The Volyn continental flood basalt province is situated on the western margin of the East European platform and constitutes a significant portion of the passive continental margin sequence formed along the Trans-European Suture Zone in response to Rodinia break-up in the Neoproterozoic. In Ukraine, the volcanogenic sequence is subdivided into suites called Zabolottya, Babyne and Ratne, which together with the lowermost terrigeneous Gorbashy suite comprise the Volyn series. Magmatic zircons from one high-Ti basalt sample yielded an age of 573 ± 14 Ma, whereas grains isolated from a rhyolitic dacite yielded an age of 571 ± 13 Ma. Baddeleyite from the olivine dolerite sample gave an older ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 626 ± 17 Ma, whereas the ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb weighted average age of 567 ± 61 Ma is close to the zircon ages. Zircons separated from the other basaltic samples are much older and crystallized at c. 1290, 1470, 1820-1860, 1930-2050 and 2660 Ma. Ages in the 1820-1860 and 1930-2050 Ma time spans correspond to the ages of the Precambrian basement that underlies the Volyn province. However, the sources for the 1290, 1470 and 2660 Ma zircons are unknown, and these zircons must have been derived from more distal areas.

International audienceThe Ukrainian shield hosts two Palaeoproterozoic anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) complexes (the Korosten and Korsun-Novomyrhorod complexes) that intruded Palaeoproterozoic continental crust in north-western and central parts of the shield, respectively. We report results of U-Pb zircon and baddeleyite dating of 16 samples from the Korosten plutonic complex (KPC), and 6 samples from the Korsun-Novomyrhorod plutonic complex (KNPC). Fifteen zircon samples from both complexes were also analysed for Hf isotopes. These new, together with previously published data indicate that the formation of the KPC started at c. 1815 Ma and continued until 1743 Ma with two main phases of magma emplacement at 1800–1780 and 1770–1758 Ma. Each of the main phases of magmatic activity included both basic and silicic members. The emplacement history of the KNPC is different from that of the KPC. The vast majority of the KNPC basic and silicic rocks were emplaced between c. 1757 and 1750 Ma; the youngest stages of the complex are represented by monzonites and syenites that were formed between 1748 and 1744 Ma. Both Ukrainian AMCG complexes are closely associated in space and time with mantle-derived mafic and ultramafic dykes. The Hf isotope ratios in the zircons indicate a predominantly crustal source for the initial melts with some input of juvenile Hf from mantle-derived tholeiite melts.The preferred model for the formation of the Ukrainian AMCG complexes involves the emplacement of large volumes of hot mantle-derived tholeiitic magma into the lower crust. This resulted in partial melting of mafic lower-crustal material, mixing of lower crustal and tholeiitic melts, and formation of ferromonzodioritic magmas. Further fractional crystallization of the ferromonzodioritic melts produced the spectrum of basic rocks in the AMCG complexes. Emplacement of the ferromonzodioritic and tholeiitic melts into the middle crust and their partial crystallization caused abundant melting of the ambient crust and formation of the large volumes of granitic rocks present in the complexes

Middle-to-late Ediacaran (575–541 Ma) marine sedimentary rocks record the first appearance of macroscopic, multicellular body fossils, yet little is known about the environments and food sources that sustained this enigmatic fauna. Here, we perform a lipid biomarker and stable isotope (δ¹⁵N_total and δ¹³C_TOC) investigation of exceptionally immature late Ediacaran strata (<560 Ma) from multiple locations across Baltica. Our results show that the biomarker assemblages encompass an exceptionally wide range of hopane/sterane ratios (1.6–119), which is a broad measure of bacterial/eukaryotic source organism inputs. These include some unusually high hopane/sterane ratios (22–119), particularly during the peak in diversity and abundance of the Ediacara biota. A high contribution of bacteria to the overall low productivity may have bolstered a microbial loop, locally sustaining dissolved organic matter as an important organic nutrient. These oligotrophic, shallow-marine conditions extended over hundreds of kilometers across Baltica and persisted for more than 10 million years.