The Boghen terrane (New Caledonia, SW Pacific): a Jurassic accretionary complex. Preliminary U-Pb radiochronological data on detrital zircon

Radiochronological dating of detrital zircon extracted from the Boghen terrane metasediments allows a Jurassic age to be assigned. This terrane was formerly considered as the "pre-Permian basement" of New Caledonia. Its sedimentological features, its Late Jurassic high-pressure metamorphism (ca 150 Ma) and its association with the arc-related volcano-sedimentary complex of the Central Chain Terrane indicate that the Boghen terrane was an accretionary complex formed during the Jurassic period along the East-Gondwana active margin. The age spectrum of detrital zircons is consistent with a derivation from the Permian-Mesozoic Southeast-Gondwana arc system and the Antarctic continent. © 2002 Académie des sciences / Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS.