The parnell quartz monzonite: A proterozoic zoned pluton in the archaean pilbara block,Western Australia

The Parnell Quartz Monzonite in the Pilbara Block of Western Australia is a Proterozoic (1731 ± 14 Ma) pluton characterized by high modal K‐feldspar and a greater abundance of hornblende relative to biotite, as is typical of Phanerozoic monzonitic rocks in eastern Australia. The only geochemical features reflecting its setting in an Archaean terrain are high Na2O, Ni and Cr. The pluton is zoned, with an increase in K‐feldspar, quartz and biotite and a decrease in plagioclase and hornblende from margin to core. Chemically, this zoning is reflected by systematic variation of CaO, K₂O, Na₂O, Sr and Rb, but ferromagnesian elements have irregular trends, implying preferential extraction of feldspars relative to mafic minerals during differentiation of the magma. The unusual geochemical trends are explained by a model involving ‘in situ’ feldspar fractionation of a K‐rich residual liquid from a mafic crystalline mush.

A parent magma similar to the average rock composition of the pluton is deduced because high ferromagnesian trace element abundances preclude extensive fractionation of mafic minerals. Geochemical and isotopic constraints suggest that the ultimate source was chemically similar to a shoshonitic basaltic andesite, that must have been emplaced beneath the eastern margin of the Pilbara Block in the Early Proterozoic. Subsequent partial melting of this postulated underplated source at ～ 1700 Ma to produce the Parnell Quartz Monzonite was probably associated with tectonism in the Gregory Range Complex.     

Microbial remains in some earliest Earth rocks: Comparison with a potential modern analogue

Carbonaceous matter (CM) from ca. 3.5 Ga hydrothermal black cherts of the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia and the Barberton Greenstone Belt of South Africa yielded transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images that are suggestive of microbial remains and possible remnants of microbial cell walls. These are compared to a potential modern analogue, the hyperthermophilic Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, derived from an active seafloor hydrothermal environment and cultured under similar conditions. A striking resemblance to the early Archaean forms was evident in wall structure and thermal degradation mode. Cell disintegration of the cultures occurred at 100 °C marking the limits of life. Complete disintegration, deformation and shrinkage occurred at 132 °C. A multidisciplinary approach to the characterisation of the CM was undertaken using organic petrology, TEM coupled with electron dispersive spectral analysis (EDS), high resolution TEM (HRTEM) to determine molecular ordering, and elemental and carbon isotope geochemistry. Reflectance measurements of the CM to determine thermal stress yielded a range of values corresponding to several populations, and pointing to different sources and processes. The δ¹³C values of Dresser Formation CM (−36.5 to −32.1‰) are negatively correlated with TOC (0.13–0.75%) and positively correlated with C/N ratio (134–569), which is interpreted to reflect the relative abundance of high R_o/oxidised/recycled CM and preferential loss of ¹²C and N during thermal maturation. TEM observations, inferred carbon isotopic heterogeneity and isotope fractionations of −27 to −32‰ are consistent with the activity of chemosynthetic microbes in a seafloor hydrothermal system where rapid silicification at relatively low temperature preserved the CM.     

Geochemical and isotopic signatures of Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic extraterrestrial impact ejecta/fallout units

