U-Pb systematics of stilbite-bearing low-temperature mineral assemblages from the Malmberget iron ore, northern Sweden

Minerals with a low thermal stability strongly constrain the history of cooling and later tectonic reworking of an area, provided these minerals can be dated. The possible use of stilbite, a Ca-Al-silicate of the zeolite group, for geochronologic studies was investigated. Open fractures in the Palaeoproterozoic Malmberget iron ore, northern Sweden, contain low-temperature mineral assemblages with various combinations of apatite, stilbite, calcite, biotite, and less commonly titanite and monazite. Two generations of fractures, that are characterized by calcite and stilbite with distinctly radiogenic initial Sr-87/Sr-86 at ca. 0.720 and ca. 0.708, are dated at ca. 1740 Ma (monazite) and 1620-1613 Ma (titanite), respectively. Apatite samples, even those intimately intergrown with ca. 1740 Ma old monazite, yield U-Pb ages at 1620-1600 Ma, which indicates that apatite apparently recrystallized and reset its U-Pb system. Older stilbite yields a secondary lead isochron at 1730 +/- 6.4 Ma (2 sigma), which unequivocally demonstrates that the ambient temperature in the Malmberget area from then on remained below the thermal stability of stilbite (ca. 150 degrees C). Stilbite is a natural ion-exchanger and its U-Pb systematics indicates recent mobility of uranium and lead. However, the 1730 +/- 6.4 Ma (2 sigma) age demonstrates that some of the older stilbite was not disturbed during younger fracturing. Hydrothermally altered and secondary stilbite samples yield scattered lead arrays that correspond to secondary isochrons at ca. 1650-1600 Ma, which agrees with the U-Pb titanite and apatite ages. Thus, in combination with other geochronometers, the generally imprecise stilbite ages provide information on the cooling history of an area.