Age significance of U–Th–Pb zircon data from early Archaean rocks of west Greenland—a reassessment based on combined ion-microprobe and imaging studies

The geochronological evolution of early Archaean Amı̂tsoq gneisses from southern West Greenland is reassessed here using the well-established cathodoluminescence imaging method both to reveal previously undocumented complex zircon growth histories and to control positioning of ion-microprobe U–Th–Pb analyses. Several of the gneisses typically contain zircon grains with ≥3.8 Ga cores of igneous origin, mostly completely mantled by growth banded magmatic zircon at ca. 3.65 Ga and in turn partly mantled by late Archaean metamorphic overgrowths at ca. 2.7 Ga. The ≥3.8 Ga cores are regarded as inherited, with apparent dates ranging down to ca. 3.65 Ga reflecting differential Pb loss. This contrasts with published views interpreting ≥3.8 Ga dates as emplacement ages of the host rock to the zircons, with all younger ages representing later Pb loss and/or metamorphic recrystallisation. Two of the analysed gneisses have discordant relationships to metasedimentary enclaves containing accessory apatite with graphite inclusions whose C-isotope ratios have been considered as biogenic in origin. The present data show that the minimum age of the enclaves is 3.65 Ga and not 3.85 Ga as previously claimed. This has important implications for the current debate on the possibility of temporal overlap of earliest life with a bolide impact scenario terminating at ≥3.8 Ga (as on the moon). We also discuss the implication of the discovery of highly complex internal structures in Amı̂tsoq gneiss zircons for the interpretation of published, zircon-derived Lu–Hf information.