Lake Cethana–Lake Barrington Area Regional Correlation
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DEPARTMENT of INFRASTRUCTURE, ENERGY and RESOURCES MINERAL RESOURCES TASMANIA Tasmania Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 2000/01 A field excursion guide to the Wilmot and Cethana map sheets by M. P. McClenaghan, D. C. Green, R. S. Bottrill and J. Taheri Tasmanian Geological Survey Tasmania Record 2000/01 A field excursion guide to the Wilmot and Cethana map sheets by M. P. McClenaghan, D. C. Green, R. S. Bottrill and J. Taheri Introduction The area is covered by the Sheffield (Jennings et al., 1959) and Middlesex (Jennings and Burns, 1958) The Wilmot and Cethana 1:25 000 scale digital 1:63,360 scale Geological Survey maps. Explanatory geological maps overlap in their western parts with the notes on the sheets are provided in Jennings (1979) and Mt Read Volcanics Project (MRVP) Map 9 (Pemberton Jennings (1963). Detailed geological investigations in and Vicary, 1989) and the geology from that map has the Round Mount district in the south of the area are been incorporated into the new maps with only described in Jennings (1958). The southwestern part of minimal change. The mapping of the Wilmot and the area is covered by Mt Read Volcanics Project Cethana sheets was carried out with the aim of 1:25 000 scale mapping (Pemberton and Vicary, 1989). continuing to unravel the stratigraphy and structure of the prospective Cambrian volcanic sequence to the The Cethana area is highly mineralised with about 100 east of the area covered by the Mt Read Volcanics known mines and prospects, mostly for Au, Sn-W-Bi, Project mapping. Equal attention was paid to the and/or Pb-Ag, but also fluorite and other commodities. Deposit types are complex, but include overlying Cambro-Ordovician siliciclastic sediments, Devonian granite-related veins, disseminations, as their stratigraphy and structure provides clues to replacement and shear-hosted deposits in skarn, the subcrop characteristics of the underlying sandstone and greisen, and probable Cambrian Cambrian volcanic rocks. mineralisation in the Mt Read Volcanics. The Mapping was started in 1993 and, after a pause, was mineralisation is summarised by Collins (1979). resumed in 1997 and completed in 1998. It was carried The locations of the specific areas described are shown out using 1:10 000 scale contoured base maps and in Figure 1. aerial photography. The Fossey Mountains peaks of Mt Claude (1034 m), 1. Barrington Chert Mount Vandyke (1084 m) and Mt Roland (1233 m) topographically dominate the southern part of the Shackley Hill Quarry area. These mountains are composed of siliciclastic (439 300 mE, 5 418 800 mN) Cambro-Ordovician conglomerate. Sub-alpine Pale to dark grey, faintly banded to massive or vegetation grows above 1000 m, giving way to thick brecciated chert (Cbcw) is the oldest rock unit exposed eucalypt-tea tree scrub on the slopes and rainforest in in the Wilmot–Cethana area. This unit occurs in the the valleys at lower levels. extreme northeast of the area where it is best exposed in the large quarry at Shackley Hill (439 300 mE, Extensive plains of Tertiary basalt occur in the north 5 418 800 mN). and southwest of the area. The steep gorges incised through Tertiary basalt by the Wilmot River gorge and The Cbcw unit belongs to the Barrington Chert Forth River valley (now filled by the artificial Lake formation, described by Jennings (1979), which has its Cethana and Lake Barrington) expose Cambrian type locality between 436 900 mE, 5 421 300 mN and sedimentary and volcanic rocks, Ordovician Moina 437 500 mE, 5 422 100 mN near the Devils Gate Dam at sandstone and Gordon limestone, and Devonian the northern end of Lake Barrington and a short granite. distance outside the Wilmot map. In that area the formation is about 1000 metres thick, but the base is not Most of the area is well served with sealed and exposed. Jennings (1979) reported that the chert grades unmetalled roads but access to the southern slopes of conformably upwards through argillaceous chert to the Fossey Mountains is difficult, and that part has greywacke and siltstone containing beds of chert received less attention than the rest of the area. pebble conglomerate, which were named by him as the Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 2000/01 1 BARRINGTON LOWER WILMOT er iv R 20 2 ington Barr 1 SHEFFIELD ot WILMOT ilm W ROLAND Lake 3 4 River 7 5410 000 mN Mt Roland 10 11 Dasher 5 9 8 6 12 Mt Vandyke Mt Claude Cethana 13 e 40 mE Lak 30 4000 Figure 1 Location of areas discussed in text Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 2000/01 2 Gog Range Greywacke equivalent to siltstone, Best exposures on the Wilmot sheet occur on the shores sandstone and conglomerate of the Cgg unit on the of Lake Barrington north of Kentish Park (434 800 mE, Wilmot sheet. 