase
laths, clinopyroxene with hornblende rims, minor quartz and K-
feldspar and accessory apatite, epidote, titanite and calcite. The
clinopyroxene-hornblende aggregates are replaced by green biotite
along their rims. Similar rocks of more dioritic composition contain
more quartz and are finer-grained.
Porphyritic aplite contains coarse-grained plagioclase, biotite, mus-
covite, K-feldspar, titanite and locally fragments of plagioclase-biotite
aggregates in a fine-grained matrix of the same minerals and opaque
phases. The coarse-grained feldspar grains are zoned and locally
6 Letter

Fig. 3. Photographs of outcrops in southeastern Greenland: (a) leucocratic, fine- to medium-grained, foliated, granodioritic to monzogranitic orthogneiss with lenses of and rafts of mafic
granulite, amphibolite and ultramafic rocks from northern Ikermit Island; (b) overturned, coarse- to fine-grained metamorphosed, poorly sorted greywacke unconformably overlain by
foliated orthogneiss from northern Ikermit Island; (c) folded banded mafic granulite containing leucosomes cross-cut by leucocratic monzogranite that follows the foliation in places,
from northern Ikermit Island; (d) interbedded conglomerate (at base), sandstone, and shale at the Nunatak, southern Greenland; (e) leucocratic fine- to medium-grained
Palaeoproterozoic monzogranite intruding Neoarchaean migmatitic mafic granulite and orthogneiss from northern Ikermit Island; and (e) example of strongly foliated orthogneiss
with deformed mafic granulite intruded by leucogranite dykes; and (e) example of strongly foliated orthogneiss containing elongated mafic granulite xenoliths.

saussuritised, fractured, and resorbed at their rims. The coarse-grained
rocks consist of K-feldspar, quartz, biotite, titanite, ilmenite, magnetite
and minor hornblende and apatite. K-feldspar and quartz form
myrmekite along joint grain boundaries.
The diorite consists of plagioclase (b50 vol%) with albite rims, brown
hornblende (b45 vol%), and lesser amounts of clinopyroxene (~5 vol%),
quartz (~5 vol%), biotite, magnetite, titanite, ilmenite, sulfides (pyrite
and pyrrhotite), and zircon. Hornblende and clinopyroxene are replaced
by actinolite and plagioclase by sericite.
Fine- to medium-grained grey-green dolerite and diorite dykes con-
sist of equigranular plagioclase, brown hornblende, minor
clinopyroxene, quartz, biotite, and accessory amounts of titanite, pyrite,
 Letter
chalcopyrite, and ilmenite with hematite lamellae. Plagioclase has albite
rims and is saussuritised in the centre.
4. Methods
Details of the methods used during this study are presented in Sup-
plementary Data 1, and include: (1) mapping; (2) whole-rock geo-
chemistry; and (3) geochronology. For whole rock geochemistry, only
homogeneous, representative orthogneiss samples were considered.
The migmatite sample was separated into leucosome and mesosome.
Supplementary Data 2 includes the geochemical and geochronological
data.
5. Results
An important assumption, verified by other similar studies, is that
the Palaeoproterozoic magmatic rocks have maintained their geochem-
ical integrity, given that they have not experienced high-grade meta-
morphism and are completely fresh due to Greenland's climatic
conditions (Bagas et al., 2013; Kolb et al., 2012a).
5.1. Geochemistry
The Archaean orthogneiss and Palaeoproterozoic granite suites in
the study area have very similar geochemistry, despite the ca. 900-
million-year difference in their emplacement ages (Supplementary
Data 2). Both suites plot in the weakly peraluminous to metaluminous
fields (Fig. 4a), predominantly in the monzogranite to granodiorite
fields (Fig. 4b), and within the calc-alkaline suite (Fig. 4c). Intermediate
to ultramafic samples from throughout the Thrym Complex are transi-
tional to calc-alkaline and tholeiitic compositions, and plot in the inter-
mediate to ultramafic fields (Fig. 4c, d; data from Bagas et al., 2013 and
Kolb et al., 2013). It must be noted that discriminant diagrams are for
melt compositions, which in many rocks will be different from the
bulk rock composition due to factors such as the presence of pheno-
crysts, including plagioclase that is commonly not in equilibrium with
its host melt and is associated with Eu depletion (discussed below; c.f.
Clemens and Stevens, 2012).
The orthogneiss and Palaeoproterozoic igneous units in the
Ketilidian Orogen along the east coast of Greenland, including the
Kangerluluk area located around 100 km to the south of the study
area (Fig. 2a), also have comparable REE and trace element patterns
(Fig. 5; c.f. Mueller et al., 2002). All samples have similar normalised P,
V, Al, Sc and Ti depletion and elevated Ba, U, La, Ce, Pr, Sr and Nd
(Fig. 5). The elements have relatively flat heavy REE (HREE) patterns
with similar Eu* values (Taylor and McLennan, 1988) of 0.38–1.71 for
the orthogneiss, 0.97–1.24 for the granites, 0.5–1.96 for the mafic gran-
ulite, and 0.9–1.22 for the MIDs that also have (Dy/Yb)N values between
1 and 2 (Figs. 5 and 6a–c; Supplementary Data 2). Plagioclase may not
have been a significant residual mineral in the magma source,
explaining the lack of significant negative Eu anomalies for both the Ar-
chaean orthogneiss and Palaeoproterozoic granitic rocks (Figs. 5 and 6).
This shows that plagioclase was not a major residual mineral in the
source region for the Palaeoproterozoic granitic magmas in the south-
eastern part of the Thrym Complex and northern part of the Ketilidian
Orogen. Other possible causes for negative Eu anomalies include gran-
ites derived from metasedimentary rocks by anatexis, the presence of
an open system allowing external water to change the REEs pattern in
a magma, magma heterogeneities, magma mixing, or disequilibrium
melting of a magma's source (Clemens, 2003; Fowler and Doig, 1983).
