The Vendian alkaline igneous suite of northern Timan: ion microprobe U-Pb zircon ages of gabbros and syenite

Abstract Near the Barents Sea coast in northern Timan, turbidites of probable Neoproterozoic age are intruded by pre-tectonic dolerites and a major suite of gabbros, granites and syenites (some nepheline bearing). Zircon ion microprobe dating of three plutons has yielded well-defined ages of 613–617 Ma. This alkaline igneous activity apparently represents a final phase of Vendian extensional magmatism prior to Timanian Orogeny. Previous work on late to post-orogenic calc-alkaline granites in the basement beneath the Pechora Basin, three hundred kilometres towards the SE, has yielded c. 550–560 Ma single zircon Pb-evaporation ages. These compositionally different intrusive suites are inferred to constrain the main phase of Timanian Orogeny to c. 610–560 Ma.