ALBERT

Description: Mafic to ultramafic intrusions of the Qullinaaraaluk suite (Q-suite) were emplaced into the Ungava craton of the Northeastern Superior Province during an episode of intense igneous activity and crustal reworking from c. 2·74 to 2·70 Ga. Orthopyroxene-rich Q-suite intrusions from the Hudson Bay Terrane and southwestern Rivière Arnaud Terrane, and orthopyroxene-poor Q-suite intrusions from the north–central Rivière Arnaud Terrane indicate the existence of at least two Q-suite magma types: a subalkaline magma parental to the orthopyroxene-rich intrusions and a transitional magma parental to the orthopyroxene-poor intrusions. Both types of intrusions are characterized by light rare earth element (LREE)-enriched, high field strength element (HFSE)-depleted trace element profiles that reflect, in large part, contamination by the tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite-dominated crust. Near-chondritic to strongly sub-chondritic initial Nd (2·72 Ga) values (+2 to –10) of the Q-suite intrusions reflect the combined effects of both the amount of crustal contamination and the age-dependent isotopic composition of the contaminant. The inferred trace element profiles of the uncontaminated Q-suite magmas were probably flat to LREE-depleted. The transitional magmas that produced the least evolved dunitic cumulates of the Q-suite were ferropicrites (MgO ~14 wt %, FeO TOT ~17 wt %). In contrast, the magmas parental to the primitive Q-suite harzburgites were Fe-rich, high-Mg basalts (MgO ~11 wt %; FeO ~14 wt %). The high Fe contents of the Q-suite magmas are incompatible with derivation from a pyrolitic mantle [Mg-number ~0·90, Mg/(Mg + Fe TOT )] and require sources significantly enriched in iron (Mg-number ≤0·79). Both magma types are also characterized by relatively low Ni contents suggesting derivation from source regions depleted in Ni relative to pyrolitic mantle peridotite. Differences in the major element compositions of the subalkaline and transitional parental magmas may reflect compositional diversity among the Fe-rich mantle sources. Comparisons with melting experiments on compositions analogous to the Martian mantle suggest that the Q-suite magmas may rather be generated by different degrees of melting of a common source with an Fe content slightly lower than that of the Homestead L5 ordinary chondrite (Mg-number = 0·77). The Fe-rich picritic to high-Mg basaltic magmas last equilibrated with garnet-free harzburgitic to lherzolitic residues at upper mantle pressures (≤5 GPa). The craton-wide occurrence of c. 2·72–2·70 Ga Q-suite mafic to ultramafic plutons suggests that underplating by Fe-rich mantle melts may have had a key role in the c. 2·74–2·70 Ga cratonization of the Northeastern Superior Province.