Furthermore, any variation seen in the geochemistry of the granites
would be due to processes within the magma, such as disequilibrium,
phase entrainment and an open system. However, none of these pro-
cesses are here considered very important if the Palaeoproterozoic
granites in the study area are sourced from the proximal orthogneiss
with similar geochemical characteristics.
7
The Palaeoproterozoic MIDs in the study area have variable SiO2
(44.8–61.3 wt%), Al2O3 (12.2–17.6 wt%), Fe2O3T (8.6–13 wt%), MgO
(3.9–13 wt%) and TiO2 (0.7–1.8 wt%) (Supplementary Data 2). The scat-
ter in the major element data and the resulting compositional signature
is thought to be largely due to variable modal mineral abundances.
The trace element geochemistry of the Archaean orthogneiss and
Palaeoproterozoic MIDs displays a distinctly fractionated chondrite-
normalised HREE signature with (Sm/Lu)N values between 1.26 and
9.69, and a highly variable, but commonly fractionated and enriched
light rare earth element (LREE) signature (Fig. 5). This is accompanied
by the presence of a weak depletion or slight enrichment in Eu, and rel-
ative enrichment in the large–ion lithophile element (LILE) Ba, accom-
panied by negative anomalies of the high field strength elements
(HFSE) Ta and Nb. These trace–element patterns are indicative of
rocks associated with a modern magmatic–arc (Hildreth and
Moorbath, 1988; Pearce, 2008). Furthermore, the Nb/Y ratios between
0.09 and 0.44 (i.e. b1) are indicative of a sub-alkaline nature typical of
relatively enriched P-MORB (Pearce, 2008), Ba and Sr abundances of
most samples are indicative crystallisation from evolved melts
(Bucholz et al., 2014), and the distribution of Ba is commonly controlled
by its enrichment in K-bearing minerals, as biotite is rare and K-feldspar
is the only significant Ba-bearing mineral.
The overall decrease in CaO/Al2O3 with increasing SiO2 indicates that
the Palaeoproterozoic MIDs have a similar source region with the Ar-
chaean orthogneiss samples overlapping the Palaeoproterozoic granite
samples (Fig. 6d). The Sr versus SiO2 plot is non-definitive, although
there is a shallow negative gradient to the right for the overlapping
granite and orthogneiss samples (Fig. 6e), which is typical of medium-
to high-K calc-alkaline lines of liquid descent (e.g. Gill, 1981): the
slightly decreasing Sr content with increasing silica probably indicates
plagioclase fractionation in the melts or mushes from which the MIDs
crystallised (e.g. Kolb et al., 2012b). The negative correlation between
K/Rb ratios and Rb for the granites is consistent with this interpretation
(Fig. 6f).
5.2. Geochronology
The location of the samples collected for geochronology from both, Ar-
chaean and Palaeoproterozoic rocks in the southeastern part of the Thrym
Complex is shown in Fig. 2b. Their isotopic ages are summarised in Figs. 7
and 8, which include only 95–105% discordant data with Th/U values be-
tween 0.1 and 1.0. The geochronological data are included in Supplemen-
tary Data 2 and the cathodoluminescence (CL) and backscatter electron
(BSE) images of zircons are included in Supplementary Data 3.
5.2.1. Sensitive High-Resolution Ion-microprobe (SHRIMP) U\\Pb ages
Monzogranitic to granodioritic orthogneiss (Sample 529329) is
leucocratic and contains mafic granulite xenoliths. The orthogneiss is
fine- to medium-grained, contains K-feldspar, saussuritised plagioclase,
quartz ribbons with undulose extinction, muscovite, and minor
amounts of hornblende and biotite partly retrogressed to chlorite, and
accessory zircons. The zircons are light brown, subhedral, short and
stubby to elongate, between 50 and 200 μm long, commonly contain
cracks, and have indistinct zoning patterns interpreted as metamorphic
textures. Twelve SHRIMP U\\Pb zircon analyses define a discordant line
starting at the imprecise date of 2830 ± 37 Ma and trending towards
1883 ± 58 Ma (MSWD = 0.66; Fig. 7a). The 2830 ± 37 Ma date is
interpreted as the age of the protolith to the orthogneiss.
The medium-grained, equigranular monzogranitic orthogneiss
(Sample 529324) consists of K-feldspar, plagioclase, foliation-parallel
quartz rods, biotite, epidote after plagioclase, and hornblende partly re-
placed by green biotite. The presence of zoned zircon cores and rims in-
dicates the presence of at least two zircon populations. The oldest
population corresponding to the cores intersects the concordia curve
at ca. 2814 Ma with discordant zircon rims plotting close to or along
the concordia curve towards 2737 ± 20 Ma (Fig. 7b).
8 Letter

Fig. 4. Discrimination diagrams for orthogneiss in the Archaean Thrym Complex and Palaeoproterozoic granite of the Ketilidian Orogen: (a) Shand's index plot showing that both suites are
weakly peraluminous to metaluminous; (b) plutonic QAP plot (after Streckeisen, 1976) showing both suites are predominantly granodioritic to monzogranitic in comparison with similar
spreads; (c) alkali‑iron‑magnesium (AFM) ternary plot showing that the samples of the study area are sourced from calc-alkaline magmas with similar trends (after Irvine and Baragar,
1971); and (d) AF(+Ti)M diagram showing that the intermediate to ultramafic intrusive rocks form a trend from andesitic to komatiitic basalt in the study area.

Medium- to coarse-grained, weakly foliated monzogranite (Sample
529339), from the southeastern part of Ikermit Island, is inequigranular
and consists of K-feldspar (~35 vol%), partly sericitised plagioclase
(~30 vol%), quartz (~20 vol%), biotite (10 vol%), and accessory titanite,
zircon and apatite. Plagioclase, quartz, and microcline are finer-
grained anhedral intergranular phases, and quartz commonly has
well-developed undulose extinction. The sample contains euhedral,
clear, concentrically zoned, magmatic zircons with a common length
to width ratio of 1:3 and a length of up to ~200 μm. The spot analyses
plot along a discordia with an upper intercept of 1817 ± 7 Ma and an
imprecise lower intercept ca. 102 ± 270 Ma (MSWA = 1.07; Fig. 7c).
