Economic Geology

Vol. 91, 1996,pp. 1054-1072

AgeandProvenance
of HostRocksandOresin the Paleoproterozoic
Skellefte District, Northern Sweden
KJELLBILLSTROM
Laboratory
for IsotopeGeology,
Swedish
Museum
of NaturalHistory,Box50 007,S-10405 Stockholm,
Sweden

AND PXR WEIHED

Geological
Surveyof Sweden,
Box•70, S-751•8 Uppsala,
Sweden

Abstract

The Skellefte
districtin northernSweden is a ca.1.9Ga,extensively mineralized, mainlyfelsic,submarine
volcanic
belt.Withinthe district,thevolcanic rocks(SkellefteGroup)areoverlain byturbiditicsedimentary
rocksandcoarser clasticrocks,aswell asyounger, mainlymafic,volcanic rocks(Vargfors Group).To the
north,subaerial
volcanic rocksof the Arvidsjaur Groupareprobably coevalwiththe VargforsGroup.The
sedimentation
in the Bothnian basin,southof the Skelleftedistrict,appears
to havestartedat ca.2.0 Ga and
continueduntilca. 1.86Ga,asindicated by thepresence of granitoids spanning thistimeinterval.The first
mainmagmatic episode in the Skellefte
districtwasa felsicstageat around1.89Ga asconfirmed bytwonew
U-Pbzirconagesfromvolcanic rockssituatedin thecentralandeastern partof thedistrict(Bjurvattnet,
1884
_ 6 Ma; Melestjiirn,
1889_+4 Ma). No basement isknownto the felsicmagmatism, butgranitoids occurring
to the southof the district,which havebeen dated at 2.0 to 1.9 Ga, couldconstituteremnantsof a basement
whichwasdestroyed by 1.89Ga arcvolcanism withinthe Skelleftedistrict.TheVargfors Groupoverlies the
SkellefteGroupwith no majorunconformity, andonenewagefroman ignimbrite in the VargforsGroup
(1875_ 4 Ma) confirms the temporalrelationship with the deposition of subaerial volcanicrocksof the
ArvidsjaurGroup.
An evaluation
of agedatafor the early,synvolcanic(ca.1890Ma) Jfrn-typegranitoids suggeststhatthese
shouldbe furthersubdivided.
Threedifferentgenerations of Jfrn-typegranitoids mayexist.The GI phase
hasan ageof about1.89Ga,the GII andGIII phases withinthe majorJOrnbatholith probably formedat
around1.87Ga,andthe Siktriiskintrusion in the southernpartof the district,hasa crystallization
ageof ca.
1.86 Ga.
A numberofdistinctive
isotopic
characteristics
havebeenobserved, e.g.,significant
datascatter
forSrwhole-
rockdata,reversely
discordant
zircondata,andunusually
younglowerintercept agesforzircondiscordia. These
featuresseemto relatepreferentiallyto volcanic
rocks,andit is suggested that thisbehavior is due to
Phanerozoichydrothermal processesthathavemobilizedelements at differentscales. Upperinterceptsfor
zircondiscordia,
however, arewithoneexception thoughtto representtruecrystallizationages.The 1847_+
3 Ma agefor a massflowat Petiktr•isk,asdefinedby a three-pointdiscordia,is for geologic
reasons too
young,
buta considerably
higher
•2ø7pb/•ø6Pb
ageat 1890Ma foronezirconfraction
ismoreconsistent
with
the fieldrelationships.
Volcanic-hosted massive sulfideoresoccurin the upperpart of the volcanic sequence of the Skellefte
Groupand,in somecases, alsoin the lowerpartof theVargfors Group.A goodapproximation of the ageof
massive ore formation is provided by the ageof the hostrocks.It is suggested thattwo maindepositional
stages of massive ore occurredat ca. 1885to 1880Ma and at ca. 1875Ma. Goldoccursin two principal
settings,asa constituent in thevolcanic-hosted massive sulfideores,andrelatedto quartzveinsfoundboth
in intrusiveandsupracrustal rocks.In the massive ores,goldwasprobably emplaced in connection withthe
hydrothermal processes whichconcentrated thebasemetals. Goldin somemajorintrusive-related Audeposits
(e.g.,Bj6rkdal)islikelyto haveconcentrated at a premetamorphic stage,
tentatively
at 1.87Ga,andstillother
Au ores(e.g.,Boliden)maybe epithermal in originandwerepossibly formedat a relatively
latestageat ca.
1.85Ga.Later,duringpeakmetamorphic conditions, somemesothermal Au-Asveindeposits (e.g.,Grundfors)
formed at ca. 1.84 to 1.82 Ga.

Introduction Mo deposits
hosted
byintrusive
rocks,someminorNi depos-
THE Skellefte district, which is situatedin northern Sweden its,andLi- andCs-richpegmatites
arealsopresent.
(Figs.1 and2), hasbeenextensively exploredformetals.The AllbasemetaldepositsarehostedbyPaleoproterozoic(ca.
discoveryofbasemetaloresin thelate1910sstarteda period 1890Ma), mainlyfelsic,volcanic
rocksor volcaniclastic
sedi-
of miningwhichis stillongoing today.A totalof 160million mentaryrocks(cf.Weihedet al., 1992),andgenerallyoccur
metrictons(Mr) of massive basemetalorehasbeenproven at a highstratigraphic
levelwithinthevolcanicstratigraphy.
(Allenet al.,1996a)andfiveminesarepresently operated
by The goldlodedeposits arequartzveinhostedwitha clearly
BolidenMineralAB.Apartfromprospecting for basemetal epigeneticcharacter,
andoccurbothin intrusive andextrn-
deposits,anextensiveexploration program forAu in thelate siverocks.The aimof thispaperis to constrain
the deposi-
1980sled to the discoveryandexploitation of twogoldlode tionalagesof thehostrocksof bothvolcanic-hosted
massive
deposits withinthe district(Fig. 2). Porphyry-typeAu-Cu- sulfideandAu ores,andto deriveinformationontheprove-

0361-0128/96/1857/1054-1955.00 1054
 OREAGE & PROVENANCE,
SKELLEFTEDISTRICT 1055

28'

36'
20'

12'

•Kn
•R

Bothnian

Bergslagen

58'
• Platformal
cover [• Svecofennian
province
• Caledonidesand Oslo
rift ,":'.•Archaean-Karelian
province
;;• (Grenville)
Sveconorwegian
province• Fault
-• Transscandinavian
granite-porphyry
belt • Thrust
.r•-•Granulite
rocks belt
and Kalevian
• Normal fault

FIG.1. Generalized mapof theBalticShield.Areasdiscussed

in thetextareindicated.J = Jokklnokk,Ki = Kiruna
area,Kn = Knaftenarea,L = Losarea,LJZ = Lule1-Jokklnokkzone,Lu = Lulel, Pi = Pitel, R = Rockliden,
ViPy=
Vihanti-Pyh'aalmi
area.Rectangular
areacorresponds to thelocation
of theSkellefte
district
in Figure2; LJZismarked
in grayshading.

naneeof magmas whichgaveriseto the rockshosting both areaPaleoproterozoic rockswith an age of 1.9 to 1.8 Ga
oretypes.Theapproach hasbeento applyU-Pbzirconage dominate.Duringthe Svecokarelian orogeny,theserocks
datingcombined withradiogenic isotopes (Pb,Sr,andNd) weredeformed andmetamorphosed to a variableextentand
fortracingthemagmasources of relevant rocktypes.In the peakmetamorphic conditions in the Skelleftedistrictoc-
caseofthemassive sulfideores,successful exploration
models curredduringtheintervalca.1.84to 1.82Ga (Weihedet al.,
benefitfroma thorough knowledge of the ageof the host- 1992).However,thelateralvariation oftheuppergreenschist
rocklithologies,especiallyfor volcanic rocksconsidered to to upperamphibolite faciesregional metamorphism ispoorly
begenetically
relatedtotheores.Forgoldlodedeposits, the understood. Withinthe Swedish segment of the Fennoscan-
ageandprovenante of hostrocksandlithologies cuttingthe dianshield,threemainvolcanic provinces of similarageexist:
oresareimportant forindirecttimingof mineralizing events the south-centralBergslagen region,the northernSkellefte
andconsequently fortheidentificationofmineralizingepochsandArvidsjaur districts,
andthe northernmost Kirunaarea
in the Paleoproterozoicof northernSweden. (Fig. 1). Thesevolcanic rocksare all includedin the group
of supracrustal
rocksgenerally referredto asSvecofennian.
RegionalGeology
TheSkellefte district
issomewhat loosely definedasawest-
The northernmost part of the Baltic(Fennoscandian) northwest-trending,approximately 150by50km,ore-bearing
Shield(Fig.1) is dominated byArchcan rocks.Southof this beltwhichisdominated byvolcanic rocksof Paleoproterozoic
1056 BILLSTR•M AND WEIHED

•Adak

ß Mal•

.•-• Post-volcanic
granitoids,c.1.82-1.78Ga --•-•
Basalt-andesite
(Vargfors minor
Groul•), dacite
c.1.88-1.86lavas
Gaand sills Major
VHMS
deposits
•'• Gabbro, diorite,
ultramaficintrusions Mudstone, black
Group,Vargfors shales,
Group, sandstone,
Skellefte turbidites,
Group), (Bothnian
c. >1.95-1.85 Ga Major
gold
deposits
._•'] SynvolcanicgranitoidsofI-type,c.1.89-1.85
Ga -• subaerial toshallow
basalt-andesite watermainly
(Arvidsjaur rhyolite
Group),c. anddacite,
1.88-1.87 Ga minor Major
faults
andshear
zones
• • Conglomerates and sandstones, polymict
and LedfatGroups),c. 1.87-1.85 Ga (Vargfors
• ainly
marine
(Skellefte rhyolite,
Group), dacite,
c. 1.89-1.87andesite,
Ga basalt Age
determination
FIG.2. Geologic mapof the Skelleftedistrict(modified
fromAllenet al., 1996a)withzirconsamplesitesindicated.
TheJ/Srn granitoid
complexis centered
aroundthevillageof J6rn.I = Siktriisk, 2 = Melestjiirn,
3 = Bjurvattnet,
4=
Petiktriisk,
5 = Vargfors.
Othersample sitesdiscussedin thetextbutnotshown in thisfigure:
bh428= schistfromthe
Boliden
area,
Pe55= pillow
lavafromthePetiktr'ask
area,
94002
= tonalite
fromthe•kerberg
area.
TheVitberget
locality
(91019)is located
justoutsideSkellefteS,
some30 kineastof themaparea.Stippledlineindicates
theboundary
between
greenschistandamphibolitefacies.
Coordinates
in thenationalgrid(meters)
aregivenwithintheframe.

