Trading partners: Tectonic ancestry of southern Africa and western Australia, in Archean supercratons Vaalbara and Zimgarn

Original connections among the world's extant Archean cratons are becoming tractable by the use of integrated paleomagnetic and geochronologic studies on Paleoproterozoic mafic dyke swarms. Here we report new high-quality paleomagnetic data from the ~2.41 Ga Widgiemooltha dyke swarm of the Yilg...

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Main Authors: Smirnov, A., Evans, D., Ernest, R., Söderlund, U., Li, Zheng-Xiang
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier BV 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28371
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author Smirnov, A.
Evans, D.
Ernest, R.
Söderlund, U.
Li, Zheng-Xiang
author_facet Smirnov, A.
Evans, D.
Ernest, R.
Söderlund, U.
Li, Zheng-Xiang
author_sort Smirnov, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Original connections among the world's extant Archean cratons are becoming tractable by the use of integrated paleomagnetic and geochronologic studies on Paleoproterozoic mafic dyke swarms. Here we report new high-quality paleomagnetic data from the ~2.41 Ga Widgiemooltha dyke swarm of the Yilgarn craton in western Australia, confirming earlier results from that unit, in which the primary origin of characteristic remanent magnetization is now confirmed by baked-contact tests. The corresponding paleomagnetic pole (10.2°S, 159.2°E, A95 = 7.5°), in combination with newly available ages on dykes from Zimbabwe, allow for a direct connection between the Zimbabwe and Yilgarn cratons at 2.41 Ga, with implied connections as early as their cratonization intervals at 2.7–2.6 Ga. The proposed “Zimgarn” supercraton was likely distinct from Vaalbara (Kaapvaal plus Pilbara) at 2.4 Ga, but both of those entities independently fragmented at ca. 2.1–2.0 Ga, reassembling into the Kalahari and West Australian cratons by 1.95–1.8 Ga.
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publishDate 2013
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-283712017-09-13T15:20:55Z Trading partners: Tectonic ancestry of southern Africa and western Australia, in Archean supercratons Vaalbara and Zimgarn Smirnov, A. Evans, D. Ernest, R. Söderlund, U. Li, Zheng-Xiang Pilbara Paleoproterozoic Paleomagnetism Zimbabve craton Kaapvaal craton Yilgarn Original connections among the world's extant Archean cratons are becoming tractable by the use of integrated paleomagnetic and geochronologic studies on Paleoproterozoic mafic dyke swarms. Here we report new high-quality paleomagnetic data from the ~2.41 Ga Widgiemooltha dyke swarm of the Yilgarn craton in western Australia, confirming earlier results from that unit, in which the primary origin of characteristic remanent magnetization is now confirmed by baked-contact tests. The corresponding paleomagnetic pole (10.2°S, 159.2°E, A95 = 7.5°), in combination with newly available ages on dykes from Zimbabwe, allow for a direct connection between the Zimbabwe and Yilgarn cratons at 2.41 Ga, with implied connections as early as their cratonization intervals at 2.7–2.6 Ga. The proposed “Zimgarn” supercraton was likely distinct from Vaalbara (Kaapvaal plus Pilbara) at 2.4 Ga, but both of those entities independently fragmented at ca. 2.1–2.0 Ga, reassembling into the Kalahari and West Australian cratons by 1.95–1.8 Ga. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28371 10.1016/j.precamres.2012.09.020 Elsevier BV restricted
spellingShingle Pilbara
Paleoproterozoic
Paleomagnetism
Zimbabve craton
Kaapvaal craton
Yilgarn
Smirnov, A.
Evans, D.
Ernest, R.
Söderlund, U.
Li, Zheng-Xiang
Trading partners: Tectonic ancestry of southern Africa and western Australia, in Archean supercratons Vaalbara and Zimgarn
title Trading partners: Tectonic ancestry of southern Africa and western Australia, in Archean supercratons Vaalbara and Zimgarn
title_full Trading partners: Tectonic ancestry of southern Africa and western Australia, in Archean supercratons Vaalbara and Zimgarn
title_fullStr Trading partners: Tectonic ancestry of southern Africa and western Australia, in Archean supercratons Vaalbara and Zimgarn
title_full_unstemmed Trading partners: Tectonic ancestry of southern Africa and western Australia, in Archean supercratons Vaalbara and Zimgarn
title_short Trading partners: Tectonic ancestry of southern Africa and western Australia, in Archean supercratons Vaalbara and Zimgarn
title_sort trading partners: tectonic ancestry of southern africa and western australia, in archean supercratons vaalbara and zimgarn
topic Pilbara
Paleoproterozoic
Paleomagnetism
Zimbabve craton
Kaapvaal craton
Yilgarn
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28371