The 1817 ± 7 Ma date is interpreted as the crystallisation age of the
monzogranite.
Sample 529325 is a porphyritic aplite dyke, which intrudes Archaean
orthogneiss on Ikermit Island (Fig. 7d). The dyke contains coarse-
grained K-feldspar, plagioclase, biotite, muscovite and titanite in a
fine-grained matrix of K-feldspar, plagioclase, quartz with undulose ex-
tinction and local resorption at its rims, biotite, muscovite, and opaque
minerals. Twelve translucent euhedral zircons extracted from the dyke
yield a SHRIMP U\\Pb zircon date of 1806 ± 7 Ma (MSWD = 0.41),
which is interpreted as the age of the dyke.
Medium-grained granodiorite Sample 529331 from Otte Rud Islands
is coarse-grained and consists of plagioclase (~35 vol%), K-feldspar
(~25 vol%), quartz with well-developed undulose extinction (~25 vol
%), biotite, and minor titanite, ilmenite, magnetite, hornblende, zircon,
and apatite. The sample dated using SHRIMP yields an upper concordia
intercept of 1799 ± 5 Ma (MSWA = 1.7; Fig. 7e), which is interpreted as
the age of the igneous protolith.
The metagreywacke (Sample 529322) is a grey, granular, upward-
graded rock with a basal unit containing a variety of rounded clasts
N5 mm in diameter that are matrix-supported. These up to 5 mm
thick clasts include K-feldspar, plagioclase that is partly retrogressed
to sericite, quartz, and hornblende retrogressed to actinolite and biotite.
The matrix consists of quartz, K-feldspar, saussuritised plagioclase,
green biotite, hornblende, and accessory amounts of zircon, titanite,
xenotime, ilmenite, and magnetite. Zircons from the sample yield
Letter 9
10
SHRIMP U\\Pb populations of ca. 2797, 2766, 2730, 2703, 2681, and
2587 Ma defining peaks in the relative probability plot in Fig. 7f gener-
ated using ISOPLOT 3.00 of Ludwig (2003). This indicates that the
metagreywacke has a maximum depositional age of 2587 Ma and its
provenance does not contain younger rocks, such as the gneisses in
the Thrym Complex.
5.2.2. Laser Ablation–ICP–MS U\\Pb dates
Sample 446970 is from the coarse-grained conglomerate at the Nun-
atak on the mainland as described above. Detrital zircons extracted from
the sample are typically rounded with a length to width ratio of around
1:0.3 and a length of up to 200 μm. The zircons yield a maximum depo-
sitional age of 1972 ± 30 Ma, being the youngest peak shown on the rel-
ative probability plot, with peaks spreading to a date of 3094 ± 34 Ma in
Fig. 8a.
Sample 446968 (L and M) is a migmatitic orthogneiss with
leucosomes (L) composed of quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar and biotite,
and mesosomes (M) with dominant biotite. Minor constituents are
titanite and zircon. The zircons are euhedral to subrounded, commonly
fragmented, range from irregular to elongate in shape, and are homoge-
neous or have a weak internal zonation.
Sample 446,968 L represents the leucosome from Sample 446968,
and contains elongate, subrounded zircons with length to width ratios
of approximately 1:0.25 that are up to 250 μm long. Some contain
dark cores on the back-scatter electron images, due to radiation dam-
age, which have Th/U ratios of about 27 and are surrounded by clear
rims. The dark cores have not been dated or their analyses were not in-
cluded in the age determinations, and the clear rims are interpreted as
being metamorphic overgrowths. The zircons define a discordant
spread highlighted on concordia plots, which is why the TuffZirc algo-
rithm of Ludwig and Mundil (2002) was used to give a date of
2712 + 8/−12 Ma, interpreted as the age of the orthogneiss precursor,
and an unmixed (Ludwig, 2003) age of 2548 ± 8 Ma interpreted as a
metamorphic age (Fig. 8c, d). The TuffZirc algorithm is used because it
is largely insensitive to both Pb loss and inheritance, without entirely ig-
noring analytical errors, and overcomes biased age determinations
resulting from strong trimming of data sets to obtain clusters with
MSWD values close to 1 (Ludwig, 2003).
Sample 446968M is the mesosome with zircons similar in shape and
size to those from Sample 446968L. Sample 446968M has a major pop-
ulation dated at 2721 ± 15 Ma (MSWD = 6) and a minor population at
ca. 2540 Ma, which are the same ages, within error, as those of Sample
446968L (Fig. 8e, f).
Samples 446965 and 446966 are fine-grained diorite consisting of
clinopyroxene, plagioclase laths, quartz, K-feldspar, and minor apatite,
epidote, titanite and calcite. The clinopyroxene and hornblende and
both show a greenschist facies overprint of biotite. The zircons in both
samples are dark and rounded with a length to width ratio of around
1:1, and lengths of b250 μm. The LA-ICP–MS U\\Pb dated zircons from
Sample 446966 form a cluster on a Tera-Wasserburg plot around
1789 ± 12 (MSWD = 2.8) and have a weighted mean age of 1784 ±
5 Ma (Fig. 8g, h). Sample 446965 has a weighted mean age of 1796 ±
6 Ma (MSWD = 4.4), and a TuffZirc age of 1797 + 7 / -3 Ma (Fig. 8i,
j). The combined dates for the two samples give a mean age of
1792 ± 7 Ma, which is interpreted as the approximate age of
crystallisation for both samples.