age.It is generally
regardedasa volcanicarcwhichformed is lesscleardueto the lackof modemregionalmappingin
betweena sedimentary basinto the south(Bothnianbasin) that area.
and a continentallandmassto the north (volcanicrocks of The synvolcanic
intrusions
aredominatedby tonalires
and
the ArvidsjaurGroup).Modemideasfavorsomekindof de- granodiorites andhavepreviouslybeenconsideredascoeval
structiveplatemargin,eitheran islandarc or a continental andcomagmaticwiththe Svecofennian
volcanicrockswhich
arc (cf. Hietanen, 1975; Claesson,1985; Rickard, 1986; Vi- host the massivesulfideores (cf. Weihed et al., 1992), i.e.,
vallo,1987;Vivalloand Claesson, 1987;BABELWorking theyfall in the agerangeof 1890to 1880Ma. Theserocks
Group,1990;Gaal,1990;Weihedet al.,1992;Ohlander et arepretectonic andpremetamorphic, andaregenerally foli-
al., 1993;Allen et al., 1996a), and invokea subductiontoward atedor gneissic. However,sincestrainwasnothomogeneous,
the north.A regionalgeochronological and stratigraphicalseveralearly-stage
plutons,or partsof plutons,are moreor
background is givenbelowin orderto placethe agedata lessundeformed. Withinthe Skelleftedistrict,severalage
fromthepresentstudyin context. All agesmentionedin the determinations havebeencarriedout on the J6mgranitoid
text are U-Pb determinations on zircons unless otherwise
complex (Fig.2) whichbelongs to thesynvolcanicsuite.Wil-
stated.
sonet al. (1987)datedzirconsfromthreeintrusive phases of
Intrusive rocks
this massifat 1888_+•ma (oldestouter zone, GI), 1874_+•
Ma (GII), and1873i14
sMa (GIII). Withinthiscomplex,
por-
The Paleoproterozoic intrusiverockswithinandadjacent phyry-type Au-Cu-Modeposits are associatedwith quartz-
to the Skellefte
districtbelongto threemainintrusive suites: feldsparporphyriticintrusionsin the oldest(phaseGI;
a synvolcanic
phase comprising granitestogabbros, postvolca-Weihed,1992).Weihedand SchOberg (1991)datedone of
nicS-typegranitoids,andpostvolcanic A- and/orI-typegran- theseporphyries at 1886+•5 Ma. Furthermore, a monzonite
itesto gabbros.
Northof the Skelleftedistrict,thissubdivisionanda gabbroin the Gallejanrintrusion(Fig.2) havebeen
 ORE AGE & PROVENANCE,SKELLEFTEDISTRICT 1057

dated at 1873 _+ 10 Ma (Ski01d,1988) and 1876 _+ 4 Ma intrusiverocks(Fig.2) indicatethattheserocksarecomag-

(Ski01det al., 1993),respectively. maticandgenetically linked(cf. Lundberg,1980;Claesson,
Someagedeterminations fromintrusive rockslocatedrela- 1985;Weihedet al.,1992).Consequently, thepublishedages
tivelycloseto the Skelleftedistrict(Wasstr0m, 1993,1996; of 1873 +_10 and 1876 _+4 Ma for the Gallejaurintrusive
Lundqvist et al.,1996;Geological Survey of Sweden,unpub. rocks(Ski01d,1988;Ski01det al.,1993)havebeeninterpreted
data),which,onthebasisof fieldrelationships, wereplaced asindicatingtheageof theVargfors Group.
in the synvolcanic suite,fall outsidethe rangeassumed to To the north of the Skellefte district, subaerialvolcanic
characterizethe synvolcanic rocks.Thesedata,including for rocksoftheArvidsjaur
Grouphavebeenconsidered tooverlie
example, theKnaftengranitoid datedat 1954+_6 Ma (Wass- the subaqueousvolcanic
rocksin the SkellefteGroup(cf.
trom,1993),suggest thatthe Proterozoic igneoushistoryin Lundberg, 1980;Weihedet al., 1992).TheArvidsjaur volca-
the area near the Skellefte district was initiated at around nicrockshavebeendatedby Ski01d et al. (1993)andagesof
2.0 Ga. 1878 +_ 2 and 1876 + 3 Ma have been obtained. The fact
Postvolcanic S-typegranitoids are commonin northern thatonlytheupperpartoftheVargfors Groupcontains clasts
Sweden.Theyare referredto asthe Skellefte-Harn0-type of rocksof theArvidsjaur Groupindicates thatthesegroups
granitessouthandeastof the Skelleftedistrict,andasthe aremostprobably coeval.
Lina-type granites northoftheSkellefte district.
Thesegran-
itesareminimum meltproducts oftenassociated withpegma- Previous Nd andPb IsotopeWork
titesandaplitesin areasof strongmigmatitization. TheSkel- Published end values for volcanic rocks in the Skellefte
1..efte-Harn0-type hasonlybeendatedin twoplaces: near districtare scarce(cf.Weihed et al., 1992) andthe new results
Ornsk01dsvik (Claesson andLundqvist, 1995)yieldinganage presented in thisstudyarethefirstfromwell-defined samples
of 189.2+_5 Ma (monazite)and at Skellefte•t(P. Weihed and of volcanicrocks.By contrast, considerable datafrom Sm-
P.-O.Persson, pers.commun., 1996)yieldinganageof 1798 Nd investigations on intrusive rocksin the Skelleftedistrict
+_4 Ma (titanitc). andsurrounding areashavebeenpublished duringthe last
Postvolcanic MI-typegranitoids are generally referredto decade. Generally, thesynvolcanic granitoids withintheSkel-
asRevsund-type granites. Thesecoarse, feldspar porphyriticleftedistrict showpositive endValUeS, ca.9,to 3.5(0hlander
intrusiverocksoccupyvastareasin centralSwedenand et al.,1987;Wilsonet al., 1987),indicating primitivesources
aroundthe Skelleftedistrict.Geochemically theydisplaya withonlya minorcontribution ofArchcan matedhal. Similarly,
monzonitic trendwith the majorityof intrusions havinga the subaerial volcanic rocksin the Arvidsjaur district,north
graniticto monzogranitic composition. Subordinate, often oftheSkellefte district,
show slightlypositive end values (0h-
mingledor mixed,moremaficintrusions are alsopresent. landeret al.,1993).Onthebasisof geophysical dataandend
The Revsund granitoids intrudedafterthe mainphases of values of 1.9 to 1.8 Ga intrusive rocks situated north of the
deformation andpostdate theregionalmetamorphism. How- Skelleftedistrict,0hlanderet al. (1993)definedtheArchean-
ever,manyductileshearzones cutthesegranitoids indicating Proterozoic boundary to correspond roughly to a zonefrom
thatgreenschist faciesdeformation occurred at leastlocally Lule•tto Jokkmokk (LJZ),approximately parallelto theSkel-
in theserocks.Several agedeterminations havebeencarried leftedistrict,but occurring ca. 100 to 200 km to the north
outon theserocksyieldingagesfrom1.80to 1.78Ga (Pat- (Fig. 1).
chettet al.,1987;Ski01d, 1988;Claesson andLundqvist, 1995; Thevastareacomprising metagraywackes andpeliticmeta-
Geological Survey of Sweden, unpub.data). sedimentary rockssouthof the Skelleftedistrict,knownas
the Bothnian basin(Fig. 1), hasalsobeeninvestigated with
Supracrustal rocks respectto endvariations, givingvaluesbetweenca. -1 and
Thelowermost partofthesupracrustal pilein theSkellefte -8 (Claesson, 1987;Welin, 1987;Claesson and Lundqvist,
districtconsists mainlyof felsicvolcanic rockswhicharein- 1995).Thesevalues suggest a substantial amountof Archcan
cludedin the Skellefte Group(Allenet al.,1996a).Previous materialin the sourceto thesemetasedimentary rocks,and
geochronological workin the areahasmainlyfocused on thisisfurthercorroborated by results froma SHRIMPstudy
different intrusive suitesandthevolcanic chronostratigraphy on restitczirconsfromvariousplaces,includingmetasedi-
hasessentially beenbasedonlyononeU-Pbzirconageof a mentaryrocksfromtheBothnian basin(Claesson et al.,1993).
volcanic rock(Welin,1987)andoncorrelations withpresum- TheenddatafromHarnO-type granites in theBothnian basin
ablycoeval intrusive rocks. The 1882ñ 8 Ma agereported rangefrom-0.5 to -3.3, whereas pretectonic, 1.89to 1.88
fromNicknoret (Welin,1987)referstoa sample thatispoorly Ga granitoids fromthe sameareayieldvaluesbetween+ 1.5
described in theliterature, butbased ongeneral descriptionsand-1.9 (Claesson, 1987;Claesson andLundqvist, 1995).
weconclude thatthesample wastakenfromtheuppermost Severalstudies duringthelastdecadehavefocused onthe
partoftheSkellefte Groupvolcanic rocksin thecentral part leadisotope systematics in thethreemainore-bearing areas
of the district(Fig.2). If thisstratigraphic interpretationis of Sweden: theBergslagen region,the Skellefte district,and
correct,this agewouldapproximate the ageof the strata theareanorthof theSkellefte districtincluding Kiruna(e.g.,
whichhostmostmassive sulfidedepositswithintheSkellefte Rickard and Svenson,1984; Billstr0m, 1990, 1991; Romer
district. andWright, 1993,Sundbladet al., 1993;Sundblad,1994;
Thesupracrustal rocksof theVargfors Groupoverliethe Billstr0mandVivallo,1994;Billstr0met al., in press,and
volcanic rocksof theSkellefte Groupwithcomplex andvari- references in thesepapers). Theoreleadisotope signatures
ablecontacts. The closespatialandchemical relationshipsforvolcanic-hosted strata-bound deposits in thesethreeareas
between theVargfors maficvolcanic rocksandtheGallejaur (ca.1890Ma) constrain the leadisotope systematics typical
1058 BILLSTROM AND WEIHED

of the volcanichostrocks.The ore leadin the Bergslagenquartz-feldspar porphyritic,rhyodacitic subvolcanic body

