U–Pb LA–ICP–MS Age of Detrital Zircons from the Lower Riphean and Upper Vendian Deposits of the Luga–Ladoga Monocline

Abstract

The results of LA–ICP–MS U–Pb analyses of detrital zircons from the Precambrian deposits of Luga–Ladoga monocline are discussed. The age spectra of the zircons separated from the Riphean to Upper Vendian sandstones from the Shotkusa-1 well demonstrate dominance of the Paleo- and Mesoproterozoic grains while the Archaean zircons are subordinate. The Riphean debris sources were local swells of the Northern Ladoga basement. The sequence interval presumably corresponding to the Vasilieostrov Formation (Upper Vendian) has yielded not only Paleo- and Mesoproterozoic zircon ages, but Neoproterozoic as well, implying a Timanide provenance: these zircons (527 ± 9 and 516 ± 13 Ma) allow deposition of a significant part of the Shotkusa-1 sequence at the very beginning of the Cambrian.