The Trans-Hudson Orogen (THO) of North America is one of the earliest orogens in Earth's history that evolved through a complete Wilson Cycle. It represents c. 150 Ma of opening of the Manikewan Ocean, from c. 2.07-1.92 Ga, followed by its demise in the interval 1.92-1.80 Ga, during the final phase of growth of the Supercontinent Columbia (Nuna). It is characterized by three lithotectonic divisions: (i) Churchill margin (or peri-Churchill); (ii) Reindeer Zone; and (iii) Superior margin (or peri-Superior). The peri-Churchill realm records progressive outward continental growth by accretion of Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic micro-continents (Hearne, Meta Incognita/Core Zone, Sugluk) and eventually arc terranes (La Ronge-Lynn Lake) to the Slave-Rae nuclei, with attendant development of orogenies and basin inversions related to the specific accretion events (1.92-1.89 Ga Snowbird; 1.88-1.865 Ga Foxe; 1.87-1.865 Ga Reindeer orogenies). The Reindeer Zone is characterized by primitive to evolved oceanic arcs, back-arc basins, oceanic crust and ocean plateaus that formed during closure of the Manikewan Ocean, and accretion of a micro-continent (Sask Craton) and smaller Archaean crustal fragments. The terminal phase of the Trans-Hudson orogeny represents collision between the Superior craton, the Reindeer Zone and the composite western Churchill Province during the interval 1.83-1.80 Ga.

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Vertical incidence seismic data were collected along a 300 km-long profile across the northwestern flank of the Trans-Hudson Orogen in Saskatchewan (line S2b). The present study integrates the seismic data with previously published geological maps and recent results from the La Ronge – Lynn Lake Bridge Project that provide new constraints on the lithological, structural, and tectonic framework of this collisional zone. An interpretative section, based on the seismic reflectivity and surface geological constraints, is presented. The integrated data suggest the following key elements. (1) Although an early foreland-vergent accretion history is suggested by surficial geological constraints, the predominant fabric is reflected by penetrative hinterlandward vergence. (2) A zone of more reflective lower crust with hinterland-verging fabric may represent "fossil" reflectors from a pre-collisional accretionary phase. (3) The Archean to Paleoproterozoic Sask Craton may extend in the lower middle crust to at least beneath Rottenstone Domain, consistent with what is observed along strike on other Lithoprobe seismic profiles. (4) The Needle Falls and Parker Lake shear zones do not appear to be associated with obvious reflectors, consistent with observations from Reindeer Lake, suggesting that they merely rework the Wathaman Batholith intrusive margin and are not fundamental sutures. (5) The La Ronge and Rottenstone domains show nearly identical seismic properties, consistent with recent mapping results in the Reindeer Lake area that suggest that they are temporally and, at least in part, lithologically related in the area covered by, and to the east of, seismic line S2b.

A continental-margin magmatic arc is inferred to have existed on the southeastern (present coordinates) margin of Laurentia from Labrador to Texas from ~1500-1230 Ma, with part of the arc subsequently being incorporated into the 1190-990 Ma collisional Grenville Orogen. Outside the Grenville Province, where the arc is known as the Granite-Rhyolite Belt, it is undeformed, whereas within the Grenville Province it is deformed and metamorphosed. The arc comprises two igneous suites, an inboard, principally quartz monzonitic to granodioritic suite, and an outboard tonalitic to granodioritic suite. The quartz monzonite-granodiorite suite was largely derived from continental crust, whereas the tonalitic-granodiorite suite is calc-alkaline and has a juvenile isotopic signature. Available evidence from the Grenville Province suggests that the arc oscillated between extensional and compressional settings several times during the Mesoproterozoic. Back-arc deposits of several ages, that formed during relatively brief periods of extension, include (1) mafic dyke swarms subparallel to the arc; (2) continental sediments, bimodal volcanics and plateau basalts; (3) marine sediments and volcanics formed on stretched continental crust; and (4) ocean crust in a marginal basin. Closure of the back-arc basins occurred during the accretionary Pinwarian (~1495-1445 Ma) and Elzevirian (~1250-1190 Ma) orogenies, as well as during three pulses of crustal shortening associated with the 1190-990 Ma collisional Grenvillian Orogeny. During the Elzevirian Orogeny, closure of the Central Metasedimentary Belt marginal basin in the southeastern Grenville Province was marked by subduction-related magmatism as well as by imbrication of back-arc deposits. The presence of a continental-margin magmatic arc on southeastern Laurentia during the Mesoproterozoic implies that other coeval magmatism inboard from the arc took place in a back-arc setting. Such magmatism was widespread and chemically diverse and included large volume "anorogenic" anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) complexes as well as small volume alkaline, quartz-saturated and -undersaturated "within-plate" granitoids. Recognition of the ~300 million year duration of the Mesoproterozoic convergent margin of southeastern Laurentia suggests that there may be useful parallels with the evolution of the Andes, which has been a convergent margin since the early Paleozoic.

New U–Pb zircon and monazite ages on 12 samples from the Mauricie transect in Quebec provide constraints on the lithologic and tectonic evolution of the south-central Grenville Province. From lowest to highest structural levels, the Mékinac, Shawinigan, and Portneuf – St. Maurice domains are identified on the basis of protolith age, tectonic overprint, and plutonism. The structurally highest Portneuf – St. Maurice domain consists of remnants of an island arc (Montauban Group) that was deformed and metamorphosed before and during the intrusion of continental arc plutons (La Bostonnais complex). A tonalitic orthogneiss yielding a [Formula: see text] zircon age suggests that most of the structurally underlying Mékinac and Shawinigan domains consist of orthogneisses that may be high-grade equivalents of the La Bostonnais complex. A voluminous metasedimentary unit occurring in the Shawinigan domain (St. Boniface unit) was deposited between ca. 1.18 and 1.09 Ga, precluding any correlation with the ca. 1.45 Ga Montauban Group. Two suites of anorthosite–mangerite–charnockite–granite (AMCG) plutonic rocks are identified on the basis of field relationships and isotopic age. A megacrystic granite belonging to the "older" AMCG suite yielded a [Formula: see text] zircon age. Three plutons from the "younger" suite yielded ages of [Formula: see text], 1059 ± 2, and 1056 ± 2 Ma. The Mékinac and Shawinigan domains, excluding the younger AMCG plutons, were penetratively deformed at granulite to uppermost amphibolite facies during west-northwest-directed thrusting between 1.15 and 1.09 Ga. At ca. 1.09 Ga, a transition from contraction to oblique extension resulted in the juxtaposition of the "cold" Portneuf – St. Maurice domain with the "hot" Shawinigan domain, along the Tawachiche shear zone. Oblique extension may have been active from ca. 1.09 to 1.04 Ga and was contemporaneous with emplacement of the younger AMCG suite.