Pillow Basalts from the Mount Ada Basalt, Warrawoona Group, Pilbara Craton: Implications for the Initiation of Granite-Greenstone Terrains D

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Pillow Basalts from the Mount Ada Basalt, Warrawoona Group, Pilbara Craton: Implications for the Initiation of Granite-Greenstone Terrains D

Goldschmidt2015 Abstracts Pillow basalts from the Mount Ada basalt, Warrawoona group, Pilbara Craton: Implications for the initiation of granite-greenstone terrains D. T. MURPHY1*, J. TROFIMOVS1, R. A. HEPPLE1, D. WIEMER1, A. I. S. KEMP2 AND A. H. HICKMAN3 1Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, 4001, Australia (correspondence: [email protected]) 2School of Earth and Environment, The University of Western Australia, 6009, Australia 3Department of Mines and Petroleum, Western Australia The Pilbara Craton represents the archetypal Archean granite-greenstone terrain in which mafic volcanic dominated supercrustals are intruded by granitic domes. This crustal morphology reflects distinct tectonic settings that formed in a hotter early Earth. The ambient temperature in the Paleoarchean mantle is estimated to be 1600oC [1] and corresponds with the liquidus temperature of Barberton komatiites [2]. In the Paleoarchean mantle a pyrolite composition at depths of less than 100 km is expected to melt and generate ultramafic magmas. Here we present volcanology, petrology and geochemistry data of well-preserved basaltic lavas ascribed to the Mount Ada Basalt, Warrawoona Group from the Doolena Gap Greenstone Belt. The Mount Ada Basalt was coeval with the Callina plutonic event that marks the initiation of dome formation in the Pilbara Craton [3]. The Doolena Gap sequence is exclusively pillow basalts with MgO < 10%. Isotopically the basalts are indistinguishable from contemporary non-chondritic Bulk Earth (εNd, 1.0 ± 0.2 and εHf, 2.3 ± 0.2). Here we address the implications of Paleoarchean basalts with MgO% < 10 derived from melting of a source indistinguishable from non-chondritic Bulk Silicate Earth to the initiation and subsequent evolution of the Pilbara Craton. [1] Korenaga, J. (2008) Reviews of Geophysics 46 (2008). [2] Puchtel, I. et al. (2013) Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 108, 63-90. [3] Hickman, A. H. (2012) Island Arc 21, 1-31. 22212221 .

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Thomas Spring Thesis (PDF 7MB)
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PHYSICAL VOLCANOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND PETROGENESIS OF THE 3.5GA WARRAWOONA GROUP PILLOW BASALT OF THE WARRALONG GREENSTONE BELT, PILBARA CRATON WESTERN AUSTRALIA Thomas Frederick David Spring Bachelor of Applied Science (Geology) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science (Geoscience) School of Earth, Environment and Biological Science Faculty of Science and Engineering Queensland University of Technology 2017 Abstract The formation of Earth’s continental crust initiated in the early Archean and has continued to the present day. In the early Archean, the Earth was substantially hotter than the present day leading to dramatically different tectonic processes. Early Archean tectonic processes have to be inferred from the rare well-preserved remnants of Archean crust. Models for the formation of Archean crust include large scale mantle melting associated with mantle plumes to generate thick basaltic to ultramafic crust. This crust than undergoes partial melting and internal differentiation to more felsic compositions. The Pilbara craton provides an ideal area for research into the Archean crust, with some of Earth oldest crust being preserved in relatively low strain and low metamorphosed greenstone belts. The volcanic cycles preserved in the greenstone belts of the Paleoarchean East Pilbara Terrane of the Pilbara craton represent the type example of plume-derived volcanism in the early Earth. Here I investigate the lithostratigraphy, volcanology and depositional environment of a volcanic and sedimentary succession ascribed to the Warrawoona group of the East Pilbara Supergroup from the Eastern Warralong Greenstone belt of the East Pilbara Terrane. In addition, I investigate the petrogenesis of well-preserved basaltic samples from the pillow basalt sequence ascribed to the Mt Ada Basalts in the study area.
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