Depositional history of the Main Tuff Interval of the Wittenoom Formation, late Archean—early Proterozoic Hamersley Group, Western Australia

Abstract

The Main Tuff Interval (MTI) is a 3.5 to 16.4 m thick sequence of pyroclastic turbidites in the Wittenoom Formation of the late Archean to early Proterozoic Hamersley Group, Western Australia. The Hamersley Group accumulated in a basin located on the Archean Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. MTI pyroclasts formed via hydrovolcanic eruption processes from a magma that was likely intermediate in composition. Eruption took place in a shallow subaqueous setting. The MTI was deposited by high- and low- concentration turbidity currents in four overlapping regional depositional packages. Paleocurrent and stratigraphic data indicate the MTI source lay to the north of the present exposure limits of the Hamersley Group on the Pilbara Craton, and was likely to have been a single volcano. Reflection of turbidity currents in the southeastern part of the study area and westward travel of the reflected flows indicate that the Hamersley Group depositional basin shallowed to the east and south at the time of MTI deposition. The presence of the MTI source volcano on the northern Pilbara Craton indicates that the subsidence and marine deposition recorded by the Hamersley Group may be limited to the southern portion of the craton, and that volcanism may have continued on the northern Pilbara Craton.