ORCID Profile
0000-0003-1890-9119
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Geology | Geochronology | Sedimentology | Petroleum and Coal Geology | Ore Deposit Petrology | Geochemistry | Inorganic Geochemistry | Sedimentology | Marine Geoscience | Geotectonics | Geochronology | Ore Deposit Petrology | Mineral Processing/Beneficiation | Materials Engineering Not Elsewhere Classified | Geology not elsewhere classified
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Iron Ore Exploration | Marine Oceanic Processes (excl. climate related) | Mineral Exploration not elsewhere classified | Primary Mining and Extraction of Mineral Resources not elsewhere classified | Earth sciences | Oil and Gas Exploration | Alumina production | Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences | Precious (Noble) Metal Ore Exploration |
Related Links
Publications
Dating fluid flow and Mississippi Valley type base-metal mineralization in the Paleoproterozoic Earaheedy Basin, Western Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2012
Widespread deposition of greenalite to form Banded Iron Formations before the Great Oxidation Event
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2020
Evidence for anoxic shallow oceans at 2.45 Ga: Implications for the rise of oxygenic photosynthesis
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 02-05-2019
DOI: 10.1130/G46162.1
Two episodes of regional-scale Precambrian hydrothermal alteration in the eastern Pilbara, Western Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2011
In situ U–Pb dating and element mapping of three generations of monazite: Unravelling cryptic tectonothermal events in low-grade terranes
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2007
Grenvillian-aged orogenesis in the Palaeoproterozoic Gascoyne Complex, Western Australia: 1030?950�Ma reworking of the Proterozoic Capricorn Orogen
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-04-2007
Tranquillityite: The last lunar mineral comes down to Earth
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 2012
DOI: 10.1130/G32525.1
In situ U–Th–Pb geochronology of monazite and xenotime from the Jack Hills belt: Implications for the age of deposition and metamorphism of Hadean zircons
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2010
Pb/Pb geochronology, petrography and chemistry of Zr-rich accessory minerals (zirconolite, tranquillityite and baddeleyite) in mare basalt 10047
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2008
Bushveld-aged fluid flow, peak metamorphism, and gold mobilization in the Witwatersrand basin, South Africa: Constraints from in situ SHRIMP U-Pb dating of monazite and xenotime
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 2007
DOI: 10.1130/G23588A.1
Iron silicate microgranules as precursor sediments to 2.5-billion-year-old banded iron formations
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 04-2013
DOI: 10.1130/G33828.1
U-Pb dating reveals multiple Paleoproterozoic orogenic events (Hamersley orogenic cycle) along the southern Pilbara margin (Australia) spanning the onset of atmospheric oxygenation
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 12-05-2022
DOI: 10.1130/G50010.1
Abstract: The early Paleoproterozoic was a time of unprecedented change in Earth's climate and surface environment. The key to resolving some of the controversies surrounding the timing and causes of these changes lies with supracrustal sequences, such as the 2.45–2.22 Ga Turee Creek Group in the southern Pilbara craton, northwestern Australia. The group preserves a predominantly siliciclastic sequence however, its precise age, tectonic setting, and postdepositional history are disputed. Although it is interpreted to have been deposited in a foreland basin setting shortly after 2.45 Ga, the oldest well-recognized deformational event, marked by northward folding and thrusting, is the 2.20–2.15 Ga Ophthalmia orogeny. Evidence for a pre-Ophthalmia fabric-forming tectonic event north of the Archean Sylvania Inlier, southeast Pilbara craton, which is marked by tight to isoclinal folding, has been largely overlooked. In this area, we report in situ U-Pb geochronology of authigenic monazite and xenotime in shale with a well-developed tectonic cleavage from the ca. 2.63 Ga Jeerinah Formation. Monazite porphyroblasts, which are locally wrapped by strain fringes aligned in a tectonic cleavage, yielded weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb ages at 2370 ± 11 Ma and 2312 ± 8 Ma, whereas xenotime, which overprints a crenulation cleavage, gave a weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb age of 2291 ± 11 Ma, constraining fabric development to between 2.31 Ga and 2.29 Ga. Our results confirm the existence of a pre-Ophthalmia deformational event in the southeastern Pilbara craton, herein referred to as the Sylvania orogeny, which is part of an ~300 m.y. interval (2.45–2.15 Ga) of northward-directed compression (“Hamersley orogenic cycle”). This orogenic cycle is marked by east-west and northwest-southeast folding, cleavage development, veining, hydrothermal gold mineralization, and isotopic resetting across the southern Pilbara craton. Our results indicate that the syn–Great Oxidation Event Turee Creek Group was deposited in one or more foreland basins after 2.45 Ga. Our results provide a new tectonostratigraphic and geodynamic framework for understanding the timing and origin of geochemical records in a key succession deposited during an interval of global environmental change.
