ORIGINAL PAPER Sr–Nd isotope and geochemical characterisation of the Paleoproterozoic Va ¨stervik formation (Baltic Shield, SE-Sweden): a southerly exposure of Svecofennian metasiliciclastic sediments I. C. Kleinhanns • M. Fischer-Go ¨dde • B. T. Hansen Received: 21 December 2009 / Accepted: 21 April 2011 / Published online: 25 May 2011 Ó Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract The Paleoproterozoic Va ¨stervik formation represents the southernmost exposure of Svecofennian metasediments and comprises a large psammitic succession of up to 5,000 m thickness dominated by quartzite with minor pelite and arkose. The Va ¨stervik formation was deposited in a time interval of *30 m.y. from 1.88 until 1.85 Ga. Whole-rock geochemical data and Rb–Sr–Sm–Nd analyses in combination with bulk zircon U–Pb ID–TIMS studies help to gain insight into the depositional and geo- dynamic history of the metasiliciclastic units of the Va ¨stervik formation. Discrimination function diagrams show good agreement of major element composition with petrographic characterisation pointing towards a quartzose sedimentary provenance area with a tendency towards felsic igneous provenance. Trace element characteristics show typical upper crustal composition and remarkably similar patterns despite the respective petrographic differ- ences. Sm–Nd isotope systematics reveal a restricted range of TDM with 2.3 ± 0.1 Ga and initial Nd (1.80 Ga) values from -4 to -2. These values are in agreement with known values from other Svecofennian sedimentary basins and support the interpretation of the Va ¨stervik formation as a typical Svecofennian metasedimentary sequence. Three samples were analysed with the zircon U–Pb ID–TIMS technique, and resulting mixing ages of *2.1 Ga are typ- ical for Svecofennian metasediments. The final stage of the geodynamic history of the Va ¨stervik area was a HT/LP overprint that caused intense migmatisation and anatectic production of in situ granite melts. This was accompanied by large-scale metasomatism, which led to a regional dis- turbance of the Rb–Sr isotope system indicating an age of *1,750 Ma for this event. This age overlaps with timing of the tectonic activity of the Loftahammar-Linko ¨ping deformation zone (LLDZ), a large-scale deformation zone, lying directly to the north of the study area, presumably linking these two events. Keywords Va ¨stervik basin Á Svecofennian domain Á Baltic Shield Á Rb–Sr Á Sm–Nd Á U–Pb Introduction The development of Paleoproterozoic quartzite successions along the southern margin of the combined Laurentia– Greenland–Baltica–craton (i.e. Buchan et al. 2000) can be followed from SE-Sweden (Svecofennian metaarenites) via Greenland (Ketilidian metapsammites) to the SW-United States (Yavapai and Matzatal orthoquartzites) along a more than 9,000 km long continental margin (Beunk and Page 2001; Karlstrom et al. 2001). Deposition ages of the sedi- mentary successions show a general trend with younging ages from Baltica (1.86–1.83 Ga; Bergman et al. 2008) to Greenland (1.80–1.75 Ga; Garde et al. 2002) and finally I. C. Kleinhanns Á M. Fischer-Go ¨dde Á B. T. Hansen GZG – Isotopengeologie, Georg-August-Universita ¨t, Goldschmidtstrasse 3, 37077 Go ¨ttingen, Germany I. C. Kleinhanns Institutt for geovitenskap, Universitetet i Bergen, Alle ´gaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway M. Fischer-Go ¨dde Institut fu ¨r Geologische Wissenschaften, Freie Universita ¨t Berlin, Malteserstrasse 74-100, 12249 Berlin, Germany Present Address: I. C. Kleinhanns (&) Institute for Geoscience, University Tu ¨bingen, Wilhelmstraße 56, 72074 Tu ¨bingen, Germany e-mail: kleinhanns@ifg.uni-tuebingen.de 123 Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) (2012) 101:39–55 DOI 10.1007/s00531-011-0667-x