lin-Ketilidian structure and the rapakivi suite between Lindenow Fjord and Kap Farvel, South-East Greenland

The southern tip of Greenland is underlain by the Palaeoproterozoic Ketilidian orogen (e.g. Chadwick & Garde 1996; Garde et al. 1998a). Field investigations in the summer of 1999 were focused on the structure of migmatites (metatexites) and garnetiferous granites (diatexites) of the Pelite Zone in the coastal region of SouthEast Greenland between Lindenow Fjord and Kap Farvel (Figs 1, 2). Here, we first address the tectonic evolution in the Pelite Zone in that region and its correlation with that in the Psammite Zone further north. Then, the structure and intrusive relationships of the rapakivi suite in the Pelite Zone are discussed, including particular reference to the interpretation of the controversial outcrop on Qernertoq (Figs 2, 8). Studies of the structure of the north-eastern part of the Julianehåb batholith around Qulleq were continued briefly from 1998 but are not addressed here (Fig. 1; Garde et al. 1999). The field study was keyed to an interpretation of the Ketilidian orogen as a whole, including controls of rates of thermal and tectonic processes in convergent settings. Earlier Survey field work (project SUPRASYD, 1992–1996) had as its principal target an evaluation of the economic potential of the orogen (Nielsen et al. 1993). Ensuing plate-tectonic studies were mainly funded in 1997–1998 by Danish research foundations and in 1999 by the Natural Environment Research Council, UK. The five-week programme in 1999 was seriously disrupted by bad weather, common in this part of Greenland, and our objectives were only just achieved. Telestation Prins Christian Sund was the base for our operations (Fig. 2), which were flown with a small helicopter (Hughes MD-500).

Fig. 2 25 km Fig. 1.Geological and location map of South-East Greenland, showing the Julianehåb batholith and other granites (pink), the Psammite and Pelite Zones (yellow and brown) with the rapakivi suite (purple), the Stendalen gabbro complex (green) and a Gardar intrusion (grey).ear component.U-Pb zircon geochronology showed that rapakivi emplacement was separated from the regional metamorphism and migmatisation by some 40 Ma (Gulson & Krogh 1975).
Field work during project SUPRASYD led the present authors and their coworkers to conclude that the structure of the Psammite Zone in South-East Greenland (Fig. 1) was the result of four, and locally five, phases of deformation which took place during high temperature / low pressure metamorphism (Chadwick & Garde 1996;Garde et al. 1998a and references therein;Garde et al. 1998b); the tectonic chronology is outlined in Table 1.A comprehensive but partly unpublished data-base of U-Pb zircon ages (e.g.Hamilton 1997) shows that HT-LP metamorphism, anatexis and at least the first three phases of deformation occurred between c. 1792-1785 Ma ago and long before emplacement of the rapakivi granites, as indicated previously by the work of Gulson & Krogh (1975).Previous work related to the rapakivi suite is discussed below.

Structure of the metatexites and diatexites
Metatexites and diatexites derived from psammites, semipelites and pelites characterise the Pelite Zone on the south-eastern coast of Greenland (Fig. 2).Metatexites primarily occur between outer Lindenow Fjord at Kuugaarmiut Qeqertaat and Kap Ivar Huitfeldt; diatexites predominate southward to Kap Farvel.The generally shallow solid-state fabrics in metatexites and magmatic-and solid-state fabrics in diatexites are gently warped in upright arches and troughs which mainly trend NW-SE.The warping appears to be closely related to the emplacement of rapakivi granites discussed later.