regionis quiteevolvedwithvaluesfallingin a narrowrange whichintrudes the deeperpartsof the volcanic stratigraphy
(BillstrOm, 1991;Sundblad, 1994)whichapproaches theiso- in theeastern partof theSkellefte district(Fig.2). The sam-
topicsignature for an idealuppercrustalenvironment ac- pled rockshowsa peperitiecontactwith the surrounding
cordingto the generalplumbotectonic model(version 2 in voleanielastieunits,indicating thatthesewerewetanduncon-
Zartman and Doe, 1981). The Skellefte ore lead is more solidated at the timeof intrusion. Therefore, the ageof the
complexand differentdomainshavevariable,mantlelike Bjurvattnet sample should represent thedeepest partsofthe
characteristics (Billstr0m andVivallo,1994).Vein-type depos- volcanic pilein theeasternSkellefte district.The Bjurvattnet
its,situatedin the Arvidsjaur districtnorthof the Skellefte porphyry contains embayed, partlyresorbed andsubgrained,
district,
haveisotopic signatures thatpartlycoincide withval- up to 1-em-large quartzphenoerysts and 1- to 4-mm-large
uesfor the north-central partof the Skelleftedistrict(Bill- euhedralplagioelase phenoerysts. Glomeroporphyritie seri-
stromet al.,in press),whereas datafordeposits farthernorth eite-ehlorite afterplagioelase andbiotiteiscommon. Biotiteis
aresuggestive ofbothpre-Svecofennian oredepositional pro- foundin thinveinswhicharepartlyehloritized. Somebiotite-
cesses (Billstr0m et al.,in press)andof later(Phanerozoic?)serieite-ealeite-quartz sulfide veinsarealsopresent(Fig.4E).
overprinting events(RomerandWright,1993). Analyzedzirconsare well-developed, longprismswith a
lengthto widthratioof ca.3:1 (Fig.4F). Crystals are dear
Descriptionof SampledLithologies witha lightpinkishtint andonlyrareinclusions werefound.
The stratigraphic positionof the rocksdatedin thisstudy ThePetiktrask sample (94016,Fig.2) represents a weakly
ispresented in thegeneralized stratigraphic profileof Figure altered,juvenilefelsiemassflowunitin the deepestpartsof
3. The Siktrask graniteis locatedsouthof the ore-bearingthe stratigraphy in the centralpart of the Skelleftedistrict
partof theSkellefte districtwherethemetamorphic gradeis (Allenet al., 1996a).The rockispolymietandcontains elasts
in middleto upperamphibolite facies.This dome-shapedof marievolcanic rockswhich,judgingfromtheirshape, were
orthogneissie intrusion hasbeeninterpreted bothaspartof unlithified whenincorporated intothemassflow.Moreover,
an olderpre-Sveeofennian basement(Talbot,1991;Talbot the rockcontains dense,sometimes quartz-feldspar porphy-
andKoyi,1995)andasa synvoleanie, highlydeformed JOrn- ritie,felsieelasts withina sandymatrix;broken,roundedto
typegranitoid (Ohlander et al.,1987;Weihedet al., 1992). angnlar,resorbedquartzphenoerysts, andlessthan5-mm-
WeihedandVaasjoki (1993)datedthe southern partof this large,myrmekitic andcarbonate-altered feldspar clasts.The
massifat 1859__3 Ma. Due to the controversy concerning matrixisprobably partlyrecrystallized andconsists of quartz,
its originand the importantimplication of its age,a new feldspar, chlorite,sericite,andcarbonate (Fig.4G). Onlya
sample(91015)wastakenfroma roadcutnorthof LakeSik- limitedamountof zirconscouldbe extracted fromca.15 kg
trask(Fig.2). In botheases, thedatedrockcanbe described of rock.The zircons havevariousmorphologies. A few are
asa medium-to coarse-grained granodiorite withanintense, rounded,but mostof themare prismatic, althoughusually
steeply dipping andeast-striking gneissosity.Thegranodioritenot all crystalfacesare developed (Fig. 4H). Crystalsare
is composed of quartz,plagioelase, andsubordinate micro- typicallytransparent witha highlustreanda light,brownish-
cline,hornblende, andbiotite(Fig.4A).Accessory minerals pinkishcolor.No markedfractures or inclusions wereob-
arezircon,apatite,andtitanitc.The zirconsseemto be me- served. An all-sized magnetic fraction(at 1.5A; 5øsidetilt)
chanically affectedandtheir shapes are irregnlar.The best wasincludedtogetherwiththree,nonmagnetic sizefractions
developed crystals werefoundin the>45-/zmfraction. These in the isotopicanalyses.
crystalsaremainlytransparent, lightbrown,withonlyminor Rocksof the SkellefteGroupareoverlainby sedimentary
inclusions, andtheyhavea lengthto widthratioof ca.2.5:1 andvolcanic rocksof theVargfors Group.Thevolcanic rocks
(Fig.4B).Foursizefractions werefinallyselected foranalysis. aredominantly pyroxene porphyritic basaltic lavas whichhave
The samplesiteof a quartz-feldspar porphyritie juvenile beenregarded asdifficultto datebytheU-Pbzirconmethod.
massflowfromMelestjarn(91016)is indicatedin Fignre2. Recentmappingin the Vargfors areahasrevealedinterca-
Thismass flowunderlies a sequence ofblackschist andisthus latedfelsicvolcanic rocksanda sample(94017,Fig. 2) was
regarded asrepresenting theuppermost partof thevolcanic takenfroma felsicweldedignimbrite withinthe maficlavas
stratigraphy in the centralpartof the Skelleftedistrict.The andconglomerates of the middleVargfors Group.Thisrock
Melestj'arn massflowis highlystrained withsubgrained and thus represents one of the youngestSvecofennian supra-
deformed 2- to 7-mm-large quartzphenoerysts, and<5-ram- crustalrocksin thearea.TheVargfors ignimbrite contains 1-
largeserieitized andcarbonate-altered feldspar phenoerysts.to 3-ram-large brokenfragments of quartzandfeldspar crys-
The matrixconsists mainlyof reerystallized quartzandfeld- tals.Recrystallized shards arevisible,butnoobvious welding
spar.Biotitein the matrixgrowsparallelto the S• foliation texturewasobserved. Maficminerals, mainlyamphibole, may
whichis alsoparallelto shearsurfaces (Fig. 4C). Zircons represent devitrified,originally glassyparts(Fig.4I). Zircons
separated fromthisrock(Fig.4D) are lightyellowto light areclearandtransparent. Theyaregenerally ofgoodquality
pinkin color.A fewcrystals areofgemquality, withunusually and sometimes a concentric zoningwasnoted(Fig. 4J). A
highlusterand transparency. Blacksmallinclusions were few grains,whichare multifaceted, are of gemquality.A
occasionally found,but suchgrainswereavoided duringthe slightcolorvariation fromlightbrownto lightpinkis ob-
picking procedure. Grainfractions whichrepresent different served.Bothstubby,shortprismatic grains(2:1ratio)and
colorsandsizeswereselected for analysis togetherwithone needle-shaped crystals (6:1ratio)wereincluded in the ana-
prismatic, singlecrystal witha lengthof about350mm. lyzedfractions.
The Bjurvattnet sample(91017)wastakenfrom a coarse For Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr,andPb-Pbstudies,otherrocks,in addi-
 OREAGE& PROVENANCE,
SKELLEFTE
DISTRICT 1059

1800 Ma - North -I-Re• South

Deformation
.{.
Sk• Deformation
1810 Ma -

1820 Ma -

/• Regional
metamorphism
1850 Ma -

•"•"•
Late
J'0r•
1860
Ma
-•>
1870
Ma S•
+•• ? ? ?• DOdmanbe•
A•idsjaur• conglomerate
I j•;•
Group
'+•?--?•
•Gallejaur
• 5•
volcanics
• '
•
I G•leiaur
• L '" conglomerate•
Ab•rAjam • ' •• vargfors
• Sedime
nta•

1880
UaJ .........'• Menstrask
•1ome•te • Group
• •n• he
+ ' T ••••• ElvabergI • B•[s
n
• •+• • ••[ /

Unknown
basement

1950 Ma

?•?• ?• ?_•
'.K•
intmsive
Knaften
sediments•
Knaffen
vol•nics
2700 Ma

----V--V- Disconformity • Massive

sulfideore '• Subvolcanic
intrusion
x'X./•/'Xx Angularunconformity •' •, Stockwork
veinore

F•c.3. Simplified
stratigraphic
profile
modified
fromAllenetal.(1996a)
withzircon
sample
sites
1to5 indicated
(see
caption
for Fig.2).
1060 BILLSTROM AND WEIHED

A 01mm150kU 170E2 000•/04 •1 '-

. .

.:.

O. lmm15.0kO 1.4•E2 0004/04 9101-

F 0.1mm15.0kU
1.70E2881/)/84 •1017__

F•c.4. Photomicrographs andSEMphotos oftheanalyzedsamples.A. Photomicrograph

oftheSiktr'fisk
sample (91015),
crossednicols.
Lengthof scalebaris ! mm.B. SEMphotoof zircons fromtheSiktr'•ksample. Lengthof scalebaris0.1
ram.C. Photomicrograph of the Melestj'firn
sample(91016),crossednicols.Lengthof scalebaris I min.D. SEM photo
of zircons
fromthe Melestj'firnsample.Lengthof scalebar is 0.1 min. E. Photomicrographof the Bjurvattnet
sample
(91017),crossednicols.
Lengthof scalebaris I min.F. SEMphotoof zircons fromtheBjurvattnet sample.Lengthof
scale bar is 0.1 min.

tionto thezircon-dated
samples, A pillowlava schist which overlies the volcanic rocks in the Boliden area
wereanalyzed.
at Petiktriisk
(Pc55)represents
the maficcomponentof the in the easternpart of the district(Fig. 2). Thisrockwas
Skellefte
Group,andthus,isimportantforunderstandingthe sampledfor provenance studiessincesedimentary
rocksin
provenance rocks.Samplebh428is a black the Bothnianbasinto the southare knownto havea large
of thesevolcanic
 ORE AGE & PROVENANCE,SKELLEFTEDISTRICT 1061

000•/04 94016__

J 8.1mm15.0kO
2.12E20007x0494817
FIG.4. (Cont.)G. Photomicrographof the Petiktr'•ksample(94016),crossednicols.Lengthof scalebaris 1 min.H.
SEM photoof zircons fromthe Petiktr'fisk
sample.Lengthof scalebar is 0.1 min.I. Photomicrograph of the Vargfors
sample(94017),crossednicols.Lengthof scalebaris I min.J. SEM photoof zirconsfromtheVargfors sample.Length
of scalebaris0.1min.Seetextfordiscussionsontextures andzirconmorphologies.

componentof Archcanmaterial(cf. Claessonet al., 1993). sionanalysis

(York,1969)andisotopic
ratios(Ludwig,1991)
Sample91019isa granite,datedat 1798Ma (P.Weihedand areat the2 sigmalevel.
P.-O.Persson,
pers.commun., 1996),whichis located just In connection
withthe combined
Nd, Sr, andPb isotope
outside the town of Skellefte• some 30 km east of Boliden. investigation,
eachwhole-rock sample wasdissolved in HF/
Thisgranite belongs totheSkellefte-H/irn0 suiteanditsprov- HNOaandtherelevant elements wereseparated bystandard
enanceis of a regional interest.Twosamples werecollected ionexchange processes. Initialisotope ratiosforNd, Sr,and
fromtheTallberg porphyry-type depositwithintheJorngran- Pbwerecalculated usingzirconages,andconcentration data
itoid(Fig.2); onefroma quartz-feldspar porphyry (91066) werecalculated fromisotope dilutionanalysis (SmandNd)
associatedwith the mineralization and one from a mafic dike andfromICP-MSanalyses (U, Pb andRb, Sr).
(91065)cuttingthemineralization. Thesesamples wereana- U-Pbzirconresults aresummarized in Tablei andgraphi-
lyzedfor comparison withhostrocksto the massive sulfide callypresented in Figure5. The differentsizefractions of
deposits. Finall
•, a tonalitc(94002)whichcutsthegoldlode- the Siktr/isk gneissicgranodiorite (91015)plotin a fairlydis-
typedeposit atAkerberg wassampled forprovenance studies. cordantmannerin a concordia diagram. A four-point regres-
sionline,including thepoorlyconstrained >45-pmfraction,
AnalyticalProcedures andResults yieldsanupperintercept ageof 1854___ 8.9 Ma (MSWD --
Zirconswereseparated according to magnetic properties 0.2) and a lowerinterceptat 55 Ma. Theseagesare not
and size.Zirconfractions weredigested in an HF-HNOa changed significanfiyif the>45-pmfraction isexcluded, but
mixture followingtheprocedure ofKrogh(1973).Thechemi- if a smaller error,ofthesamemagnitude asthoseoftheother
calpreparation of leadanduranium,andsubsequent mass fractions,isusedfordataof thisfraction,theupperintercept
spectrometrical analyses, was carriedout accordingto agewoulddecrease to the interval1846to 1850Ma with a
WeihedandSch0berg (1991).Blanklevelsduringthetreat- considerable error.Evidenfiy, theageoftheSiktr/isk granodi-
mentofzircons aregenerally lessthan30pgforlead.Regres- oriteis lesswell constrained, but we conclude thatthe age
1062 BILLSTROM AND WEIHED

TABLE1. U-PbZirconDatafor theInvestigated

Samples
frOIllthe EasternandCentralPartsof the Skellefte
District

Concentration Radiogenic
Pb Atomicratios Apparentage(Ma)
(ppm) 2ø6Pb/ (at.%)
Sample Weight 2ø4Pb 2ø•Pb/ Error 2ø7Pb/ Error '•ø7pb/ Error 2ø•pb/ •07pb/ •øTpb
/
(sizesin/1in) (mg) U Pbtot 0neas.)2ø6PbZøTpb2øSpb'23s
U (_+) •a•U (_+) '2ø6pb (_+) '23s
U 23s
U '206pb