Sample 446964 is a metamorphosed monzogranite, consisting of
quartz with undulose extinction, saussuritised plagioclase, biotite, K-
feldspar partly retrogressed to sericite with accessory amounts of epi-
dote. Zircons isolated from the sample are colourless to pale pinkish
Fig. 5. Comparison of chondrite-normalised plots for: (a) and (b) Archaean orthogneiss from the central and northern parts of the Thrym Complex (data from Bagas et al., 2013 and Kolb
et al., 2013); (c) and (d) Archaean orthogneiss (red line) and Palaeoproterozoic granite (black line) from the southern part of the Thrym Complex and NE Ketilidian Orogen; (e) and
(f) mafic granulite and amphibolite (dark green line) from the central and northern parts of the Thrym Complex (data from Bagas et al., 2013 and Kolb et al., 2013); (g) and
(h) Palaeoproterozoic mafic intrusive rocks (light green line) in NE Ketilidian Orogen; (i) and (j) chondrite-normalised plots for samples collected by Mueller et al. (2002) from the
Kangerluluk area are included here for comparison.
Letter
brown, and generally between 40 × 100 and 150 × 300 μm in length.
The weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb LA-ICP-MS U\\Pb zircon age for the
sample is 1798 ± 4 Ma (MSWD = 2.1), and its TuffZirc age is 1800 ±
5 Ma. The date of 1798 ± 4 Ma is interpreted as the crystallisation age
of the monzogranite (Fig. 8k, l).
Sample 446962 is a medium-grained gabbro with 60–70 vol% mafic
minerals. It is similar in composition and fabrics to samples 446965 and
446966, which have slightly more felsic minerals. Zircons are rare with
grains b200 μm long, have a stubby shape and include angular translu-
cent crystals to irregular pale brown grains. The zircons plot as a cluster
within error of concordia at 1811 ± 7 Ma (MSWD = 4.4) and have a
weighted mean LA-ICP-MS 207Pb/206Pb age of 1804 ± 7 Ma (MSWD =
5.6), interpreted as the crystallisation age of the gabbro (Fig. 8m, n).
Sample 446961 is a coarse-grained monzogranite, retrogressed dur-
ing greenschist facies metamorphism, consisting of K-feldspar partly al-
tered to sericite, saussuritised plagioclase, quartz with undulose
extinction, biotite, and epidote. Zircons from the sample plot on a
U\\Pb concordia plot at ca. 1856 ± 22 Ma (MSWD = 3.1) and have a
more precise TuffZirc age of 1843 + 7/−15 Ma, which is taken as the
crystallisation age of the monzogranite (Fig. 8o, p).
6. Discussion
The timeline of tectonic stages in the Thrym Complex is presented in
figure 7 of Kolb et al. (2013), which serves as a summary of the deforma-
tion in the region.
6.1. Archaean Thrym Complex and Palaeoproterozoic Ketilidian Complex
The Thrym Complex represents the now-exposed lower crustal sec-
tion that formed at a depth of N25 km at temperatures of at least 800 °C
and pressures of around 0.8 GPa (Bagas et al., 2013; Berger et al., 2014).
The rocks in the southernmost part of the complex include orthogneiss,
migmatitic breccia, and rare bands of lensoidal mafic granulite, amphib-
olite, and ultramafic rock (Kolb et al., 2013).
At least two mafic suites are recognised in the Archaean Thrym Com-
plex based on their geochemistry. The oldest is a tholeiitic suite of mafic
to ultramafic granulites, which is absent in the southern part of the com-
plex (Bagas et al., 2016). The other is a calc-alkaline suite of orthogneiss
of granodioritic to monzogranitic composition that extends into the
study area. The Proterozoic granites in the study area are also calc-
alkaline with granodioritic to monzogranitic compositions (Fig. 4). His-
torically, the orthogneiss units in the complex have been named TTGs,
although they are maybe better termed adakite-like on geochemical
grounds, or simply “orthogneiss”.
6.1.1. Geochronological implications for the Archaean Thrym Complex
The 2830 ± 37 Ma date of Sample 529329 is slightly younger than
the SHRIMP U\\Pb 2913 ± 6 Ma age of the granodioritic orthogneiss
from Timmiarmiut Island, located about 50 km north of Ikermit Island
(Bagas et al., 2013). The discordia line trending towards ca. 1883 ±
58 Ma is interpreted as the loosely constrained age of superimposed
Palaeoproterozoic metamorphism.
The younger date of 2737 ± 20 Ma for the orthogneiss Sample
529324 is synchronous with monzogranitic orthogneiss with a LA–
ICP–MS zircon U\\Pb age of 2737 ± 6 Ma from west of Timmiarmiut Is-
land, and confirms that the Archaean high-grade metamorphism
forming the monzodioritic orthogneiss in the study area is synchronous
with the ca. 2790–2700 Ma Skjoldungen Orogeny affecting the Thrym
Complex (Kolb et al., 2013).
 Letter
Fig. 6. Plots showing the relationship between orthogneiss in the Archaean Thrym Complex and granite in the Palaeoproterozoic Ketilidian Orogen: (a) SiO2% vs EuN/Eu; (b) CaO + Na2O%
vs Eu anomaly norm; (c) (Dy/Yb)N vs (La/Sm); (d) SiO2% vs CaO/Al2O3; (e) SiO2% vs Sr (ppm); and (f) Rb (ppm) vs K/Rb. The plots show that plagioclase is not a major residual mineral in
the magmatic source, and assimilation and fractionation crystallisation have taken place during the emplacement of the igneous rocks in the study area.
6.1.2. Geochronological implications for the Ketilidian Orogen
The crystallisation age of 1843 + 7/−15 Ma for the coarse-grained
monzogranite Sample 446961 from the Northern Domain of the
Ketilidian Orogen is compatible with the older (Stage 1) suite of the
two main magmatic stages dated at ca. 1854–1836 Ma for Stage 1 and
ca. 1818–1799 Ma for Stage 2, documented for the JIC in the Central Do-
main of the Ketilidian Orogen (Garde et al., 2002a, b; McCaffrey et al.,
2004; Steenfelt et al., 2016). Stage 2 is represented in the Northern Do-
main by the 1817 ± 7 Ma monzogranite (Sample 529339), 1806 ± 7 Ma
porphyritic aplite dyke (Sample 529325), and the 1799 ± 5 Ma grano-
diorite Sample 529331 from the Otte Rud islands. These dates also
show that the two granitic suites are not restricted to the Central Do-
main of the Ketilidian Orogen, but extend to the north into the southern
part of the Archaean Thrym Complex (Fig. 2).
