scholarly journals Tsunami Deposits on a Paleoproterozoic Unconformity? The 2.2 Ga Yerrida Marine Transgression on the Northern Margin of the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Author(s):  
Desmond Lascelles ◽  
Ryan J. Lowe

Large blocks and boulders of banded iron formation and massive hematite up to 40 x 27 x 6 m and in excess of 10,000 metric tonnes were detached from outcrop of the Wilgie Mia Formation during the ca 2.20 Ga marine transgression at the base of the Paleoproterozoic Windplain Group, and deposited in a broad band on the wave-cut surface 900 to 1200 m to the east. At the same time sand and shingle was scoured from the sea floor, leaving remnants only on the western side of the Wilgie Mia Formation and on the eastern sides of the boulders. Evidence suggesting that the blocks were detached and transported and the sea floor scoured by a tsunami bore with a height of at least 40 m is provided by (1) the deposition of the blocks indicates transportation by a unidirectional sub-horizontal force, whereas the smaller boulders are randomly oriented (2) 900 -1200m separating the BIF outcrop and the blocks (3) the absence of the basal conglomerate between the blocks (4) the blocks and boulders rest directly on the wave-cut surface of deeply weathered amphibolites (5) the blocks and boulders are surrounded and overlain by fine-grained sandstone of the Windplain Group.

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Desmond F. Lascelles ◽  
Ryan J. Lowe

Large blocks and boulders of banded iron formations and massive hematite up to 40 × 27 × 6 m3 and in excess of 10,000 metric tonnes were detached from an outcrop of the Wilgie Mia Formation during the ca 2.20 Ga marine transgression at the base of the Paleoproterozoic Windplain Group and deposited in a broad band on the wave-cut surface 900 to 1200 m to the east. At the same time, sand and shingle were scoured from the sea floor, leaving remnants only on the western side of the Wilgie Mia Formation and on the eastern sides of the boulders. Evidence suggesting that the blocks were detached and transported and the sea floor scoured by a tsunami bore with a height of at least 40 m is provided by the following: (1) the deposition of the blocks indicates transportation by a unidirectional sub-horizontal force, whereas the smaller boulders are randomly oriented; (2) 900–1200 m separates the banded iron formation (BIF) outcrop and the blocks (3) there is an absence of the basal conglomerate between the blocks; (4) the blocks and boulders rest directly on the wave-cut surface of deeply weathered amphibolites; (5) the blocks and boulders are surrounded and overlain by fine-grained sandstone of the Windplain Group.


1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 2676-2690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis R. Bernier ◽  
Wallace H. MacLean

Small-scale alteration pipes and stratiform alteration in Archean glomeroporphyritic tholeiitic basalts at Atik Lake, Manitoba, stratigraphically underlie silicate-oxide banded iron formation (BIF) and auriferous sulfide-bearing chert. The auriferous chert is locally interbedded with graphitic argillite, indicating euxinic conditions during deposition. Cordierite–gedrite rocks formed by recrystallization of alteration assemblages during the lower amphibolite-facies metamorphism (T = 550 °C, P = 2.5 kbar). Al2O3, TiO2, Zr, and Nb, which were relatively immobile during alteration, have been used to monitor igneous differentiation and alteration. Volcanogenic hydrothermal alteration resulted in depletion of Ca, Si, Mg, Na, and Sr in the altered basalt and the addition of K, Fe, Rb, and Ba. This was accompanied by mass and volume losses of up to 25%. The mineralizing fluid was reducing and somewhat acidic. Rare-earth-element (REE) profiles of BIF and graphitic argillite, normalized to Archean shale, are less steep ((La/Lu)N = 0.51 and 0.49 respectively), than those of both mineralized chert ((La/Lu)N = 0.04) and recent sea-floor, siliceous, gold-enriched massive sulfides ((La/Lu)N = 0.11). REE profiles and Boström's plot suggest that the auriferous, sulfide-bearing chert formed by mixing of hydrothermal and detrital components. The overall chemical changes in the Atik Lake alteration system are comparable to those in Noranda-type massive-sulfide deposits. The trace-metal association in the auriferous chert is similar to that at some modern sea-floor hydrothermal sites.


Author(s):  
Donald Eugene Canfield

This chapter considers the aftermath of the great oxidation event (GOE). It suggests that there was a substantial rise in oxygen defining the GOE, which may, in turn have led to the Lomagundi isotope excursion, which was associated with high rates of organic matter burial and perhaps even higher concentrations of oxygen. This excursion was soon followed by a crash in oxygen to very low levels and a return to banded iron formation deposition. When the massive amounts of organic carbon buried during the excursion were brought into the weathering environment, they would have represented a huge oxygen sink, drawing down levels of atmospheric oxygen. There appeared to be a veritable seesaw in oxygen concentrations, apparently triggered initially by the GOE. The GOE did not produce enough oxygen to oxygenate the oceans. Dissolved iron was removed from the oceans not by reaction with oxygen but rather by reaction with sulfide. Thus, the deep oceans remained anoxic and became rich in sulfide, instead of becoming well oxygenated.


