Quartz nanocrystals in the 2.48 Ga Dales Gorge banded iron formation of Hamersley, Western Australia: Evidence for a change from submarine to subaerial volcanism at the end of the Archean

2013 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 582-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.-L. Li ◽  
D. R. Cole ◽  
K. Konhauser ◽  
L. S. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation

scholarly journals Archean to Paleoproterozoic seawater halogen ratios recorded by fluid inclusions in chert and hydrothermal quartz

2020 ◽  
Vol 105 (9) ◽  
pp. 1317-1325
Author(s):  
Ray Burgess ◽  
Sarah L. Goldsmith ◽  
Hirochika Sumino ◽  
Jamie D. Gilmour ◽  
Bernard Marty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Fluid Inclusions ◽  
Hydrothermal Systems ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Hydrothermal Quartz ◽  
Ocean Salinity ◽  
Halide System ◽  
Chemical Sediment ◽  
Substantial Change

Abstract Past changes in the halogen composition of seawater are anticipated based on the differing behavior of chlorine and bromine that are strongly partitioned into seawater, relative to iodine, which is extremely depleted in modern seawater and enriched in marine sediments due to biological uptake. Here we assess the use of chert, a chemical sediment that precipitated throughout the Precambrian, as a proxy for halide ratios in ancient seawater. We determine a set of criteria that can be used to assess the primary nature of halogens and show that ancient seawater Br/Cl and I/Cl ratios can be resolved in chert samples from the 2.5 Ga Dales Gorge Member of the Brockman Banded Iron Formation, Hamersley Group, Western Australia. The values determined of Br/Cl ~2 × 10-3 M and I/Cl ~30 × 10-6 M are comparable to fluid inclusions in hydrothermal quartz from the 3.5 Ga North Pole area, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, that were the subject of previous reconstructions of ancient ocean salinity and atmospheric isotopic composition. While the similar Br/Cl and I/Cl values indicate no substantial change in the ocean halide system over the interval 2.5–3.5Ga, compared to modern seawater, the ancient ocean was enriched in Br and I relative to Cl. The I/Cl value is intermediate between bulk Earth (assumed chondritic) and the modern seawater ratio, which can be explained by a smaller organic reservoir because this is the major control on marine iodine at the present day. Br/Cl ratios are about 30% higher than both modern seawater and contemporary seafloor hydrothermal systems, perhaps indicating a stronger mantle buffering of seawater halogens during the Archean.

The Joffre banded iron formation, Hamersley Group, Western Australia: Assessing the palaeoenvironment through detailed petrology and chemostratigraphy

2016 ◽  
Vol 273 ◽  
pp. 12-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmus Haugaard ◽  
Ernesto Pecoits ◽  
Stefan Lalonde ◽  
Olivier Rouxel ◽  
Kurt Konhauser
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation

The distribution and roost habitat of the orange leaf-nosed bat, Rhinonicteris aurantius, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. N. Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Breeding Range ◽  
New Localities ◽  
Orange Leaf ◽  
First Time ◽  
Landform Units

The endemic orange leaf-nosed bat, Rhinonicteris aurantius, is a relict both in a phylogenetic and a geographic sense. Prior to this study, two colonies in disused mines and seven other records of single animals were known from the disjunct Pilbara population of Western Australia. Cave roosts were located in the region for the first time, five new roosts were found in disused mines and the species was recorded in five new localities. Cave roosts were discovered in sandstone bedding. Free-flying R. aurantius were located in a diverse range of landscapes composed of banded iron formation, Cleaverville Formation geology and granite. Mines utilised as roosts were structurally complex and in some cases breached the watertable. This study revealed that while the species is widespread throughout the region, it is restricted to certain landform units, the number of suitable roosts within landform units is limited and the population appears to be subdivided within the region. Dispersal and connectivity within the population may be dependent on the availability of roosts in intervening areas, which may be a function of the availability of groundwater to subterranean formations for the control of roost microclimate. Currently, the known breeding range is one gorge at Barlee Range Nature Reserve and one mine at Bamboo Creek.

sPhysicochemical conditions of fluid–wall rock interaction at amphibolite-facies conditions in two Archean hydrothermal gold deposits in the Mt. York District, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 993-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Neumayr ◽  
J.R. Ridley ◽  
D.I. Groves
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Gold Mineralization ◽  
Wall Rock ◽  
Gold Deposits ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Rock Interaction ◽  
Wall Rock Alteration ◽  
Geochemical Analyses ◽  
Pilbara Craton

Synamphibolite facies Archean gold mineralization in the Mt. York District, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, is hosted in metamorphosed banded iron formation (Main Hill–Breccia Hill prospect), amphibolites, and ultramafic schists (Zakanaka prospect). Mineralization at Main Hill occurs in quartz breccias with sulfide matrices and in altered wall rock adjacent to quartz–biotite–amphibole ± clinopyroxene veins. Alteration associated with quartz veins is zoned, with biotite—pyrrhotite vein selvedges and a distal calcic-amphibole, arsenopyrite–lôllingite zone. Hydrothermal biotite and actinolite have highest Mg/(Mg + Fe) ratios where associated with abundant sulfarsenides in the distal alteratin zone. Whole-rock geochemical analyses and calculated metasomatic reactions indicate the addition of K, Al, S, As, Au, Ag, and Ni during hydrothermal alteration. Mineralization at Zakanaka is characterized by a broad wall rock alteration halo of biotite–amphibole, and zoned quartz–calc silicate veins proximal to ore. Wall rock adjacent to the veins contains pyrrhotite, pyrite, and gold. The alteration is explained by K-metasomatism distal to mineralization and K and Ca metasomatism proximal to mineralization. Balanced metasomatic reactions and mass-balance calculations indicate addition of K and depletion of Na, Ca, Mg, and Fe in distal alteration zones and addition of K, Ca, Mg, Fe, and Ti in proximal zones. Gold precipitation at both prospects occurred through loss of S, and possibly As, from the ore fluid during sulfidation reactions with Fe-rich amphiboles and biotites to form Mg-enriched equivalents and sulfarsenides. Changes in the oxidation state of the ore fluid may have enhanced gold precipitation, though pH changes are unlikely to have been important. The controls on mineralization are thus similar to those at many lower temperature, mesothermal deposits. The lack of consistently increasing Mg ratios of calc-silicate phases with increasing intensity of alteration and sulfidation at Main Hill may be the result of coupled substitutions in amphiboles and biotites during infiltration of a fluid with high-S, but low-As, activities.

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