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Zircon Trace Element Constraints on the Evolution of the Paleoproterozoic Birimian Granitoids of the West African Craton (Ghana)

  • Mineralogy and Petrogeochemistry
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Abstract

The Paleoproterozoic Birimian granitoids of the West African Craton (WAC) in the northwestern part of Ghana, have been studied for their zircon trace elements concentrations to infer the source characteristics, origin, and magmatic evolution. The zircons in the granitoids have Th/U ratios ranging from 0.03 to 1.55, and display depleted light rare earth elements (LREE) and enriched heavy rare earth elements (HREE) contents, characterized by pronounced positive to negative anomalies of Eu (Eu/Eu*=0.14–0.98 and 1.01–6.06, respectively) and Ce (Ce/Ce*=0.08–0.98 and 1.02–116, respectively), which may imply that they were derived from both magmatic and hydrothermal sources. The geochemical plots of U/Yb vs. Y and Hf, the positive correlation between Hf and the other high field strength elements (HFSE) and high rare earth elements (REE) contents, with enrichment in Ce and depletion in Eu, indicate that the granitoids possibly formed from partial melting of the crust. The trace elements characteristics (i.e., wide range of Hf, Ce/Ce*, Th/U and Zr/Hf values) of the zircons suggest that crystallization of the magma occurred under variable oxidation states, which spanned over a longer period, implying that our data corroborate interpretations from studies of whole-rock geochemistry and geochronology on the granitoids of northwestern Ghana. This further indicates that the evolution of the Birimian granitoids in this part of the WAC occurred earlier than what had been reported in the literature.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41522203) and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2016067) to Benxun Su. The authors wish to acknowledge Sai- Hong Yang of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory of IGGCAS for her assistance during the acquisition of CL images. We are also grateful to the Eastern Regional Office of the Geological Survey Department of Ghana, for providing logistical support and assisting in the field work. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-017-0799-4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Science, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana

    Patrick Asamoah Sakyi & Daniel Kwayisi

  2. Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Benxun Su, Chen Chen, Yang Bai & Melesse Alemayehu

  3. School of Earth Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Chen Chen & Yang Bai

  4. School of Applied Natural Science, Applied Geology Department, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia

    Melesse Alemayehu

Authors
  1. Patrick Asamoah Sakyi
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  2. Benxun Su
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  3. Daniel Kwayisi
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  4. Chen Chen
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  5. Yang Bai
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  6. Melesse Alemayehu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick Asamoah Sakyi.

Electronic supplementary material

Table S1

Trace element concentrations (ppm) and U-Pb ages for the zircons from the granitoids of the Lawra greenstone belt. U-Pb ages are from Sakyi et al. (2014)

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Sakyi, P.A., Su, B., Kwayisi, D. et al. Zircon Trace Element Constraints on the Evolution of the Paleoproterozoic Birimian Granitoids of the West African Craton (Ghana). J. Earth Sci. 29, 43–56 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-017-0799-4

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