U-Pb ages of zircons from metamorphic rocks in the upper sequence of the Hidaka metamorphic belt, Hokkaido, Japan; Identification of two metamorphic events and implications for regional tectonics

Takahashi, Yutaka*; Mikoshiba, Masumi*; Shimura, Toshiaki*; Nagata, Mitsuhiro   ; Iwano, Hideki*; Danhara, Toru*; Hirata, Takafumi*

The Hidaka metamorphic belt is an excellent example of island-arc-type crust, and in this belt the metamorphic grade increases westwards from unmetamorphosed sediment up to the granulite facies. The metamorphic age of the belt had previously been considered to be ca. 55 Ma. However, zircons from the granulites in the lower sequence have given U-Pb ages of ca. 21-19 Ma and a preliminary report on zircons from pelitic gneiss in the upper sequence gave a U-Pb age of ca. 40 Ma. In this paper we provide new U-Pb ages for zircons from the pelitic gneisses in the upper sequence in order to assess the metamorphic age and also the maximum depositional age of the sedimentary protolith. The weighted mean Pb/U ages and 2 sigma errors for zircons from biotite gneiss in the central area of the belt are 39.6 0.9 Ma for metamorphic overgrowth rims and 53.1 0.9 Ma for the youngest inherited detrital cores. The ages of zircons from cordierite-biotite gneiss in the southern area are 35.9 0.7 Ma for overgrowth rims and 46.5 2.8 Ma for the youngest detrital cores. These results indicate that the metamorphism of the upper sequence took place at ca. 40-36 Ma, and that the sedimentary protolith was deposited after ca. 53-47 Ma. These metamorphic ages are consistent with the reported ages of ca. 37-36 Ma plutonic rocks in the upper sequence, but contrast with the ca. 21-19 Ma ages of metamorphic and plutonic rocks in the lower sequence. Therefore, we conclude, that the upper and lower metamorphic sequences developed independently but became coupled before ca. 19 Ma as a result of dextral reverse tectonic movements, as indicated by the intrusion of ca. 19-18 Ma magmas, possibly generated in the lower sequence, into the upper sequence.