The 1804 ± 7 Ma medium-grained gabbro Sample 446962, and
1792 ± 7 Ma fine-grained diorite Samples 446965 and 446966 have
the same age, within error, as the typical JIC stage-2 age-range of ca.
1818–1799 Ma, and are contemporaneous with peak metamorphism
in the Southern Domain (Bell et al., 2017).
The metagreywacke dates from Sample 529322 coincide with the
ages of orthogneiss in the Thrym Complex to the north (Bagas et al.,
2013; Kolb et al., 2013). This shows that the metagreywacke is sourced
from similar rocks to those in the Thrym Complex, and that the study
area does not represent an allochthonous terrane separated from the
Thrym Complex. This is confirmed from the unconformable contacts re-
corded between the greywacke and orthogneiss on Ikermit Island (Fig. 2).
The spread of the zircon dates determined from the conglomerate
Sample 446970 indicates major clastic sources dated at ca.
2776–2434 Ma and ca. 2200–1972 Ma, with a gap between 2434 and
2200 Ma (Fig. 8a, b). The younger dates are not represented by the ex-
posed rocks in the study area.
6.2. I-type versus S-type granitic rocks
If metamorphism of the Archaean orthogneiss in the study area is
isochemical, the classifications of Chappell and White (1974), Hine
et al. (1978) and Chappell et al. (2012), when applied to both the Ar-
chaean orthogneiss and Palaeoproterozoic granite samples, indicate
11
that they are transitional to S-type granites. However, S-type granites
contain more Al than is required to form feldspar, have higher Na, K
and Ca contents, and are peraluminous (Chappell et al., 2012). The Ar-
chaean orthogneiss and Palaeoproterozoic granites in the study area
are metaluminous to weakly peraluminous (Fig. 4a), which is a charac-
teristic of I-type granites, for example in southeastern Australia, where
this classification was proposed (Chappell et al., 2012). This poses a sig-
nificant problem in classifying the orthogneiss and granitic rocks as ei-
ther I-type or S-type granites, making the classification meaningless in
the study area. Furthermore, this classification does not account for geo-
logical processes that operate in the crust and impact on the magma
that is formed; these processes include fluid flux, melt disequilibrium,
and the introduction of external water (as mentioned above).
6.3. Adakites
Martin (1986, 1988) proposed that modern lavas represent modern
equivalents of Archaean TTG, Drummond and Defant (1990) proposed
that adakites are the result of partial melting of hydrated subducted oce-
anic crust at the amphibolite–eclogite facies transition, and Martin
(1999) reiterated that adakite and TTG represent petrogenetic ana-
logues. These proposals have since become widely accepted.
The term “adakite” is now used to describe many magmatic rocks
with high Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios related to: (1) melting of a high Sr/Y
(and La/Yb) source; (2) deep melting of sources containing abundant
residual garnet; (3) fractional crystallisation or assimilation and frac-
tional crystallisation (AFC); or (4) interactions of felsic melts with the
mantle, causing selective enrichment in LREE and Sr over HREE
(Moyen, 2009).
Modern adakitic magmatism is apparently restricted to where hot
oceanic crust or an active spreading centre is subducted (Hidalgo
et al., 2007). Adakites are commonly present with calc–alkaline suites,
and mixing between these magma suites can result along magma path-
ways or in subcrustal to crustal magma chambers (Hidalgo et al., 2007).
The various geochemical discrimination diagrams in Fig. 9 are com-
monly used to distinguish adakites from other felsic rocks. The plot indi-
cates that most of the Archaean orthogneiss and Palaeoproterozoic
granitic rocks in the study area in SE Greenland are geochemically sim-
ilar to adakites.
12 Letter

Fig. 7. Concordia plots of SHRIMP U\

\Pb analytical results for samples from the Archaean-Proterozoic border area of southeastern Greenland: (a) leucocratic orthogneiss (Sample 529329);
(b) orthogneiss from Ikermit (Sample 529324) showing a complex geological history with Pb loss associated with granulite facies metamorphism at ca. 2740 Ma, and a second event
during the Proterozoic, indicated from the alignment of the discordant values leading towards a Proterozoic intercept on the concordia curve. The interpreted age for the orthogneiss
precursor is ca. 2814 Ma; (c) weakly foliated ca. 1817 Ma monzogranite (Sample 529339) from Ikermit Island; (d) ca. 1807 Ma aplite dyke (Sample 529325) intruding Archaean
orthogneiss on Ikermit Island; (e) medium-grained ca. 1799 Ma granodiorite (Sample 529331) from Otte Rud Øer; and (f) Sample 529322 of metagreywacke from Ikermit Island
containing multiple Archaean zircon populations.

Despite this, Al2O3 contents of N15 wt% are expected at 70 wt%
SiO 2 for slab melts, which is not the case for the samples from
the study area. The K2O contents of 2.75 to 5.59 wt% for the granitic
rocks and 2.27 to 7.04 wt% for the orthogneiss are much higher
than in typical adakites (normally b1.5 wt%). The high K 2 O
contents correspond to low Na2O/K 2O ratios of b2 for both suites,
which also, are not typical of slab melts (Drummond and Defant,
1990). The Archaean orthogneiss and Palaeoproterozoic granitic
rocks are, therefore, neither sourced from slab melts nor adakites
sensu stricto.
6.4. Discrimination study
6.4.1. Archaean orthogneiss and Palaeoproterozoic granitic rocks
The Palaeoproterozoic granites in the northeastern part of the
Ketilidian Orogen may have positive, zero or negative Eu anomalies
 Letter 13

\Pb analytical results for samples from the Archaean-Proterozoic border area of
Fig. 8. Concordia, Tera-Wasserburg, TuffZirc, Weighted Mean, and Unmix plots of LA-ICP-MS U\
southeastern Greenland.
14 Letter

Fig. 8 (continued).