Precipitation of iron silicate nanoparticles in early Precambrian oceans marks Earth’s first iron age
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 04-2015
DOI: 10.1130/G36309.1
U-Pb monazite ages of the Kabanga mafic-ultramafic intrusions and contact aureoles, central Africa: Geochronological and tectonic implications
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 15-04-2019
DOI: 10.1130/B35142.1
Abstract: Mafic-ultramafic rocks of the Kabanga-Musongati alignment in the East African nickel belt occur as Bushveld-type layered intrusions emplaced in metasedimentary sequences. The age of the mafic-ultramafic intrusions remains poorly constrained, though they are regarded to be part of ca. 1375 Ma bimodal magmatism dominated by voluminous S-type granites. In this study, we investigated igneous monazite and zircon from a differentiated layered intrusion and metamorphic monazite from the contact aureole. The monazite shows contrasting crystal morphology, chemical composition, and U-Pb ages. Monazite that formed by contact metamorphism in response to emplacement of mafic-ultramafic melts is characterized by extremely high Th and U and yielded a weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb age of 1402 ± 9 Ma, which is in agreement with dates from the igneous monazite and zircon. The ages indicate that the intrusion of ultramafic melts was substantially earlier (by ∼25 m.y., 95% confidence) than the prevailing S-type granites, calling for a reappraisal of the previously suggested model of coeval, bimodal magmatism. Monazite in the metapelitic rocks also records two younger growth events at ca. 1375 Ma and ca. 990 Ma, coeval with metamorphism during emplacement of S-type granites and tin-bearing granites, respectively. In conjunction with available geologic evidence, we propose that the Kabanga-Musongati mafic-ultramafic intrusions likely heralded a structurally controlled thermal anomaly related to Nuna breakup, which culminated during the ca. 1375 Ma Kibaran event, manifested as extensive intracrustal melting in the adjoining Karagwe-Ankole belt, producing voluminous S-type granites. The Grenvillian-aged (ca. 990 Ma) tin-bearing granite and related Sn mineralization appear to be the far-field record of tectonothermal events associated with collision along the Irumide belt during Rodinia assembly. Since monazite is a ubiquitous trace phase in pelitic sedimentary rocks, in contact aureoles of mafic-ultramafic intrusions, and in regional metamorphic belts, our study highlights the potential of using metamorphic monazite to determine ages of mafic-ultramafic intrusions, and to reconstruct postemplacement metamorphic history of the host terranes.
Geochronological constraints on the Tropicana gold deposit and Albany-Fraser orogen, Western Australia
Publisher: Society of Economic Geologists
Date: 23-01-2015
On the elusive isotopic composition of lunar Pb
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2011
Low‐Fe(III) Greenalite Was a Primary Mineral From Neoarchean Oceans
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 02-04-2018
DOI: 10.1002/2017GL076311
Timing and duration of deformation and amphibolite-facies metamorphism from U-Pb dating of texturally constrained monazite
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2006
Structural and geochronological studies on the Liba goldfield of the West Qinling Orogen, Central China
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-01-2012
The evolution of a Precambrian arc-related granulite facies gold deposit: Evidence from the Glenburgh deposit, Western Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2017
Greenalite precipitation linked to the deposition of banded iron formations downslope from a late Archean carbonate platform
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2017
Hematite replacement and oxidative overprinting recorded in the 1.88 Ga Gunflint iron formation, Ontario, Canada
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 17-04-2020
DOI: 10.1130/G47410.1
Abstract: The 1.88 Ga Gunflint Formation in Ontario, Canada, has played a key role in the development of current models for the deposition of iron formations. The presence of hematite-rich iron formation intercalated with chert stromatolites containing purported cyanobacterial microfossils sparked the idea that biology was the principal driver of Fe2+ oxidation and iron deposition. However, despite the abundance of hematite in the Gunflint Formation, a primary depositional origin has not been established. Here we present evidence for the replacement of Fe-silicate granules by hematite in drill core intersecting the Gunflint Formation. Iron-oxide replacement proceeded inwards from granule boundaries and along intergranular fractures, producing iron oxide–rich rims around Fe-silicate cores. The abundance of organic matter in shaly iron formation implies that the iron-rich mudstones experienced anoxic diagenesis and that coexisting hematite was not depositional but formed after burial. Widespread distribution of the alteration textures indicates that this was a large-scale process and that much of the hematite is not primary. Lifting the veil of oxidative overprinting reveals an iron-rich sediment that was originally more reduced and dominated by Fe(II)-rich minerals. Our results imply that a major assumption underpinning the original model for biological iron oxidation as the driver of iron formation deposition may be flawed, raising broader questions about the origin of hematite in other iron formations and the role of biology in iron deposition in the early oceans.
