Karolina Kośmińska

AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków | AGH · Department of Mineralogy, Petrography and Geochemistry

The juxtaposition of the composite Pearya terrane and the northern Laurentian margin at Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, has significant ramifications for the Paleozoic tectonic history of the circum-Arctic region. Published tectonic models rely upon interpretation of the subduction-related Kulutingwak Formation as an indicator of Ordovician and/...

Fluid-driven reactions are common in the upper crust, leading to mineral replacement and element redistribution on a kilometer to a micron scale. One common fluid-induced reaction is the chloritization of biotite. Chloritization can lead to the production of multiple phases, such as K-feldspar, titanite, and rutile, depending on local chemistry and...

Coesite represents one of the strongly limited evidences of ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphism. There are still large gaps in the understanding of mineral reactions under such extreme conditions. Finding of coesite is often the only possibility to detect predominantly felsic UHP terranes. It rapidly transforms to so called "palisade" quartz dur...

Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic strata exposed along the northeastern margin of North America (Franklinian Basin) record a prolonged history of rifting and passive margin development. An episode of Ediacaran–Cambrian extension is potentially recorded in volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Yelverton Formation, exposed on northern Ellesmere Islan...

High-pressure low-temperature rocks from Svalbard are an excellent target for studying metamorphic reactions in Phanerozoic subduction zones. This study reveals the presence of monazite in an eclogite and a blueschist from the Vestgötabreen Complex, southwestern Svalbard. In order to investigate the monazite-forming reaction, we obtained pressure–t...

The petrochronological records of eclogites in the Scandinavian Caledonides are investigated using EPMA and LA-ICPMS of zircon and apatite for U–Pb geochronology, combined with major and trace element characteristics. Metamorphic zircon from two eclogites from the Lofoten-Vesterålen Complex (Lofoten Archipelago region) collectively yielded a Concor...

Petrology, geochronology, and bulk rock chemistry are combined to investigate the early Neoproterozoic magmatism and Cambrian-Ordovician metamorphism in the northern Swedish Caledonides. This includes several lithologies of the Mårma terrane in the Seve Nappe Complex exposed in the Kebnekaise region. U–Pb zircon geochronology yielded crystallizatio...

Tectonic models for development of the Svalbard Caledonides depend on reliable assessment of the metamorphic evolution of the various basement provinces involved. The Mosselhalvøya Group (MG) and the Atomfjella Complex (AC) have previously been assigned to the Nordaustlandet and West Ny-Friesland terranes, respectively. New analytical data and petr...

The Southwestern Basement Province of Svalbard extends northward from Sørkapp Land in the south to Oscar II Land. In the north, the Müllerneset Formation characterized by polymetamorphosed Proterozoic sedimentary rocks crops out. In this study we used an integrated tectonic and petrochronological approach to gain an insight into the structural and...

The Seve Nappe Complex is a subduction related high-grade metamorphic unit that was emplaced onto the margin of Baltica during Caledonian orogenesis. In this paper, the tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Lower Seve Nappe in the Scandinavian Caledonides was characterized with the help of the continuous COSC-1 drill core, using a combination of var...

Garnet-kyanite-staurolite assemblages with large, late porphyroblasts of amphibole form garbenschists in Ordovician volcaniclastic rocks lying immediately south of the Pearya terrane on northernmost Ellesmere Island, Canada. The schist, which together with carbonate olistoliths makes up the Petersen Bay Assemblage, displays a series of parallel iso...

40Ar/39Ar dating of white mica from foliated metamorphic rocks of the Caledonian orogen of NW Svalbard was performed using the single‐grain fusion technique. Two samples, an augen orthogneiss and a mica schist, were collected from the high‐pressure Richarddalen Complex. Three additional mica schist samples were collected from the tectonically under...

Late Neoproterozoic metavolcanic rocks occur along the Southwest coast of Svalbard. The protoliths of the metavolcanic rocks from Wedel Jarlsberg Land and Nordenskiöld Land are mainly diabase, basalt and felsic tuff of tholeiitic affinity associated with continental magmatism. We investigate the magma evolution of the metavolcanic rocks paying part...

Several decades after Umhoefer (1987) highlighted the likely role of strike-slip displacement in the tectonic evolution of the North American Cordillera, debate over the importance of large magnitude translation of crustal fragments outboard of the Laurentian passive margins remains lively. Our recent studies suggest that strike-slip structures wer...

Preliminary geochemical characteristics of amphibolites and ultramafic rocks of the West Ny-Friesland Terrane, Northern Spitsbergen. The metamorphic Atomfjella Complex of theWest Ny-Friesland Terrane, which belongs to the Eastern Basement Svalbard Province, is composed of four nappes, namely Dirksodden, Nordbreen, Rekvika and Finlandveggen. All the...

Geochronology of Th-rich minerals is advantageous as it allows use of three isotopic systems (i.e., ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U, ²⁰⁷Pb/²³⁵U, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th) for accurate data assessment. The ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th system is especially advantageous in cases where the dated mineral includes an initial Pb component, as ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th is the least sensitive to the effects of initia...

Paleoproterozoic gneisses of the Ellesmere–Devon crystalline terrane on southeast Ellesmere Island are deformed by m-scale, E-striking mylonite zones. The shear zones commonly offset pegmatitic dikes and represent the last episode of ductile deformation. Samples were dated by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step-heating method to put an upper l...

Ion microprobe UPb zircon dating of intermediate to felsic rocks coupled with bulk-rock geochemistry analyses and compared to previously published data shows that the Thores Suite of the Pearya Terrane of northern Ellesmere Island (Arctic Canada) represents an Early Ordovician (c. 490–470 Ma) suite formed in an island arc setting. Interestingly, th...

