Middle Jurassic U-Pb crystallization age for Siniktanneyak Mountain ophiolite, Brooks Range, Alaska

The authors report here a U-Pb age for the Siniktanneyak Mountain Ophiolite klippe in the west-central Brooks Range, the first U-Pb ophiolite age in northern Alaska. Like klippen of mafic and ultramafic rocks in the Brooks Range, the Siniktanneyak Mountain klippe is composed of a lower allochthon of Devonian and younger( ) diabase and metabasalt with trace-element characteristics of seamount basalts and an upper allochthon of ophiolite. The ophiolite is partial, consisting of (1) abundant dunite and subordinate harzburgite and wehrlite; (2) cumulate clinopyroxene gabbro, and (3) minor noncumulate clinopyroxene gabbro and subordinate plagiogranite; no sheeted dikes or volcanic rocks are known in the ophilitic allochthon. The plagiogranite forms small dikes and stocks that intrude the noncumulate gabbro and consists of zoned Na-rich plagioclase + clinopyroxene with interstial quartz and biotite. Five fractions of subhedral, tan zircon from the plagiogranite yield slightly discordant U-Pb data with an upper intercept age of 170 [+-] 3 Ma. The U-Pb data indicate that the Siniktanneyak Mountain ophiolite crystallized in the Middle Jurassic and was emplaced by thrusting onto mafic accretionary prism rocks within about 10 m.y. of crystallization. The U-Pb data provide an upper limit to the age of initiation of the Brookianmore » orogeny.« less