 Letter 15

Fig. 9. Trace element plots (a-d) for Archaean orthogneiss and Palaeoproterozoic granite samples from the northeastern Ketilidian Orogen and southern Thrym Complex (after Richards
and Kerrich, 2007); (e) diagram for Archaean orthogneiss and Palaeoproterozoic granitic rocks in southern Thrym Complex and northeastern Ketilidian Orogen showing the inverse
relationship between K2O and Na2O.
16
(Fig. 5). Granites with positive Eu anomalies are rare except in mod-
ern geodynamic environments (Martin, 1999), with their genesis pos-
sibly related to magma differentiation (Arth et al., 1978; Martin,
1999). Positive Eu anomalies are commonly thought to be due to
high plagioclase contents associated with high concentrations of Sr,
which is isomorphous with Eu (Get'man et al., 2008; Taylor and
McLennan, 1988). It is also recorded that granulite-facies orthogneiss
can have low REE concentrations and positive Eu anomalies, whereas
amphibolite-facies orthogneiss can have higher REE concentrations
and negative Eu anomalies (Arth et al., 1978). The relative enrichment
in Eu in samples from this study is explained by the formation of pla-
gioclase at a depth corresponding to granulite-facies metamorphic
conditions. The negative Eu anomalies in the Palaeoproterozoic gran-
ites can be explained by the crystallisation of minerals concentrating
REE, such as monazite and apatite, and their removal from the
magma (Arth et al., 1978).
6.4.2. Geodynamic setting of Palaeoproterozoic mafic to intermediate intru-
sive rocks
The uncertainty of individual discrimination plots in determining
the tectonic setting for Palaeoproterozoic MIDs in the northeastern
part of the Ketilidian Orogen is illustrated in Fig. 10. However, a combi-
nation of plots indicates that the tectonic setting involved a calc-alkaline
volcanic-arc (Fig. 10a, b, d), with some input from an enriched to normal
Mid-Ocean Ridge-like source (Fig. 10c). Calc-alkaline basalts commonly
form in mature volcanic-arc settings developed over thickened crust
(Dilek and Furnes, 2011). Such a setting allows for the input of crustal
contaminants and some wall-rock assimilation during partial melting
Fig. 10. Ternary discrimination diagrams for intermediate to mafic rocks in the Ketilidian Orogen: (a) LA/10-Nb/8-Y15 diagram (after Cabanis and Lecolle, 1989); (b) Hf/3-Th-Ta diagram
(after Wood, 1980); (c) 2Nb-Y-Zr/4 plot (after Meschede, 1986); and (d) Zr/117-Nb/16-Th plot (after Wood, 1980).
Letter
of a mantle source (DePaolo, 1981; Michelfelder et al., 2013), resulting
in the relative enrichment in Th and LREE, and depletion in Ta, P and
Ti. Such rocks are typically formed by generation of magmas above sub-
duction zones and at an ocean-continent transition (Le Maitre et al.,
2005).
In recent studies, many thousands of normalised Th and Nb assays of
mafic rocks from well-studied tectonic settings throughout the world
form the basis for the definition of various specific compositional fields
(e.g. Pearce, 2008; Saccani, 2015). The Palaeoproterozoic MIDs from the
study area plot in the enriched- and plume related-MORB fields
(Fig. 11a), and an ocean-continental transition zone, which itself may
be plume related (Fig. 11b; Saccani, 2015). The discrimination diagrams
from Pearce (2008), using various trace element ratios, indicate the sim-
ilar petrogenesis, with MORB-like signatures that are likely modified by
crustal contamination for the Palaeoproterozoic rocks of southeastern
Greenland (Fig. 11c).
The MORB–OIB array shown in Fig. 11c includes mafic igneous rocks
formed at intra-plate islands, plume-distal ocean ridges and oceanic pla-
teau, whereas those formed in volcanic-arcs plot above the array. Basal-
tic rocks containing a large recycled crustal component predominantly
plot above the MORB–OIB array, or on a vector at a steep angle to the
array, reflecting selective Th addition (Pearce, 2008). This may be the
case for the Palaeoproterozoic MIDs in the study area (Fig. 11c). The
magmatism was not related to an ocean-island setting associated with
deeper melting due to a thicker lithospheric cap and a hotter mantle
(Pearce, 2008). This is supported in Fig. 11d, where samples from the
study area deviate from the linear trend of the MORB array due to
 Letter 17

Fig. 11. Discrimination diagrams: (a) and (b) ThN vs NbN plots indicating that the Palaeoproterozoic intermediate to mafic igneous rocks of NE Ketilidian Orogen were emplaced from an
enriched Mid-Ocean Ridge (E-MORB) source at a rifted margin, oceanic-continental transition, and in a within-plate setting not related to subduction (after Saccani, 2015); (c) TiO2/Yb vs
Nb/Yb plot (after Pearce, 2008); and (d) Th/Yb vs Nb/Yb plot after Pearce (2008). Plots (c) and (d) indicate that the Palaeoproterozoic intermediate to mafic igneous rocks in NE Ketilidian
Orogen are derived from an E-MORB source with crustal additions. BABB A is a Back–Arc Basin Basalt characterised by the input of subduction or crustal components (e.g. immature intra-
oceanic or ensialic back–arcs), and BABB B is a Back–Arc Basin Basalt that has no input of subduction.

their probable interaction with a mantle plume, but more data are
needed to confirm this hypothesis.
7. Tectonic model
Greenschist-facies metasedimentary successions in the Ketilidian
Orogen within the study area include upward-graded conglomerate in-
terbedded with sandstone and shale in the west, and greywacke on
Ikermit Island in the east (Fig. 2b). The greywacke (Sample 529322),
which unconformably overlies Archaean orthogneiss, contains zircon
populations older than ca. 2587 Ma, and the conglomerate (Sample
446970) contains detrital zircons older than 1972 Ma (discussed further
below). The Archaean zircon populations in these units broadly mirror
the ages of orthogneiss and monzogranite located further north and
west in the NAC. This, and the similarities in geochemistry of
Palaeoproterozoic granites and Archaean orthogneiss show the transi-
tional zone between the Thrym Complex and the Ketilidian Orogen is
autochthonous.
