Summary
The occurrence and paragenesis of sulphide minerals in chemical sedimentary rocks from the McPhee and the Towers Formations of the Warrawoona Group, eastern Pilbara Craton were examined, in order to evaluate the Archean sedimentary environment. The chemical sedimentary facies of both formations are comprised of chert or chertcarbonate units, which are highly depleted in detrital materials. The cherty rocks are mostly composed of microcrystalline quartz, containing significant types of syndepositional (or diagenetic) sulphide minerals. In particular, the cherty rocks in the Towers Formation (North Pole Chert, Marble Bar Chert) include primary sulphide minerals, such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, monoclinic pyrrhotite, pentlandite, gersdorffite and millerite. This assemblage and the measured FeS content (8.4–10.4 mol%) of sphalerite associated with the Fe-sulphide minerals suggest that the cherty rocks were formed under reducing conditions at temperatures below 200°C (about 150°C), and also that the metamorphic temperature of the rocks was less than 325 °C. Furthermore, the virtual absence of detrital materials and the minor element compositions imply that the cherty rocks of the eastern Pilbara Block were formed by rapid precipitation from reducing hydrothermal solutions.
Zusammenfassung
Das Auftreten und die Paragenese von Sulfiden in chemischen Sedimentgesteinen der McPhee und der Towers Formation der Warrawoona Gruppe, östlicher Pilbara Block, wurden untersucht, um das sedimentäre Milieu im Archaikum besser abschätzen zu können. Die chemisch-sedimentäre Fazies beider Formationen besteht aus Chert- oder Chert-Karbonat-Einheiten, die hochgradig an detritärem Material verarmt sind. Die Cherts bestehen aus mikrokristallinem Quartz, der beträchtliche Mengen an syngenetischen bzw. syndiagenetischen Sulfiden enthält. Vor allem die Cherts der Towers Formation (North Pole Chert, Marble Bar Chert) führen Pyrit, Kupferkies, Zinkblende, monoklinen Magnetkies, Pentlandit, Gersdorffit und Millerit als primäre Sulfide. Diese Vergesellschaftung und die gemessenen FeS-Gehalte der mit den Fe-Sulfiden assoziierten Zinkblende (8.4–10.4 Mol%), weisen darauf hin, daß die Cherts unter reduzierenden Bedingungen bei Temperaturen unter 200°C entstanden sind und daß die Matamorphosetemperatur 325 °C nicht überschritten hat. Das Fehlen detritärer Sedimentkomponenten und die Spurenelementzusammensetzungen lassen darauf schließen, daß die Cherts im östlichen Pilbara Block durch rasche Ausfällung aus reduzierenden hydrothermalen Lösungen entstanden sind.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Barley ME (1993) Volcanic, sedimentary and tectonostratigraphic environments of the ∼ 3.46 Ga Warrawoona Megasequence: a review. Precamb Res 60: 47–67
Barley ME, Dunlop JSR, Glover JE, Groves DI (1979) Sedimentary evidence for an Archaean shallow-water volcanic-sedimentary facies, Eastern Pilbara-Block, Western Australia. Earth Planet Sci Lett 43: 74–84
Barley ME, Sylvester GC, Groves DI (1984) Archaean calc-alkaline volcanism in the Pilbara Block. Precamb Res 24: 285–319
Barley ME, Groves DI, Blake TS (1992) Archean metal deposits related to tectonics: evidence from western Australia. In:Glover JE, Ho SE (eds) The Archean: terrains, processes and metallogeny. Geology Department and University Extension, Univ Western Australia Pub 22, pp 307–324
Barnes HL (1979) Solubility of ore minerals. In:Barnes HL (ed) Geochemistry of hydrothermal ore deposits, 2nd ed. Wiley-Interscience, New York, pp 404–460
Barton PB Jr, Skinner BJ (1979) Sulfide mineral stabilities. In:Barnes HL (ed) Geochemistry of hydrothermal ore deposits, 2nd ed. Wiley-Interscience, New York, pp 378–403