The occurrence and composition of chevkinite-(Ce) and perrierite-(Ce) in tholeiitic intrusive rocks and lunar mare basalt
Publisher: Mineralogical Society of America
Date: 10-2014
DOI: 10.2138/AM-2014-4690
Greenalite and its role in the genesis of early Precambrian iron formations – A review
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2021
Refining the Paleoproterozoic tectonothermal history of the Penokean Orogen: New U-Pb age constraints from the Pembine-Wausau terrane, Wisconsin, USA
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 07-2022
DOI: 10.1130/B36114.1
Abstract: An enduring problem in the assembly of Laurentia is uncertainty about the nature and timing of magmatism, deformation, and metamorphism in the Paleoproterozoic Wisconsin magmatic terranes, which have been variously interpreted as an intra-oceanic arc, foredeep or continental back-arc. Resolving these competing models is difficult due in part to a lack of a robust time-frame for magmatism in the terranes. The northeast part of the terranes in northern Wisconsin (USA) comprise mafic and felsic volcanic rocks and syn-volcanic granites thought to have been emplaced and metamorphosed during the 1890–1830 Ma Penokean orogeny. New in situ U-Pb geochronology of igneous zircon from the volcanic rocks (Beecher Formation), and from two tonalitic plutons (the Dunbar Gneiss and Newingham Tonalite) intruding the volcanic rocks, yielded crystallization ages ranging from 1847 ± 10 Ma to 1842 ± 7 Ma (95% confidence). Thus, these rocks record a magmatic episode that is synchronous with bimodal volcanism in the Wausau domain and Marshfield terrane farther south. Our results, integrated with published data into a time-space diagram, highlight two bimodal magmatic cycles, the first at 1890–1860 Ma and the second at 1845–1830 Ma, developed on extended crust of the Superior Craton. The magmatic episodes are broadly synchronous with volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization and deposition of Lake Superior banded iron formations. Our data and interpretation are consistent with the Penokean orogeny marking west Pacific-style accretionary orogenesis involving lithospheric extension of the continental margin, punctuated by transient crustal shortening that was accommodated by folding and thrusting of the arc-back-arc system. The model explains the shared magmatic history of the Pembine-Wausau and Marshfield terranes. Our study also reveals an overprinting metamorphic event recorded by reset zircon and new monazite growth dated at 1775 ± 10 Ma suggesting that the main metamorphic event in the terranes is related to the Yavapai-interval accretion rather than the Penokean orogeny.
