Australia through time: a summary of its tectonic and metallogenic evolution

Abstract

related controversies. We also link Australia's geological heritage, including its resources, as well as its geography, flora and fauna, to this tectonic narrative. Much of the geology of Australia is the consequence of the amalgamation and break-up of supercontinents and supercratons through geological time, such as Vaalbara, Kenorland, Nuna (Columbia), Rodinia and Pangea (including Gondwana) (Figure 1). Supercontinent history has not only controlled the distribution of resources, petroleum, coal and minerals, but has surprising influences on processes that have shaped Australia in the past and are shaping Australia now. Australia, for example, shares many floral and faunal affinities with South America and Africa, but few with northern hemisphere continents (e.g., Couper, 1960; Fooden, 1972). The breakup of Pangea isolated Australia from Eurasia and North America. Moreover, when Australia broke away from Antarctica, the resulting seaway opened to allow polar circulation of ocean currents and ultimately the formation of the Antarctic ice cap (Livermore et al. 2005), making Australia, and the world, drier and cooler (Fujioka and Chappell, 2010). Continental Australia grew predominantly from WE , with Archean rocks mostly in the W, Proterozoic rocks in the centre, and Phanerozoic rocks in the E. The western two-thirds of the continent consist of three mostly Precambrian elements (see Table 1 for definitions), the West Australian, North Australian and South Australia elements, whereas the eastern one-third is made up of the Tasman Element (Figure 2). These spatial and temporal growth patterns are consistent with supercontinent and supercraton growth, particularly Kenorland, Nuna and Pangea-Gondwana. The distribution of Australia's energy and mineral resources (Figure 2) is also governed by this broad pattern, with each of the four major cratonic elements characterised by distinctive deposit assemblages, both in time and in composition. The Australian continent evolved in four broad time periods, namely: 3800-2200 Ma, 2200-1300 Ma, 1300-700 Ma, and 700-0 Ma. The first period saw the growth of nuclei about which cratonic elements grew, whereas the latter three periods involved the amalgamation and dispersal of Nuna, Rodinia and Pangea-Gondwana, respectively. In the sections below we present a history of the growth of the present-day Australian continent using this framework, although noting that in many cases there is significant uncertainty and disagreement about specific details and, indeed, about whether some of these processes occurred at all. This geohistory provides context for events that have shaped and changed Australia and the Earth, including the evolution of life and changes in the composition of the atmosphere and hydrosphere. As they have been increasingly linked to geodynamic processes, the evolution of Australia's mineral and The geological evolution of Australia is closely linked to supercontinent cycles that have characterised the tectonic evolution of Earth, with most geological and metallogenic ev...

Metallogeny and its link to orogenic style during the Nuna supercontinent cycle

“…In our model the locus of sediment-hosted copper deposits in that sector (Australia, Yangtze) is also supportive of an extensional setting, given the interpreted tectonic setting for their formation . In a similar manner we suggest that the lack of Chinese Palaeoproterozoic lode gold and VMS deposits at this time, deposits that form in convergent settings (Groves et al 2005; see also Huston et al 2012), qualitatively supports our placement of it in a more peripheral setting. The integrated reconstruction approach shown here can also ultimately lead to a reassessment of deposit ages.…”

Basin inversion and supercontinent assembly as drivers of sediment-hosted Pb–Zn mineralization in the Mount Isa region, northern Australia

“…Most researchers subscribe to the former and have the Leichhardt and Calvert superbasins developing in a back-arc setting located above a north-dipping, but southward-retreating, subduction zone that lay along the southern margin of the north Australian craton (Betts et al, 2003;Giles et al, 2002;Huston et al, 2012;Scott et al, 2000) or was located even farther afield on the southern side of the still connected south Australian and east Antarctic cratons (Mawsonland) from whence it continued along strike into southern Laurentia (Betts et al, 2016;Betts et al, 2008;Giles et al, 2004). In either case, the 1800-1600 Ma interior basins of northern Australia and Laurentia share a common origin and geodynamic setting, and lie inboard of an active continental margin that faced an open ocean to the south.…”

Sediment routing and basin evolution in Proterozoic to Mesozoic east Gondwana: A case study from southern Australia

“…The extensive passive margin defining the southern limit of the Australian continent was formed during the ultimate Mesozoic break-up phase of Gondwana as Australia rifted away from Antarctica (Brown et al, 2003). This separation ended over a billion years of shared history between the Australian and Antarctic continents (Cawood and Korsch, 2008;Huston et al, 2012;Johnson, 2013) and reshaped their surface environments. Prior to this, the Proterozoic assembly of the West Australian Craton (WAC) and North Australian Craton with the South Australian Craton (SAC) and its Antarctic extension (Mawson Craton;Fitzsimons, 2003;Goodge and Fanning, 2016;Huston et al, 2012;Johnson, 2013;Payne et al, 2009) had resulted in well-defined orogenic belts with enhanced mineral endowment facilitated by crustal-scale tectonic structures, juvenile mantle input, crustal reworking, disturbed thermal gradients and fluid migration (Groves and Bierlein, 2007;Huston et al, 2012;Jaques et al, 2002;Leahy et al, 2005;Wyborn et al, 1994).…”