Isotopic age determinations on precambrian rocks of the carpentaria region, Northern territory, Australia

Abstract

Abstract A sequence up to 40,000 ft thick of unmetamorphosed and only slightly deformed sedimentary and volcanic rocks occurs in the Carpentaria Province of Northern Australia. Metamorphic and granitic rocks form the basement to this sequence, and K‐Ar and Rb‐Sr age measurements show that the basement granites are about 1,800 ± 50 m.y. old. Associated in space and time with the granitic rocks are acid volcanics which form the basal unit in the overlying sequence. Glauconites in sedimentary rocks from this succession yield dates ranging from 1,600 m.y. in the Tawallah Group, the second lowest unit, to about 1,390 m.y. in the Roper Group, the uppermost unit. Plagioclase and pyroxene from dolerites intrusive into the Roper Group give K‐Ar dates ranging from 1,100 to 1,280 m.y.; the older date provides a younger limit to the age of the Roper Group. Following slight folding the Wessel Group was deposited unconformably on the Roper Group; a single glauconite from the topmost formation of the Wessel Group yields...