Carbonate minerals in the Warrawoona group, Pilbara Craton: Implications for continental crust, life, and global carbon cycle in the early Archean

Resource Geology

Volumn 52, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 91-100

  Nakamura, Kentaro ^a   Kato, Yasuhiro ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO   (Japan)

Author keywords

Carbon dioxide; Carbonate; Carbonatization; Early Archean; Global carbon cycle; Hydrothermal; Oceanic crust; Stromatolite; Warrawoona Group

Indexed keywords

ARCHEAN; CARBON CYCLE; CARBON DIOXIDE; CARBON SINK; CARBONATE; DOLOSTONE; GREENSTONE; HYDROTHERMAL ALTERATION; OCEANIC CRUST; SEAFLOOR; STROMATOLITE;

PILBARA BLOCK;

EID: 0042885869     PISSN: 13441698     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-3928.2002.tb00122.x     Document Type: Article

References (107)

1. Anan, S., Kato, Y. and Watanabe, Y. (1996) Geochemistry of stromatolites from the North Pole area, Pilbara craton, Western Australia. Ann. Meet. Soc. Resource Geol., Abstr. with Progr., P-21 (in Japanese).
2. Awramik, S. M. (1992) The history and significance of stromatolites. in Schidlowski, M. (ed.) Early Organic Evolution: Imprecations for Mineral and Energy Resources. 435-449, Springer-Verlag, New York.
3. Awramik, S. M., Schopf, J. W. and Walter, M. R. (1983) Filamentous fossil bacteria from the Archean of Western Australia. Precamb. Research, 20, 357-374.
4. Barley, M. E. (1993) Volcanic, sedimentary and tectonostratigraphic environments of the ∼3.46Ga Warrawoona Group: a review. Precamb. Research, 60, 47-67.
5. Barley, M. E. and Groves, D. I. (1987) Hydrothermal alteration of Archaean supracrustal sequences in the central Norseman-Wiluna Belt, Western Australia: a brief review. Geol. Dept. and Univ. Extension, Univ. West. Australia, Publ., 11, 51-66.
6. Barley, M. E. and Groves, D. I. (1989) Exploration Significance of Regional and Local Scale Hydrothermal Alteration Patterns in Greenstone Belts. Mineral. Energy Research Inst. West. Aust. Rept., 65, 85p.
7. Barley, M. E. and Pickard, A. L. (1999) An extensive, crustally-derived, 3325 to 3310 Ma silicic volcanoplutonic suite in the eastern Pilbara Craton: evidence from the Kelly Belt, McPhee Dome and Corunna Downs Batholith. Precamb. Research, 96, 41-62.
8. Barley, M. E., Loader, S. E. and McNaughton, N. J. (1998) 3430 to 3417 Ma calc-alkaline volcanism in the McPhee Dome and Kelly Belt, and growth of the eastern Pilbara Craton. Precamb. Research, 88, 3-23.
9. 2 over Phanerozoic time. Amer. Jour. Sci., 291, 339-376.
10. Berner, R. A., Lasaga, A. C. and Garrels, R. M. (1983) The carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle and its effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 100 million years. Amer. Jour. Sci., 283, 641-683.
11. Beukes, N. L. and Lowe, D. R. (1989) Environmental control on diverse stromatolite morphologies in the 3000 Myr Pongola Supergroup, South Africa. Sedimentology, 36, 383-397.
12. Bhat, M. I. and Ghosh, S. K. (2001) Geochemistry of the 2.51 Ga old Rampur group pelites, western Himalayas: implications for their provenance and weathering. Precamb. Research, 108, 1-16.
13. Buick, R. and Barnes, K. R. (1984) Cherts in the Warrawoona Group: early Archaean silicified sediments deposited in shallow-water environments. Geol. Dept. and Univ. Extension, Univ. West. Australia, Publ., 9, 37-53.
14. Buick, R. and Dunlop, J. S. R. (1990) Evaporitic sediments of Early Archaean age from the Warrawoona Group, North Pole, Western Australia. Sedimentology, 37, 247-277.
