Stratigraphy and sedimentary petrology of an Archean volcanic–sedimentary succession at Mt. Goldsworthy in the Pilbara Block, Western Australia: implications of evaporite (nahcolite) and barite deposition

Sugitani, Kenichiro; Mimura, Koichi; Suzuki, Koji; Nagamine, Koichiro; Sugisaki, Ryuichi

doi:10.1016/s0301-9268(02)00145-6

Cited by 57 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Interstices of these packed pseudomorphic grains are composed of brownish-yellow oxides that are probably mixture of Feand Ti-oxides. In addition to these crystallographic textures (see also figure 4 of Sugitani et al, 2003), a nodular texture is observed in one sample from Mt. Goldsworthy (Fig.…”

Section: Mt Grantmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…1). The evaporitic layers contain giant vertically or sub-vertically oriented pseudo-hexagonal crystal pseudomorphs, which were interpreted as nahcolite (NaHCO 3 ) by Sugitani et al (2003). The Strelley Pool Chert that represents Earth's oldest continental margin sequence is now correlated over a distance of 220 km across most of the East Pilbara granitegreenstone terrane (Van Kranendonk et al, 2002 Sugitani et al, 2003).…”

Section: Geologic Background and Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Goldsworthy region in the northeastern Pilbara Craton, based on whole-rock major and trace element data including rare-earth elements, Zr, Th, Sc and Hf, and microanalyses of some constituent minerals. The rocks occur as a narrow basal unit that is assigned to the Warrawoona Group mafic volcanic rocks (Smithies, 2002) and are overlain with siliciclastic metasedimentary rocks that record an Archean shallow to subaerial sedimentary environment (Sugitani et al, 2003). The sedimentary succession has recently been assigned to the Strelley Pool Chert that represents Earth's oldest continental margin sequence (Van Kranendonk et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the case of the Mt. Goldsworthy rocks, their alteration was intense and they are now unusually siliceous rocks whose SiO 2 concentration is up to 90%; their original rock types have been inferred only from relict texture and Cr-Zr-AlTi systematics (Sugitani et al, 2003). Such heavily altered greenstones have generally been ruled out from most of previous geochemical studies that were aimed at crustal evolution and magma genesis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geochemistry of heavily altered Archean volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the Warrawoona Group, at Mt. Goldsworthy in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia: Implications for alteration and origin

et al. 2006

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The geochemical characteristics of Archean unusual siliceous rocks at Mt. Goldsworthy region in the Pilbara Craton were studied. The siliceous rocks have been assigned to the uppermost Warrawoona Group mafic volcanic rocks, and are overlain by quartz-rich sandstone units of the Strelley Pool Chert that probably represent continental margin sedimentation. The Warrwoona rocks have been heavily altered and are now composed dominantly of microcrystalline quartz, with subordinate mica, Fe-Ti oxides and unidentified silicates; original magmatic textures are only locally preserved. The complex alteration is assumed to result from multiple events including weathering during subaerial exposure, circulation of hydrothermal fluids, and metasomatic silicification. During alteration, Al, Ti, Zr, Th, Cr and Sc remained immobile, although their concentrations were lowered by a substantial increase in silica. Mutual ratios of these immobile elements such as Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 Cr/Th, Th/Sc, Cr/Al 2 O 3 and Zr/TiO 2 and comparison with the least-altered contemporaneous maficultramafic rocks in the Pilbara Craton show that the altered rocks originated from high-MgO rocks such as komatiite and high-MgO basalt, possibly of Al-depleted type. The Mt. Goldsworthy rocks have significantly higher Th/Sc (0.024-0.1) values compared with primitive mantle values (0.005) and komatiite (0.01). This feature is interpreted as a result of crustal contamination, which is consistent with the early evolution of continental crust.

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Section: Mt Grantmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Geologic Background and Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geochemistry of heavily altered Archean volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the Warrawoona Group, at Mt. Goldsworthy in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia: Implications for alteration and origin

et al. 2006

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“…The presence of sulfate in this layer would then have allowed deposition of bedded sulfate minerals in hydrothermal and evaporative environments, or possibly at the interface between the oceanic redox layers. Many Paleoarchean barite deposits are interpreted to have formed in shallow water [25,26,43], and analogies with modern arc-related black smoker deposits suggest depths of less than 2000 m for the VHMS deposits. Moreover, reduced atmospheric conditions would allow the 33 S anomalies noted by Farquhar et al [21].…”

Section: S 32 Ga: Sulfur-poor Strati¢ed Oceansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barite, BIFs and bugs: evidence for the evolution of the Earth’s early hydrosphere

Huston

Logan

2004

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

284

142

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The presence of relatively abundant bedded sulfate deposits before 3.2 Ga and after 1.8 Ga, the peak in iron formation abundance between 3.2 and 1.8 Ga, and the aqueous geochemistry of sulfur and iron together suggest that the redox state and the abundances of sulfur and iron in the hydrosphere varied widely during the Archean and Proterozoic. We propose a layered hydrosphere prior to 3.2 Ga in which sulfate produced by atmospheric photolytic reactions was enriched in an upper layer, whereas the underlying layer was reduced and sulfur-poor. Between 3.2 and 2.4 Ga, sulfate reduction removed sulfate from the upper layer, producing broadly uniform, reduced, sulfur-poor and iron-rich oceans. As a result of increasing atmospheric oxygenation around 2.4 Ga, the flux of sulfate into the hydrosphere by oxidative weathering was greatly enhanced, producing layered oceans, with sulfate-enriched, ironpoor surface waters and reduced, sulfur-poor and iron-rich bottom waters. The rate at which this process proceeded varied between basins depending on the size and local environment of the basin. By 1.8 Ga, the hydrosphere was relatively sulfate-rich and iron-poor throughout. Variations in sulfur and iron abundances suggest that the redox state of the oceans was buffered by iron before 2.4 Ga and by sulfur after 1.8 Ga. Crown

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~3,000 Ma, Farrel Quartzite, East Pilbara, Western Australia

2009

Topics in Geobiology

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Stratigraphy and sedimentary petrology of an Archean volcanic–sedimentary succession at Mt. Goldsworthy in the Pilbara Block, Western Australia: implications of evaporite (nahcolite) and barite deposition

Cited by 57 publications

References 53 publications

Geochemistry of heavily altered Archean volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the Warrawoona Group, at Mt. Goldsworthy in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia: Implications for alteration and origin

Geochemistry of heavily altered Archean volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the Warrawoona Group, at Mt. Goldsworthy in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia: Implications for alteration and origin

Barite, BIFs and bugs: evidence for the evolution of the Earth’s early hydrosphere

~3,000 Ma, Farrel Quartzite, East Pilbara, Western Australia

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