Silvia Volante

ETH Zurich | ETH Zürich · Department of Earth Sciences

The investigation of key minerals including zircon, apatite, titanite, rutile, monazite, xenotime, allanite, baddeleyite and garnet can retain critical information about petrogenetic and geodynamic processes and may be utilised to understand complex geological histories and the dynamic evolution of the continental crust. They act as small but often...

The study of magmatic and metamorphic processes is challenged by geological complexities like geochemical variations, geochronological uncertainties, and the presence/absence of fluids and/or melts. However, by integrating petrographic and microstructural studies with geochronology, geochemistry, and phase equilibrium diagrams investigations of dif...

Key minerals, including zircon, apatite, titanite, rutile, monazite, xenotime, allanite and garnet, can retain critical information about petrogenetic and geodynamic processes. This Special Publication showcases snapshots of the latest developments using key minerals in igneous, metamorphic and detrital rocks through current-state reviews, contribu...

The geodynamic regimes that operated during the Mesoproterozoic amalgamation of the first supercontinent on Earth, Nuna, remain poorly understood. Palaeogeographic Nuna reconstructions indicate that NE Australia and NW Laurentia were adjacent at its core—the ca. 1600 Ma collision between the Australian upper-plate (i.e., the Mount Isa Inlier) and t...

The Archean Eon was a time of geodynamic changes. Direct evidence of these transitions come from igneous/metaigneous rocks, which dominate cratonic segments worldwide. New data for granitoids from an Archean basement inlier related to the Southern São Francisco Craton (SSFC), are integrated with geochronological, isotopic and geochemical data on Ar...

The tectonic regimes that drove the 1560–1490 Ma granitic magmatism c. 50 m.yr. after the final assembly of the Proterozoic supercontinent Nuna in NE Australia remain elusive. Collision between NE Australia (Mount Isa Inlier—MTI) and NW Laurentia (Georgetown Inlier—GTI) occurred at c. 1600 Ma and was associated with a west-dipping subduction zone,...

The Araçuaí-West Congo Orogen is the result of convergence between the São Francisco and Congo cratons during the assembly of West Gondwana. Within this orogen, the Araçuaí Belt in SE Brazil reflects the western external domain. The Araçuaí Belt is characterized by major east-dipping structures and high- to medium pressure metamorphic rocks develop...

The ca. 1.60 Ga Isan Orogeny in NE Australia has been ascribed to the collision of Australia and Laurentia (North America), marking the final assembly of the Proterozoic supercontinent Nuna. However, details regarding the tectonic evolution of the orogen remains poorly constrained. To investigate the late- to post-orogenic thermal evolution and exh...

Accessory mineral thermometry and thermodynamic modelling are fundamental tools for constraining petrogenetic models of granite magmatism. U-Pb geochronology on zircon and monazite from S-type granites emplaced within a semi-continuous, whole-crust section in the Georgetown Inlier (GTI), NE Australia, indicates synchronous crystallisation at 1550 M...

Mineralization along continental suture zones is facilitated through the frequent presence of pathways from fertile mantle source regions to crustal repositories. Due to their inherent rheological weakness, these suture zones are often concealed, which hinders surface-based observations. Here, we use zircon U-Pb and sericite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating, and w...

The poly‐deformed Georgetown Inlier (GTI) in NE Australia has recently been suggested to record a 1.60 Ga orogenic event related to final Nuna assembly. However, the structural evolution of the inlier has remained poorly constrained at the regional scale, and major tectono‐thermal events occurred at circa 1.55 Ga. The GTI is the type region for con...

The final assembly of the Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Nuna was marked by the collision of Laurentia and Australia at 1.60 Ga, which is recorded in the Georgetown Inlier of NE Australia. Here we decipher the metamorphic evolution of this final Nuna collisional event using petrostructural analysis, major and trace element compositions of key miner...

Chemical diversity in Archaean tonalite–trondhjemite– granodiorite (TTG) rocks has been commonly proposed to reflect variable depth of melting [1]. TTGs preserving ‘highpressure’ signatures have been associated with deep subduction to >70 km depth [2,3] or overthickening of mafic plateaus [4]. However, the residual TTG source rocks are mostly absen...

This contribution illustrates a new type of map, the “geological event map” (1:250,000 scale), which highlights the progressive steps of the geologic history recorded in the polycyclic orogenic belt of the European Alps, at their southwestern termination facing the western Mediterranean Sea. The formula of historical progression simplifies comprehe...

The final assembly of the Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Nuna was marked by the collision of Laurentia (North America) and Australia between c. 1.6 and 1.53 Ga. The final suture of Nuna has been identified in NE Australia, where the Proterozoic Georgetown Inlier represents the accreted leading edge of Laurentia. However, the structural and metamorp...

The precise timing and nature of the final assembly of the supercontinent Nuna, marked by the collision of proto-Australia and Laurentia (North America) between 1.65 and 1.50 Ga, has remained elusive. The final Nuna suture has been speculated to be concealed in northeastern Australia, but univocal evidence for crustal thickening across the suture z...

The Georgetown Inlier of northeast Australia provides evidence of critical links between Australia and Laurentia during the late Paleoproterozoic and the early Mesoproterozoic. Detrital zircon age spectra from sedimentary strata within the inlier show two distinct changes in sedimentary provenance: (1) the lowermost units (depositional age ca. 1700...