Bau M, Möller P (1993) Rare earth element systematics of the chemically precipitated component in Early Precambrian iron formations and the evolution of the terrestrial atmosphere-hydrosphere-lithosphere system. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 57: 2239–2249
Browne PRL, Lovering JF (1973) Composition of sphalerites from the Broadlands geothermal field and their significance to sphalerite geothermometry and geobarometry. Econ Geol 68: 381–387
Buick R, Dunlop JSR (1990) Evaporitic sediments of Early Archaean age from the Warrawoona Group, North Pole, Western Australia. Sedimentalogy 37: 247–277
Buick R, Thornett JR, McNaughton NJ, Smith JB, Barley ME, Savage M (1995) Record of emergent continental crust ∼ 3.5 billion years ago in the Pilbara craton of Australia. Nature 375: 574–577
Craig JR (1973) Pyrite-pentlandite assemblage and other low temperature relations in the Fe-Ni-S system. Am J Sci 273-A: 496–510
Derry LA, Jacobsen SB (1990) The chemical evolution of Precambrian seawater: evidence from REEs in banded iron formations. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 54: 2965–2977
DiMarco MJ, Lowe DR (1989) Stratigraphy and sedimentology of an early Archean felsic volcanic sequence, Eastern Pilbara Block, Western Australia, with special reference to the Duffer Formation and implications for crustal evolution. Precamb Res 44: 147–169
Fritz P, Drimmie RJ, Nowicki VK (1974) Preparation of sulfur dioxide for mass spectrometer analyses by combustion of sulfides with copper oxide. Anal Chem 46: 164–166
Fujimaki H, Aoki K (1987) Determination of trace elements in rock samples by X-ray fluorescence. J Jpn Assoc Mineral Petrol Econ Geol 82: 411–414
Hein JR, Vallier TL, Allan MA (1981) Chert petrology and geochemistry, Mid-Pacific Mountains and Hess Rise, Deep Sea Drilling Project. In:Thiede TL et al. (eds) Initial reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 62. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, pp 711–748
Hickman AH (1983) Geology of the Pilbara Block and its environs. Western Australia Geological Survey Mineral Resource Bulltin 127, 128 pp
Hickman AH (1990) Geology of the Pilbara Craton. In:Ho SE, Glover JE, Myers JS, Muhling JR (eds) Extended Abstracts, Third International Archaean Symposium, Perth, 1990. Geology Department and University Extension, Univ Western Australia Pub 21, pp 2–57
Holland HD (1984) The chemical evolution of the atmosphere and oceans. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 582 pp
Humphris SE, Thompson G (1978) Trace element mobility during hydrothermal alteration of oceanic basalts. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 42: 127–136
Isley AE (1995) Hydrothermal plumes and the delivery of iron to banded iron formation. J Geol 103: 169–185
Kalogeropoulos SI, Scott SD (1983) Mineralogy and geochemistry of tuffaceous exhalites (Tetsusekiei) of the Fukazawa mine, Hokuroku district, Japan. Econ Geol Mon 5, pp 412–432
Kiba T, Takagi T, Yoshimura Y, Kishi I (1955) Tin (II)-strong phosphoric acid. A new reagent for the determination of sulfate by reduction to hydrogen sulfide. Bull Chem Soc Japan 28: 641–644
Kissin SA, Scott SD (1982) Phase relations involving pyrrhotite below 350°C. Econ Geol 77: 1739–1754
Köppel VH, Saager R (1974) Lead isotope evidence on the detrital origin of Witwatersrand pyrites and its bearing on the provenance of the Witwatersrand gold. Econ Geol 69: 318–331
Krapez B (1993) Sequence stratigraphy of the Archaean supracrustal-belts of the Pilbara Block, Western Australia. Precamb Res 60: 1–45
Lambert IB, Donnelly TH, Dunlop JSR, Groves DI (1978) Stable isotope compositions of early Archean sulphate deposits of probable evaporitic and volcanogenic origin. Nature 276: 808–811
Lebedev LM, Cherkashev GA, Tsepin AI (1988) New data on the mineralogy of sulfide muds from the Atlantis II Deep, Red Sea. Dokl Akad Nauk SSSR 301: 1186–1190 (in Russian)
