SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age constraints on the Late Archaean tectonostratigraphic architecture of the Eastern Goldfields Superterrane, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Abstract

Reassessment of Late Archaean tectonostratigraphic architecture of the Eastern Goldfields Superterrane is based on 35 new SHRIMP U-Pb zircon ages of supracrustal sequences. The superterrane comprises at least five terranes with ∼2810 to ≤2657 Ma volcanic and sedimentary rocks amalgamated by ∼2660 Ma. Each terrane has distinctive stratigraphy, volcanic facies, geochemistry and timing of volcanism. The Kalgoorlie Terrane comprises a >2715 to ∼2692 Ma plume-influenced, but deep-marine, mafic-ultramafic succession (Kambalda Sequence) overlain unconformably by a 2686 ± 5 to ≤2666 ± 6 Ma arc-related, deep-marine felsic volcaniclastic-shale succession of tonalite-trondjemite-diorite (TTD) affinity (Kalgoorlie Sequence). Felsic volcaniclastic rocks of the Agnew Domain and northern Yandal Belt are included in the Kalgoorlie Terrane, based on their similar age and geochemistry. The terrane also contains enclaves of >2740 Ma volcanic sequences that are remnants of autochthonous basement to the Kambalda Sequence. Arc-related bimodal and intermediate volcanic rocks of the Gindalbie Terrane, ranging in age from 2693 ± 4 to 2676 ± 5 Ma, are coeval with but geochemically distinct from the Kalgoorlie Sequence. They overlie sequences similar in age and composition to volcanic rocks of the Kurnalpi Terrane. The Kurnalpi Terrane comprises deep-marine, calc-alkalic mafic and intermediate volcanic rocks (Kurnalpi Sequence) ranging in age from 2715 ± 5 to 2704 ± 4 Ma, overlain conformably by mafic to ultramafic lavas (Minerie Sequence). Although of overlapping age, arc-related rocks in the Kambalda and Kurnalpi-Minerie Sequences are geochemically different. SHRIMP dating has identified older volcanic sequences in the Laverton (≤2808 ± 8 Ma) and Duketon-Burtville (2805 ± 5 Ma) Terranes, with komatiite-hosted Ni-sulphide deposits at Windarra, in the Laverton Sequence, linked to mafic-ultramafic magmatism ∼100 million years older than in the Kalgoorlie Terrane. Older sequences in the Laverton Terrane are autochthonous basement to the Kurnalpi Sequence. Synorogenic siliciclastic sequences occur as erosional remnants either in synclinal structures or adjacent to terrane-scale faults, and overlie a regional-scale unconformity. Detrital zircon ages indicate deposition after 2657 ± 4 Ma, placing important age constraints on the principal shortening event (D 2) and peak metamorphism. Detrital zircon ages also indicate older sources at ∼2730, ∼2800, ∼2950, ∼3000 Ma and, less commonly, >3400 Ma. Many zircon age-populations correspond to known supracrustal and crustal rocks in the Yilgarn Craton, but some have no known source in the Eastern Goldfields Superterrane. Superterrane-wide distribution and evidence for erosion of all crustal and supracrustal rocks ≥2660 Ma in age requires deposition of these sequences after terrane amalgamation, most likely synorogenic to collision between the Eastern Goldfields Superterrane and the Yilgarn Craton.