Dust to dust: Evidence for the formation of “primary” hematite dust in banded iron formations via oxidation of iron silicate nanoparticles
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2016
U-Pb geochronology of monazite in Precambrian tuffs reveals depositional and metamorphic histories
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2018
A new Paleoproterozoic tectonic history of the eastern Capricorn Orogen, Western Australia, revealed by U–Pb zircon dating of micro-tuffs
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2016
In situ U-Pb geochronology of xenotime and monazite from the Abra polymetallic deposit in the Capricorn Orogen, Australia: Dating hydrothermal mineralization and fluid flow in a long-lived crustal structure
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2015
Reactions destroying detrital monazite in greenschist-facies sandstones from the Witwatersrand basin, South Africa
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2009
Radiogenic heating and craton-margin plate stresses as drivers for intraplate orogeny
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-05-2017
DOI: 10.1111/JMG.12249
U-Pb evidence for a 2.15 ga orogenic event in the archean kaapvaal (South Africa) and pilbara (Western Australia) cratons
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 02-10-2019
DOI: 10.1130/G46366.1
Abstract: There is geological evidence for widespread deformation in the Kaapvaal craton, South Africa, between 2.2 and 2.0 Ga. In Griqualand West, post-Ongeluk Formation (ca. 2.42 Ga) and pre-Mapedi Formation ( .91 Ga) folding, faulting, and uplift have been linked to the development of a regional-scale unconformity, weathering horizons, and extensive Fe-oxide mineralization. However, the lack of deformational fabrics and the low metamorphic temperatures ( °C) have h ered efforts to date this event. Here we show that metamorphic monazite in Neoarchean shales from four stratigraphic intervals from the Griqualand West region grew at ca. 2.15 Ga, m.y. after deposition. Combined with previous studies, our results show that sedimentary successions across the Kaapvaal craton deposited before ca. 2.26 Ga record evidence for crustal fluid flow at ca. 2.15 Ga, which is locally associated with thrust faulting, folding, and cleavage development. The style of the deformation is similar to that of the Ophthalmian orogeny in the Pilbara craton, Australia, which is interpreted to reflect the northeast-directed movement of a fold-thrust belt between 2.22 and 2.15 Ga. Our results suggest that the Kaapvaal and Pilbara cratons, which some paleogeographic reconstructions place together as the continent Vaalbara, experienced an episode of synchronous folding and thrusting at ca. 2.15 Ga. Deformation was followed by uplift and the development of unconformities that are associated with some of Earth’s oldest oxidative weathering and with the onset of Fe-oxide mineralization.
Apatite nanoparticles in 3.46–2.46 Ga iron formations: Evidence for phosphorus-rich hydrothermal plumes on early Earth
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 05-02-2021
DOI: 10.1130/G48374.1
Abstract: Phosphorus is an essential nutrient that is thought to have regulated primary productivity in global oceans after the advent of oxygenic photosynthesis. The prime source of seawater phosphorus is regarded to be continental weathering of phosphate minerals. Ancient seawater phosphorus concentrations have been constrained using the phosphorus content of iron-rich chemical sediments—banded iron formations (BIFs) however, the removal processes and depositional phases remain unclear. Here we report that nanometer-sized apatite crystals (& nm) are ubiquitous in 3.46–2.46 Ga BIFs and cherts from the Kaapvaal (South Africa) and Yilgarn, and Pilbara (Western Australia) cratons. The apatite is uniformly dispersed in a chemical sediment comprising greenalite nanoparticles, which were encased in very early diagenetic silica cement that limited compaction and chemical reactions. The lack of organic carbon (below detection & .3 wt%) and absence of primary iron oxides implies that the phosphorus was not derived from the degradation of organic matter or seawater scavenging by oxide particles. Instead, the occurrence of apatite in sediments derived from hydrothermally sourced Fe2+ and SiO2(aq) suggests that phosphorus too was derived from vent plumes. Today, seawater P is rapidly removed from vent fluids due to scavenging by oxidized Fe2+. However, prior to the Great Oxidation Event (2.45–2.32 Ga), dissolved phosphorus released during anoxic alteration of seafloor basalts escaped the iron-oxidation trap. Our results point to the existence of a submarine hydrothermal flux of dissolved phosphorus that supplied nutrients to the early anoxic oceans. High amounts of seawater P may help to explain why phosphorus is ubiquitous in cell biology—it was not limiting during the origin and early evolution of life.
Thermal history recorded by the Apollo 17 impact melt breccia 73217
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2009
Making magnetite late again: Evidence for widespread magnetite growth by thermal decomposition of siderite in Hamersley banded iron formations
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2018
Organic carbon generation in 3.5-billion-year-old basalt-hosted seafloor hydrothermal vent systems
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 02-2023
Abstract: Carbon is the key element of life, and its origin in ancient sedimentary rocks is central to questions about the emergence and early evolution of life. The oldest well-preserved carbon occurs with fossil-like structures in 3.5-billion-year-old black chert. The carbonaceous matter, which is associated with hydrothermal chert-barite vent systems originating in underlying basaltic-komatiitic lavas, is thought to be derived from microbial life. Here, we show that 3.5-billion-year-old black chert vein systems from the Pilbara Craton, Australia contain abundant residues of migrated organic carbon. Using younger analogs, we argue that the black cherts formed during precipitation from silica-rich, carbon-bearing hydrothermal fluids in vein systems and vent-proximal seafloor sediments. Given the volcanic setting and lack of organic-rich sediments, we speculate that the vent-mound systems contain carbon derived from rock-powered organic synthesis in the underlying mafic-ultramafic lavas, providing a glimpse of a prebiotic world awash in terrestrial organic compounds.