Criteria allowing diagnostic identification of asteroid and comet impact fallout units (impactites), including fragmental ejecta, microtektites and microkrystite spherules (impact vapour condensates) comprise: (i) unique mineral fallout phases—shocked quartz grains, coesite and nano-diamonds; (ii) unique intra-microkrystite phases—Ni-chromite, Ni-nanonuggets and Ir-nanonuggets, condensed from vapour enriched in meteoritic components; (iii) geochemical features such as high abundance and unique ratios of the platinum group (PGE) and other siderophile elements (Ni, Co); (iv) meteoritic isotopic ratios including ε_53Cr (⁵³Cr/⁵²Cr), ε_54Cr (⁵⁴Cr/⁵²Cr), ε_182W (¹⁸²W/¹⁸³W) or (¹⁸²W/¹⁸⁴W), ε_Os (¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os), ε_17O (¹⁷O/¹⁶O), ε_18O (¹⁸O/¹⁶O); and (v) cometary seeding of ³He/⁴He and racemic organic molecules (AIB) and possibly fullerenes (C₆₀). Relic nickel chromites and metasomatically derived sulfides may contain PGE nanonuggets. Alteration, burial metamorphism and open-system mobility of uranium in hydrous terrestrial environments renders preservation of meteoritic ε_207Pb (²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) and ε_206Pb (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) values unlikely. Where least affected, PGE patterns of microkrystites and microtektite-bearing impact fallout units (impactites) are the reverse of terrestrial PGE patterns, including low Pd/Pt ratios, which provide some of the more readily identified and analytically practical criteria for identifying a meteoritic component. ε_Cr?–?ε_Cr relations in Barberton Greenstone Belt impact fallout units (3.26?–?3.24 Ga) identify a carbonaceous chondrite composition of the parental asteroids. PGE abundances (Ir, Pt) and ε_Cr isotope values allow mass-balance estimates of parental projectiles in the order of 20?–?30 km diameter. Ir and Pt mass-balance estimates correspond to projectiles ～20 km in diameter or larger in the Pilbara Craton for the JIL (>?2.63 Ga) and DGS4 (2.5?–?2.47 Ga) impact fallout units. The Ni, Co and Cr enriched composition of most Precambrian microkrystite spherules militates for mafic/ultramafic target crust which, coupled with the estimated diameter of the ensuing craters, implies the existence of maria-scale impact basins in oceanic-type crustal regions during the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic.     

Re–Os dating of the Radio Hill Ni–Cu deposit,west Pilbara Craton,Western Australia

A Re–Os isochron age is reported for massive sulfides from near the basal contact of the Radio Hill layered mafic‐ultramafic intrusion in the west Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. The isochron age is 2892 ± 34 Ma (mean square of weighted deviates = 1.06) with an initial ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os = 0.1265 ± 0.0028. This age is in agreement with the ages of other nearby layered mafic intrusions that are considered to have a similar geological evolution to the Radio Hill Intrusion.     

Mafic-ultramafic magmatism of the Early Precambrian (from the Archean to Paleoproterozoic)

Compositional evolution of the Archean mafic-ultramafic volcanics is considered in comparison with evolution of the Paleoproterozoic volcanism using available data on the Baltic shield, Pilbara (Australia) and Superior (Canada) cratons, and the Isua greenstone belt (Greenland). The Archean volcanics of mantle origin are of two major types, represented (a) by komatiite-basaltic complexes (komatiites, komatiitic and tholeiitic basalts) and (b) by geochemical analogs of boninites (GAB) and siliceous high-Mg series (SHMS) of volcanic rocks. As is established, the komatiitic and GAB volcanism ceased in the terminal Archean, whereas the SHMS rocks prevailed in the Paleoproterozoic to become extinct about 2 Ga ago in connection with transition to the Phanerozoic type of tectonomagmatic activity. Geochemical trends of mafic-ultramafic associations occurring in the considered cratons are not uniform, being of particular character to certain extent. With transition from the Paleo- to Neoarchean, rock associations of both types reveal a minor increase in Ti and Fe contents. Comparatively high Fe₂O_3tot TiO₂, and P₂O₅ concentrations (maximal ones in the Archean), which are characteristic of the Neoarchean (2.75–2.70 Ga) basalts from the Superior and Pilbara cratons or the Baltic shield, represent a result of relatively high-Ti intracratonic magmatic activity that commenced in that period practically for the first time in the Earth history. This magmatic activity of the Neoarchean was not as intense as the high-Mg basaltic volcanism, and the absolute maximum in concentrations of the above components was attained only 2.2–1.9 Ga ago, at the time of appearance in abundance of Fe-Ti picrites and basalts typical of the Phanerozoic intraplate magmatism. The Archean volcanic complexes demonstrate gradual secular increase in concentrations of incompatible elements (LREE inclusive) and growth of Nb/Th ratio that apparently reflected the progressing influence of mantle plumes. In the early Paleoproterozoic (2.5–2.35 Ga), values of that ratio considerably declined in the SHMS rocks and then quickly grew in the Middle Paleoproterozoic volcanics (2.2–1.9 Ga) to attain finally the values typical of the Phanerozoic magmas associated in origin with mantle plumes. The ?_Nd(T) parameter was decreasing with time from positive values in the Paleoarchean to negative ones in the SHMS rocks of the Paleoproterozoic most likely in response to grown proportion of ancient crustal material in magmatic melts. Since the mid-Paleoproterozoic, the ?_Nd(T) values turn in general into positive again reflecting change in the character of magmatic activity: the SHMS melts gave place at that time to the Fe-Ti picrite-basaltic magmas. The primary crust of the Earth was presumably of sialic composition and originated during solidification from the bottom upward of the global magma ocean a few hundreds kilometers deep, when most fusible components migrated up to the surface to form there the granitic crust. Geological history of the Earth commenced at the appearance time of granite-greenstone terranes and granulite belts separating them, the first large tectonic structures formed under influence of raising mantle superplumes.     