The Tsäkkok Lens of the Scandinavian Caledonides represents the outermost Baltican margin that was subducted in late Cambrian/Early Ordovician time during closure of the Iapetus Ocean. The lens predominantly consists of metasedimentary rocks hosting eclogite bodies that preserve brittle deformation on the μm-to-m scale. Here, we present a multidisc...

Quartz‐in‐garnet inclusion barometry integrated with trace element thermometry and calculated phase relations is applied to mylonitised schists of the Pinkie unit cropping out on the island of Prins Karls Forland (PKF), western part of the Svalbard Archipelago. This approach combines conventional and novel techniques and allows deciphering the P‐T...

The northern extent of the Scandinavian Caledonides includes the Skibotn Nappe Complex of still debated structural position. This paper is focused on part of this complex and presents new U-Th-total Pb monazite dating results for the migmatitic gneiss of the Kåfjord Nappe. The rocks show mineral assemblage of garnet + plagioclase + biotite + white...

SIMS U-Pb zircon dating of metaigneous rocks of the Nordbreen Nappe from the West Ny-Friesland terrane (Eastern Basement Province of Svalbard) yields crystallization ages of 1761 ± 4 Ma for a felsic metatuff and 1373 ± 4 Ma for a metagabbro dyke. The Paleoproterozoic age of the metatuff is similar to previously obtained ages for various felsic rock...

The circum-Arctic region has received considerable attention over the past several decades with vigorous debate focused on topics such as mechanisms for opening the Eurasian and Amerasian basins, the importance of plume-related magmatism in the development of the Arctic Ocean, and mechanisms for ancient terrane translation along the Arctic margins....

Detailed X‐ray compositional mapping and microtomography has revealed the complex zoning and growth history of garnet in a kyanite‐bearing eclogite. The garnet occurs as clusters of coalesced grains with cores revealing slightly higher Ca and lower Mg than the rims forming the coalescence zones between the grains. Core regions of the garnet host in...

In-situ monazite Th–U–total Pb dating and zircon LA–ICP–MS depth-profiling was applied to metasedimentary rocks from the Vaimok Lens in the Seve Nappe Complex (SNC), Scandinavian Caledonides. Results of monazite Th–U–total Pb dating, coupled with major and trace element mapping of monazite, revealed 603 ± 16 Ma Neoproterozoic cores surrounded by ri...

Detrital zircon provenance studies of Precambrian metasedimentary rocks in Wedel Jarlsberg Land and Sørkapp Land, Svalbard’s Southwestern Caledonian Basement Province, were conducted to evaluate local stratigraphic correlations and the role of long-distance strike-slip displacements in assembling the basement of the Arctic Caledonides. The detrital...

The Seve Nappe Complex (SNC) of the Scandinavian Caledonides records a well-documented history of high pressure (HP) and ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphism. Eclogites of the SNC occur in two areas in Sweden, namely Jämtland and Norrbotten. The Jämtland eclogites and associated rocks are well studied and provide evidence for late Ordovician UHP...

A recent increase in fieldwork activity within the Southwestern Basement Province (SBP) of Svalbard followed by detailed geochronological and petrological studies has allowed recognition of previously unknown magmatic and metamorphic events in the studied region. These discoveries of, e.g. true c. 950 Ma granitic magmatism, c. 640 Ma Torellian meta...

The blueschists occurrence at the Kopina Mt. is situated at the eastern margin of the Karkonosze-Izera Massif in the West Sudetes of the northern Bohemian Massif. Metabasic rocks with continental crust affinity occur as lenses within the prevailing metasediments. The metabasites consist mainly of garnet, blue amphibole, epidote, chlorite-I, titanit...

Ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism (UHPM) has recently been discovered in far-travelled allochthons of the Scandinavian Caledonides, including finding of diamond in the Seve Nappe Complex. This UHPM of Late Ordovician age is older and less recognized than that in the Western Gneiss Region of southwestern Norway, which was related to terminal collision...

Metasomatism is a process leading to changes in the chemical composition of a rock or its portion. It involves introduction or removal of chemical components due to the interaction of the rock with aqueous fluid (Zharikov et al. 2007). Here we present a case study of metasomatic changes in metapelites from northern Spitsbergen. There is a visible m...

Geochronological studies in northern Wedel Jarlsberg Land, southwestern Svalbard (Norway) showed that the Tonian (c. 950 Ma) igneous rocks were subjected to metamorphism during the Torellian (c. 640 Ma) and early Caledonian (470-460 Ma) events. Predominant augen gneisses, derived from a Tonian protolith, are intercalated in that area with schists c...

Recent fieldwork in Nordenskiöld Land, Svalbard's Southwestern Basement Province, has established the presence of high-pressure (HP) lithologies. They are strongly retrogressed blueschists consisting mainly of garnet and Ca-amphibole with remnants of ferroglaucophane and phengite. The pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions were estimated using phase...

The metamorphic evolution of the Tjeliken eclogite, occurring within the Seve Nappe Complex of northern Jämtland (Swedish Caledonides), is presented here. The prograde part of the pressure and temperature (P–T) path is inferred from the mineral inclusions (pargasitic amphibole) in garnet and intracrystalline garnet exsolutions in omphacite. Peak me...

Here, we report the occurrence of previously unrecognized high-pressure metamorphic rocks in the Caledonian basement of Nordenskiöld Land and Wedel Jarlsberg Land (SW Svalbard). These rocks are represented by blueschists sensu stricto and blueschist facies metapelites. Blueschists are found in Nordeskiöld Land only. Typically, they occur in form of...