In situ U-Pb dating and element mapping of very low grade metamorphic monazite
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2006
Rhabdophane Th-Pb ages indicate reactivation of Mesoarchean structures in west Pilbara Craton during breakup of Greater India and Australia-Antarctica
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 12-08-2021
DOI: 10.1130/G49250.1
Abstract: Uranium-Th-Pb dating of phosphate minerals in very low-grade metasedimentary rocks from the Archean Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, has revealed a long history of deformation and fluid flow during the Paleoproterozoic. However, this technique has not detected evidence for fluid flow along craton margins during Phanerozoic rifting and breakup. We report the use of in situ Th-Pb geochronology of rhabdophane, a hydrous light rare earth element phosphate, to date fluid flow in shale from the 2.76 Ga Mount Roe Basalt from drill hole number 6 of the Archean Biosphere Drilling Program (ABDP6), northwestern Pilbara Craton. Thorium-Pb dating of rhabdophane in carbonaceous shale yields three main populations with weighted mean 208Pb/232Th ages of 152 ± 6 Ma, 132 ± 4 Ma, and 119 ± 4 Ma, which indicates phosphate growth up to 2.64 b.y. after deposition. The rhabdophane ages are coeval with three major breakup events in eastern Gondwana: separation of Southwest Borneo and Argoland from Australia (ca. 156–152 Ma), breakup of Greater India from Australia (ca. 140–135 Ma), and separation of Greater India/India from Antarctica (ca. 123 Ma). The proximity of drill hole ABDP6 to major Mesoarchean faults and shear zones on the craton margin, which are parallel to rift propagation and basin development, points to episodic reactivation of ancient crustal structures & .8 b.y. after their formation. Our results also highlight the potential of rhabdophane as a U-Th-Pb geochronometer for dating low-temperature (& °C) fluid flow and hydrous alteration. The migration of Mesozoic fluids through Archean shales adds weight to questions about the origin of geochemical signals in ancient altered rocks and how to extract information about the early environment and biosphere.
U-Pb isotope systematics and impact ages recorded by a chemically diverse population of glasses from an Apollo 14 lunar soil
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2022
Using in situ SHRIMP U-Pb monazite and xenotime geochronology to determine the age of orogenic gold mineralization: An example from the Paulsens Mine, Southern Pilbara Craton
Publisher: Society of Economic Geologists
Date: 06-2017
A 1.25 ga depositional age for the Paleoproterozoic mapedi red beds, kalahari manganese field, South africa: New constraints on the timing of oxidative weathering and hematite mineralization
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 28-10-2020
DOI: 10.1130/G46707.1
Abstract: The Great Oxidation Event (GOE) is marked by the loss of readily oxidizable detrital minerals and the onset of oxidative weathering. One of the oldest post-GOE weathering surfaces, which extends for almost 350 km along strike, occurs in Griqualand West, South Africa. It is best preserved east of the Blackridge thrust, where oxidized paleoweathering profiles are developed below the unconformity at the base of Mapedi-Gamagara red beds. In the Maremane Dome, the red beds preserve pisolitic hematite laterites, which indicate a highly oxygenated atmosphere and suggest hot and humid climatic conditions. The Mapedi and Gamagara Formations are undated east of the Blackridge thrust but were thought to be lithological correlatives of the ≥1.91 Ga Mapedi red bed sequence to the west. Here, we report a U-Pb zircon age of 1.25 Ga for a felsic tuff in red beds of the Mapedi Formation in the Kalahari manganese field. The new tuff age shows that the Mapedi red beds east of the thrust were deposited & m.y. after the Mapedi Formation to the west, and therefore they are part of a distinct Mesoproterozoic sequence. Based on lithologic and sedimentological similarities, the Mapedi-east and Gamagara formations are likely to be correlatives that were deposited on an ancient weathering surface at ca. 1.25 Ga. Our findings suggest that key evidence for a highly oxygenated atmosphere during the early Paleoproterozoic actually formed at ca. 1.25 Ga during a major episode of Mesoproterozoic oxidative weathering.