Metatexites
The metatexites are typically banded with palaeosome interleaved with broadly concordant seams of neosome (Fig. 3).Palaeosome with locally preserved bedding and early thin seams of neosome are seen as part of a transposed planar fabric in most outcrops.Thick seams of biotite + garnet ± cordierite neosome (locally alaskitic) were generated in situ or emplaced later than the trans-  posed neosome.Abundant biotite, garnet, cordierite and fibrolite point to a semipelitic precursor for most metatexites, but psammitic palaeosome is evident in some outcrops.Nodules with hornblende and garnet like those in semipelites north of outer Lindenow Fjord are common.The metatexites also contain disrupted mafic and ultramafic sheets presumed to be relics of early appinitic intrusions, like those in semipelites and psammites north of the fjord.Deformation in the metatexites between outer Lindenow Fjord and Kap Ivar Huitfeldt appears to have taken place in three stages.The earliest is represented by disrupted, tight to isoclinally folded mafic sheets which are flanked by psammites with well-preserved bedding.Palaeosome/neosome banding in associated metatectic semipelites forms a transposed fabric which is axial planar to these folds, for example on the mainland south of Dronning Louise Ø.The folds have a locally intense coaxial mineral lineation or ribbing.These characteristics point to correlation with D2 north of Lindenow Fjord (Table 1).A later phase of folding is represented by common asymmetric folds verging either north or south with axial surfaces dipping 30-40°n orth or south (Fig. 4).Differences in vergence suggest that large-scale flat-lying folds (nappes) are present, but none were positively identified.Axial planar neosome and S fabrics of transposed older palaeosome and neosome are common (Fig. 4).On Dronning Louise Ø, these folds deform the linear fabric and correlate with D3 north of Lindenow Fjord (Table 1).The refolded lineation is best preserved in competent, non-migmatised psammite and amphibolite lithologies, but is commonly transposed to new L3 intersection and mineral lin-eations.In the adjacent metatexites, F3 folds are characterised by an intense coaxial mineral lineation, and L2 has been almost universally transposed to L3.
South of Dronning Louise Ø, minor folds coaxial with the intense lineation are common.Their shallow SW, W, NE and E plunges suggest that larger scale folds have curving hinge lines.Fold scales vary widely but long limbs of the largest structures preserve the regional shallow dip between Kuugaarmiut Qeqertaat and Kap Ivar Huitfeldt.Shear bands and asymmetric tails to nodules indicate transport of the hanging wall towards the south-west or west, and towards the north-east or east, parallel to the shallow lineation.
Refolding of the D2 lineation was seen only at a few localities south of Dronning Louise Ø.The paucity of refolding is attributed to transposition of L2 to L3 in the metatexites which predominate over competent units that best preserve L2 further north.Transposition of L2 to L3 accounts for the differences in displacement direction observed parallel to the mineral lineation.We infer that the prominent folds of the regional D1/D2 fabric in the metatexites south of Dronning Louise Ø are most likely of D3 age.

Diatexites
Garnetiferous granite (diatexite) with rafts of metatexite and xenoliths of psammite and amphibolite dominates west of Kap Ivar Huitfeldt and between Prins Christian Sund and Kap Farvel (Figs 2-4).Most of the diatexites are characterised by high amphibolite facies assemblages, but small areas with granulite facies assemblages occur on Qeqertasussuk.The diatexite bound- aries are generally concordant with palaeosome/neosome banding in the underlying metatexites, and the diatexites appear generally to overlie the metatexites.Common garnet, cordierite and subhedral feldspar megacrysts contrast with irregular feldspars and lack of garnet in many diatexites north of Lindenow Fjord.These differences may be effects of either different metasedimentary precursors or movement of the garnetiferous diatexites further from their source rocks, but the extent to which the diatexites are autochthonous or intrusive is unclear.Bridgwater et al. (1966) and Sutton & Watterson (1968) highlighted a regionally concordant, subhorizontal sheet of granodiorite up to more than 1 km thick in the eastern part of the region between Lindenow Fjord and Kap Farvel, bounded by veins of aplite and pegmatite in the host metatexites.The exact position and affinity of this sheet are unclear from their descriptions, but outcrops along Prins Christian Sund that we consider likely to belong to this sheet are part of the regional diatexites and not related to the Julianehåb batholith or the rapakivi suite.
The diatexites are dominated by a subhorizontal magmatic-state LS fabric indicated by alignment of alkali feldspar megacrysts.Transitions to a coplanar solidstate LS fabric are common.Both top-to-the-N or -NE, and top-to-the-S or -SW displacements are indicated by winged feldspars and asymmetric calc-silicate boudins.These conflicting shear senses appear to mirror the hanging wall displacements in the metatexites between Dronning Louise Ø and Kap Ivar Huitfeldt.
Large-scale recumbent folds with uncertain vergence deform layering in the diatexites north and south of Prins Christian Sund.Numerous large-scale folds with northerly vergence are marked by dark sheets of amphibolite or metatexite in diatexites in eastern Qernertoq (Fig. 5) and elsewhere.These folds also appear to deform the fabric in the diatexites, but their vergence is consistent with top-to-the-NE shear sense in the main LS fabric.A few of the folds in eastern Qernertoq have shallow-dipping dark sheets (possibly including norites contemporaneous with the rapakivi granites and older appinites) parallel to axial surfaces of the N-verging folds (Fig. 5).
The recumbent and N-verging folds in the metatexites and diatexites, for example those along Prins Christian Sund and on eastern Qernertoq, appear on the one hand to be consistent with orogen-parallel topto-the-NE displacement on low-angle magmatic-and solid-state fabrics and could therefore be D1/D2 structures like those in the Psammite Zone (Table 1).On the other hand, the folding of diatexite fabrics suggests a D3 age for the recumbent and N-verging folds (such as those visible on Fig. 5).This correlation implies that D3 had a significant impact as far south as Kap Farvel.
A sample of diatexite collected by D. Bridgwater from Kap Farvel has yielded a U-Pb zircon age of 1790 ± 1 Ma (GGU 77948 on Fig. 2; Hamilton 1997), whereas the rapakivi granite exposed at Prins Christian Sund yielded a U-Pb bulk zircon age of c. 1734 Ma (Gulson & Krogh 1975).Since diatexite 77948 was collected within the Pelite Zone where rocks of the rapakivi suite are common, its age provides important additional evidence to show that the regional metamorphism and extensive partial melting are much older than the emplacement of the rapakivi suite, contrary to the interpretation by Dempster Fig. 5. South-north profile of south-eastern Qernertoq (cf.Fig. 8).The dark S-dipping horizon to the left and its flat-lying continuation on the high tops in the centre is the basal part of the rapakivi sheet overlying shallow-dipping garnetiferous meta-and diatexites.These steepen towards the north and south over a major arch.The rapakivi sheet steepens in accord with this structure at the southern end of the profile to the left, where it is also discordant (see main text).Note the N-verging folds in metatexites (e.g.where marked by arrow), which predate the arch.Peak on the right is 1081 m high.
et al. (1991).It also supports a close temporal relationship between high-grade metamorphism and deformation, specifically D1/D2, in the Psammite and Pelite Zones: in the Psammite Zone D1/D2 coincides with the emplacement of a hornblende granite sheet dated at 1792 ± 1 Ma (Hamilton 1997;Garde et al. 1998a).

