New constraints on the auriferous Witwatersrand sediment provenance from combined detrital zircon U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope data for the Eldorado Reef (Central Rand Group, South Africa)

Abstract

Combined U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope analyses of detrital zircon grains from the auriferous Eldorado Reef conglomerate, upper Central Rand Group, reveal new insights into the provenance of the sediments and thus, by implication, possibly also into that of the gold. Most of the detrital zircon grains, which are of magmatic origin, yielded Mesoarchaean ages clustering around 2.94 and 3.06 Ga. A subordinate zircon population gave ages with maxima at 3.28 and 3.44 Ga. The Mesoarchaean zircon grains mostly show super-chondritic ɛHf t of up to +5.2, whereas the Palaeoarchaean zircon grains have nearly chondritic composition with ɛHf t between −1.3 and +2.0. The new dataset of the Mesoarchaean zircon populations provides the first unambiguous evidence of the formation of juvenile crust not only at 3.06 but also at 2.94 Ga. As the analysed zircon grains are from the ruditic fraction, they must be derived from a comparatively proximal source in close vicinity to the Central Rand Basin. Based on currently available data, this source was most likely a magmatic arc that existed at the northern edge of the Witwatersrand Block at 3.06 Ga. An additional source might be the 2.94 Ga magmatic rocks of the Kraaipan Greenstone Belt that occurs to the west of the Witwatersrand Block. The minor fraction of Palaeoarchaean zircon grains in the Eldorado Reef perhaps stem from sources that are isotopically similar to the Barberton Greenstone Belt and the Limpopo Belt but were more proximal to the Central Rand Basin.