A Progress Review of the Hamersley Basin of Western Australia
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R. C. Horwitz DISCUSSION ON: A progress review of the Hamersley Basin of Western Australia. by A. F. Trendall (Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Finland 307, 1980). R. C. Horwitz (CSIRO, Institute of Earth Resources, Wembley, W.A. 6014, Australia). Sir, In his paper »A progress review of the modify views on the genesis of banded-iron Hamersley Basin of Western Australia», Dr. formations in the Precambrian. Trendall (1980, p. 113) aims to provide readers with the knowledge of »which aspects of Fortescue Group earlier accounts may have been superseded» as well as »provide a brief guide to the exist- Horwitz and Smith (1978, p. 308) have dis- ing literature, particularly for geologists carded the frequently quoted hypothesis working on the Baltic Shield who may not (Trendall, p. 116) that the Fortescue Group have ready access to Australian publications». developed first over Archaean greenstones It is with similar directives that I am sub- whilst the granites formed positive areas on mitting this discussion of his paper. the surface of unconformity. This hypothesis Horwitz & Smith (1978) published results was established for the region around the Mt. indicating that the Hamersley Group was de- Edgar Batholith and Point Samson areas of posited on a submerged Shelf, not in a basin the Pilbara but the many exceptions, such as outlined more or less by the present outcrop. the areas south of Western Shaw or at Mt. The shelf was formed on the underlying. Leopold (see Hickman, 1980) indicate that the Fortescue Group rocks which do not thicken idea cannot be generalised. The opposite in- in the centre of a basin. In particular, we terpretation, that greenstones formed the envisaged that the Archaean substratum was positive areas of the unconformity, could be domed and that there was no shore-line, for deduced from de la Hunty's (1969) mapping either the Fortescue or Hamersley groups, to between Jimblebar and the Opthalmia Range, the southwest against the area now occupied about 50 km east of Newman. However, by the Ashburton (Wyloo) Trough. Contrary Horwitz and Smith (op. cit.) have shown (in to references by Trendall (op. cit. p. 128), particular Figs. 5, 6 and 7; and pp. 308 to 310 these results are independent of the correla- and 314) that the compilation of places of tion of the Hamersley Basin units with those abutment and overlaps indicate a simpler of the Nabberu Basin. pattern: During deposition of the Mount Bruce Supergroup, transgression and pro- The following evidence is submitted in sup- gradation resulted in the overlapping onto a port of our proposal that the distribution of broad basement ridge, or geanticline, which facies and the thickness patterns agree with was plunging to the northwest and which our model rather than that of a simple basin. tilted, or subsided faster, towards the south- The concept of a shelf environment could 64 R- C. Horwitz GEOLOGICAL MAP AND COLUMNAR REPRESENTATION OF THE THICKENING PATTERN OF THE FORTESCUE GROUP IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE HAMERSLEY PROVINCE LOWER PROTEROZOIC TO ARCHAEAN Wyloo Group Turee Creek Group Hamersley Group Mount Bruce Supergroup Jeerinah Formation Fortescue Group Rocks of L-_-_-j undetermined age f~~Z-J 8km Archaean Basement 6km 4km 2km Column Scale Data for thicknesses obtained from: Section No. 1: Field measurements 2: Field measurements 3: Photo interpretation and de la Hunty (1965) 4: Photo interpretation and de la Hunty (1965) 5: Field measurements 6: Horwitz (1976) 7: Interpretation after Blockley et al (1980) 8: de la Hunty (1969) 9: de la Hunty (1969) Map Scale Geology after Macleod (1966), with amendments. 50 100 km Fig. 1. west already during sedimentation of the area, as well as in the Newman area (already Fortescue Group. This tilt is towards Fraser's discussed in Horwitz, 1976). (1976) Ashburton Regional Gravity Ridge The tilt of the substratum was deduced area, which coincides with the Ashburton from paleogeological sections (op. cit. Fig. 6) (Wyloo) Trough area, between the substratum and agrees with the distribution of dominant of the Pilbara Block, in the North, and the subaqueous facies mentioned by Trendall Yilgarn Block and the Gascoyne Metamorphic (p. 116) in the upper half of the Fortescue Province to the South (Horwitz & Smith, op. Group; the feature of this part of the se- cit. Figs. 1 and 4). This was concluded from quence is a facies of pillow lavas associated a model, based on columnar sections, mea- with coarse tuffs, present throughout the sured throughout the Hamersley Province. southwestern (deeper) part of the shelf (see de Figure 1 shows, that near Newman this pro- la Hunty, 1965; Daniels, 1968, 1970; Horwitz, cess of overlap onto a basement-high per- 1978). sisted even during the deposition of the Jeerinah