5 418 800 mN) and in roadside cuttings at Nowhere Else (438 700 mE, 5 419 500 mN). In the field the rock is a Saito et al. (1988) showed that the chert consists of pale green/grey or pale brown poorly sorted spicules, fine spines and radiolarian-like remains in a sandstone with interbeds of finely banded siltstone matrix of silica derived from solution of these and mudstone. The sandstone frequently shows microfossils. Jennings (1979) reported that radiolaria grading. Very coarse sandstone with pebble had been found in a chert boulder in the River Forth conglomerate horizons occurs in a number of areas, downstream from Barrington and presumably such as west of Roland at 435 300 mE, 5 415 600 mN. derived from the chert unit. Saito et al. (1988) assigned Coarse sandstone with pebble conglomerate horizons a Cambrian age to the chert. can also be seen in roadside outcrops at this location. Fresh outcrop of the chert in the quarry at Shackley Hill A number of minor volcaniclastic units containing shows pale and dark grey banding. Disseminated quartz and feldspar occur near the top of the sequence pyrite is widespread, with sparse pyrite-rich nodules in the Wilmot Valley and near Nietta (e.g. 426 350 mE, up to 20 mm. Minor amounts of chalcanthite 5 418 800 mN). The volcanic rocks include vitric tuff, (CuSO .5H O) occurs on joint surfaces in some parts of 4 2 quartz and quartz-feldspar phyric rhyolite and rare the quarry. This mineral may have been derived from plagioclase phyric dacite (Cgrd). Clastic sediments in chalcopyrite, which Paterson (1959) recorded on joints this area vary from shale, through sandstone often in chert in the area of the Devils Gate Dam. Where containing volcanic clasts, to pebble conglomerate weathered, the rock is white and chalky or pale grey. In containing angular chips of shale, chert and volcanic natural outcrops south of the quarry (at 439 300 mE, clasts. 5 418 800 mN) the rock has brecciation textures and consists of rounded pebbles and angular, finely Near Lake Barrington the sequence passes up into a banded fragments cemented by cherty material. prominent cobble conglomerate unit containing quartzite and chert clasts (Cvtcc), and south of Roland 2. Gog Range Greywacke it is overlain by a distinctive (in thin section) volcaniclastic sandstone (Cvtpc) containing Roadside outcrops at Nowhere Else plagioclase, quartz, clinopyroxene and magnetite with (438 550 mE, 5 419 370 mN) rare lithic clasts of lava and quartzite. A sequence of greywacke, siltstone and conglomerate A single closely-spaced steep cleavage trending occurs in the northern part of the Wilmot map and was slightly east of north is generally evident in the named the Gog Range Greywacke by Jennings (1979), sandstone and siltstone in the area between Roland who reported that it conformably overlay the and Nowhere Else (fig. 2a). Barrington Chert (unit Cbcw). Jennings (1979) In the Kentish Park area the cleavage is axial planar to considered the sequence to be at least 600 metres thick. an outcrop scale fold at 434 760 mE, 5 418 710 mN. A Equal area Equal area N N (Schmidt) (Schmidt) +12S +10S +10S +8S +8S +6S +6S +4S +4S +2S +2S E E Axial N = 35 Axial N = 72 ab Figure 2 A contoured plot of poles to cleavage (a) in the area between Roland and Nowhere Else and bedding (b) in the area between Kentish Park and Nowhere Else in the Gog Range Greywacke. Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 2000/01 3 polar plot of bedding readings (fig. 2b) from the area Equal area N between Kentish Park and Nowhere Else shows a (Schmidt) poorly defined girdle consistent with folds trending in a similar direction to the cleavage and plunging steeply south. Further south, in the area between Lake Barrington and Roland, the major rock unit distribution suggests a major WSW-plunging fold. A plot of bedding readings +8S (fig. 3) from this area is consistent with folding with +6S that attitude. +4S +2S In a quarry near Roland (at 435 900 mE, 5 414 800 mN) a E crenulation cleavage is developed with a similar attitude to the cleavage in the area between Roland and Nowhere Else (fig. 2a). This suggests that the dominant cleavage in the latter area is a later cleavage, and that the earlier cleavage is patchily developed and has not Axial N = 80 been recognised in all areas. Figure 3 It seems probable that the major early folds in this area trended in a WSW direction and were associated with Contoured plot of poles to bedding in the area between poor cleavage development. A later folding event, Lake Barrington and Roland in the Gog Range Greywacke. with stronger cleavage development, followed with a trend slightly west of north. sandstone containing clasts of lava and quartzite (Cvtpc).