Evidence of Meso-Archaean subduction from the Torckler-Tango Layered Complex, Rauer Group, Prydz bay, East Antarctica

The Archaean Torckler Tango Layered complex (TTLC) of the Rauer Group, East Antarctica, consists of a series of elongate mega-boudins that can be traced over a strike length of 7 km, enclosed within and intruded by c. 2.8 Ga homogeneous tonalitic orthogneisses. Despite later granulite facies metamorphism (860-900°C, 0.7 GPa) original igneous structures and layering features of the TTLC are very well preserved. Graded and cross stratified layering is evident, as are load-cast structures and geopetal structures. Isotopic and LILE signatures indicate that crustal contamination has been negligible and that metamorphic disturbances have been minor. As a result, the whole rock chemistry of the TTLC is considered to reflect its igneous protoliths. This whole rock geochemistry is distinctive, with high MgO (av. 15.8 wt%), high Mg# (av. 79.1) low TiO2 (av.< 0.33 wt%), and high SiO2 (av. 52.5 wt%). The TTLC can be subdivided into two geochemical groupings based upon Al2O3 and Cr abundances, which provide clear evidence for the crystal fractionation and accumulation processes active within the complex. Trace-element and REE element ratios show coherent trends. Based on its systematic major element (Al2O3/TiO2 ~40), trace element ratios Ti/Zr vs. Zr (Ti/Zr ~34-59 at Zr ~15-40 ppm), and negative HSFE anomalies, the TTLC is similar in geochemistry to both modern, neo-Proterozoic and Archaean boninitic rocks. Magmatic zircons define an intrusive age for the TTLC of ca. 3280 ± 22 Ma. HSFE ratios, and whole rock Nd isotope ratios recalculated back to this age, are consistent with a juvenile depleted source for the primary magma. The TTLC is therefore interpreted as the intrusive equivalent of a boninite, produced through the shallow melting of refractory mantle and supportive of the operation of subduction-like processes in the early-mid Archaean.