15. Buick, R., Dunlop, J. S. R. and Groves, D. I. (1981) Stromatolite recognition in ancient rocks: An appraisal of irregularly laminated structures in an Early Archaean chert-barite unit from North Pole, Western Australia. Alcheringa, 5, 161-181.
16. Buick, R., Groves, D. I. and Dunlop, J. S. R. (1995) Abiological origin of described stromatolites older than 3.2 Ga: Comment. Geology, 23, 191.
17. Burrows, D. R., Wood, P. C. and Spooner, E. T. C. (1986) Carbon isotope evidence for a magmatic origin for Archean gold-quartz vein ore deposits. Nature, 321, 851-854.
18. Cameron, E. M. and Hattori, K. (1987) Archean gold mineralization and oxidized hydrothermal fluids. Econ. Geol., 82, 1177-1191.
19. Condie, K. C. (1997) Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution. 4th edn., Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, 283p.
20. de Wit, M. J. and Hart, R. A. (1993) Earth's earliest continental lithosphere, hydrothermal flux and crustal recycling. Lithos, 30, 309-335.
21. de Wit, M. J., Hart, R. A. and Hart, R. J. (1987) The Jamestown ophiolite complex, Barberton mountain belt: a section though 3.5 Ga oceanic crust. Jour. Afr. Earth Sci., 6, 681-730.
22. Garrels, R. M. and Mackenzie, F. T. (1969) Sedimentary rock types: Relative portions as a function of geological time. Science, 163, 570-571.
23. Golding, S. D., Groves, D. I., McNaughton, N. J., Barley, M. E. and Rock, N. M. S. (1987) Carbon isotopic composition of carbonates from contrasting alteration styles in supracrustal rocks of the Norseman-Wiluna Belt, Yilgarn Block, Western Australia: their significance to the source of Archaean auriferous fluids. Geol. Dept. and Univ. Extension, Univ. West. Australia, Publ., 11, 215-238.
24. Grotzinger, J. P. and Knoll, A. H. (1999) Stromatolites in Precambrian carbonates: evolutionary mileposts or environmental dipsticks? Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 27, 313-358.
25. Groves, D. I., Golding, S. D., Rock, N. M. S., Barley, M. E. and McNaughton, N. J. (1988) Archean carbon reservoirs and their relevance to fluid source for gold deposits. Nature, 331, 254-257.
26. Hargraves, R. B. (1986) Faster spreading or greater ridge length in the Archean? Geology, 14, 750-752.
27. Hickman, A. H. (1977) Stratigraphic relations of rocks within the Whim Creek Belt. Ann. Rept. Geol. Surv. Western Australia, 1976, 97-100.
28. Hickman, A. H. (1983) Geology of the Pilbara Block and Its Environs. Geol. Surv. Western Australia Bull., 127, 268p.
29. Hickman, A. H. (1990) Pilbara and Hamersley basin. in Ho, S. E., Gloves, J. E., Myers, J. S. and Muhling, J. R. (eds.) Third International Archaean Symposium Excursion Guidebook, University of Western Australia, Perth, 57p.
30. Hofmann, H. J. (1999) Archean stromatolites as microbial archives. in Tinding, R. and Awramik, S. M. (eds.) Microbial Sediments. 315-327, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
31. Hofmann, H. J., Grey, K., Hickman, A. H. and Thorpe, R. I. (1999) Origin of 3.45 Ga coniform stromatolites in Warrawoona Group, Western Australia. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., 111, 1256-1262.
32. Holland, H. D. (1984) The Chemical Evolution of the Atmosphere and Oceans. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 582p.
33. Huber, R., Kurr, M., Jannasch, H. W. and Stetter, K. O. (1989) A novel group of abyssal methanogenic archaebacteria (Methanopyrus) growing at 110°C. Nature, 342, 833-834.