Intrusive rock

91015Siktriisk,
granite,N719920E168730
>150 0.67 351 104 13,103 84.9 9.6 5.5 0.2919 04 4.553 13 0.1131 03 1651 1741 1850
> 106 1.92 328 101 16,128 85.2 9.6 5.2 0.3052 05 4.765 26 0.1132 05 1717 1779 1852
>74 2.31 382 118 27,261 85.2 9.6 5.2 0.3048 05 4.757 09 0.1132 01 1715 1777 1851
>45 1.73 457 142 16,488 85.2 9.6 5.2 0.3079 05 4.787 72 0.1128 15 1730 1783 1844

Volcanic and subvolcanic intrusive rocks

91016,Melestjiirn,
quartz-porphyry,
N721341/E168553
>150, yellow 0.011 126 50 4,246 82.0 9.5 8.5 0.3761 34 5.996 55 0.1156 02 2058 1975 1890
>150, clear 0.006 104 36 1,366 82.1 9.5 8.4 0.3272 15 5.219 31 0.1157 04 1825 1856 1890
> 100,yellow 0.008 255 88 6,472 81.6 9.4 9.0 0.3282 19 5.232 32 0.1156 01 1830 1858 1890
>100, clear 0.030 152 75 222 81.5 9.5 9.0 0.3720 13 5.972 46 0.1164 07 2038 1972 1902
>45 0.397 314 102 5,339 81.9 9.4 8.7 0.3057 10 4.858 17 0.1153 02 1720 1795 1884
Singlecrystal 0.015 141 75 629 82.9 9.5 7.6 0.4925 60 7.778 125 0.1146 11 2581 2206 1873

91017,Bjurvattnet,
peperite,N720259/E170854
> 150 0.23 325 127 6,175 80.3 9.2 10.5 0.3638 07 5.783 39 0.1153 07 2000 1944 1884
> 106 0.36 336 119 1,790 82.8 9.6 7.6 0.3321 10 5.277 44 0.1152 09 1849 1865 1884
>74 0.47 114 347 4,634 81.4 9.4 9.2 0.3068 05 4.885 22 0.1155 05 1725 1800 1888
>45 0.41 178 70 1,300 81.5 9.4 9.1 0.3577 10 5.664 60 0.1148 10 1971 1926 1877

94016, Petiktrask,massflow, N722520/E168125

Magnetic,allsizes 0.050 393 118 2,835 84.5 9.5 6.0 0.2913 22 4.532 37 0.1128 03 1648 1737 1846
>100 0.012 348 113 512 85.0 9.8 5.2 0.2982 20 4.754 60 0.1156 11 1682 1777 1890
>74 0.083 141 107 1,540 83.3 9.5 7.2 0.7189 31 11.25 53 0.1135 02 3492 2544 1857
>45 0.085 292 93 2,509 81.8 9.2 9.0 0.3014 08 4.685 18 0.1127 03 1698 1765 1844

94017,Vargfors,
ignimbrite,
N722920/E167050
>150, needles 0.040 398 149 2,187 82.5 9.5 8.0 0.3534 19 5.600 35 0.1149 03 1950 1916 1879
>150, stubby 0.109 285 98 5,437 83.9 9.6 6.5 0.3356 13 5.302 33 0.1146 05 1865 1869 1873
>106 0.133 289 248 4,759 85.2 9.7 5.1 0.8400 18 13.27 04 0.1145 02 3931 2699 1873
>74 0.334 534 178 6,070 83.0 9.5 7.5 0.3196 08 5.056 13 0.1148 01 1789 1823 1876
>45 0.173 676 233 4,514 82.5 9.4 8.1 0.3275 05 5.169 11 0.1145 02 1826 1848 1872

2ø6pbf2ø4pb
corrected formass discrimination,
allotheratomicratiosalsocorrected
forblankandinitiallead;errorsaregivenat leastsignificant
digits
at the95%confidence level;discrimination;
Pb,0.12%/amu, U, 0.05%/amu; northandeastcoordinates
aregivenin thenational grid;blanklevelsvaried
overthe courseof the study:Pb,50-30pg,U, 30-10pg

is,withinerror,identicalto the 1859+_3 Ma agereported andstrongly reversedataforthesinglezirconareincluded,

by WeihedandVaasjoki (1993)fromanotherlocalityin the a similarageof 1888.6+_3.9 Ma is obtained with a mean
same intrusion. squareweighted deviation(MSWD)valueof 4.8.
Twoof thefractions fromtheBjurvattnet sample(91017) The U-Pb zircondataof the Petiktrasksample(94016)
in the easternpart of the Skelleftedistrictshowa reverse aredifficult to interpretsincethe'2ø7pb/2ø6pb
agesvarysig-
discordance and,on the basisof a four-point discordialine, nificantlyand, furthermore, one size fractionplotsin a
anupperinterceptageof 1884.1+ 5.5 Ma (MSWD = 0.31) strongly reversediscordant position.A calculationof the
is calculated. The obtainedlowerinterceptageis slightly best-fitlineforthreefractions, excludingthe> 100-•mfrae-
negative at -66 Ma. If the discordia line is forcedto pass tionwhichgivesa deviating '2ø7pb/2ø6pb
age,resultsin an
through the origin,a slightly
higherupperintercept ageof upperinterceptageat 1847_+3 Ma anda lowerintercept
1885.4 +_ 5 Ma is obtained. doseto zero.Ontheotherhand,thehigh'2ø7pb/2ø6pb
age
Reversely discordant
dataarealsorecognized forthe Mel- of ca. 1890Ma for the > 100-•m fractionsuggestsa history
estjiirnsample(91016),in the centralpartof the district.A priorto 1847Ma, although the zirconmorphology doesnot
regressionlinewhichexcludesthesingle crystal gives indicatethepresence
fraction, of anycores.Zirconsof thissizefrae-
anageof 1888.8_+4.2Ma (MSWD= 4.1).If thelessprecise tionshowquiteheterogeneous morphologies andcolors, and
 OREAGE& PROVENANCE,
SKELLEFTE
DISTRICT 1063

a) b)
' I ' I I ' I ' I l/
19oo
0.40
0.34
91015 •
Siktr•sk •,• 0.38
qua•zporphyry>•50•mye,ow
granite J/ > 100 pm clear, i• /'

0.32 0.36

•, 0.34 1900•
oo0
./'./' >100pmyellow
04 0.32
18,•/,
>150
pmclear
16oo J>150
pm 0.30
1700/ ! >45IJJ'n
0.28

0.28 16oo/ /
"/ / Intercepts
at
1888.8+4.2
and
48+101
Ma(2o)
// / 1854•9 an• •16• Ua(2o)
• / (MSWD=0.2)
0.26 ;•o• , [ ,/• [ , [ , • 0.26
3.0 3.4 3.8 4.2 4.6 5.0 5.4 4 5 6 7

2o7pb/235
U 2o7pb/235
U

c) d)
i/ ' .
0.38

0.36
91017
Bjurva.
ttnet >150pm• 2(•
/ 0.3•
•4et(•ra•
0.36
2000

peperlte>4• 0.34
0.34

0.32
1••>106
pm
1700 .,/>74pm 1700

1600
1// iilr•pts•t
0.30
0'30
1
I' /'
/ /'>•.0•
lzm
/'magnetic
0.28
/ / 1884.1+5.5
and-66d:135
Ma(2o) ' I / / 1847.1:1r.2.8
and34+14
Ma(20)
/ / (MSWD=0.31)
0.26 15oo'/I I / • I , I
3 4 5 6 3 4 5 6

2o7pb/235
U 207pb/235
u

e)
0.38

0.36

0.34

0.32

0.30

0.28
1600
•/
/
17•/>74
pm /
/ Intercepts
at
1874.9•3.7
and
-8+30
aa(20)
/ / (•sw[•=4.3)
0.26 l•ood/• I / • I , I ,
3 4 õ 6

2o7pb/235
U

FIG.5. U-Pbconcordia
diagrams
fortheinvestigated
zircon
samples.
Arrows
indicate
thatreversely
discordant
data
(cf.Table1) plotoutside
thediagram.
1064 BILLSTROM AND WEIHED

TABLE
2. Rb-SrIsotopeDataforWhole-Rock
Samples TABLE
3. PbIsotope
DataforWhole-Rock
Samples
from the Skellefte District from the Skellefte District

Sample Rock Rb Sr S7Sr/S6Sr`2

S7Sr/S6Sr
Sample Age Rock '2ø6pb/ 2ø7pb/ `2øSPb/
no. type (ppm)• (ppm)• SVRb/S6Sr
measuredinitial no. (Ga)• type `2ø4pb2 '2ø4pb`2 •ø4pb`2
91015 Granodiorite 42 205 0.593 0.7166 0.7007 91015 1.855 Granodiorite 22.72 16.05 41.48
91016 Mass flow 36 139 0.756 0.7173 0.6968 91016 1.889 Mass flow 19.02 15.59 37.25
91017 Peperite 37 207 0.518 0.7169 0.7028 91017 1.884 Peperite 25.31 16.28 40.86
94002 Tonalitc 174 190 2.663 0.7597 0.6877 91019 1.798• Granite 21.25 15.91 41.57
94016 Mass flow 19.3 78 0.714 0.7161 0.6968 94002 1.87 Tonalitc 22.76 16.09 38.28
94017 Ignimbrite 99 232 1.243 0.7264 0.6928 94016 1.894 Mass flow 36.37 17.35 44.17
Pe 55 Pillow lava 21 91 0.668 0.7138 0.6957 94017 1.875 Ignimbrite 30.40 16.90 42.17
Pe 55 1.874 Pillow lava 15.53 15.26 35.24
bh428 1.874 Black schist 16.76 15.32 35.65
Errorsaretypically
+0.01%;themean87Sr/86Srratioin theNBSSrstan-
dardSRM987was0.710225 duringtheperiodofthisstudy,withaninternal
precision
of ca.40 ppm(2 a) • Zirconageif otherwise
notstated
• Rb andSr contentsfromICP-MS;estimated analytical
uncertainty
of ,2Typical2 crerrorsare+0.10%;Pbisotope
ratios•verecorrected
for
the S*Pb/S6Sr
ratio is 0.7% massdiscrimination
usingresultsfor the NBS 981 standardwhichwere
2 S7Sr/S6Sr
ratioscorrectedfor Rb interference and normalizedto S6Sr/SSSr measuredrepeatedly
at conditions
similarto thoseprevailing
duringsample
= 0.1194 runs