Greenschist-facies conglomerate units are widespread in the North-
ern Domain of western Greenland and further south at the contact be-
tween the Central and Southern domains (Bondesen, 1970; Garde
et al., 2002b; Higgins, 1970). In East Greenland, Mueller et al. (2002)
dated and studied an isolated ca. 1808 Ma succession of conglomerate
containing volcanic and granitic clasts in the Kangerluluk area. The con-
glomerate is interbedded with sandstone and volcanic and
volcanoclastic rocks, and unconformably overlies the JIC (Fig. 2a), but
18
it remains unclear whether they correlate with the conglomerate from
the Northern Domain, given that there is a gap in the detrital zircon
data of around 160 million years between the two conglomerate
sequences.
The detrital zircon ages from conglomerate Sample 446970 define
distinct Archaean age peaks that can be explained by a provenance
from the Thrym Complex to the north. However, the ca. 2200, 2100,
1989, and 1972 Ma detrital zircon peaks represent a Palaeoproterozoic
provenance unknown in Greenland and not recorded in Scotland to
the east (Fig. 8b). Consequently, the provenance for the conglomerate
must lie to the west or be concealed beneath Greenland's inland ice.
Similar detrital zircon age peaks have been recorded by Andersen
(2013) from sandstone of the Mesoproterozoic Eriksfjord Formation in
southern Greenland. Andersen (2013) interprets the zircons to be de-
rived from the “Ketilidian” sedimentary rocks in the Border zone.
The ca. 1800 Ma intrusive rocks in the Northern Domain of the
Ketilidian Orogen have a calc-alkaline affinity (Fig. 4), as well as a
trace-element pattern consistent with MORB affinities. Their gene-
sis involved a combination of a lower degree of crystal fractionation,
lower degrees of partial melting, a more enriched magmatic source
and, following Barth and Gluhak (2009), a higher proportion of
melting in the garnet stability field. The chemical fingerprints
point to settings such as a failed back-arc forming volcanic rifted
margins at an ocean-continent transition, probably initiated by a
plume (Fig. 11).
Dahl-Jensen et al. (1998) present seismic evidence for magmatic un-
derplating beneath the Northern and Central domains. Underplating
during the Palaeoproterozoic at ca. 1800 Ma might explain the E- and
P-MORB affinity of the magmatism related to crustal thinning in the
Northern Domain on the east coast of Greenland. The seismic study
also confirms the presence of Archean rocks beneath the Ketilidian ter-
ranes in the study area.
Mueller et al. (2002) interpret the ca. 1808 Ma Ketilidian
supracrustal succession at Kangerluluk Fjord as being deposited in a
coastal setting with alluvial fans and shallow-marine sediments, and
subaqueous tuff and basaltic flows unconformably overlying the JIC.
Mueller et al. (2002) interpret the source of the volcanic rocks as an
enriched mantle outside the garnet stability field in spinel peridotite,
and the emplacement of mafic melts from partial melting in the mantle
below a magmatic arc due to rollback mechanisms and related arc
rifting.
In general, our additional whole rock geochemistry from the transi-
tional zone between the Archaean Thrym Complex and Ketilidian
Orogen supports the arc-rifting back-arc interpretation of Mueller
et al. (2002). However, these Palaeoproterozoic rocks have similar
chondrite-normalised patterns to those from the transitional zone and
Thrym Complex. Mueller et al. (2002) could not have known of this,
as no data was available at the time they published their findings.
Irrespectively, strong similarities are shown between the chondrite-
normalised compositions of the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic mag-
matic rocks spanning the Northern Domain and the whole of the
Thrym Complex (Fig. 5). It is a likely implication that the
Palaeoproterozoic magmatic rocks represent crustal melts derived by
anataxis of the Thrym Complex.
Palaeoproterozoic felsic to mafic intrusions in the Border zone of
southern Thrym Complex were emplaced at ca. 1800 Ma and subse-
quently metamorphosed up to greenschist facies. The rocks in the
study area are only slightly deformed and metamorphosed, indicating
that they formed late in the tectonic evolution of the region or far
from an orogenic core. Geochronological data reported above show
that significant magmatism began at ca. 1818 Ma and continued until
around ca. 1784 Ma. The ages overlap with the metamorphic ages of
ca. 1790–1735 Ma, recorded south and southwest in the Southern Do-
main. The age distribution signifies continued compression and exhu-
mation of the terrane (Bell et al., 2017). This interpretation is
supported by the deformation of Palaeoproterozoic rocks in the
Letter
southern part of the Thrym Complex, where Neoarchaean orthogneiss
is unconformably overlain by the protoliths of b2587 Ma
metagreywacke and ≤ 1972 Ma conglomerate that were subsequently
deformed and metamorphosed in the greenschist facies. The Ikermit
metagreywacke is here assumed deposited in a continental margin
with Archaean detritus from the Thrym Complex.
The Nunatak metaconglomerate has Palaeoproterozoic zircons,
and the youngest of these have no clear source in NAC (Fig. 8a).
The presence of Palaeoproterozoic detrital zircons is consistent
with the hypothesis that they are detritus formed from a
Palaeoproterozoic arc such as the JIC. Alternatively, the
metaconglomerate could represent a sediment deposited in a pas-
sive margin, where ocean currents brought detritus from a distal
or additional unknown provenance. The general lack of ca.
1850–1835 Ma intrusions into the Thrym Complex Archaean crust
would be expected if the JIC represents an island-arc terrane. If
this was the case, subduction of oceanic crust would have been to
the south beneath the JIC island-arc terrane. However, the single
ca. 1843 Ma monzogranite (Sample 446961) from the study area in-
dicates that the island-arc terrane model is tentative or the date is
inaccurate.
