Tectonic setting and regional implications of ca 2.2 Ga mafic magmatism in the southern Hamersley Province,Western Australia |
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Authors: | D McB Martin P A Morris |
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Institution: | 1. Geological Survey of Western Australia , 100 Plain Street, East Perth, WA, 6004, Australia david.martin2@bhpbilliton.com;3. Geological Survey of Western Australia , 100 Plain Street, East Perth, WA, 6004, Australia |
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Abstract: | Although the presence of post-Hamersley Group mafic intrusive and extrusive rocks in the southern Hamersley province of Western Australia has been known since the area was first mapped in the early 1960s, details of the age, tectonic setting and significance of these rocks have only recently been determined, and are still controversial. These rocks are most commonly interpreted as the products of two temporally distinct periods of continental extension, separated by a hiatus of ~370 m.y. represented by the unconformity at the base of the Wyloo Group. However, the integration of published geochronological and geochemical data with detailed field observations documented in this study shows that ca 2.2 Ga dolerite sills pre- and post-date this unconformity, and were intruded during Ophthalmian orogenesis in a retroarc foreland basin. Furthermore, ca 2.2 Ga mafic magmatism is interpreted to include the Cheela Springs Basalt and is related to subduction beneath the southern Hamersley province, most likely resulting in accretion of part of the Gascoyne Province to the Pilbara Craton. |
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Keywords: | dolerite basalt foreland basin Hamersley province Capricorn Orogen Ophthalmia Orogen |
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