• Titanitcage
4Approximate age,constrained
byotherradiometric
evidence
it is possible
that zirconsof morethanonegenerations
are
present.
Discordant U-Pbbehavior wasnotedalsofor theVargfors andPb isotopecompositions. Analytical dataarepresented
ignimbrite (94017)anddifferentregressions wereattempted in Table2 andFigure6, andit is obvious thatthelargedata
yieldingupperinterceptagesin the rangeof 1873to 1878 scatterdoesnot followa simplepattern.The datacanbe
Ma. Assuming thatreversely discordant dataare asvalidas compared withreference lineshavinga slopecorresponding
datawith a normaldiscordancy (seebelow),there are no to 1.9 Ga, whichis a reasonable approximate agefor these
goodreasons to exclude anyof the analyzed fractions. A re- rocks. Two such reference lines are drawn in Fi ure 6 one
87g 86 • ß
gression line whichincludesall five fractions provides an for a presumedmantlesourcewith an initial Sr/ Sr raho
upperinterceptageof 1874.9_+3.7 Ma (MSWD = 4.3) and of 0.703thatisalsocharacteristic of theJ6rngranitoids (Wil-
a lowerinterceptcloseto zero. son et al., 1987), and the other for an evolved,old crustal
Rb-Srisotopedatahavebeenobtainedfor sevenwhole- source withaninitialratiocloseto 0.708.In sucha compari-
rocksamples, whichwerealsoanalyzed with respectto Nd son,mostdataplotdistinctly belowthemantlereference line.
Assuming an undisturbed Rb/Srratiosincethe formation of
0.76
' I ' I ' I ' I ' I.- '..I 'u• the rock and recalculatingthe S7Sr/SaSr ratios
using geochemi-
:94002 callydetermined Rb/SrratiosandU-Pbzirconages,the ma-
[] measured compositions .- •o• .' jorityof samplesyieldanomalously lowinitialSrisotope ratios
ß age corrected data ,. '.,.,•' ' whichcannothaveanygeologic significance.Asnoundisputa-
0.74 bleinformation ontheinitialrock-forming conditions canbe
gained,no furtherdiscussion on the significance of the Rb-
ß
ß
ß
ß
ß

Sr datawill be given.
ß' ß
-' [3 94017 Pb isotopedataare presented in Table3 andplottedin
conventional Pb-Pb isotope diagrams in Figure7. Contours
ß ß
ß ß

• 0.72 .' 9•015591016

03 91017[;3• •1•.94016 for oregalenadatafromthe Skelleftedistrictaswell astwo
(33 ß' .-: : El,: Pc55 referencelineswith a commonslopevaluewhichapproxi-
•0c." matesthe ageof formation(1.9 Ga) of volcanic-hosted mas-
Sr-init=0.703
0.70 PDM ,•ß,,',';• ' sive sulfide ores in the districtare included in Figure 7A.
The referencelinesare drawnfroma hypothetical mantle
anduppercrustalsourceaccording to the plumbotectonics
ß model,version2 (Zartmanand Doe, 1981).The analyzed
0.68 , • , • , • . , , • , i , I rockspresumably havedifferentagesandpartof the scatter
0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 for whole-rock datanotedin Figure7 maythusbe dueto
variabledecayperiodsfromthetimeof crystallization to the
87Rb/86Sr
present.However,notingtheverysignificant datascatterin
FIG.6. Rb-Srdatafortheinvestigated whole-rock samples. Barsindicate Figure7, thisis morelikelytheresultof differences in initial
thetentative Srisotope composition foravailable evolved crustandprimitive compositions and/orto postcrystallization processes which
mantleat1.9Ga.AUC = Archcan uppercrust,PDM = Proterozoic depleted haveaffected the Pb isotope system.
mantle.Reference linesoriginating fromAUC andPDM withslopes corre- TheNd isotope dataarepresented in Table4 andplotted
sponding to the approximate age(1.9 Ga) of the Skelleftedistricthave
beenadded.Thehorizontal linereflects aninitialSrisotope ratioof 0.703, in an endevolution diagram in Figure8. Nd isotope datafor
previously considered to characterize the J6rngranitoids (Wilsonet al., othersamples of interestarealsoincluded andthe majori .ty
1987). of datafallin the rangefromca.1 to 5, Themostpositive
 ORE AGE & PROVENANCE,SKELLEFTE DISTRICT 1065

a) coresare featuresindicative
of a primarymagmatic rather
thanan inheritedxenocrysticorigin.Thus,apartfromthe
17.4
[] 94016
Petiktrasksample(94016),thezirconshaveapparentlyexpe-
rienceda fairlyuncomplicated
postcrystallization
history,
and
theobtained upperinterceptagescanthereforebeinterpre-
17.0
tedto reflectthetruecrystallization
agesfortheinvestigated
rocks.However, the zircondata alsoreveala number of more
unusualobservations,such as zircon fractionsthat show a
16.6
reverse
discordance
whenplottedin a concordia
diagram,
and
lowerintercept
agesthatcluster
aroundzero.Thereversely
discordant behavior is not common in Svecofennian rocks but
16.2
/ [] 94002 hasbeenobserved,
forexample,
in theArvidsjanr
rocks(Ski-
Oldetal.,1993)
andBergslagen
region
(cf.•bergetal.,1984;
15.8 Welin,1987).Therehavebeenno serious attemptsto inter-
pret thissortof U-Pb isotopedatafor Swedish rocksin the
literature,andnormally thesedataare overlooked andas-
15.4 sumedto be disputable. In principle,however,late-stageU
UC [•h428
n[]/Pc5
5
lossor Pbgaincancause suchbehavior. A laboratory-induced
D('./orelead causeseemslesslikely,sinceonewouldexpectzirconsto
15.0 •'•l I • I • I • I I I I I loseleadpreferentially,
if samples,
forinstance, werewashed
14 18 22 26 30 34 38
too thoroughly in the laboratory.As zirconfractions have
2o6pb/2O4
Pb
b) beentreatedfourandfour,andbothnormally discordant
and
reverselydiscordant
datahavebeenobtained froma common
batch,problemswithpartlyundissolvedsamplesareunlikely.
Furthermore, nodistinct
parameter,suchasgrainsize,mor-
44
-
42 91019
/ []/••/•94016
94017 _discordantbehavior.Thus, it seemsthat the U-Pb zircon
phology, deviating
2ø7pb/Sø6pb
ratios,
tions,is commonto the fractions
or elementconcentra-
whichshowa reversely
systematics
arenaturally
inducedandshould
havea geologic
/ [] 91017/ meaning.
The factthatreversely
discordant
behavior
wasob-
40 ThAJ=2.9
/ • served for volcanicand not for intrusive rocks,both in the
Skellefte
district(thisstudy),in the Arvidsjaur
area(Ski01d
etal.,1993)
andBergslagen
region
(•bergetal.,1984;
Welin,
1987)maybe relevantin thiscontext.If thisis generally
valid,it suggeststhata near-surface process mayhavebeen
importantat somestage.Mattinson et al. (1995)havesug-
/•1016 gested thatsmall-scale
blyleadtoreverse
zoningof U in zircongrains
discordanceundertheinfluence
canpossi-
ofhydro-
•' Pc55
average crust -- Skelleffe district thermalprocesses. We propose thatthereversely discordant
34 I I I I • I , I • I • I dataobserved in the Svecofenniah rocksof Sweden maybe
14 18 22 26 30 34 38
attributedto late-stage hydrothermal processes, asindicated
F]:G.?. Conventional
Pb-Pb(]Jagramsshowing
analyzed
Pbisotope
data. alsobyradiogenic leadisotope dataforgalenas (e.g.,Romer
A. Uranogenic
data.Reference
lineswitha common 1.9Gaslope
aredrawn andWright,1993),probable ratheryoung disturbances ofthe
fromhypothetical
uppercrustal(UC) andmantle(M) sources,
usingdata Rb-Srsystem in wholerocks(e.g.,dataforsamples withlow
derivedfromthe plumbotectonic
model(version
2 in Zartmanand Doe, Rb/Srratiosin the Bolidenarea;Bergman Weihedet al.,
1981).A contour
whichoutlines
therangein isotopic
compositions
forore 1996),andthe opening of U-Pbsystems of wholerocksin
leadin the Skelleftedistrict(Billstr0mandVivallo,1994)is shownfor refer-
ence.B. -øøSPb?ø4pb
vs.'2ø6pbœ2ø4pb
diagram.
Thestraight
linesdepict
the theSkellefte district(W. Vivallo,pers.commun., 1995).The
rangein Th/U ratiosfor 1.9 Ga igneous
rocksfromthe Skelleftedistrict. Skellefte,Arvidsjaur,andBergslagen districts
areallintensely
Calculations
of Th/U ratiosarebasedon the assumptionthatinitialrock mineralized,andthisimpliesthepresence of a highnumber
leadcanbe approximated by an average
crustalleadasdefinedfromore of near-surface faults which would allow fluid flow at different
lead from Bollden,see Billstr0mandVivallo(1994).
times.Theexactnatureofthedisturbing hydrothermal event
is not easilyconstrained sinceseveralhypothetical mecha-
valueof +6.38,whichwasobtained for a pillowlavain the nisms(cf.Mattinson et al.,1995)will affecttheU-Pbsystem
centraldistrict(Pc55),isunusually
high,vithrespect topre- of zirconin a similarway.Thesuggestion thatalkalinefluids
viously
reporteddatafor Svecofennian rocksin Sweden. arecapable of mobilizing uraniummoreeasilythanleadun-
IsotopeSystematics dercertainconditions (Bezmen et al.,1996)maybeofimpor-
tancesincecarbonate-rich rocksareoftenintimately associ-
U-Pbzirconsystematics atedwithoredeposits in manypartsof Sweden. All zircon-
Zirconsanalyzed inthisstudy
generallyshow a goodoptical datedsamples with reversediscordance discussed in this
quality.The prismatic habitusandthe generalabsence of papercontaincalcitein theiralteration assemblages.
1066 BILLSTROM AND WEIHED

T^BLE4. Sm-NdIsotopeDatafor Whole-Rock

Samples
fromthe SkellefteDistrict

Sample Age Rock Sm1 Nd1 147Sm/ 14aNd/ 2 •r TDM TcnvR

no. (Ga) type (ppm) (ppm) 144Nd 144Nd error eNaT
• (Ga)4 (Ca)4
91015 1.855 Granodiorite 3.58 19.58 0.1106 0.511842 _+18 +5.00 1.77 1.41
91016 1.889 Mass flow 2.80 14.86 0.1138 0.511743 _+05 +2.66 1.99 1.64
91017 1.884 Peperite 2.28 10.53 0.1308 0.511883 _+11 + 1.22 2.14 1.74
91019 1.798 Granite 9.94 56.50 0.1064 0.511659 _+07 + 1.88 1.97 1.65
94002 1.87 Tonalitc 3.09 17.26 0.1083 0.511678 + 07 + 2.52 1.97 1.65
94016 1.89 Mass flow 2.75 12.52 0.1329 0.511846 _+04 +0.03 2.27 1.89
94017 1.875 Ignimbrite 3.09 16.55 0.1127 0.511637 _+10 +0.70 2.13 1.81
Pe 55 1.87 Pillow lava 1.99 7.08 0.1696 0.512630 _+45 +6.38 1.42 0.05
bh 428 1.87 Black schist 2.16 10.71 0.1220 0.511796 _+09 + 1.61 2.08 1.71
91065 1.885 Andesitc 4.94 24.6 0.1213 0.511834 _+05 +2.62 1.97 1.62
91066 1.885 Porphyry 2.52 13.2 0.1158 0.511779 _+14 +2.88 1.97 1.62
147 144
1SmandNdcontents
and147Sm/•44Nd
ratiofromisotope
dilution
analysis;
146
estimated
144
analytical
uncertainty
of Srn/ Nd is0.7%
2 •43Nd/144Nd
ratioscorrectedfor Sm interferenceand normalizedto Nd/ Nd = 0.7219;normalizedratioswere correctedto accountfor the results
obtained
fortheLaJollastandard;
during
thecourse
ofthisstudy
the143Nd/•44Nd
ratiooftheLaJollastandard
averaged
0.511775;
analytical
errors
shown
are 2 standard deviations of the mean
36Nd
values
aredeviations,
in partsper104fromthechondritic
evolution
curvedefined
by•43Nd/144Nd
(T) = 0.512638-0.1966
(e•t - 1);typical
error
in 6Nais _+0.5epsilonunit
4Modelages(T) calculated
relative
to thechondritic
uniform
reservoir
(CHUR)andthedepleted
mantlecurve(DM) of DePaolo
(1981)

