The Whitehorse trough is an Early to Middle Jurassic marine sedimentary basin that overlaps the Intermontane terranes in the northern Cordillera. Detrital zircon dates from eight Laberge Group sandstones from various parts of the trough all display a major Late Triassic-Early Jurassic peak (220-180 Ma) and a minor peak in the mid-Paleozoic (340-330 Ma), corresponding exactly with known igneous ages from areas surrounding the trough. Source regions generally have Early Jurassic (ca. 200-180 Ma) mica cooling dates, and the petrology of metamorphic rocks and Early Jurassic granitoid plutons flanking the trough suggests rapid exhumation during emplacement. These data suggest that subsidence and coarse clastic sedimentation in the trough occurred concurrently with rapid exhumation of the shoulders. Isolated occurrences of sandstone and conglomerate units with similar detrital zircon signatures occur west and east of the trough, as well as overlapping the Cache Creek terrane, indicating that either the trough was once more extensive, or isolated basins tapped similar sources. Development of these sedimentary basins and accompanying rapid exhumation in the northern Cordillera were coeval with the onset of orogenic activity in the hinterland of the southern Canadian Cordillera, and subsidence in the western Canada foreland sedimentary basin. The Whitehorse trough is interpreted as a forearc basin that progressively evolved into a collisional, synorogenic piggyback basin developed atop the nascent Cordilleran orogen. Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous fluvial deposits overlapping the Whitehorse trough have detrital zircons that were mainly derived from recycling of the Laberge Group, but they also contain zircons exotic to the northern Intermontane terranes that are interpreted to reflect windblown detritus from the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous magmatic arc that developed either atop the approaching Insular terranes to the west or southern Stikinia.

Geochemistry and Sm–Nd and U–Pb (magmatic zircon) isotope data from a postcollisional batholith that crosscuts the allochthonous South Portuguese Zone (SPZ) of southern Iberia suggest that the basement is compositionally more juvenile than the exposed upper crust. The SPZ is an allochthonous terrane of the late Paleozoic Variscan orogen. The oldest exposed units in the SPZ are Late Devonian continental clastics, and as a result, the origins of the SPZ are unknown. Multifaceted inherited zircon cores from a granitoid batholith (Sierra Norte Batholith, SNB) reveal Neoproterozoic (ca. 561–647 Ma) and Mesoproterozoic ages (ca. 1075 – ca. 1116 Ma). Granitoid samples are characterized by εNd values ranging from +1.4 to –9.6 and model ages ca. 0.76–1.8 Ga. Conversely, the exposed Late Devonian clastics of the SPZ are characterized by more negative εNd values (–7.5 to –10.4). Taken together, U–Pb and Sm–Nd data indicate the lower crust that melted to yield the SNB was (i) Neoproterozoic (ca. 560–650 Ma) to Mesoproterozoic (ca. 1.0–1.2 Ga) in age, (ii) was not compositionally similar to the overlying Devono-Carboniferous continental detritus but was instead more juvenile, with model ages between ca. 0.9–1.2 Ga. This unusual relationship is similar to the relationship between the relatively juvenile basement and ancient upper crust documented in the exposed portion of the Meguma terrane in the northern Appalachians, which paleogeographic reconstructions show was immediately outboard of southern Iberia in the Late Devonian.

The northernmost part of the Cache Creek terrane lies in south-central Yukon and comprises metavolcanic rocks, hemipelagic chert and shale, newly identified volcaniclastic and clastic rocks (Michie formation, informal), pyroxenite and gabbro intrusive rocks with an arc to back-arc geochemical signature, as well as tectonized and serpentinized ultramafic rocks. The proximally sourced Michie formation yielded zircon from two samples with unimodal peaks at 245.85 ± 0.07 and 244.64 ± 0.08 Ma. These dates are likely close to the depositional ages and compare favourably with those from the Kutcho assemblage of northern British Columbia. The Michie formation is exposed along the northwestern flank of Mount Michie and represents singular detrital input from a nearby eroding island-arc. The Cache Creek terrane rocks are imbricated with epiclastic and carbonate rocks of the Stikinia and Lower Jurassic siliciclastic rocks of the synorogenic Whitehorse trough. This imbrication records two compressional deformation phases in the region: (1) an initial phase of west-verging thrusting along the Judas Mountain fault that placed the Cache Creek terrane rocks over the arc and basinal rocks of Stikinia and Whitehorse trough; and (2) a second phase of east-verging thrusting along the Mount Michie fault that repositioned rocks of Stikinia and the Whitehorse trough structurally above those of the Cache Creek terrane. Deformation in the centre of the study area was followed by emplacement of a coarse-grained syenite that yielded 40Ar/39Ar biotite and muscovite cooling ages of 165–160 Ma.

The South Mountain Batholith (SMB; Nova Scotia, Canada) is the largest composite batholith exposed in the Appalachians and lies entirely within the most outboard Meguma terrane. In-situ and CA-TIMS U-Pb dating and in-situ isotopes (Lu-Hf, O) and geochemistry for zircon from all phases of the SMB constrain its source as well as its evolution. CA-ID-TIMS for zircon yield emplacement (autocryst) ages indicating a transition from granodiorite (378.7 ± 1.2 to 375.4 ± 0.8 Ma) to leucogranite (375.4 to 371.8 ± 0.8 Ma) over several million years. Furthermore, in situ SHRIMP, LA-MC-ICP-MS, and SIMS analyses of distinct zircon domains reveal: 1) abundant ancient xenocrysts (~420 Ma to 2.2 Ga); 2) antecryst ages ca. 3–15 million years older than SMB emplacement; 3) autocryst δ18O values between +7.3 and +9.1‰ (V-SMOW); 4) similar isotopes, REE signatures, and derived fO2 values among antecrysts and autocrysts; and 5) εHf values from the 371.8 ± 0.8 Ma Davis Lake Pluton (DLP) autocrysts that are higher (+1.74 to +4.38) than the rest of the SMB (-2.99 to +1.68). Collectively, these data suggest a protracted magmatic evolution for the SMB with melt generation and assembly from ~390 to 370 Ma via melting of a metasomatized mantle source followed by contamination, first from the structurally underlying Avalonian terrane and later by metasedimentary wall rocks of the Meguma terrane. The most southwesterly part of the SMB (i.e., DLP) represents a petrogenetically distinct magmatic phase that underwent less overall contamination than the rest of the SMB.

Intrusion-related mineralization in the Canadian Appalachian Orogen is widespread and associated with Devonian post-accretionary granitoids. Here we review the spatial and temporal distribution of post-accretionary magmatism across the orogen, and the coeval structural network that may have facilitated magma ascent and emplacement. We demonstrate that magmatism and associated intrusion-related mineralization were particularly widespread during the Late Devonian, occurring within all tectonic zones of the orogen. This, along with published petrological arguments, suggests a deep and orogen-scale source for both magma and metals. Lithospheric delamination following terminal continent-continent collision may be a plausible process to initiate magmatism at such a scale, and if so, may be an important geodynamic process for intrusion-related mineralization. The magmatic belts are spatially associated with shear zones and faults that formed or reactivated during the Late Devonian and likely facilitated magma ascent independent of their kinematics. Further work is required to relate fault kinematics and slip events to magma emplacement.