Taxonomy and biogenicity of Archaean spheroidal microfossils (ca. 3.0 Ga) from the Mount Goldsworthy–Mount Grant area in the northeastern Pilbara Craton, Western Australia

Microstructures recently reported from an Archaean sedimentary succession (ca. 3.0 Ga) in the Mount Goldsworthy–Mount Grant area in the northeastern Pilbara Craton meet the criteria for compelling evidence of biogenicity [Sugitani, K., Grey, K., Allwood, A., Nagaoka, T., Mimura, K., Minami, M., Marshall, C.P., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Walter, M.R., 2007. Diverse microstructures from Archaean chert from the Mount Goldsworthy–Mount Grant area, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia: microfossils, dubiofossil, or pseudofossils. Precambrian Res. 158, 228–262]. The structures are morphologically diverse. Although they were tentatively classified into five major morphological types (thread-like, film-like, small (<15 μm) and large (>15 μm) spheroidal, and spindle-like), the possible taxonomic significance of these groups was not discussed. Building on our earlier analysis, we focus on the morphology of the larger spheroids, as well as presenting further evidence relating spindles and several bizarre forms, and attempt to group them taxonomically and adduce additional evidence for their biogenicity.Taphonomic features were identified in each of the various morphological groups, but the range of morphological diversity of the spheroids cannot be attributed solely to taphonomic alteration. Four subdivisions of spheroids are proposed: (1) simple single-walled spheroids, (2) thin-walled spheroids having a diffuse envelope, (3) thick-walled spheroids, and (4) spheroids having an extensively folded wall. Simple single-walled spheroids, 15–60 μm in diameter, with various wall textures but commonly lacking envelopes or appendages form the dominant subgroup. Other complex morphologies are present and include aligned or associated bodies of thin-walled spheroids with diffuse envelopes, and spindle-like structures containing inner spheroidal bodies. The degree of morphological complexity and associations between structures suggest the presence of reproductive phases. If correct, this implies that the early Earth (ca. 3.0 Ga) showed a higher level of biodiversity than is currently postulated.     

Paleomagnetic age of ferruginous weathering beneath the Hamersley Surface,Pilbara, Western Australia,and the Cenozoic apparent polar wander path

During the Mesozoic and Paleogene, the Precambrian rocks in the Pilbara, Western Australia, underwent erosion and deep weathering that produced an undulating landform now represented by the duricrusted and partly eroded Hamersley Surface. A reddened, ferruginous weathering zone occurs immediately beneath this duricrusted surface. Oriented block samples of ferruginised strata of the Neoarchean–early Paleoproterozoic Hamersley Group exposed within approximately 15 m below the duricrust were collected at 20 sites in roadcuts along the Great Northern Highway between Munjina and Newman and exposures along the adjoining Karijini Drive. Stepwise thermal demagnetisation of cored specimens revealed a stable, high-temperature (680°C) component carried by hematite, with a mean direction (n = 55 specimens) of declination D = 182.0°, inclination I = 52.9° (α₉₅ = 3.6°), indicating a pole position at latitude λ_p = 77.6°S, longitude ?_p = 113.2°E (A₉₅ = 4.3°) and a paleolatitude λ = 33.5 +3.6/–3.3°S. Both normal and reversed polarities are present, indicating that the remanent magnetism was acquired over an interval of at least two polarity chrons (say 10⁵–10⁶ years). Chi-square tests on the determined pole position and three different sets of Cenozoic poles, namely those for dated volcanic rocks in eastern Australia supplemented by poles for Australian Cenozoic weathering horizons, and inferred poles from Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean hotspot analyses and North American Cenozoic poles rotated to Australian coordinates, yielded a mean age of ca 24 ± 3 Ma, i.e. late Oligocene to early Miocene, interpreted as the time of formation of hematite in the sampled ferruginous zone. The ferruginous weathering occurred under globally warm conditions and was followed during the early to middle Miocene climatic optimum by the deposition of channel iron deposits, which incorporated detrital hematitic material derived from erosion of the ferruginous weathering zone beneath the Hamersley Surface.     