Anotherlineof evidence for a relatively

youngdisturbancePb-PbandNd whole-rock isotope data
of zirconisotopesystematics is the lowerinterceptzircon
agesclosetozeroobserved inthisstudy.Suchlowerintercept Whole-rockPb isotopedataplottedin Figure7 showa
ageswerealsofoundin theArvidsjaur rocks(Ski61d considerable
volcanic spread in•ø7Pb and•'øsPb contents fora given
et al., 1993).Lowerinterceptagesin the range200 to 400 •'ø•Pb/•ø4pb ratio.However, a simpleextrapolation of mea-
m.y. are moretypicalfor the Svecofennian and associatedsured whole-rock values along a Proterozoic 1.9 Ga slope
intrusive rocksSweden.Thisdiscrepancy maybe dueto the toward more primitive compositions typicalof the ore lead
factthat mostrockswhichhavebeendatedare granitoids. indicates that the range in data for volcanic whole rocks is
Thesearemorecoherent andmayhavebeenata deepcrustal aboutthe sameasthe spreadin oreleadisotopesignatures.
levelwhendeformation andfaultingaffectedthe bedrock This similarity
indicates thatthevolcanic rocks,whichin gen-
eral terms are host rocks to the volcanic-hosted massive sul-
beforeandduringthe regional alterationevent.
fidedeposits, couldalsoconstitute a sourcefor the lead.A
possible implication of theoverlap of dataforvolcanic rocks
andtheoreleadisthat,in principle, allvariationsin inferred,
initial•'ø7Pb
and•'øsPb
contents
ofwhole
rocks
maybeascribed
to primarydifferences in isotopiccompositions for magmas

+4 eUr•e
-' I ' I ' I
$vecofennian
fromdifferentareas.However,it is impossible
completely the effectof open-system processes
curredafterthetimeof rockcrystallization.
calculated andmeasured/a valuesindicates
to rule out
whichoc-
A comparison of
a postcrystalliza-
0 GHUFI 1.8•-1.87
Ga
old tion,open-stage behavior
nicrocksin the Skellefte
of theU-Pbsystem for mostvolca-
district(W. Vivallo,pers.commun.,
Z 1995).However,it is possible thatthe opening of the U-Pb
system is a fairlyrecenteventwhichinvolved mobilization of
-4
uranium in a near-surface environment as has been demon-
stratedelsewhere(e.g.,Stuckless
and N'komo,1978).If a
relatively
youngmobilization
of uraniumhasoccurred,then
-8 the measuredPb-Pbisotoperatiosareessentially
unaffected
b ostc stallization rocesses Conse uentl the s read in
•.•yp •s s P ' q Y P
øvPband 0 Pbcontents
ismostlikelytobeduetoprimary,
-12 initialdifferences
in thePbisotope
signatures
of thedifferent
0 0.4 0.8 1.2 • .6 2.0 2.4 2.8 magmas.
Time The Sm-Ndresultsshowa rangein e•avaluesbetween0
to 6.4 (Table4) whichis similarto previous
investigations
of
FIO. 8. eNd-time evolution
diagramfor whole-rock
samples •ed in Svecofennianand associatedintrusive rocks (Huhma, 1986;
thisstudy.The fieldsfor Svecofennian
i•eous rocksin the timerangeca. Claesson,
1987;0hlanderet al., 1987;Patchettet al., 1987;
1.89to 1.87Ca and Svecofen• sedimenta•rocks(ageslesswell con-
str•ned)•e •so added.The depletedmantle(DM) cu•e is according to Andersenand Sundvoll,1995).The significance of the 6.4
DePaolo(1981) and&e field for Archcancrustis &orePat&e• et •. (1987). valuefor the pillowlava(Pc55)in the north-central
partof
 ORE AGE & PROVENANCE,SKELLEFTEDISTRICT 1067

the districtis questionable,

consideringthat the Pb isotope In the easternpartof the Skelleftedistrict,the Bjurvattnet
signature of thissampleis veryevolved. Possibly,
the pillow sample(91017)is datedat 1884Ma. Its pepcriticcontactto
lavahasexperienced somekindof hydrothermal disturbancethesurrounding supracrustallithologies
suggeststhatthisage
which fraetionatedthe Sm/Nd ratio. The endvalue of 5.0 for is a minimumestimate of the ageof the deepestpartof the
the Siktrasksampleis at the upperendof the datarange volcanic pilein the area.The onlyexisting evidence of ages
obtained fortheJ6rngranitoid complex (Wilsonet al.,1987) exceeding ca. 1890Ma in the Skelleftedistrictis an ageof
and is consistent with the interpretation
that the Siktrask ca.1905Ma (Billstr6m, inpress) fortheintrusionwhichhosts
domeis a deformedJ6rngranitoid. The relativelylow eNa the Au depositat Bj6rkdalin the easternmost part of the
valuedose to zero for the massflow from Petiktrask(94016) district(ef. Bromanet al., 1994). Further field work is neces-
maybe disturbed bearingin mindthe inferred,extremely saryto evaluate the significance of thisagefor the general
primitivePbisotope signature forthissample. Theremaining evolution of the Skellefte district.
samples havepositiveendvalues,andNd modelages(de- The stratigraphy in the centralpartof the districtis quite
pletedmantle)doseto 2.0 Ga, indicating that theywere complex andthisis accentuated by datafor the Petiktrask
derivedfroma mantle-dominated soume whichwasvariably, (94016)sample. The stratigraphic position of the Petiktrask
yet little contaminated with older,possibly Archcancrustal sample corresponds tothedeepest partof a 2-kin-long profile
material.The endvalueof 1.6 for the blackschistsample wherethetopcorresponds to theposition of the Nieknoret
fromthe Bolidenareais distinctly higherthantypicaldata sampledatedat 1882Ma (Welin,1987).Thus,the 1847Ma
for metasedimentary rocksfromthe Bothnian basin(Welin three-point regression agefromPetiktrask isin directconflict
et al., 1993;Claesson and Lundqvist,1995).This maybe withknownfieldrelationships andageconstraints. The devi-
relatedto differences in agebetweenthe metasedimentary ating2ø7Pb/2ø6pb ageforthelargest fraction analyzed fromthe
rocksfromthe twoareas.The blackschistsample(bh428) Petiktrask sample isca.1890Mawhichmaybeinterpreted as
overlies thevolcanic stratigraphy atBolidenandwasprobably a minimumcrystallization age.Bearingin mind 207the young
'206
deposited doseto 1.87Ga(ef.Bergman Weihedet al.,1996). lowerintercept agesin thearea(seeabove), a Pb/ Pbage
It maythenhaveincorporated materialfromratherprimitive wouldclosely approximate the timeof crystallization anda
volcanicare-related rocks.Metasedimentary rocksfromthe 1890Ma ageisconsistent withfieldrelationships. Theabnor-
Bothnianbasinmayhavebeendeposited before1.9 Ga at a malbehavior of the Petiktrask agedatamaybe dueto later
stagewhenthe availability of Archcansoumematerialwas processes, possibly bothduringsomeProterozoic (1847Ma?)
relatively high. or younger event,asdiscussed above.The zircondatafrom
Recently,Sm-Nddatafor preteetonie granitoids fromthe the Petiktrask samle (94016)showa furthercomplexi in
Bothnianbasin(Claesson and Lundqvist,1995)havebeen that
quite
variable
•7pb/2ø6pb
ratios
are
also
found.
The
rock
reported. Theendvalues of -- 1.9to + 1.5forthesegranitoidsispolymict withdifferenttypesof clasts andit ispossible that
arecomparatively low.In the Skelleftedistrict,thesevalues zircons of a differentoriginmayhavebeenincorporated. The
arelowerthanthoseforthepreteetonie, J6rn-type granitoids >74-/•m-size fraction ofthissample displays a largevariation
(ca.2-4, e.g.,sample91065= 2.6 andsample91066= 2.9 in morphology whichsupports thisview(cf.Fig.4H).
in thisstudy)andprobably reflecta variablecontribution of The Melestjarnsample(91016)maybe stratigraphically
localsedimentary materialto the magmas. In the Bothnian correlated withtheNieknoret sample datedbyWelin(1987).
basin,thepreteetonie granitoid magmas mayhaveincorpo- Bothoccurhighupin thestratigraphy in thecentralpartof
ratedca.1.95to 1.9Gasediments whichhada largeArchcan the district. The lack of information on the character of the
component, possibly derivedfromtheinferredArchcan base- Nieknoretvolcanicrock(1882 Ma; Welin, 1987)precludes
ment in the $undsvallarea (Welin et al., 1993; Andersson anyfar-reaching conclusions, but the ageis consistent with
andNeymark,1994;Claesson andLundqvist, 1995).Bycon- bothits stratigraphic positionwithinthe Skelleftevolcanic
trast,in the Skellefte districtpreteetonie, synvoleanie granit- sequence andthe 1875Ma ageof the overlying rocksof the
oidsare probablyeomagmatie with the extrusive 1.89 Ga Vargfors Group(ef.ignimbritesample94017).The 1889Ma
Skellefte volcanism, andthegranitoids mayhaveincorporatedageobtainedfor the Melestjarnsamplesuggests that even
an earlierjuvenile,felsie,crystalline basement of ca.2.1 to olderagescharacterize deeperstratigraphic levelsin that
2.0 Ga age,withonlya minorArchcan component. area.

Evolution of the Skellefte District Data fromthe easternandcentralpartsof the Skellefte

districtsuggest thatthemainphaseof igneous activitystarted
Crustalgrowth at ca. 1890Ma andprevailedmoreor lesscontinuously to
Recentresultsindicatethatthe Paleoproterozoic igneous 1875Ma. Basedon leadisotopedatafromore galenaboth
activity in andaround theSkellefte districtismoreprolonged,in and directlynorthof the Skelleftedistrict,it hasbeen
moreepisodic, andmorecomplex thanpreviously thought. suggested thatthe centralareaof the districtcanbe subdi-
Different domains in the Skellefte district have been distin- videdintoa south-central anda north-central part(Billstr6m
guished byvariable Pbisotope signaturesfororegalena (Bills- andVivallo,1994).Fieldrelationships alsosuggest a change
tr6mandVivallo,1994),andby contrasting volcanic litholo- in volcanism with generally deep,marineconditions in the
gies(Allenet al., 1996a).Eachdomainischaracterized by a south, whereas successively shallower environments prevailed
uniquevolcanic sequence whichcorresponds to thebuilding to thenorthincluding subaerialconditions in the Arvidsjaur
stageof individual volcanoes. Thus,differentagesof litholo- area.Allenet al.(1996a)furthersuggest thatnomajoruneon-
giescanbe expected for rockssituatedcloseto eachother, formityexists betweenthe SkellefteandVargfors Groupsin
but in different domains. the north-central partof the district.Sincethe ca. 1875Ma
1068 BILLSTROM AND WEIHED