Grey granodiorite sheet on Dronning Louise Ø
A c. 500 m thick sheet of biotite granodiorite sensu lato was emplaced into the metatexites on south-eastern Dronning Louise Ø (Fig. 2).Large feldspars and ellipsoidal enclaves of darker grey granodiorite have a strong linear preferred orientation within a weak magmaticstate S fabric.The LS fabric is broadly parallel to the pervasive palaeosome/neosome banding in the host metatexites.The grey granodiorite is cut by irregular pegmatites and thin lenses of neosome associated with diffuse small-scale shear zones dipping steeply north-east.Extensional shear bands dropping down to the southwest are also common.At the contact with the metatexites the granodiorite has an intense magmatic-state S fabric broadly concordant with the S fabric in the adjacent metatexites.Later sills of granite were emplaced along the boundary.The outcrop points to large-scale folding of the sheet by D3.Isotopic age determination is in hand to establish whether the sheet on Dronning Louise Ø is contemporaneous with the above mentioned hornblende granite emplaced during D1/D2 deformation north of Lindenow Fjord.

Rapakivi suite including mafic dykes
Spectacular exposures of rapakivi and related granites in the Prins Christian Sund -Kap Farvel region, ranging in size from small outcrops to entire mountains, provided new insight into their contact relationships, states of deformation and overall shapes.These observations have important bearings on the emplacement mechanisms and geotectonic setting of the rapakivi suite, which have been much debated in the literature and are addressed below.

Lithologies, regional extent and contact phenomena
The rapakivi suite comprises different varieties of rapakivi granite (i.e. with mantled K-feldspar megacrysts), other facies of granites, noritic bodies and mafic dykes.The two rapakivi granites distinguished on the map are both coarse-grained; the most common is a brown variety that predominates the rapakivi suite south of Aluup Tunua (Fig. 2).Basal contacts of brown rapakivi granite with metatexites are commonly knife-sharp and discordant, and the granite lacks internal strain, for example in eastern Tullerunnat.Xenoliths of hornfelsed metatexites are common in the basal parts of the granites (Fig. 6; Grocott et al. 1999).Hornfelsed metatexites below the contacts are locally folded irregularly, presumably as an effect of thermally induced deformation (rheomorphism).Hornfelsing, with sheaves of secondary dark red biotite, is also prominent beneath the sheet in central Qernertoq, north of Sammisoq and in north-western Tullerunnat.West of Telestation Prins Christian Sund the base of the rapakivi intrusion is cut by rheomorphic veins and shows localised brittle shearing.The contact in eastern Tullerunnat is cut by garnetiferous pegmatite.