Fungus-like mycelial fossils in 2.4-billion-year-old vesicular basalt
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-04-2017
Abstract: Fungi have recently been found to comprise a significant part of the deep biosphere in oceanic sediments and crustal rocks. Fossils occupying fractures and pores in Phanerozoic volcanics indicate that this habitat is at least 400 million years old, but its origin may be considerably older. A 2.4-billion-year-old basalt from the Palaeoproterozoic Ongeluk Formation in South Africa contains filamentous fossils in vesicles and fractures. The filaments form mycelium-like structures growing from a basal film attached to the internal rock surfaces. Filaments branch and anastomose, touch and entangle each other. They are indistinguishable from mycelial fossils found in similar deep-biosphere habitats in the Phanerozoic, where they are attributed to fungi on the basis of chemical and morphological similarities to living fungi. The Ongeluk fossils, however, are two to three times older than current age estimates of the fungal clade. Unless they represent an unknown branch of fungus-like organisms, the fossils imply that the fungal clade is considerably older than previously thought, and that fungal origin and early evolution may lie in the oceanic deep biosphere rather than on land. The Ongeluk discovery suggests that life has inhabited submarine volcanics for more than 2.4 billion years.
U-Pb dating of overpressure veins in late archean shales reveals six episodes of paleoproterozoic deformation and fluid flow in the pilbara craton
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 19-06-2020
DOI: 10.1130/G47526.1
Abstract: Fluid flow in the upper crust not only impacts the redistribution of heat and elements, driving the formation of economic ore deposits, but it also exerts control on metamorphism, metasomatism, and deformation. However, reconstructing the history of fluid flow in ancient basins is exceedingly difficult, particularly in Archean sedimentary rocks because of extensive overprinting and recrystallization. Here, we report U-Pb ages for monazite and xenotime that grew in bedding-parallel veins in 2.63–2.5-b.y.-old shales along the southern Pilbara craton, Australia. The U-Pb ages define six discrete populations, at 2.41 Ga, 2.30 Ga, 2.20 Ga, 2.10 Ga, 2.05 Ga, and 1.66 Ga, which formed ≥200 m.y. after deposition. The abundance of bedding-parallel crack-seal and fibrous veins in banded iron formations (BIFs) and underlying shales suggests a history of episodic buildup of fluid pressure followed by microfracturing, fluid expulsion, and mineral growth. Thermometry of vein minerals indicates temperatures between 230 °C and 320 °C, implicating the migration of hydrothermal fluids. The development of bedding-parallel veins at 2.41 Ga, 2.20 Ga, and 1.66 Ga was coeval with regional orogenic events known to have affected the craton, whereas vein growth at 2.30 Ga, 2.10 Ga, and 2.05 Ga reveals new episodes of deformation and fluid flow. Our results show that well-preserved Archean shales devoid of structural fabrics and & km inboard of the craton margin preserve a cryptic history of fluid overpressure, crack-seal vein development, and hydrothermal fluid flow between 2.41 and 1.66 b.y. ago.
Seafloor silicification and hardground development during deposition of 2.5 Ga banded iron formations
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 03-2015
DOI: 10.1130/G36363.1
Greenalite Nanoparticles in Alkaline Vent Plumes as Templates for the Origin of Life
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert Inc
Date: 02-2021
Comment on “Early Archean biogeochemical iron cycling and nutrient availability: New insights from a 3.5 Ga land-sea transition” by Clark M. Johnson, Xin-Yuan Zheng, Tara Djokic, Martin J. Van Kranendonk, Andrew D. Czaja, Eric E. Roden, Brian L. Beard, 2022, Earth-Science Reviews, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.103992
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2022
Prolonged history of episodic fluid flow in giant hematite ore bodies: Evidence from in situ U–Pb geochronology of hydrothermal xenotime
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2007
Two collisions, two sutures: Punctuated pre-1950Ma assembly of the West Australian Craton during the Ophthalmian and Glenburgh Orogenies
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2011
Syn-tectonic hematite growth in Paleoproterozoic Stirling Range “red beds”, Albany-Fraser Orogen, Australia: Evidence for oxidation during late-stage orogenic uplift
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2019
Inclusion-localised crystal-plasticity, dynamic porosity, and fast-diffusion pathway generation in zircon
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2012
Multiple episodes of hematite mineralization indicated by U-Pb dating of iron-ore deposits, Marquette Range, Michigan, USA
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 15-06-2016
DOI: 10.1130/G37783.1
Response of xenotime to prograde metamorphism
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-05-2011
Evidence for widespread oil migration in the 1.88 Ga Gunflint Formation, Ontario, Canada
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 20-08-2019
DOI: 10.1130/G46469.1
Abstract: The abundance of Precambrian organic-rich shales, heated beyond the oil and gas window, requires that enormous volumes of hydrocarbons were generated and transported through the ancient crust. However, the former passage of fluid hydrocarbons rarely leaves a trace, so evidence for this process in the early Precambrian rock record is sparse. Here, we report the widespread presence of solidified oil (pyrobitumen) in the iron formation of the 1.88 Ga Gunflint Formation, Ontario, Canada. Petrographic textures indicate at least two phases of oil migration, an early phase marked by pyrobitumen in granules and intergranular pores, synchronous with synsedimentary silica cementation, and a later phase restricted to crosscutting fractures. The paragenetic relationships between the pyrobitumen and iron oxides indicate that oil migration commenced before hematite and some magnetite growth. Our evidence for early oil migration can be explained by petroleum generation during the 1.86–1.80 Ga Penokean orogeny, expelling hydrocarbons generated in the core of the fold-and-thrust belt outwards and updip through the sediments of the Gunflint Formation.
