Neoproterozoic high-grade metamorphism of the Kanin Peninsula, Timanide Orogen, northern Russia

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Abstract
Throughout most of the exposed Timanide Orogen, the grade of regional metamorphism does not exceed greenschist facies. Only on the Kanin Peninsula and in the northernmost Timan and in a few of the drillcores that sample basement beneath the Pechora Basin, are amphibolite facies rocks present. This study presents new P-T estimates by garnet-biotite geothermometry and GASP geobarometry from the high-grade rocks of the Kanin Peninsula, together with a new structural interpretation of the SE-Kanin area. Thick metaturbiditic successions show an increase of metamorphic grade downwards from low greenschist to high amphibolite facies. On the SE Kanin Peninsula, peak metamorphic conditions are estimated to have reached c. 0.72 GPa and c. 610 °C. These inferred Late Proterozoic successions were thickened by thrust-stacking and emplaced southwestwards onto low-grade metamorphic pericratonic sedimentary rocks of the East European Craton during the Timanian Orogeny. Timing of metamorphism is inferred to be late Neoproterozoic, but radiometric ages are not well constrained and more work is needed. The new field observations and analytical results suggest that high-grade regional metamorphism is not confined to the Timan-Kanin area. This is of importance when considering the geophysical data over the Pechora Basin and Barents Sea, particularly the interpretation of crustal velocity structure. Higher velocities, often inferred to represent pre-Riphean basement, may well be related to Neoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic complexes.