The geochemistry of archaean clastic metasediments in relation to crustal evolution, Northeastern Yilgarn Block, Western Australia

Abstract

Abstract Clastic rudaceous metasedimentary rocks range from arkose to ultramafic para-schist in lithology and have high Na, Rb, Ni, Cr and V contents, except for pure arkose which has low Ni, Cr and V. The various arkoses are not comparable chemically with analyses of any Archaean or younger arkose or greywacke. The distinctive geochemistry and immature sedimentology of this clastic sequence (Jones Creek Conglomerate) results from: (a) derivation from sodic granitoid, low-K basaltic, peridotitic and gneissic source areas, (b) sedimentation in a high energy environment close to source areas, and (c) a lack of major post-depositional chemical alteration. Pebbles in the Conglomerate also attest to the local derivation of detritus from both sides of its very elongate outcrop. Following the emplacement (at 2689 ± 17 Ma) and unroofing of a sodic granitoid pluton, the Conglomerate was rapidly deposited in a graben-like basin. An irregular unconformable contact between the Conglomerate and this pluton is preserved locally. Elsewhere contacts with granitoid or supracrustal rocks are tectonised, but the petrology of the Conglomerate indicates that these contacts were unconformities also. Contrary to previous suggestions, it is considered unlikely that the Conglomerate stratigraphically separates an older from a younger supracrustal sequence in this area. The Conglomerate probably represents the last depositional event before the onset of deformation and protracted regional metamophism to the greenschist—amphibolite facies transition. Crustal evolution from the emplacement of the sodic pluton to the cessation of metamorphism probably occupied some 100 Ma rather than 60 Ma as proposed elsewhere.