Monazite begets monazite: evidence for dissolution of detrital monazite and reprecipitation of syntectonic monazite during low-grade regional metamorphism
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-05-2007
Products of the iron cycle on the early Earth
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.FREERADBIOMED.2019.05.005
Abstract: Traditional models for pre-GOE oceans commonly view iron as a critical link to multiple biogeochemical cycles, and an important source of electrons to primary producers. However, an accurate and detailed understanding of the ancient iron cycle has been limited by: (1) our ability to constrain primary depositional processes through observations of the ancient sedimentary rock record, and (2) a quantitative understanding of the aqueous geochemistry of ferrous iron. Recent advances in high resolution petrography and experimental geochemistry, however, have contributed to a new understanding of certain aspects of the early Fe cycle. Most importantly, high resolution petrographic studies of late Archean/early Paleoproterozoic iron formation have documented the prolific deposition of Fe(II)-silicate-rich chemical muds from a dominantly anoxic ocean. At the same time, recent experimental work has shed new light on processes likely to have controlled steady state Fe concentrations in Archean oceans. These studies suggest that spontaneous precipitation of Fe(II)-carbonate was probably rare in Archean oceans, and that Fe(II)-carbonate would have more commonly precipitated on the surfaces of suitable mineral substrates within clastic and chemical sediments, consistent with petrographic observations. In addition, although experimental investigations suggest that maximum Fe concentrations in Archean oceans would have been limited by authigenic Fe(II)-silicate production (rather than Fe(II)-carbonate), the rock record indicates that this process was rarely operative. Instead, sedimentology, stratigraphy, and geochemical modelling suggest that much of the precursor sediment to late Archean iron formation was produced as hydrothermal effluent interacted with seawater in close proximity to seafloor vents. Together, these observations help define a new topology for the ancient Fe cycle. In this view, hydrothermal effluent-seawater mixing would have strongly attenuated the flux of dissolved Fe
Ancient Oil as a Source of Carbonaceous Matter in 1.88-Billion-Year-Old Gunflint Stromatolites and Microfossils
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert Inc
Date: 06-2021
In situ SHRIMP U-Pb dating of monazite integrated with petrology and textures: Does bulk composition control whether monazite forms in low-Ca pelitic rocks during amphibolite facies metamorphism?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2006
Using monazite geochronology to test the plume model for carbonatites: The example of Gifford Creek Carbonatite Complex, Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2017
Bunbury Basalt: Gondwana breakup products or earliest vestiges of the Kerguelen mantle plume?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2016
Development of a greenalite-silica shuttle during incursions of hydrothermal vent plumes onto Neoarchean shelf, Hamersley region, Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2021
In situ U-Pb and geochemical evidence for ancient Pb-loss during hydrothermal alteration producing apparent young concordant zircon dates in older tuffs
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2022
Metamorphic replacement of mineral inclusions in detrital zircon from Jack Hills, Australia: Implications for the Hadean Earth
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 12-2012
DOI: 10.1130/G33959Y.1
Hematite replacement of iron-bearing precursor sediments in the 3.46-b.y.-old Marble Bar Chert, Pilbara craton, Australia
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 15-05-2014
DOI: 10.1130/B31049.1
Tectonic fluid expulsion: U-Pb evidence for punctuated hydrothermal fluid flow and hydraulic fracturing during orogenesis
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2023
Deposition of 1.88-billion-year-old iron formations as a consequence of rapid crustal growth
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-2012
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE11021
