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Evolution and Pre-3.2 Ga Asteroid Impact Clusters: Pilbara Craton, Western Australia

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The Archaean: Geological and Geochemical Windows into the Early Earth

Part of the book series: Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences ((MASE,volume 9))

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Abstract

Volcanic and sedimentary sequences of the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, display remarkable stratigraphic and isotopic age correlations with the Barberton Greenstone Belt (BGB), Kaapvaal Craton. However, peridotitic komatiites are less common in the Pilbara and intrusive batholiths include a lesser tonalite component than in eastern Kaapvaal plutons. Asteroid impact units in the Pilbara Craton include a ~3.47 Ga multiple spherule ejecta units precisely correlated with an impact ejecta unit in the Onverwacht Group of the BGB. The ~3.235 Ga unconformity between the volcanic Sulphur Springs Group, megabreccia and the clastic-felsic volcanic Soanesville Group in the central Pilbara Craton correlates within analytical error with the ~3.225 Ga unconformity between the Onverwacht Group and Fig Tree Group in the BGB. As in the BGB, the ~3.2 Ga break represents a fundamental change from the greenstone-TTG system to semi-continental environments dominated by arenites, turbidites, conglomerate, banded iron formations and felsic volcanics. These events resulted in a change of geotectonic patterns from pre-3.2 Ga largely dome-structured batholiths to linear structural patterns of supracrustal belts and intervening granitoids observed in the post-3.2 Ga western Pilbara Craton.

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  1. School of Archaeology and Anthropology and Planetary Science Institute, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Andrew Y. Glikson

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Glikson, A.Y. (2014). Evolution and Pre-3.2 Ga Asteroid Impact Clusters: Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. In: The Archaean: Geological and Geochemical Windows into the Early Earth. Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07908-0_8

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