The Broken Hill Block, a new structure and mineral exploration target areas

Abstract

The Broken Hill Block contains the Paleoproterozoic Willyama Supergroup, host to the world-renowned lead–zinc–silver deposits known as the Line of Lode. A new large-scale geological structural interpretation has been developed based on the construction of 11 regional-scale cross-sections and one longitudinal section. Over an extended period of major folding during the Olarian Orogeny, two distinct sets of regional folds were produced. The longitudinal folds are of similar-type and mostly trend northeast. The cross-folds are subtle, mostly trend at right angles to the longitudinal folds and are open-style. Longitudinal folds in or near the Line of Lode have been reinterpreted. A newly interpreted major slump fold, central to the Line of Lode, allows correlation of rock units from east to west. The well-known Western Anticline and Eastern Syncline, which host the main Line of Lode, are normal drag folds, formed during the initial folding with their axes folded by the later slump folding. The lead lodes are older than the zinc lodes. We interpret previously mapped longitudinal folds, as formed by successive pulses within the one tectonic event. This resulted in increased folding complexity on a local scale, but not a regional scale, and with no substantive impact on the regional structure. Pitch and plunge data were used to identify 23 cross-folds, some more than 50 km long. Away from the Line of Lode, the new structure is simpler than previous interpretations and with no tectonic inversion of the stratigraphy, other than gravity slumping, and no regional-scale nappe structures. The combination of cross-folds and longitudinal folds has produced regional-scale domes and troughs throughout the block. The intersection of longitudinal fold axes with cross-fold crests are proposed to be particularly prospective for metallic sulfides with 25 named and prioritised mineral exploration target areas identified. The cross-folding has caused the ore bodies to plunge steeply to great depths north of the Line of Lode. Further to the northeast, the plunge is reversed bringing strata, containing potential northern extensions of the Line of Lode, closer to the surface. The retrograde schist zones, which are regional-scale faults or shears that have undergone retrograde metamorphism, postdate the longitudinal and cross-folding and are not considered to be related to thrust structures. Displacement of strata and structures is evident across the zones and is generally well understood. KEY POINTS A new set of regional folds, termed cross-folds, has been identified. In the Line of Lode, large-sale longitudinal folds include a major slump fold. The stratigraphic sequence is not inverted; nappes are for the most part not present. Broken Hill-type lead–zinc–silver deposits are preferentially found close to the intersection of longitudinal and cross-fold axes.