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Journal of the Geological Society; 1995; v. 152; issue.4; p. 587-590;
DOI: 10.1144/gsjgs.152.4.0587
© 1995 Geological Society of London

Article

3.26 Ga black smoker-type mineralization in the Strelley Belt, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia

S. VEARNCOMBE, M. E. BARLEY, D. I. GROVES, N. J. McNAUGHTON, E. J. MIKUCKI & J. R. VEARNCOMBE

Key Centre for Strategic Mineral Deposits, Department of Geology and Geophysics, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands 6907, Australia

Early Archaean (3.26 Ga) volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits located within the low strain and very-low metamorphic grade Strelley greenstone belt, East Pilbara, Western Australia, contain exceptionally well-preserved sulphide textures which are directly analogous to those formed in black smoker chimneys at present-day submarine hydrothermal vents. The VMS deposits are associated with seafloor alteration zones in and below silicacarbonate laminites, at the top of a pile of tholeiitic to calc-alkaline intermediate and felsic volcanic rocks with trace element abundances indicative of modem subduction-related processes. VMS mineralization comprises Zn-rich sulphide lenses with significant Cu and barite, and variable Pb and Ag, above Cu-rich stringer zones, all of which are similar to Phanerozoic VMS deposits. Sulphide-sulphate mineralization implicates hydrothermal discharge into sulphate-bearing ocean waters.

Key Words: Archaean • Pilbara Craton • black smokers • sulphates • volcanic processes




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