Structure of the rapakivi sheet between Aluup Tunua and Sammisoq
The outcrops of brown rapakivi granite and related rocks between Aluup Tunua and Sammisoq-Qernertoq suggest that they once formed a continuous sheet at least 1 km thick.The sheet is arched over large-scale antiformal structures in the host diatexites and occupies complementary synformal structures between the arches, some of which are below sea level.Most of these structures trend NW-SE with shallow NW-or SE-plunging axes, but the regional outcrop on Qernertoq and western Sammisoq indicates superimposed or contemporaneous arches trending NE-SW (Figs 2,5,8).Whereas most antiforms and synforms are gentle or open structures, the base of the rapakivi intrusion on Tullerunnat occupies a tight synformal cusp (Fig. 7).Sharp steepening of the diatexite foliation below the near-vertical base of the rapakivi sheet is evident in central, southern and north-eastern Sammisoq; see Fig. 2 and Bridgwater et al. (1974, fig. 7), a view from the east towards peak 1175 m in north-eastern Sammisoq.
The large-scale domes and basins which control the overall rapakivi outcrop have much in common with D4 and D5 structures north of Lindenow Fjord (Table 1), including Graah Fjelde, the Stendalen gabbro complex and the Kangerluaraq interference structure (Fig. 1; Garde et al. 1998c;Grocott et al. 1999).In the last area an E-W-trending intermediate dyke which appears to be contemporaneous with the interference structure has yielded a U-Pb zircon age of c. 1736 Ma (Hamilton, unpublished data).Accordingly, the domes and basins controlling the structure of the rapakivi sheet south of Aluup Tunua are tentatively correlated with D4 and D5.

Rapakivi and related granites on Qernertoq
Field work on Qernertoq (Fig. 8) focused on the much debated shape of the sheet of brown rapakivi granite in the eastern and south-eastern parts of the island and its relationship to the system of late arches and domes described above.Bridgwater et al. (1974, fig. 7), describing the rapakivi granites in general terms as mushroomshaped intrusions with thick subvertical stems, presented a photograph of steeply inclined rapakivi granite on north-eastern Sammisoq but incorrectly labelled the locality as depicting the 1081 m peak on south-eastern  Qernertoq, where the granite is subhorizontal.Two subsequent maps (Hutton et al. 1990;Grocott et al. 1999) show the gently-dipping floor of the intrusion at the 1081 m peak steepening southward and cutting progressively downwards across host-rock fabrics.Hutton et al. (1990) regarded this geometry as prima facie evidence of emplacement in an extensional fault system.On the other hand, Grocott et al. (1999) argued that the contacts steepened towards a rapakivi feeder dyke.Observations in 1999 show that the orientation of the basal contact changes from vertical at sea level on the eastern shore of Kuulik to c. 45°on the opposite, eastern side of the mountain forming the peninsula of Ikerasakasiip Qaqqaa (Fig. 8).The high cliffs on the east coast (Fig. 5) also reveal that the sheet has an open, dome-like shape in accord with a major structure 7 km across in the underlying diatexites (see also Fig. 7).In spite of the new field data, the relative roles of emplacement-related floor depression and folding in controlling the sheet geometry on Qernertoq are uncertain (cf.Grocott et al. 1999).
The brown rapakivi granite is largely underlain by garnetiferous diatexites typical of the Pelite Zone.However, in south-eastern and south-western Qernertoq the brown rapakivi granite is in contact with undeformed, homogeneous grey K-feldspar megacrystic granite sensu lato (generally without rapakivi-textured feldspars), which Becker & Brown (1985), Hutton et al. (1990) and Brown et al. (1992) correlated with the regional diatexites.On the grounds of its homogeneity, coarse, rarely rapakivi-textured feldspars and absence of garnet, we provisionally regard this granite as a grey facies of the rapakivi suite (Fig. 8).A related facies of undeformed grey granite sensu lato with K-feldspar megacrysts, rapakivi-textured feldspar xenocrysts, abundant enclaves of grey microdiorite, and xenoliths of intensely deformed metasedimentary rock is part of the rapakivi suite on north-western Qernertoq.
The shape of the rapakivi sheet on Qernertoq is inconsistent with emplacement in an extensional regime as suggested by Hutton et al. (1999) and Hutton & Brown (2000).It is also at variance with the interpretation of its outcrop on south-eastern Qernertoq as a feeder dyke proposed by Grocott et al. (1999).Nevertheless, the undulating form of the sheet between Prins Christian Sund and Sammisoq is comparable with the shape of the bases of the two rapakivi sheets at the head of Lindenow Fjord and at Graah Fjelde still further north (Fig. 1), whose emplacement is interpreted as the result of roof uplift or floor depression (Grocott et al. 2000, in press).