34. Jenkins, G. S. (2000) Global climate model high-obliquity solutions to the ancient climate puzzles of the Faing-Young Sun Paradox and low-altitude Proterozoic glaciation. Jour. Geophys. Research, 105, 7357-7370.
35. Junge, C. E., Schidlowski, M., Eichmann, R. and Pietrek, H. (1975) Model calculations for the terrestrial carbon cycle: carbon isotope geochemistry and evolution of photosynthetic oxygen. Jour. Geophys. Research, 80, 4542-4552.
36. Kasting, J. F. (1987) Theoretical constraints on oxygen and carbon-dioxide concentrations in the Precambrian atmosphere. Precamb. Research, 34, 205-229.
37. Kasting, J. F. (1993) Earth's early atmosphere. Science, 259, 920-926.
38. Kato, Y., Ohta, I., Tsunematsu, T., Watanabe, Y., Isozaki, Y., Maruyama, S. and Imai, N. (1998) Rare earth element variations in mid-Archean banded iron formations: Implications for the chemistry of ocean and continent and plate tectonics. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 62, 3475-3497.
39. Kato, Y., Ikezaki, A., Nakamura, K., Terabayashi, M., and Maruyama, S. (2001) Origins and global-tectonic significance of 3.46 Ga marine-deposited cherts and terrigenous clastic rocks from Pilbara greenstone belts. in Cassidy, K. F., Dunphy, J. M. and Van Kranendonk, M. J. (eds.) Extended Abstracts of 4th International Archaean Symposium, AGSO-Geosci. Aust. Record 2001/37, 235-236.
40. Kerrick, D. M. and Connolly, J. A. D. (2001a) Metamorphic devolatilization of subducted marine sediments and the transport of volatiles into the Earth's mantle. Nature, 411, 293-296.
41. Kerrick, D. M. and Connolly, J. A. D. (2001b) Metamorphic devolatilization of subducted oceanic metabasalts: implications for seismicity, arc magmatism and volatile recycling. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 189, 19-29.
42. Kimura, G., Ludden, J. N., Desrochers, J. -P. and Hori, R. (1993) A model of ocean-crust accretion for the Superior Province, Canada. Lithos, 30, 337-355.
43. Kitajima, K., Maruyama, S., Utsunomiya, S. and Liou, J. G. (2001) Seafloor hydrothermal alteration at an Archaean midocean ridge. Jour. Metamorphic Geol., 19, 581-597.
44. Kiyokawa, S. and Taira, A. (1998) The Cleaverville Group in the West Pilbara Coastal Granitoid-Greenstone Terrain, Western Australia - an example of immature island arc. Precamb. Research, 88, 109-142.
45. Knauth, L. P. and Lowe, P. R. (1978) Oxygen isotope geochemistry of cherts from the Onverwacht Group (3.4 billion years), Transvaal, South Africa, with implication for secular variations in the isotopic composition of cherts. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 41, 209-222.
46. Knoll, A. H. (1984) The Archean/Proterozoic transition: A sedimentary and paleobiological perspective. in Holland, H. D. and Trendall, A. F. (eds.) Patterns of Change in Earth Evolution. 221-242, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
47. Koster van Groos, A. F. (1988) Weathering, the carbon cycle, and the differentiation of the continental crust and mantle. Jour. Geophys. Research, 93, 8952-8958.
48. Krapez, B. (1993) Sequence stratigraphy of Archean supracrustal belts of the Pilbara Block, Western Australia. Precamb. Research, 60, 1-45.
49. Kurr, M., Huber, R., Konig, H., Jannasch, H. W., Fricke, H., Trincone, A., Kristjansson, J. K. and Stetter, K. O. (1991) Methanopyrus-Kandleri, gen. and sp. nov. represent a novel group of hyperthermophilic methanogens, growing at 110°C. Arch. Microbiol., 156, 239-247.