Author(s):  
Peter R. Dawes ◽  
Bjørn Thomassen ◽  
T.I. Hauge Andersson

NOTE: This article was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this article, for example: Dawes, P. R., Thomassen, B., & Andersson, T. H. (2000). A new volcanic province: evidence from glacial erratics in western North Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin, 186, 35-41. https://doi.org/10.34194/ggub.v186.5213 _______________ Mapping and regional geological studies in northern Greenland were carried out during the project Kane Basin 1999 (see Dawes et al. 2000, this volume). During ore geological studies in Washington Land by one of us (B.T.), finds of erratics of banded iron formation (BIF) directed special attention to the till, glaciofluvial and fluvial sediments. This led to the discovery that in certain parts of Daugaard-Jensen Land and Washington Land volcanic rocks form a common component of the surficial deposits, with particularly colourful, red porphyries catching the eye. The presence of BIF is interesting but not altogether unexpected since BIF erratics have been reported from southern Hall Land just to the north-east (Kelly & Bennike 1992) and such rocks crop out in the Precambrian shield of North-West Greenland to the south (Fig. 1; Dawes 1991). On the other hand, the presence of volcanic erratics was unexpected and stimulated the work reported on here.


1983 ◽  
Vol 29 (103) ◽  
pp. 515-520
Author(s):  
J. N. J. Visser

Abstract The upper part of a Permo-Carboniferous glacial valley fill along the northern margin of the Karoo Basin includes glacio-lacustrine sediments. During the last glacier advance into the lake, a bedded heterogeneous diamictite facies was deposited and, on glacier retreat, a sequence of deformed siltstones with diamictite lenses and sandstone beds, varved shale and rhythmite shale was laid down. Black carbonaceous mud was deposited during the subsequent marine transgression. According to varve counts, the glacier receded from the valley over a period of 500 to 1 000 years and it is concluded that the overall ice-retreat rate during the Permo-Carboniferous deglaciation was relatively high.


Minerals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Tutolo ◽  
Bernard Evans ◽  
Scott Kuehner

We present microanalyses of secondary phyllosilicates in altered ferroan metaperidotite, containing approximately equal amounts of end-members serpentine ((Mg,Fe2+)3Si2O5(OH)4) and hisingerite (□Fe3+2Si2O5(OH)4·nH2O). These analyses suggest that all intermediate compositions can exist stably, a proposal that was heretofore impossible because phyllosilicate with the compositions reported here have not been previously observed. In samples from the Duluth Complex (Minnesota, USA) containing igneous olivine Fa36–44, a continuous range in phyllosilicate compositions is associated with hydrothermal Mg extraction from the system and consequent relative enrichments in Fe2+, Fe3+ (hisingerite), Si, and Mn. Altered ferroan–olivine-bearing samples from the Laramie Complex (Wyoming, USA) show a compositional variability of secondary FeMg–phyllosilicate (e.g., Mg–hisingerite) that is discontinuous and likely the result of differing igneous olivine compositions and local equilibration during alteration. Together, these examples demonstrate that the products of serpentinization of ferroan peridotite include phyllosilicate with iron contents proportionally larger than the reactant olivine, in contrast to the common observation of Mg-enriched serpentine in “traditional” alpine and seafloor serpentinites. To augment and contextualize our analyses, we additionally compiled greenalite and hisingerite analyses from the literature. These data show that greenalite in metamorphosed banded iron formation contains progressively more octahedral-site vacancies (larger apfu of Si) in higher XFe samples, a consequence of both increased hisingerite substitution and structure modulation (sheet inversions). Some high-Si greenalite remains ferroan and seems to be a structural analogue of the highly modulated sheet silicate caryopilite. Using a thermodynamic model of hydrothermal alteration in the Fe–silicate system, we show that the formation of secondary hydrothermal olivine and serpentine–hisingerite solid solutions after primary olivine may be attributed to appropriate values of thermodynamic parameters such as elevated a S i O 2 ( a q ) and decreased a H 2 ( a q ) at low temperatures (~200 °C). Importantly, recent observations of Martian rocks have indicated that they are evolved magmatically like the ferroan peridotites analyzed here, which, in turn, suggests that the processes and phyllosilicate assemblages recorded here are more directly relevant to those occurring on Mars than are traditional terrestrial serpentinites.


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