A Kaapvaal craton debate: Nucleus of an early small supercontinent or affected by an enhanced accretion event?

Incorporation of the Kaapvaal craton within a speculative Neoarchaean–Palaeoproterozoic supercontinent has long been debated, and this idea provides a potential solution to solving the apparently enigmatic provenance of the huge quantities of gold within the famous Witwatersrand auriferous deposits of Kaapvaal. Within a framework of a postulated Neoarchaean “Kenorland” (“northern”; present-day reference) supercontinent, we examine possible “southern” cratons that may have been contiguous with Kaapvaal: Pilbara, Zimbabwe, Dharwar, São Francisco, Amazon, Congo. Brief reviews of their basic geology and inferred evolution in syn-Witwatersrand basin times (c. 3.1–2.8 Ga) show no obvious support for any such supercontinental amalgamations. An alternative idea to explain a measure of gross similarity amongst several Neoarchaean cratons is through global events, such as a c. 3125–3000 Ma cratonic-scale erosive event interpreted for both Pilbara and Kaapvaal, and a much more widespread magmatic event at c. 2760–2680 Ma. We postulate that a global superplume event at c. 3.0 Ga included a plume beneath the Kaapvaal cratonic nucleus, thus halting any subduction around that terrane due to the thermal anomaly. Such a speculative global magmatic event is assumed to have enhanced production of juvenile oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges, including those “offshore” of the thermally elevated Kaapvaal nucleus. Intra-oceanic obduction complexes may have built up fairly rapidly under such conditions, globally, and once the plume event had abated, “normal” plate tectonics would have resulted in composite (greenstone-tonalite, possibly also including granite) terranes accreting with nuclei such as Kaapvaal. This enhanced plume-related cratonic growth can be seen as a rapid accretion event. Formation of the envisaged ophiolite complexes possibly encompassed deformation-related first-order concentration of gold, and once accretion occurred around Kaapvaal's nucleus, from north and west (present-day frame of reference), a second-order (deformation-related) gold concentration may have resulted. The third order of gold concentration would logically have occurred once placer systems reworked detritus derived from the orogens along the N and W margins of Kaapvaal. Such conditions and placer gold deposits are known from many Neoarchaean cratons. The initial source of gold was presumably from the much hotter Mesoarchaean mantle and may have been related to major changes in Earth's tectonic regime at c. 3.0 Ga. The unique nature of Kaapvaal is probably its early stabilization, enabling formation of a complex flexural foreland basin system, in which vast quantities of placer sediments and heavy minerals could be deposited, and preserved from younger denudation through a unique post-Witwatersrand history.     

Volcaniclastic habitats for early life on Earth and Mars: A case study from ∼3.5 Ga-old rocks from the Pilbara, Australia