rocksof theVargfors GroupalsohostSkellefte-type volcanic- exceedsa thicknessof 1 km (Allen et al., 1996a). These esti-
hosted massive sulfide ores(Allenet al.,1996a),it isprobable mates,together withthe occurrence of clasts of the JOrnGI
thatsomemassive sulfidedeposits in the north-central part granitoid(1888_+• Ma;Wilson etal.,1987)intheAbborrtjarn
mayhaveformeddoseto 1875Ma. varietyoftheVargfors Groupconglomerates whicharedated
Intrusive rocksappearto cutthroughextrusive rocksof all indirectlyby the Vargforssample(94017,1875Ma), allow
stratigraphic levels.Withinthe majorJOrnbatholith,four upliftanddepositional rateswithinthe Skellefte volcanic arc
separate intrusions couldbe distinguished with respectto to be estimated. Giventhe agefiguresabove,the sequence
differences in geophysical, geochemical, and petrologicalof uplift,unroofing, anderosionof the medium-to coarse-
properties, implying at leastsomeagedifferences. According grainedJOrnGI granitoid lastedca.10 m.y.Assuming a crys-
to available U-Pbzirconagedatafromthe GI to GIII intru- tallization depthfor the graniteof ca.5 km, thisimpliesa
sions of theJOrn-type granitoids, thehistory of thisrocksuite minimumupliftrateof 0.5 mm/yr.A depositional rate for
appears tobecomplex. Wilsonetal.(1987)preferred apooled thesupracrustal sequence ofthesamemagnitude isalsoindi-
ageat 1890Ma asrepresentative of thiscomposite batholith, cated.Thisisconsistent witha voluminous crustal growthat
despite thefactthatthecalculated upperintercept agesdif- 1.89to 1.88Ga, asindicated fromNd isotopedatafor the
feredsignificantly between theJOrnGI type(1888Ma),and Svecofennianrocksin Finland, Sweden,and elsewhere(Pat-
theJOrnGII andGIII types(1874and1873Ma,respectively).chettandArndt,1986;Patchettet al., 1987).The deposition
Mthoughagesoverlapwithinerror,we suggest that three in the Skellefte arcis thusmuchmorerapidandconstrained
separate events whichgenerated JOrn-type granitoids should toa narrower timespanthandeposition in theBothnian basin
bedistinguished. Thisstatement issupported bythedatafor to the south.The graywackes andpelitesin the latterarea,
the Siktrask intrusionaswell asthe similaritybetweenthe with a totalthickness of morethan 10 km, were deposited
agesof the GII andGIII intrusions andthe agesobtained duringa timespan of at least100m.y.andpossibly aslong
for the volcanicand intrusiverocksin the Arvidsjaur and as150m.y.(Lundqvist et al.,pers.commun., 1996).
VargforsGroups.An earlystage(ca. 1890Ma) wascoeval
withthevolcanic rocksof the SkellefteGroup,anintermedi- Comparison
Sweden
with otherSvecofennian volcanic provinces in
atestage(ca.1875Ma)wassynchronous withthedeposition
oftheArvidsjaur andVargfors Groups, andfinallya lateevent U-Pbzirconagesfor restitczircons in the Bothnian basin
(at ca. 1855Ma) is indicated by intrusions (i.e.,Siktrask and (Claesson et al., 1993)suggest that magmatic processes oc-
others)in thesouthern partof thedistrict.No volcanic rocks curredaround2.0 to 2.1 Ga directlysouthof the Skellefte
asyoungasca.1855Ma areknownin the area. district.Conventional zircondatingof granitoids from the
In broadterms,withthepossible exception of partsof the sameareaindicates similarages(Welinet al.,1993),whereas
north-central areaandtheBolidendomain(Bergman Weihed extrusive rocksin the Knaftenarea(Fig.2) areintrudedby
et al., 1996),the volcanic sequence of the SkellefteGroup granitoids formedduringthe1954to 1940Mainterval(Was-
wasemplaeed withinlessthan10m.y.,fromca.1890to 1880 strom,1993,1996).As yet, no economic mineraldeposits
Ma. Following thisstage,or partlyoverlapping in age,the havebeenfoundin thissequence of rocks.Zirconagedeter-
Vargfors GroupandtheArvidsjaur Grouptothenorthformed minations onthreedeformed granodiorites elsewhere in the
duringanother short-lived event,witha probable duration of Bothnianbasinhaveyieldedintrusionagesin the interval
lessthan10 m.y.in the agerange1880to 1870Ma. Ski01d 1.93to 1.90Ga (Lundqvist et al.,in press; Geological Survey
et al.(1993)published agesofArvidsjaur volcanic rocksfrom of Sxveden, unpublished results). No extrusive rocksformed
threedifferentsamplesitesat differentstratigraphic levels in thistimespanhavebeenidentified in the area,andno
andwithonesampleseparated in spacemorethan100km mineralizations havebeenfoundassociated withthisigneous
fromtheothertwo.Theindividual zirconagesforthesethree activity.
sitesarewithinerrorlimitsthe same,andthe authors pre- On thebasisof thecurrentknowledge of thegeochronol-
ferreda pooledageof 1876 _+3 Ma as representative of ogyoftheSkellefte district,
it developed moreorlesssimulta-
subaerial volcanism in thisfairlylargearea.The ageperiod neously withtheBergslagen districtin south-central Sweden.
1873to 1879Ma,asdefinedfromtheanalytical uncertainties,Published zirconagesonvolcanic rocksfromthe Bergslagen
isprobably a reasonable estimate forthedepositional interval area(]tberg etal.,1984; Welin,1987)arefew,butmost ages
of theentireArvidsjaur Group,andthisimpliesthatthesub- are,withinerrorlimits,identicalto thosereportedfromthe
aerialvolcanism in theArvidsjaur areaismoreorlessidentical Skellefte district. However, recent results (cf. Mien et al.,
in ageto the rocksof theVargfors Group,indicated by the 1996b)suggest that 1904_+4 Ma volcanicrocksoccuron
1875Ma agefor theVargfors ignimbrite (94017).Thisage the islandof Ut0 in the archipelago of Stockholm andage
relationship isin agreement withthefactthatclasts ofsubaer- determinations fromthesoutheastern partofBergslagen indi-
ialvolcanic rocks arefoundin theupperpartsoftheVargfors catean unexpectedly youngvolcanic ageat 1836 + 9 Ma
Group(cf. Mien et al., 1996a).The preferredageof 1875 (Dobbeet al., 1995).Theseagesimplya prolonged mag-
Ma for the Vargfors ignimbrite is consistent alsowith the matismin thisregion.Mternatively, sincethisareais partly
datapresented by Ski01d (1988)andSki01d et al. (1993)for strongly migmatized, thelatteragemayhavenobearingon
Gallejaur intrusive rocksandlendssupport to thehypothesisthe timingof the igneous activity,but ratherreflectsthe
that the Gallejaurintrusiverocksmaybe correlated with metamorphic overprint.Betweenthe Skellefteand Bergs-
extrusive rocksof theVargfors Group. lagendistricts, twoagedeterminations onvolcanic rocks have
It hasbeendemonstrated thatthe SkellefteGroupis at beenreported. A sample fromtheLosareain thenorthern-
least4 to 5 km thickandthatthe Vargfors Groupprobably mostpartoftheBergslagen region(Fig.1)wasdatedat 1867
 ORE AGE & PROVENANCE,SKELLEFTE DISTRICT 1069

+ 9 Ma (Welin, 1987),whereasan ageof 1874 + 6 Ma of volcanic-hosted

massive
sulfideores.Considering
the re-
(Welin, 1987) xvasfound for a felsicvolcanicrock associated centlysuggestedreplacement modelforsomemassive sulfide
witha volcanic-hosted massive sulfidedeposit at Roekliden,oresin the Skelleftedistrict(Allenet al., 1996a)asan alterna-
some200 km southof the Skellefte district(Fig. 1). The tive modelto the exhalative concept(RiekardandZweifel,
zirconageforthelatterisof special interestsincetheforma- 1975),it seemsthatnotonlyhost-rock agesarevariablebut
tion of thisdeposit, basedon leadisotopedata(Hallberg, alsothe modeof ore formation. However,agedifferences
1989),hasbeencompared witharcmagmatism in theBergs- betweenhostrockandthemassive oreareprobably marginal,
lagenarea.Giventhenewagedeterminations fromtheBergs- irrespective ofthefavored geneticmodel.Largereplacement
lagenandSkellefte regions, the massive ore-forming events oresarelikelyto haveformedat a stage whenpermeabilities
maybe roughlysynchronous in bothareasat ca. 1.90,1.89 stillwerehighin the upperpartof an unconsolidated rock
to 1.88, and at 1.87 Ga. columnandonlya minoragedifference is expectedfor ore
The ageof the Skelleftevolcanism is withinerrorlimits deposition relativeto host-rock formation. Thisimpliesthat
alsothe sameasthe agesobtainedfromthe felsievolcanic agedifferences betweenreplacement oresand syngenetie,
rocksin theKirnnaarea(Fig.1). Mostrecentagedetermina- exhalative oresmaybeinsignificant. Therefore,host-rock
ages
tionsontheKirunaporphyries andtheKirunamagnetite ore area goodapproximation oftheageof massive oredeposition
deposit, whichoverlie2.2 to 1.9 Ga andolderArchcan(Ski- in theSkellefte district.Bearingin mindstratigraphic
consid-
01d,unpub.data)greenstones, indicatedepositional agesof erations,it is reasonable to arguethat mostvolcanic-hosted
1890to 1876 Ma (Cliff et al., 1990;Romeret al., 1994;Welin, massive sulfidedeposits formedduringthelatterhalf(1885-
1987). 1880 Ma) of the 10 m ßy. age interval which is suggested for
In summary, no majoragedifferences existbetweenthe thehostrocks. The1886+} • Ma ageobtained foranintrusive
threemainSvecofennian volcanicprovinces in Sweden. Thus, quartz-feldsparporphyry relatedto a Cu-Au-Moporphyry-
if volcanismwasmore or lesscoevalin the Kirnna, Skellefte, typedeposit(Weihedand Sehoberg, 1991)withinthe jorn
andBergslagen areas,a modelinvoking amosaic of microcon- batholithisconsistent withthisstatement.Possibleexceptions
tinentaland/orislandareswhichdeveloped duringa common arefoundin theBolidendomain(ef.Bergman Weihedet al.,
timeintervalaround1.89to 1.87Ga seemsplausible. Such 1996)wherean epithermalmodeof ore formationis most
ares•vereexoticto eachotherat the time of the igneous consistent withthegeology, andin the north-central district
activity,
butwerelateraeereted andamalgamated to theAr- (ef.Billstr0met al.,in press).Massiveoredeposition in these
chcaneratonin thenorthbeforepeakmetamorphism at 1.84 areasmaybe up to 10 to 20 m.y.younger.
to 1.82Ga.An alternative model,wherea migrating, single Goldoccurs principallyin twosettings: asthe mainmetal
aresystem createdigneous rockswhichcovered all the men- of economic interest in lodedepositshosted by,or associated
tionedareas,seems lesslikelysince,in sucha ease,consistentwith,quartzveins,andasa constituent of themassive sulfide
agevariations withgeographic location wouldbe expected. depos.its. Recentresults suggestthatgolddeposition in both
environmentsispremetamorphie in origin,butthatgoldhas
Metallogeny andCrustalGrowth been mobilizedafter primarydeposition(Bromanet al.,
Based on the observation that the 1.89 to 1.87 Ga volcanism 1994).
Geochronologieal
workonthe,•kerberg
goldlodede-
in boththe Skellefte andArvidsjaur districtsis extremelyposit(Fig. 2) suggests an ageof ore deposition aroundca.
felsiein nature,Allenet al. (1996a)arguefor anextensional1.87Gawhichisin agreement witha premetamorphic gold-
continental are setting.The absence of basement rocksin concentrating event(Billstr0m, 1996).Preliminary U-Pbdata
theseareasandthelackof firmisotopic evidence fora much for the intrusionhostingthe majorAu depositat Bjorkdal
older(e.g.,Arebean) basement areseemingly in conflict
with indicatea maximum ageof initialveinformation at ca. 1905
a modelwhichinvokes a continental aresetting(el.Weihed Ma (Billstr0m,1996).In thesupracrustal sequence, goldwas
et al., 1992).Thiscanpossibly be resolvedby inferringthe firstintroducedinto the volcanicpile at 1.89 to 1.88 Ga,
existence of anonlymarginally olderbasement of Paleopro- whichis indicated by the gold-richnatureof the volcanic-
terozoie age(2.1-2.0Ga),asdiscussed above.Fromagede- hostedmassive sulfidedeposits (ef. Nieolsonet al., 1988;
terminationson rockssituatedwithin the Skellefteare, it is Allenet al.,1996a).It wasprobably deposited or remobilized
evidentthatno rockswith agessignificantly exceeding ca. alsoat a latestagesimilarto thelate-stage formation of mas-
1900Ma exist.Thus,if a crystalline, felsiebasement of ca. sivesulfideoresin the north-central partof the districtand
2.0to 2.1 Gaageonceexisted in thisregion,theare-formingin the Bolidendomain.The presence of higherAu gradesin
processes musthavedestroyed allevidence of earlierigneous breeeiated partsof theorezoneat Bjorkdal(e.g.,Bromanet
activity. al., 1994)provides evidence for late-stagegoldconcentration
A modelwhichdiscusses theagesof volcanic-hosted, stra- processes. Moreover,primitiveleadisotopedatahavebeen
tiform massive sulfide ores in the Skellefte district has to obtained froma vein-type galenaat Niislidenin the north-
considertwo parameters: first,to what extentdo lateral centralpartof the district(RiekardandSvenson, 1984),and
changes in the ageof hostrocksexistand,second, which alsofromAugrains which,atleastpartly,wereobtained from
genetic modelispreferred. The1890to 1880Ma periodwas a heavymineralconcentrate fromtheHolmtjiirn minein the
a periodof rapidcrustal growth duringtheearlystage of are north-central part of the district(Riekardet al., 1991).In
evolution. With someexceptions, e.g.,the Bolidendomain both eases,Pb isotopedataare lessevolvedthanthe Pb
and partsof the north-central district,the entireSkellefte isotope signaturefbrthecorresponding massiveoresat Niisli-
volcanic sequence wasdeposited in thistimeintervalwhich denandHolmtjiirn, suggesting
thatdeep-seated sources sup-
consequently alsobrackets
the timingof the mainformation pliedlead(andgold)to uppercrustallevelssometimeafter
1070 BILLSTROM AND WEIHED

