Abstract
Chemical data for pelitic rocks (shallow-marine platform sediments) of the ∼ 2.9 Ga old Pongola Supergroup, South Africa, and the 550–700 Ma old Nama Group, Namibia, revealed clearly different compositions in both groups. A comparison of the Pongola and Nama data with literature values for sedimentary rocks shows a trend for Cr/TiO2 and Cr/Zn ratios as well as the absolute Cr and Ni concentrations to lower values with decreasing age, whereas the Cr/Ni ratios seem to remain broadly constant through time. REE patterns of Pongola and Nama sediments show no significant difference, thus giving the impression of a post-Archaean origin for the demonstrably Archaean Pongola sediments. However, a plot of the trace element data for these sediments, normalized to the average shale of TuRekian &Wedepohl (1961) shows the Pongola shales to have a clear Archaean pattern whereas the Nama pelites display a typical post-Archaean signature. The results of this investigation confirm a model of rapid evolution of the Earth's upper continental crust from a predominantly mafic composition in the early Archaean to a more felsic character with increasing differentiation. The geochemistry of post-Archaean sediments may reflect the onset of cannibalistic recycling of older crust as proposed byVeizer (1973) and the end of major crustal growth.
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