50. Laverne, C. (1993) Occurrence of siderite and ankerite in young basalts from the Galapagos Spreading Center (DSDP Holes 506G and 507B). Chem. Geol., 106, 27-46.
51. Liu, L. G. (1999) Genesis of diamonds in the lower mantle. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 134, 170-173.
52. 2. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 134, 297-305.
53. Lowe, D. R. (1980a) Archean sedimentation. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 8, 145-167.
54. Lowe, D. R. (1980b) Stromatolites 3400-Myr old from the Archean of Western Australia. Nature, 284, 441-443.
55. Lowe, D. R. (1982) Comparative sedimentology of the principal volcanic sequences of Archean greenstone belts in South-Africa, Western Australia and Canada - implications for crustal evolution. Precamb. Research, 17, 1-29.
56. Lowe, D. R. (1983) Restricted shallow-water sedimentation of early Archean stromatolitic and evaporitic strata of the Strelley Pool Chert, Pilbara Block, Western Australia. Precamb. Research, 19, 239-283.
57. Lowe, D. R. (1994) Abiological origin of described stromatolites older than 3.2 Ga. Geology, 22, 387-390.
58. Lowe, D. R. (1995) Abiological origin of described stromatolites older than 3.2 Ga: Reply. Geology, 23, 191-192.
59. Martin, A., Nisbet, E. G. and Bickle, M. J. (1980) Archaean stromatolites of the Belingwe Greenstone Belt, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia). Precamb. Research, 13, 337-362.
60. Maruyama, S., Isozaki, Y., Ohta, I., Endo, H., Suzuki, S., Kato, Y. and Kimura, G. (1991) Is the Mid-Archean barite formation from the Pilbara Craton, Australia, under the deep-sea environment? EOS Transactions, 80, 268-276.
61. McLennan, S. M. and Taylor, S. R. (1982) Geochemical constraints on the growth of the continental crust. Jour. Geol., 90, 347-361.
62. McLennan, S. M. and Taylor, S. R. (1983) Continental free-board, sedimentation rates and growth of continental crust. Nature, 306, 169-172.
63. McLennan, S. M., Taylor, S. R. and Kroner, A. (1983) Geochemical evolution of Archean shales from South Africa. 1. The Swaziland and Pongola Supergroups. Precamb. Research, 22, 93-124.
64. McNaughton, N. J., Compston, W. and Barley, M. E. (1993) Constraints on the age of the Warrawoona Group, eastern Pilbara Block, Western Australia. Precamb. Research, 60, 69-98.
65. 2-bearing basalts. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 176, 295-310.
66. Myers, J. S. (1993) Precambrian history of the West Australian craton and adjacent orogens. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 21, 453-485.
67. 2 sink in the early Archean (3.5Ga): I. Mineral description. Shigen Chishitsu, 50, 79-92 (in Japanese with English abstr.).
68. 2 sink in the Early Archean. in Cassidy, K. F., Dunphy, J. M. and Van Kranendonk, M. J. (eds.) Extended Abstracts of 4th International Archaean Symposium, AGSO-Geosci. Aust. Record 2001/37, 68-69.
69. Nelson, D. R. (1998) Compilation of SHRIMP U-Pb zircon geochronology data, 1997. Western Australia Geol. Surv., Record 1998/2, 189p.
70. Nijman, W., de Bruijne, K. C. H. and Valkering, M. E. (1998) Growth fault control of Early Archean cherts, barite mounds and chert-barite veins, North Pole Dome, Eastern Pilbara, Western Australia. Precamb. Research, 88, 25-52.
71. Ohta, H., Maruyama, S., Takahashi, E., Watanabe, Y. and Kato, Y. (1996) Field occurrence, geochemistry and petrogenesis of the Archean mid-oceanic ridge basalts (A-MORBs) of the Cleaverville area, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Lithos, 37, 199-221.