Formation, the upper unit of the Hamersley Group Fortescue Group. It also shows how, accord- ing to our data, the Fortescue Group thickens It is considered significant that stromatoli- to the southwest from the Turner Syncline tic carbonates in the Hamersley Group are Discussion 65 BIF, BIF, Fig. 2. Breccia at the top of macroband S3, Dales Fig. 3. The thickness of some macrobands be- Gorge Member, west bank Beasley River Section. tween BIFo and BIFn of the Dales George Member, at the Beasley River Section (B) relative to that of corresponding bands at the Type Section of Tren- dall and Blockley (1968) (T). only recorded from the eastern part in the ments in the Beasley River Gorge section, Carawine Dolomite, (equated to the Wit- near Woongarra Pool. There, accurate mea- tenoom Dolomite, de la Hunty, 1964). A 21 m. surements can only be made in the valley thick feldspathic sandstone is recorded in the side, between the river bed and disturbances Mt. Sylvia Formation at Newman (Anony- associated with the development of the mous, 1975) (compare to Fig. 1), but other- Hamersley Surface. It was found that, be- wise, nowhere westwards have shore line tween the base of the Dales Gorge Member facies been recorded in the Hamersley Group and BIFU (the top bands are even more which, with the exception of the Wyloo Anti- disturbed), only the following units are ex- cline region (125 km west of the Turner Syn- posed completely somewhere in the west bank cline, discussed by Horwitz, 1978) and the slopes and can be measured with con- BIF s eastern margin of exposures (see Trendall & fidence: BIF0, Si. 1> 2, BIF2, BIF(1, BIF7, Blockley, 1970, Fig. 2) is relatively even in BIF;,, BIFU. All other linking units, and par- thickness and persistent throughout. Isopachs ticularly within and on margins of S bands, are published for the Dales Gorge Member are obscured in part by post depositional only (Trendall & Blockley, 1970 pi. 3). Ex- breccias (Fig. 2). cluding the southwest corner, their data indi- Fig. 3 illustrates the thicknesses of these cate a relatively simple pattern, exemplified measured macrobands compared to their by a section starting at Paraburdoo, in the analogues of the type section. The data in- south (135 m. approx. thickness), to 100 km dicate that, for these units, BIF macrobands northeast, near Mt. Bruce (about 165 m. thick), to the type section (142 m. in thickness) are slightly thicker and S bands considerably some 40 km further northeast. Bourn & Jack- thinner than those of the type section, sug- son (1979, p. 190), and more recently Ewers & gesting less clastic or tuffaceous components. Morris (in press) indicated that near Para- Thus isopachs, for the BIF portions only, burdoo, BIF (banded cherty iron formation) would result in a radically different picture macroband thicknesses are comparable with than the ones obtained by Trendall & Block- those of the type section and the thinning is ley. reflected in the intervening S (shale, chert Trendall's components (op. cit. p. 128) per- and siderite) bands. The steeper gradients of taining to the satisfactory integration of his the southwest in the Dales Gorge Member isopach evidence should be revised, possibly isopach map are largely due to measure- in favour of our »heterodox» interpretation. 66 R- C. Horwitz References Anonymous (1975) Mt. Newman iron ore deposits. Hickman, A. H. (1980) Lithological map and stra- 25th I. G. C.-Guidebook. tigraphic interpretation of the Pilbara Block. Blockley, J. G., Trendall, A. F., de Laeter, J. R. Scale 1 : 1,000,000. West. Australia Geol. Surv. and Libby, W. G. (1980) Two »anomalous» iso- Australia publ. chrons from the vicinity of Newman. West. Horwitz, R. C. (1976) Two unrecorded basal sections Australia Geol. Surv. Ann. Rept. 1979, 93—96. in older Proterozoic rocks of Western Australia. Bourn, R. and Jackson D. G. (1979) A generalised CSIRO Division of Mineralogy Rept. FP 17. account of the Paraburdoo iron ore bodies. Australasian Inst. Mining Metall., Western — (1978) The Lower Proterozoic of the Wyloo Australia Conference, August 1979, 187—201. anticline. CSIRO Division of Mineralogy Rept FP 20. Daniels, J. L. (1968) Turee Creek, Western Austra- lia 1 : 250,000. Geol. Ser. Explan. Notes BMR Horwitz, R. C. and Smith, R. E. (1978) Bridging Geol. Geophys. the Yilgarn and Pilbara Blocks, Western Aust- ralia. Precambrian Res., 6, 293—322. — (1970) Wyloo, Western Australia 1 :250,000. Geol. Ser. Explan, Notes BMR Geol. Geophys. MacLeod, W. N. (1966) The geology and iron de- de la Hunty, L. E. (1964) Balfour Downs, Western posits of the Hamersley Range area. West. Australia 1 :250,000. Geol. Ser. Explan. Notes Australia Geol. Surv. Bull. 117. BMR Geol. Geophys. Trendall, A. F. (1980) A progress review of the — (1965) Mount Bruce, Western Australia Hamersley Basin of Western Australia. Finland, 1 : 250,000. Geol. Ser. Explan. Notes BMR Geol. Geol. Surv. Bull. 307, 113—131.