Sedimentary evidence for an archaean shallow-water volcanic-sedimentary facies, Eastern Pilbara Block, Western Australia

Abstract

Sedimentological studies of the dominantly volcanic, ca. 3.5 b.y. Warrawoona Group, eastern Pilbara Block, Western Australia, indicate widespread shallow-water deposition. Many cherty metasediments within the ultramafic-mafic sequence represent silicified carbonate mud, sand, breccia and conglomerate, and show cross-lamination, ripple marks, scour-and-fill structures, and evidence of reworking. At North Pole, some cherty metasediments appear to be silicified and baritized gypsiferous evaporites, and contain microfossils. Felsic volcaniclastic rocks include pyroclastic deposits, cross-laminated tuffaceous metasediments and conglomerate. Subaerial volcanism apparently increased as deposition proceeded. The depositional basin was large, volcanically active and apparently shallow with subdued marginal relief. Felsic volcanoes formed topographic highs within the basin from which sheets of volcanically derived sediments interfingered with ultramafic-mafic volcanics. The Onverwacht Group of the Barberton Mountain Land, South Africa, is of similar age to the Warrawoona Group and probably represents a similar environment, but other greenstone belts may have formed in contrasting basins, possibly under differing tectonic regimes.