| Abstract: | The Hangingwall Basalt at Kambalda, Western Australia, contains zircons that have been shown by ion microprobe analyses to have very high U and Th contents and a wide variety of crystallization ages. Nearly all of these zircons certainly are xenocrysts; a few might relate to intrusive veinlets. The age of the youngest xenocrysts, 2693 ± 50Ma(2 σ), shows that the eruptive age of the basalt cannot exceed 2743 Ma. This confirms that the apparent SmNd isochron giving 3200 Ma [1,2] for Kambalda mafic and ultramafic rocks is a mixing-line [2] between unrelated components enriched and depleted in light rare earth elements. Mixing probably occurred at depth by erosion of 3200–3500 Ma old felsic crust from the walls of the HWB conduits. The zircon xenocryst ages are the first direct evidence for the presence of very old felsic crust in the eastern Yilgarn Block. The latter implies that the Kalgoorlie-Norseman greenstone sequences were formed in a continental rather than an oceanic environment. |