The apparent cessation of igneous activity at ca. 1836 Ma in the JIC
indicates that the Northern Domain and JIC were accreted to NAC
along the North-central Ketilidian Lineament at that time (Fig. 2). The
ca. 1818–1799 Ma granites and MIDs in this study have apparent differ-
ent tectonic settings. The granites share geochemical characteristics
with the Thrym orthogneiss, but the MIDS don't. We argue that the
granites were largely sourced from orthogneiss in the Thrym Complex
and that their geochemical fingerprint does not constrain the tectonic
setting at the time of their formation. This questions the unconstrained
use of discrimination diagrams to determine the tectonic setting of
granites.
The geochemical identification of a tectonic setting of the MIDs are,
however, more reliable. The MIDs are largely sourced from MORB-like
mantle and contaminated by crustal material. These intrusions were
emplaced into continental crust in a divergent setting, as indicated in
Fig. 11b. In southwestern Greenland, emplaced MIDs were subjected
to a second (or third) orogenic stage at ca. 1700 Ma, with the resump-
tion of igneous activity in an active continental-margin setting (Baden
et al., 2019). It is apparent that the Ketilidian Orogen is a complex
orogen characterised by multiple Palaeoproterozoic convergent and di-
vergent tectonic stages in a long-lived active continental margin-setting
along the rim of an Archaean continent (Figs. 10 and 11).
The composition of the Palaeoproterozoic MIDs plot into different
tectonic fields in the older discrimination diagrams, thus highlighting
the difficulties in using single diagrams for identification of tectonic en-
vironments. More diagrams must be consulted. Our study also reveals
an apparent petrogenetic disparity between the coeval felsic and
mafic rocks. When plotted on the more recent tectonic discrimination
diagrams, the compositions of the MIDs are indicative of a petrogenesis
involving E- to P-MORB type magmas with added components due to
crustal contamination. The tectonic setting is most likely a continental
margin interacting with a plume or an oceanic ridge.
The Palaeoproterozoic granites were derived from the Archaean
orthogneiss in the Thrym Complex, and the Archaean orthogneiss
forms part of the basement for the Palaeoproterozoic units in the do-
main. This implies that the Northern Domain of the Ketilidian Orogen
and the southern part of the Thrym Complex are autochthonous and
represent the edge of an Archaean continental plate. If there is a terrane
boundary, it is now masked by the JIC, which extends across the Central
Domain into the Northern Domain to the northeast (Fig. 2a). This means
that the boundary between the Northern and Central domains is largely
one of convenience.
The MIDs show chondrite-normalised patterns similar to those of
rocks from the Thrym Complex as well as evidence for crustal contam-
ination. This places a significant doubt to the validity of the tectonic
 Letter
Fig. 12. Model showing the proposed tectonic setting during ca. 1800 Ma of the Northern Domain between the Archaean Thrym Complex to the north and the Palaeoproterozoic Ketilidian
Orogen to the south.
discrimination diagrams in Fig. 10. The more recently published dis-
crimination diagrams (Fig. 11) offer more clarity in defining the tectonic
setting of the MIDs, as outlined above. This is summarised in the model
illustrated in Fig. 12, which involves magmatism that formed within the
contact zone between the Northern and Central domains of the
Ketilidian Orogen.
The previously proposed ca. 1845–1800 Ma subduction is here con-
sidered too simplistic with the 45-million-year period including multi-
ple deformation and magmatic events punctuated between ca. 1836
and 1818 Ma. This is a gap of around 20 million years between stages
1 and 2 of the evolution of the JIC. Finally, there is now no evidence
for a terrane boundary in the Northern Domain between the Archaean
Thrym Complex and Proterozoic Ketilidian Orogen. If such a border
did exist, it is probably concealed by the granitic intrusions in the JIC.
8. Conclusions
Assuming that the well-accepted geochemical discrimination dia-
grams based on Phanerozoic rocks can be applied to the
Palaeoproterozoic granites in the eastern part of the Northern Domain
of the Ketilidian Orogen, Greenland, we conclude:
Assuming that the well-accepted geochemical discrimination dia-
grams based on Phanerozoic rocks can be applied to the
Palaeoproterozoic granites in the eastern part of the Northern Domain
of the Ketilidian Orogen, Greenland, we conclude: (1) the granites
have chondrite-normalised geochemical patterns very similar to those
of the Archaean orthogneiss in the Thrym Complex; (2) the Archaean
orthogneiss is the likely source of the Palaeoproterozoic granites; and
(3) the granites have calc-alkaline, affinities and were emplaced in con-
tinental crust at a continental margin.
The Paleoproterozoic mafic and lesser intermediate dykes are coeval
and intermingle with the granites in the study area, and their composi-
tion is indicative of a petrogenesis involving E- to P-MORB type magmas
with added components due to crustal contamination. The tectonic set-
ting is most likely a continental margin interacting with a plume.
The Paleoproterozoic granites were derived from the Archaean
orthogneiss in the Thrym Complex, and the orthogneiss forms part of
the basement for the Paleoproterozoic units in the domain. It is impli-
cated that the Northern Domain of the Ketilidian Orogen and the south-
ern part of the Thrym Complex are autochthonous and represent the
edge of an Archean continental plate. If there is a terrane boundary, it
is probably now masked by the JIC, which extends across the Central
Domain into the Northern Domain to the northeast (Fig. 2a).
19
The previously proposed ca. 1845–1800 Ma subduction is here con-
sidered too simplistic and the 45-million-year period includes multiple
deformation and magmatic events punctuated between ca. 1836 and
1818 Ma. This represents a gap of around 20 million years between
JICs stages 1 and 2. Finally, there is no evidence for a terrane boundary
in the Northern Domain between the Archean Thrym Complex and Pro-
terozoic Ketilidian Orogen. If such a border did exist, it is probably
concealed by the granitic intrusions in the JIC (Fig. 12).
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
Acknowledgments
Greenland Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP) and the Geolog-
ical Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) are gratefully acknowl-
edged for financial support of the field and analytical work. Dr. Allen
Nutman, Dr. Gautier Nicoli, Dr. Thomas Ulrich, Dr. Agnete Steenfelt,
and an anonymous reviewer are thanked for their reviews of this man-
uscript. Thomas is also thanked for his participation in fieldwork.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.lithos.2020.105384.
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