TABLE5. Summary
of Agesof TectonicEventsandMetallogeny
for the Skellefte
District

Age Metallogeny
Intrusive rocks Volcanic rocks Massive
(Ga) (Ga) Tectonicsetting,event ore Au ore Otheroretypes
>1.9 >1.9 Scattered,
juvenileprotocrust.
basement? Mesothermal
stage
(Bj6rkdal?)
1.89-1.88 1.89-1.88 Primitive are VHMS Porphyry-type
deposits
(Tallberg)
1.88-1.87 1.88-1.87 Maturearc,extensional
setting VHMS Epithermal
stage Ni ?
(Akerberg+ Bj6rkdal)
1.85 Migrationof arc,accretion? Epithermal
VHMS +Au
(Boliden)
1.84-1.82 Crustalthickening,
melting,regional Synmetamorphic
Au lode
metamorphism deposits
(Grundfors)

VHMS = volcanic-hosted massive sulfide

theformation of thevolcanic-hosted massive sulfidedeposits. (2.1-2.0 Ga) continental basement is indicated by the felsic
It is suggested thata hydrothermal eventwhichoverprinted character of the 1.9Gavolcanism, restitczirconages,andPb
thesemassive oresis relatedin timeto 1.87Ga magmatismisotope dataof oregalena,but the evidence for thiscrustal-
in the nearbyGallejaurarea,whichcouldhaveactedas a formingeventwasapparently destroyed by laterarcvolca-
heatenginefor hydrothermal circulation. The presence of nism.A possible remnantmaybe the Knaftenareain the
highMg maficto ultramafic rocksin theBolidenandHolm- Bothnian basin(Fig. 1) whichwasintrudedby granitoids at
tj•irndeposits canalsobe correlated in timeandspacewith ca. 1955 Ma.
goldmobilization. A deepsourceis likelyfor theserocks The Skellefte districtisinterpreted asa volcanic arcwhich
whichare suggested to haveformedduringan extensionalstartedto developat around1.90Ga. Magmatism withinthe
stageat ca. 1.87 Ga, whenweakness zonesextendeddown Skelleftedistrictseems to be episodic with discrete periods
to themantleandprovided anaccess formaficmagmas, gold, lastingupto ca.10m.y.Agesclusteraround1885Ma (volca-
andnickelto ascendupward.Furthermore, goldandother nicrocksof the SkellefteGroupandearly-stage granitoids),
metalsmayalsopartlyhavebeenintroduced or mobilized 1875Ma (Vargfors andArvidsjaur Groups, Gallejaur intrusive
duringan evenyoungereventat around1.85 Ga. Sparse rocks,andGII andGIII phases oftheJ6rnintrusive complex),
radiometric dataforJ6rn-type magmatism (zircon and1855Ma (late-stage
at Siktr•isk J6rngranitoids, e.g.,Siktr•isk).
The
sample 91015;age1855Ma),thereset(?) ageof ca.1847Ma isotopic character of the igneous activityfollowslocalpat-
for the massflowat Petiktr•isk (94016),anda monazite age terns,whichmaypartlycoincide withtheboundaries between
of 1852Ma forhydrothermal activityatBollden(cf.Bergman differentdomains thathavebeenoutlinedfromvolcanologi-
Weihedet al., 1996)supportaneventat 1.85Ga. Following cal studies(Allenet al., 1996a).Isotopesystematics were
accretion andthickening of the crust,goldwasremobilized possibly disturbed duringbotha Proterozoic andaveryyoung
and/orintroduced duringpeakmetamorphic conditions at stage.Thisgaveriseto a reversely discordant behavior for
1.84to 1.82Ga ago.ThisphaseformedminorAu-Asquartz U-Pbzircondataandto problems in revealing theinitialSr,
veinmineralizations suchasGrundfors (cf.Bergman, 1992). Nd, andPbisotope compositions forwholerocks.
Twoimportant featurescanbe notedwhensummarizing The two mainore deposittypesin the Skelleftedistrict,
available information onoretypesandeventsof oredeposi- volcanic-hosted massive sulfideandAu lodedeposits, have
tion.First,theemplacement of goldandmassive sulfide ores developed roughly duringthesametimeinterval, butformed
maybe linkedin time and locallyin space,althoughthe bydifferentoreconcentration processes andin differentenvi-
depositional processes mayhavebeendifferentfor the two ronments. Intrusivemagmaticactivitymayhaveactedasa
oretypes.Second, metaldeposition-mobilization appears to heatengineduringallthreeof thesuggested magmatic peri-
be strongly correlatedwith threeshort-lived, discretemag- ods, and metals have either been introduced or mobilized
maticepochs in the Skelleftedistrictat ca.1885to 1880Ma, duringtheseevents. Tentatively,basemetals wereintroduced
at 1875 to 1870 Ma, and at 1855 to 1850 Ma. at 1885to 1880Ma in extensional settingsduringan early
Conclusions stageof the arc evolution when the volcanic sequence accu-
mulated.Certainvolcanic-hosted massivesulfidedeposits
A comparatively complex crustalevolutionary historymay (e.g.,Holmtj•irn) arerelatedto sedimentary unitsoftheVarg-
be outlinedfor the Skelleftedistrictand adjacentterranes forsGroup(Allenet al., 1996a)andprobably formedclose
(Table5, Fig. 3). The presence of granitoids with variable to 1875Ma. Major,mesothermal (?),epigenetic golddeposits
agesin excess of 1.9Ga,whichareintrusive intosupracrustal(e.g., Bj6rkdal and•kerberg) wereessentially related toan
rocks,impliesthat the deposition of sedimentary unitsoc- extensional stageatca.1875Ma,whenmaficandfelsicrocks
curredovera verylongtime span(cf. Lundqvistet al., in intrudedintothevolcanic arc.Possibly evenlater,at ca.1.87
press). A consequence ofthesetimerelationships isthatsedi- to 1.85 Ga, epithermal-type basemetalandgolddeposits
mentaryrocksmaybe foundbothaboveandbeneathSveco- (e.g.,Boliden)wereformedduringa syn-or postuplift stage.
fennianvolcanic units.The existence of a pre-SvecofennianFollowing thisphase, minormetamorphogenic-mesothermal
 OREAGE & PROVENANCE,SKELLEFTEDISTRICT 1071

golddeposits
(e.g.,Grundfors)
wereformedat ca. 1.84to development of leadisotopic provinces
in the Skellefte
district,Sweden:
1.82 Ga. Mineralium Deposita,v. 29, p. 111-119.
Billstr0m,
K., Frietsch,R., andPerdahl,J.A.,in press,Regional
variations
in
thePbisotopic compositions of oregalenaacross theArchean-Proterozoic
Acknowledgments border in northern Sweden: Precambrian Research.
Broman, C., Billstr0m, K., Gustavsson,
K., and Fallick, A.E., 1994, Fluid
BolidenMineralAB andRodney Allenareacknowledged inclusions,stableisotopesandgolddeposition at BjOrkdal,
northern Swe-
fortheirsupportofthisproject
andforstimulating discussions den:MineraliumDeposita,v. 29, p. 139-149.
onthe regional geologyof the Skelleftedistrict.
LaboratoryClaesson,L-•t.,1985,
Thegeochemistry ofEarlyProterozoic metavolcanic
workwascarriedoutat thelaboratory forisotopegeologyin rockshostingmassivesulfidedeposits in the Skelleftedistrict,northern
Stockholm andHansSchoberg is thanked forhisassistance. Sweden:GeologicalSocietyof LondonJournal, v. 142,p. 899-909.
Rodney Allen,JeanetteBergman Weihed,BennyMattsson,Claesson, S., 1987,Nd isotopedataon 1.9-1.2 Ga-oldbasicrocksand
metasedimentsfrom the Bothnianbasin, central Sweden:Precambrian
andSven-•ke
Svenson
guided
theauthors
in thefieldand Research,
v. 35,p. 115-126.
suggested suitablesamplesites.FinallyNUTEK (Swedish Claesson, S.,andLundqvist, T., 1995,Originsandagesof Proterozoicgranit-
NationalBoardfor Industrialand TechnicalDevelop- oidsin the Bothnianbasin,centralSweden;isotopicandgeochemical
ment)and theGeological Survey ofSweden
providedfinancial constraints: Lithos,v. 36, p. 115-140.
Claesson,S.,Huhma,H., Kinny,P.D.,andWilliams, I.S.,1993,Svecofennian
supportin thecontext of theresearch
program"Oregeology detritalzirconages--implications for the Precambrian evolution
of the
related
toprospecting" (PIM).Improvementsinthetextwere BalticShield:Precambrian Research, v. 64,p. 109-130.
suggestedbyJeanette Bergman WeihedandMichaelB. Ste- Cliff, R.A.,Rickard,D., andBlake,K., 1990,Isotopesystematics of the
phens.Constructive reviews bytwoEconomicGeology refer- Kirunamagnetite ores,Sweden: PartI. Ageof theore:ECONOMIC GEOL-
eesgreatlyimproved the manuscript. OgY,v. 85,p. 1770-1776.
DePaolo,D.J., 1981,Neodymium isotopes in the Colorado frontrangeand
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