Sources of the terrigenous material in the formation of metasedimentary rocks of the archaean basement of the paleoproterozoic Pechenga structure

The basement of the Paleoproterozoic Pechenga structure was cored by the Kola Superdeep Borehole SD-3 at the depths of 6842-12262 m. It consists of alternating strata of metavolcanic dacite, plagiorhytodacite rocks and high-alumina gneisses; the protoliths of these rocks corresponded mainly to graywackes. Resulting from the examination of zircons from metaterrigenous rocks of the 1st, 3rd, and 9th strata of the SD-3, the detrital, anatectic, metamorphogenic, and contact-metasomatic genetic types have been identified. Detrital zircons include several age groups. The most homogeneous, i.e., comparable to zircons from tonalite gneisses (bottoms of the SD-3 section) and from surrounding rocks, zircons have appeared to be those from gneisses of the deepest 9th stratum. The data on the age of these zircons, along with a poor rounding of the grains, signify formation of the host gneisses' protoliths owing to washing out and redeposition of material. Widening of alimentation areas, which supplied terrigenous material into sedimentation basins, took place during formation of alumina gneisses of the 3rd and especially 1st strata of the section.