Age of the Siberian craton crust beneath the northern kimberlite fields: Insights to the craton evolution Sergey I. Kostrovitsky a, ⁎, Sergey Yu. Skuzovatov a , Dmitry A. Yakovlev a , Jing Sun b , Lutz Nasdala c , Fu-Yuan Wu b a Vinogradov Institute of Geochemistry SB RAS, Favorskogo str. 1A, Irkutsk 664033, Russia b Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Beitucheng West Road, Chaoyang, Beijing 100029, China c Institut für Mineralogie und Kristallographie, Universität Wien, Althanstr. 14, 1090 Wien, Austria abstract article info Article history: Received 24 September 2015 Received in revised form 11 January 2016 Accepted 13 January 2016 Available online xxxx Handling Editor: R.D. Nance Comprehensive studies of zircon xenocrysts from kimberlites of the Kuoika field (northeastern Siberian craton) and several kimberlite fields of the eastern Anabar shield, along with data compilation on the age of kimberlite-hosting terranes, reveal details of the evolution of the northern Siberian craton. The age distribution and trace element characteristic of zircons from the Kuoika field kimberlites (Birekte terrane) provide evidence of significant basic and alkaline–carbonatite magmatism in northern Siberia in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods. The abundance of 1.8–2.1 Ga zircons in both the Birekte and adjacent Hapchan terranes (the latter hosting kimberlites of the eastern Anabar shield) supports the Paleoproterozoic assembly and stabilization of these units in the Siberian craton and the supercontinent Columbia. The abundance of Archean zircons in the Hapchan terrane reflects the input of an ancient source other than the Birekte terrane and addresses the evolution of the terrane to west (Magan and Daldyn terranes of the Anabar shield). The present study has also revealed the oldest known remnant of the Anabar shield crust, whose 3.62 Ga age is similar to that of another ancient domain of Siberia, the Aldan shield. The first Hf isotope data for the Anabar shield coupled with the U–Pb systematics indicate three stages of crustal growth (Paleoproterozoic, Neoarchean and Paleoarchean) and two stages of the intensive crustal recycling in the Paleoproterozoic and Neoarchean. Intensive reworking of the existing crust at 2.5–2.8 Ga and 1.8–2.1 Ga is interpreted to provide evidence for the assembly of Columbia. The oldest Hf model age estimation provides a link to Early Eoarchean (3.7–3.95 Ga) and possibly to Hadean crust. Hence, some of the Archean cratonic segments of the Siberian craton could be remnants of the Earth's earliest continental crust. © 2016 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Siberian craton Terranes Cratonic crust Zircons U–Pb age Hf isotopes 1. Introduction Early Precambrian cratons are the most informative areas for unraveling the history of continental growth and evolution. The age and structure of the cratonic lithosphere is one of the most problematic issues in Earth studies (Pearson et al., 1995a, 1995b; Jahn et al., 1998; Griffin et al., 1999; Artemieva et al., 2002; Griffin et al., 2002; 2003; Wittig et al., 2006; Wu et al., 2006; Pearson et al., 2007; Simon et al., 2007; Wu et al., 2008; Aulbach, 2012; Zheng et al., 2012; Doucet et al., 2015; Shatsky et al., 2015). To assess the age and tectonothermal evolution of cratons, provenance studies of a sedimentary substrate (e.g. Hirata, 2001; Gerdes and Zeh, 2003; Condie et al., 2005; Belousova et al., 2010; Parman, 2015) and mag- matic rocks (e.g. Condie, 1998, 2008) are commonly used. Resulting age distributions, commonly coupled with zircon Hf and O isotope data (e.g. Belousova et al., 2010), yield major stages of crustal growth and orogenic events within the continent. For the buried granulite-facies basement of the oldest cratons, the most reliable clues can be found in the age data for zircons and zircon-bearing xenoliths trapped by ascending kimberlites (Davis et al., 2003; Schmitz and Bowring, 2003; Downes et al., 2007; Flowers et al., 2008; Koreshkova et al., 2009; Zheng et al., 2012 and references therein; Wei et al., 2015). Kimberlites are well known as occurring within early Precambrian cratons and sample deep lithospheric roots. In this case, the zircon age data should directly characterize the vertical section of the corre- sponding lithosphere segment. This approach is required in par- ticular for evaluating histories of composite cratons with a complex and unclear structure such as the Siberian craton (Rosen et al., 1994; Griffin et al., 1999; Rosen et al., 2000, 2002, 2006; Koreshkova et al., 2009). Current understanding of the age and structure of Siberian cratonic basement and lithospheric mantle has been outlined mostly through studies of exposed rocks of the Anabar and Aldan shields, and the Gondwana Research xxx (2016) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +7 3952 511457; fax: +7 3952 427050. E-mail address: serkost@igc.irk.ru (S.I. Kostrovitsky). GR-01576; No of Pages 21 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2016.01.008 1342-937X/© 2016 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Gondwana Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gr Please cite this article as: Kostrovitsky, S.I., et al., Age of the Siberian craton crust beneath the northern kimberlite fields: Insights to the craton evolution, Gondwana Research (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2016.01.008