An Archaean submarine volcanic debris avalanche deposit, Yilgarn Craton, western Australia, with komatiite, basalt and dacite megablocks: The product of dome collapse

Abstract

The Boorara Domain of the Kalgoorlie Terrane, Eastern Goldfields Superterrane, western Australia contains excellent exposure of Archaean felsic and ultramafic breccias characterised by facies associations interpreted to reflect a volcanic debris avalanche mode of deposition. Such Archaean volcanic deposits are typically difficult to identify due to poor preservation and exposure. However, primary volcanological and sedimentological features are preserved within the relatively low strain and low metamorphic grade (up to lower greenschist facies) Boorara Domain that allow accurate facies reconstruction. The breccia deposit is characterised by two clast populations. A ‘block facies’ comprised of metre- to decimetre-scale megablocks of dacite, basalt and komatiite is preserved within a ‘mixed’ matrix breccia facies of angular, coarse sand- to boulder-sized clasts. The megablocks preserve original stratigraphy and show fracturing and jigsaw-fit textures within the poorly sorted, unstratified, genetically related matrix. Overlying the volcanic debris avalanche deposit, are a series of stratified horizons. These deposits show evidence of hydraulic sorting within bedforms exhibiting normal grain-size grading and tractional scour and fill structures along their basal contacts. The stratified facies is interpreted to have been deposited by high concentration, high competency turbidity currents, triggered by slope stabilization slides in the source region. Primary contacts and volcanic textures preserved in decimetre-scale volcanic blocks allow reconstruction of the pre-collapse palaeovolcanological history of the source region. The volcanic debris avalanche deposit, together with the associated stratified sedimentary horizons, were produced by sector collapse of a submarine, dacitic volcanic dome. Contemporaneous komatiite intrusion into the dacite dome may have caused dome flank instability. However, the volcanic debris avalanche trigger is interpreted to be a post-lithification tectonic influence.