The ~2730 Ma onset of the Neoarchean Yilgarn Orogeny

The timing of the onset of an orogeny is commonly constrained indirectly, because early orogenic structures are rarely exposed, or are overprinted. Establishing the onset of an Archean orogeny is considerably more challenging, because of the more fragmented geological record and the general lack of consensus about Archean geodynamics. We combine existing tectono-stratigraphic data with new structural and geophysical datasets to establish the onset of the Neoarchean Yilgarn Orogeny (Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia). We show that the surface of the c. 2960–2750 Ma deep-marine Yilgarn greenstone sequence was uplifted, eroded and unconformably overlain by a c. 2730 Ma, syntectonic clastic seq…