Abstract: Iron formations are chemical sedimentary rocks comprising layers of iron-rich and silica-rich minerals whose deposition requires anoxic and iron-rich (ferruginous) sea water. Their demise after the rise in atmospheric oxygen by 2.32 billion years (Gyr) ago has been attributed to the removal of dissolved iron through progressive oxidation or sulphidation of the deep ocean. Therefore, a sudden return of voluminous iron formations nearly 500 million years later poses an apparent conundrum. Most late Palaeoproterozoic iron formations are about 1.88 Gyr old and occur in the Superior region of North America. Major iron formations are also preserved in Australia, but these were apparently deposited after the transition to a sulphidic ocean at 1.84 Gyr ago that should have terminated iron formation deposition, implying that they reflect local marine conditions. Here we date zircons in tuff layers to show that iron formations in the Frere Formation of Western Australia are about 1.88 Gyr old, indicating that the deposition of iron formations from two disparate cratons was coeval and probably reflects global ocean chemistry. The sudden reappearance of major iron formations at 1.88 Gyr ago--contemporaneous with peaks in global mafic-ultramafic magmatism, juvenile continental and oceanic crust formation, mantle depletion and volcanogenic massive sulphide formation--suggests deposition of iron formations as a consequence of major mantle activity and rapid crustal growth. Our findings support the idea that enhanced submarine volcanism and hydrothermal activity linked to a peak in mantle melting released large volumes of ferrous iron and other reductants that overwhelmed the sulphate and oxygen reservoirs of the ocean, decoupling atmospheric and seawater redox states, and causing the return of widespread ferruginous conditions. Iron formations formed on clastic-starved coastal shelves where dissolved iron upwelled and mixed with oxygenated surface water. The disappearance of iron formations after this event may reflect waning mafic-ultramafic magmatism and a diminished flux of hydrothermal iron relative to seawater oxidants.
Organic-rich microfossils produced by oil infiltration of hollow silicified bacteria: Evidence from the ca. 340 Ma Red Dog Zn-Pb deposit, Alaska
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 25-09-2019
DOI: 10.1130/G46346.1
Abstract: The remarkable preservation of carbonaceous microfossils in Precambrian chert has been attributed to rapid silica precipitation enclosing original cellular carbon. However, while silicification of bacteria can preserve cellular morphology, in modern silicifying environments, organic molecules are rapidly destroyed after death, raising questions about the origin of carbon in ancient microfossils. Here, we show that carbonaceous matter in filamentous microfossils in chert from the Carboniferous Red Dog Zn-Pb deposit, northern Alaska, represents relicts of migrated oil. Black, carbonaceous microfossils are associated with chert stained brown by solidified oil surrounding hairline fractures. The black filaments contain thin carbon films ( nm) lining minute quartz crystals in intracellular cavities. Our observations indicate that silica nucleation on bacterial cell walls was followed by the decomposition of cellular carbon, producing silica-encased, bacterial molds that were later infiltrated by oil. This process represents a new mode of fossilization that raises questions about the origin of carbonaceous matter in some of Earth’s oldest microfossils.
Dating deposition and low-grade metamorphism by in situ UPb geochronology of titanite in the Paleoproterozoic Timeball Hill Formation, southern Africa
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2013
Evidence from laminated chert in banded iron formations for deposition by gravitational settling of iron-silicate muds
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 08-01-2019
DOI: 10.1130/G45560.1
Corona textures between kyanite, garnet and gedrite in gneisses from Errabiddy, Western Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-1987
Metamorphic replacement of mineral inclusions in detrital zircon from Jack Hills, Australia: Implications for the Hadean Earth
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 12-2011
DOI: 10.1130/G32554.1
Related Organisations
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Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP190102237
Start Date: 05-2019
End Date: 12-2023
Amount: $430,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989649
Start Date: 04-2009
End Date: 07-2010
Amount: $800,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP0990455
Start Date: 07-2009
End Date: 10-2013
Amount: $180,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE140100150
Start Date: 2014
End Date: 12-2014
Amount: $700,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP130100922
Start Date: 08-2013
End Date: 12-2017
Amount: $510,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
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