Abstract The Helgeland Nappe Complex (HNC), part of the Uppermost Allochthon of the north-central Norwegian Caledonides, originated near the Laurentian margin and was transferred to Baltica during the closure of Iapetus in Late Silurian–Early Devonian time. The islands of Rødøy, Bolvær and Leka, located in the Sauren–Torghatten (S–T) nappe of the HNC, are composed of ultramafic and mafic basement rocks unconformably overlain by metaconglomerates and fine-grained metasedimentary rocks. Geochemical and isotopic characteristics of the basement rocks are consistent with formation in a supra-subduction zone setting. Overlying metasedimentary rocks record an increasing proportion of continental detritus supplied to the basins through time. Precambrian cratonic source regions supplied cobbles and other detritus. This source area may have been located in modern SE Greenland/Labrador or in the Lower Nappe of the HNC. The second alternative best accounts for the short transport distances required by the coarse-grained conglomerates. The maximum age of deposition is constrained by the age of the youngest zircon grain dated at 471±8 Ma. Final sedimentation, nappe thrusting and nappe stacking occurred in rapid succession during c. 480–475 Ma. Supplementary material: Geochemical analyses and Nd isotopic data are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18654 .

Abstract The c. 350 km 2 Vega intrusive complex is part of the Bindal Batholith and was emplaced at c. 475 Ma into polydeformed supracrustal rocks of the Helgeland Nappe Complex. The intrusive complex is tilted towards the west, exposing asymmetrical zoning. From east to west, the complex is composed of biotite granite, garnet-biotite granite, garnet-bearing muscovite biotite granodiorite and sillimanite-bearing garnet cordierite muscovite biotite granodiorite. In addition, the complex contains small amounts of intrusive migmatite. Granodiorite and intrusive migmatite contain abundant metasedimentary, mafic and ultramafic enclaves. Granodiorite, granite and migmatite are generally peraluminous to strongly peraluminous, calcic to alkalic and magnesian, with initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios of 0.7096–0.7469 and ɛ Nd from −7.0 to −11.0. Emplacement of the Vega intrusive complex was coeval with the intrusion of metaluminous dioritic rocks. The intrusive mafic rocks and enclaves in the complex have MORB-like (mid-ocean ridge basalt-like) to calc-alkaline geochemical characteristics. The lack of an isotopic compositional trend between mafic and granitic rocks indicates that magmas did not mix. Instead granitic magmas formed by unmixing of residual phases from crustally derived magmas. Partial melting of supracrustal source rocks may have been related to intra- and underplating of MORB-like magmas into the lower crust during extension. Supplementary material: Detailed petrographic descriptions, photomicrographs, and field images of selected enclaves are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18653 .

Thrust sheets of the Uppermost Allochthon in the Caledonides of Scandinavia are distinguished by lithological assemblages and magmatic units that are, in many ways, quite different from those in subjacent nappe complexes. Supracrustal successions are derived mainly from platformal, shelf-edge and basinal-slope environments and are characterized in particular by extensive developments of carbonate rock units that range in age from Late Riphean to Early Silurian. Metasedimentary iron ore formations are also present. Another prominent feature is the Ordovician, arc-type, granitoid plutons and batholiths that dominate the geology in certain parts of the allochthon. In addition to these lithological elements, the Uppermost Allochthon carries an Ordovician tectonothermal record and early Caledonian, NW-vergent thrust polarity that is unique in Norway. Taken together, these features are indicative of a history of development and crustal growth along the eastern margin of Laurentia, involving an outboard magmatic arc, or arcs, and Taconian accretionary orogenesis. This was followed by recycling and deposition in Late Ordovician to Early Silurian successor basins prior to Laurentia-Baltica collision and the onset of the Scandian orogeny. The Taconian thrust sheets were then detached from their Laurentian roots and incorporated into the Siluro-Devonian, Scandian orogenic wedge on the Baltoscandian margin of Baltica. Taking into account the widely reported sinistral megashear arising from the Scandian, oblique collision and plate rotation, the rock units that constitute the Uppermost Allochthon are likely to have originally been located closer to the northern Appalachian segment of the margin of Laurentia, in view of the strikingly similar lithostratigraphic, magmatic, and tectonothermal histories of these two, now widely separated terranes.