Sheeted dyke complex comagmatic with rapakivi granite
Although solid-state fabrics are uncommon in the rapakivi suite, a steep to vertical, NW-SE-trending sheeted dyke complex about 200 m wide north of Prins Christian Sund shows that deformation was contemporaneous with rapakivi granite emplacement.Dykes in the south-eastern, coastal part of the exposure along Aluup Ikerasaa Tunorleq (Fig. 2) were first reported by Harrison et al. (1990) who interpreted them as a synplutonic complex cutting a mass of mixed magma within the rapakivi 'pluton'.The dyke complex was described as comprising composite intrusions with aphyric basalts chilled against the host rocks and micro-rapakivi gran- ite in the dyke interiors.Harrison and his co-workers drew attention to mafic facies in the dykes with crenulate contacts and intense dextral shear fabrics and concluded that the dykes were emplaced in a dextral shear zone.In 1999 the synplutonic dyke complex was found to extend 5 km north-west into the high ground west of Aluup Ikerasaa Tunorleq.It comprises a swarm of dykes derived from mixed felsic and mafic magmas emplaced during dextral shear, as shown by asymmetric magmatic-state folds of dykes, magmatic-state fabrics oblique to dyke boundaries (Fig. 9A) and solid-state S-C fabrics.The mixed-melt dykes have mineralogical compositions identical to, but texturally different from, the host brown rapakivi granite.Xenoliths of porphyritic garnetiferous granite (diatexite) with magmatic-state flow fabrics are common in the brown rapakivi granite, some many cubic metres in size.Mafic dykes emplaced into the brown rapakivi granite before full crystallisation were variably disrupted during the comingling process (Fig. 9B).Dykes in the vertical sheeted complex show a wide range of immiscible melt structures including lobate boundaries, complex pillows and bolsters, and diffuse concentric banding in mafic facies.Concentric and radial fractures facilitated intrusion of felsic magma into basic pillows and led to progressive inflation by granite in pillow cores (Fig. 9C).Comparable net-veined mafic dykes are also known from rapakivi granites in the southwestern part of the Psammite Zone (e.g.Dawes 1970).Steeply inclined brown rapakivi granite sheets which may represent feeder dykes were seen in garnetiferous diatexite north of Aluup Ikerasaa Tunorleq and in northwestern Qernertoq.Dextral shearing on NW-SE-trending zones was also seen in garnetiferous diatexite in the nunatak area north-west of Aluup Ikerasaa Tunorleq and in the inlet Kanajoorartuut Kangerluat.
The sheeted dyke complex shows not only that rapakivi granite magmatism was fed by dykes as implied by the model of Grocott et al. (1999), but it was also closely linked with NW-SE-trending dextral shearing that is compatible with the NE-SW-trending sinistral transpressive system of the Ketilidian orogen as a whole (Chadwick et al. 1994;Chadwick & Garde 1996).

Fig. 4 .
Fig. 4. Garnetiferous meta-and diatexite 2 km west of Kap Ivar Huitfeldt.The D1/D2 planar fabric and concordant neosome are folded by metre-scale folds correlated with D3.Note the younger transposed fabric and new neosome (e.g.along the 45 cm long hammer), which are both axial planar to the D3 folds.

Fig. 6 .
Fig. 6.Knife-sharp basal contact of the rapakivi granite sheet overlying hornfelsed metatexites, north-eastern Tullerunnat.Note the angular xenoliths of psammite.Ken McCaffrey for scale, pointing at the contact.

Fig. 7 .
Fig. 7. Profile A-B of the undulating base of the rapakivi granite sheet south-west of Prins Christian Sund.The position of the profile is shown on Fig. 2.??

Fig. 9 .
Fig. 9. Mafic and composite dykes comagmatic with rapakivi granite.Sheeted dyke complex, west of Aluup Ikerasaa Tunorleq.For location, see Fig. 2. Diameter of coin is 2.8 cm.A: Dextral shear indicated by oblique ellipsoidal mafic pillows on the margins of a net-veined dyke.B: Mafic dyke comingled with brown rapakivi granite.C: Mafic pillows inflated by granite sensu lato in part of a net-veined dyke.Various stages of central and concentric inflation are seen, leading to complete disruption of the mafic pillows.

Table 1 .
Summary of the Ketilidian tectonic chronology in the Psammite Zone, South-East Greenland