Search results for "Archean"

Pre-3000 Ma thermal history of the Archean Kaap Valley puton, South Africa

1992

The Kaap Valley pluton is one of several early Archean (3200-3500 Ma) tonalitetrondhjemite plutons that surround the Barberton Greenstone belt, southern Africa. Precise dating using single-grain 207 Pb/ 206 Pb evaporation of zircon and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar laser step-heating of hornblende and biotite indicates that, in its interior, the Kaap Valley pluton preserves a memory of its initial intrusion and cooling, which spanned a time from 3225 to 3142 Ma. The pluton also records the effect of a low-temperature thermal event at its margin as seen by a 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite age of 3035 Ma, which is perhaps related to hydrothermal activity and gold mineralization in the adjacent Barberton Greenstone belt…

On thrusting, regional unconformities and exhumation of high-grade greenstones in Neoarchean orogens. The case of the Waroonga Shear Zone, Yilgarn Cr…

2017

Abstract During the Neoarchean, the dominant tectonic style progressively changed from an episodic-overturn/stagnant-lid regime to modern-style plate tectonics. The Neoarchean strengthening of continental lithosphere changed the style of deformation of orogenic belts. The case study presented here provides insights into how such transition in tectonic style occurred, a matter that is generally controversial. We present structural and metamorphic data from the c. 2660 Ma Waroonga Shear Zone (WSZ) in the Neoarchean Yilgarn orogen (Western Australia). The WSZ contains a syntectonic pluton and older, high-grade greenstones. The tectonic fabric in the pluton developed during melt-present thrusti…

Multiple sulfur and carbon isotope composition of sediments from the Belingwe Greenstone Belt (Zimbabwe): A biogenic methane regulation on mass indep…

2013

Abstract To explore the linkage between mass-independent sulfur isotope fractionation (MIF-S) and δ13Corg excursions during the Neoarchean, as well as the contemporary redox state and biogeochemical cycling of carbon and sulfur, we report the results of a detailed carbon and multiple sulfur (δ34S, δ33S, δ36S) isotopic study of the ∼2.7 Ga Manjeri and ∼2.65 Ga Cheshire formations of the Ngezi Group (Belingwe Greenstone Belt, Zimbabwe). Multiple sulfur isotope data show non-zero Δ33S and Δ36S values for sediments older than 2.4 Ga (i.e. prior to the Great Oxidation Event, GOE), indicating MIF-S thought to be associated with low atmospheric oxygen concentration. However, in several 2.7–2.5 Ga …

Comment and Reply on "Age and tectonic setting of Late Archean greenstone-gneiss terrain in Henan Province, China, as revealed by single-grain zircon…

1988

Age and tectonic setting of Late Archean greenstone-gneiss terrain in Henan Province, China, as revealed by single-grain zircon dating

1988

The authors report precise U-Pb zircon ages for single grains of a metarhyodacite from the Late Archean Dengfeng greenstone belt in Henan Province, China, near the southern margin of the North China craton. Most grains belong to an igneous population whose U-Pb isotopic systematics define a straight line intersecting concordia at 2512 +/- 12 Ma, and this is interpreted as the time of crystallization of the original greenstone volcanics. Several grains are distinctly older, between 2576 +/- 9 and 2945 +/- 44 Ma, and the authors interpret the older grains as xenocrysts of pre-greenstone continental crust that provide evidence for crustal derivation or crustal contamination of the original rhy…

Chronology of early Archaean granite-greenstone evolution in the Barberton Mountain Land, South Africa, based on precise dating by single zircon evap…

1991

We report precise 207Pb/206Pb single zircon evaporation ages for low-grade felsic metavolcanic rocks within the Onverwacht and Fig Tree Groups of the Barberton Greenstone Belt (BGB), South Africa, and from granitoid plutons bordering the belt. Dacitic tuffs of the Hooggenoeg Formation in the upper part of the Onverwacht Group yield ages between 3445 +/- 3 and 3416 +/- 5 Ma and contain older crustal components represented by a 3504 +/- 4 Ma old zircon xenocryst. Fig Tree dacitic tuffs and agglomerates have euhedral zircons between 3259 +/- 5 and 3225 +/- 3 Ma in age which we interpret to reflect the time of crystallization. A surprisingly complex xenocryst population in one sample documents …

New geochemical and combined zircon U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotopic data of orthogneisses in the northern Altyn Tagh, northern margin of the Tibetan plateau:…

2014

Abstract Dunhuang Block is previously considered to be an eastern part of the Tarim Craton, but now it is proposed to be the western extension of the Alxa Block of the NCC as a result of displacement along the Altyn Tagh fault. The oldest basement rocks of the Dunhuang Block, named Aketashitage Complex, were mainly exposed in the northern Altyn Tagh. Migmatites of the Aketashitage Complex are sodic and subalkaline in composition. Zircon U–Pb dating of the tonalitic and monzogranitic migmatites indicates that these rocks were produced by strong deformation of earlier formed tonalites with innumerous granitic veins. The tonalitic melanosome of the migmatites was generated approximately at 2.7…

Reworking of Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic crust in the Mozambique belt of central Tanzania as documented by SHRIMP zircon geochronology

2005

Abstract New SHRIMP zircon ages for high-grade rocks from the Pan-African Mozambique belt (MB) of central Tanzania document reworking of Archaean–Palaeoproterozoic crust during the formation of this Neoproterozoic collisional orogen. Several gneisses and granulites from the Great Ruaha river area yielded late Archaean emplacement ages of 2575–2680 Ma for their magmatic precursors. Core-rim relationships in some zircons revealed new zircon growth during relatively short episodes of granitoid magmatism. Metamorphic zircons, dated at 1925 Ma, provide new evidence for high-grade metamorphism during formation of the Palaeoproterozoic Usagaran mobile belt. Metamorphic rims around magmatic cores i…

Generation of early Archaean grey gneisses through melting of older crust in the eastern Kaapvaal craton, southern Africa

2014

Abstract We report zircon ages, Hf-in-zircon isotopes as well as whole-rock geochemistry and Hf–Nd isotopic systematics for Palaeoarchaean grey gneisses of the Ancient Gneiss Complex of Swaziland, the oldest components of the Kaapvaal craton, southern Africa. The Hf-in-zircon isotopic compositions in these compositionally heterogeneous, multicomponent, migmatitic gneisses are highly variable, even in the oldest zircons dating back to 3.66 Ga, suggesting growth of zircon from melts representing a mix of juvenile and anatectic material derived from differentiated continental crust of Eoarchean to late Hadean age. In contrast, the initial Nd and Hf whole-rock isotopic compositions are frequent…

Archaean tonalitic gneiss of Finnish Lapland revisited: zircon ion-microprobe ages

1990

We report single grain and grain-domain U−Pb zircon ages for the Tojottamanselka tonalitic gneiss previously investigated by the whole-rock Rb−Sr, Pb−Pb and Sm−Nd methods, by conventional U−Pb zircon density/size fraction analysis and by Hf-isotopes (Kroner et al. 1981; Patchett et al. 1981; Jahn et al. 1984) and established as one of the oldest known rocks of the Baltic shield. Our data confirm the intrusive age as 3115±29 Ma (standard error), but we also found slightly older xenocrystic zircon cores with 207Pb/206Pb ages between 3161±19 and 3248±10 Ma that may either be derived from earlier phases of the tonalite melt or from pre-tonalite sialic crust. New magmatic zircon growth, probably…