Within the context of present and future in situ missions to Mars to investigate its habitability and to search for traces of life, we studied the habitability and traces of past life in ∼3.5 Ga-old volcanic sands deposited in littoral environments an analogue to Noachian environments on Mars. The environmental conditions on Noachian Mars (4.1-3.7 Ga) and the Early Archaean (4.0-3.3 Ga) Earth were, in many respects, similar: presence of liquid water, dense CO₂ atmosphere, availability of carbon and bio-essential elements, and availability of energy. For this reason, information contained in Early Archaean terrestrial rocks concerning habitable conditions (on a microbial scale) and traces of past life are of relevance in defining strategies to be used to identify past habitats and past life on Mars.One such example is the 3.446 Ga-old Kitty’s Gap Chert in the Pilbara Craton, NW. Australia. This formation consists of volcanic sediments deposited in a coastal mudflat environment and is thus a relevant analogue for sediments deposited in shallow water environments on Noachian Mars. Two main types of habitat are represented, a volcanic (lithic) habitat and planar stabilized sediment surfaces in sunlit shallow waters. The sediments hosted small (<1 μm in size) microorganisms that formed colonies on volcanic particle surfaces and in pore waters within the volcanic sediments, as well as biofilms on stabilised sediment surfaces. The microorganisms included coccoids, filaments and rare rod-shaped organisms associated with microbial polymer (EPS). The preserved microbial community was apparently dominated by chemotrophic organisms but some locally transported filaments and filamentous mat fragments indicate that possibly photosynthetic mats formed nearby. Both microorganisms and sediments were silicified during very early diagenesis.There are no macroscopic traces of fossilised life in these volcanic sediments and sophisticated instrumentation and specialized sample preparation techniques are required to establish the biogenicity and syngenicity of the traces of past life. The fact that the traces of life are cryptic, and the necessity of using sophisticated instrumentation, reinforces the challenges and difficulties of in situ robotic missions to identify past life on Mars. We therefore recommend the return of samples from Mars to Earth for a definitive search for traces of life.     

Genesis of the channel iron deposits (CID) of the Pilbara region,Western Australia

Miocene fluvial goethite/hematite channel iron deposits (CID) are part of the Cenozoic Detritals 2 (CzD2), of the Western Australian Pilbara region. They range from gravelly mudstones through granular rocks to intraformational pebble, cobble and rare boulder conglomerates, as infill in numerous meandering palaeochannels in a mature surface that includes Precambrian granitoids, volcanics, metasediments, BIF and ferruginous Palaeogene valley fill. In the Hamersley Province of the Pilbara, the consolidated fine gravels and subordinate interbedded conglomerates, with their leached equivalents, are a major source of export iron ore. This granular ore typically comprises pedogenically derived pelletoids comprising hematite nuclei and goethite cortices (ooids and lesser pisoids), with abundant coarser goethitised wood/charcoal fragments and goethitic peloids, minor clay, and generally minimal porous goethitic matrix, with late-stage episodic solution and partial infill by secondary goethite, silica and siderite (now oxidised) in places. Clay horizons and non-ore polymictic basal and marginal conglomerates are also present. The accretionary pedogenic pelletoids were mostly derived from stripping of a mature ferruginous but apparently well-vegetated surface, developed in the Early to Middle Miocene on a wide variety of susceptible rock types including BIF, basic intrusives and sediments. This deep ferruginisation effectively destroyed most remnants of the original rock textures producing a unique surface, very different to those that produced the underlying CzD1 (Palaeogene) and the overlying CzD3 (Pliocene – Quaternary). The peloids were derived both intraformationally from fragmentation and reworking of desiccated goethite-rich muds, and from the regolith. Tiny wood/charcoal fragments replaced in soil by goethite, and dehydrated to hematite, formed nuclei for many pelletoids. Additionally, abundant small (≤10 mm) fragments of wood/charcoal, now goethite, were probably replaced in situ within the consolidating CID. This profusion of fossil wood, both as pelletoid nuclei and as discrete fragments, suggests major episodic wild fires in heavily vegetated catchments, a point supported by the abundance of kenomagnetite – maghemite developed from goethite in the pelletoids, but less commonly in the peloids. The matrix to the heterogeneous colluvial and intraformational components is essentially goethite, primarily derived from modified chemically precipitated iron hydroxyoxides, resulting from leaching of iron-rich soils in an organic environment, together with goethitic soil-derived alluvial material. Major variations in the granular ore CID after deposition have resulted from intermittent groundwater flow in the channels causing dissolution and reprecipitation of goethite and silica, particularly in the basal CID zones, with surface weathering of eroded exposures playing a role in masking some of these effects. However, significant variations in rock types in both the general CID and the granular ore CID have also resulted from the effects of varied provenance.