Lowe DR (1980) Stromatolites 3,400-Myr old from the Archean of Western Australia. Nature 284: 441–443
Lowe DR (1983) Restricted shallow-water sedimentation of Early Archean stromatolitic and evaporitic strata of the Strelley Pool chert, Pilbara Block Western Australia. Precamb Res 19: 239–283
Lowe DR (1994) Abiological origin of described stromatolites older than 3.2 Ga. Geology 22: 387–390
MacLean PJ, Fleet ME (1989) Detrital pyrite in the of the Witwatersrand gold fields of South Africa: evidence from truncated banding. Econ Geol 84: 2008–2011
McNaughton NJ, Compson W, Barley ME (1993) Constraints on the age of the Warrawoona Group, eastern Pilbara Block, Western Australia. Precamb Res 60: 69–98
Morris RC (1993) Genetic modelling for'banded iron-formation of the Hamersley Group, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Precamb Res 60: 243–286
Mottl MJ, Holland HD, Corr R (1979) Chemical exchange during hydrothermal alteration of basalt by seawater, II. Experimental results for Fe, Mn, and sulfur species. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 43: 869–884
Ohta I, Kato Y, Isozaki Y, Maruyama S, Shikazono N, Watanabe Y (1993) Banded iron formations of the Cleaverville areas (3.3 Ga) in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia (Abstr). Resource Geol 43: 229
Robinson BW, Kusakabe M (1975) Quantitative preparation of sulfur dioxide for34S/32S analyses from sulfides by combustion with cuprous oxide. Anal Chem 47: 1179–1181
Schopf JW (1993) Microfossils of the Early Archean Apex Chert: new evidence of the antiquity of life. Science 260: 640–646
Scott SD (974) Experimental methods in sulfide synthesis. In:Ribbe PH (ed) Sulfide mineralogy. Reviews in mineralogy 1. Mineralogical Society of America, S1–S38
Scott SD, Kissin SA (1973) Sphalerite composition in the Zn-Fe-S system below 300°C. Econ Geol 68: 475–479
Seyfried W, Mottl MJ (1982) Hydrothermal alteration of basalt by seawater under seawater dominated conditions. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 46: 985–1002
Sugaki A, Kitakaze A, Ueno T (1982) Hydrothermal syntheses of minerals in the system Cu-Fe-S and their phase equilibrium at 400 and 500°C. Jpn Assoc Mineral Petrol Econ Geol, Spec Issue 3, pp 257–269 (in Japanese with English abstract)
Sugitani K (1992) Geochemical characteristics of Archean cherts and other sedimentary rocks in the Pilbara Block, Western Australia: evidence for Archean seawater enriched in hydrothermally derived iron and silica. Precamb Res 57: 21–47
Thorpe RI, Hickman AH, Davis DW, Mortensen JK, Trendall AF (1992) U-Pb geochronology of Archaean felsic units in the Marble Bar region, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Precamb Res 56: 169–189
Von Damn KL, Edmond JM, Grant B, Measures CI, Walden B, Weiss RF (1985) Chemistry of submarine hydrothermal solutions at 21 °N, East Pacific Rise. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 49: 2197–2220
Walter MR, Buick R, Dunlop JSR (1980) Stromatolites 3,400-3,500 Myr old from the North Pole area, Western Australia. Nature 284: 443–445
Yamamoto K (1983) Geochemical study of Triassic bedded cherts from Kamiaso, Gifu Prefecture. J Geol Soc Jpn 89: 143–162 (in Japanese with English abstract)
Yamamoto K (1987) Geochemical characteristics and depositional environments of cherts and associated rocks in the Franciscan and Shimanto Terranes. Sedimentary Geol 52: 65–108
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kojima, S., Hanamuro, T., Hayashi, K. et al. Sulphide minerals in early Archean chemical sedimentary rocks of the eastern Pilbara district, Western Australia. Mineralogy and Petrology 64, 219–235 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01226570
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01226570