72. Paris, I., Stanistreet, I. G. and Hughes, M. J. (1985) Cherts of the Barberton greenstone belt interpreted as products of submarine exhalative activity. Jour. Geol., 81, 779-808.
73. Pace, N. R. (1991) Origin of life - facing up to the physical setting. Cell, 65, 531-533.
74. Riding, R. (2000) Microbial carbonates: the geological record of calcified bacterial-algal mats and biofilms. Sedimentology, 47, 179-214.
75. Ronov, A. B. (1964) Common tendencies in the chemical evolution of the earth's crust, ocean and atmosphere. Geokhimiya, 1964, 715-743 (in Russian).
76. Ronov, A. B. and Yaroshevsky, A. A. (1967) Chemical structure of the earth's crust. Geochemistry, 11, 1041-1066.
77. Ronov, A. B. and Yaroshevsky, A. A. (1969) Chemical composition of the earth's crust. in Hart, P. J. (ed.) The Earth's Crust and Upper Mantle. Amer. Geophys. Union Monogr., 13, Washington, 37-57.
78. Sato, K. and Katsura, T. (2001) Experimental investigation on dolomite dissociation into aragonite+magnesite up to 8.5 GPa. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 184, 529-534.
79. Schopf, J. W. (1983) Earth's Earliest Biosphere. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 543p.
80. Schopf, J. W. (1993) Microfossils of the Early Archean Apex Chert: New evidence of the antiquity of life. Science, 260, 640-646.
81. Schopf, J. W. and Packer, B. M. (1987) Early Archean (3.3-billion to 3.5-billion-year-old) microfossils from Warrawoona Group, Australia. Science, 237, 70-73.
82. Semikhatov, M. A. and Raaben, M. E. (1996) Dynamics of the global diversity of Proterozoic stromatolites. Article II: Africa, Australia, North America, and general synthesis. Stratigr. Geol. Correl., 4, 24-50.
83. Sleep, N. H. and Zahnle, K. (2001) Carbon dioxide cycling and implications for climate on ancient earth. Jour. Geophys. Research, 106, 1373-1399.
84. Stetter, K. O. (1994) The lesson of Archaebacteria. in Bengston, S. (ed.) Early Life on Earth. 143-151, Columbia University Press, New York.
85. 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. Research, 57, 21-47.
86. Tajika, E. (1997) Evolution of the Atmosphere-Ocean System and Long-term Stability of the Climate. Research Rept. Kanagawa prefect. Mus. Nat. Hist., 8, 73-96 (in Japanese with English abstr.).
87. Tajika, E. and Matsui, T. (1990) The evolution of the terrestrial environment. in Newsom, H. E. and Jones, J. H. (eds.) Origin of the Earth. Oxford University Press, New York, 378p.
88. 2-atmosphere coupled with thermal history of the earth. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 113, 251-266.
89. Tajika, E. and Matsui, T. (1993) Degassing history and carbon cycle: From an impact-induced system atmosphere to the present atmosphere. Lithos, 30, 267-280.
90. Taylor, S. R. and McLennan, S. M. (1985) The Continental Crust: Its Composition and Evolution, Blackwell, Oxford, 312p.
91. Thorpe, R. I., Hickman, A. H., Davis, D. W., Mortensen, J. K. and Trendall, A. F. (1992a) U-Pb zircon geochronology of Archean felsic units in the Marble Bar region, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Precamb. Research, 56, 169-189.
92. Thorpe, R. I., Hickman, A. H., Davis, D. W., Mortensen, J. K. and Trendall, A. F. (1992b) Constraints to models for Archaean lead evolution from precise U-Pb geochronology from the Marble Bar region, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Geol. Dept. and Univ. Extension, Univ. West. Australia, Publ., 22, 395-408.
93. Trendall, A. F. (1984) The Archean/Proterozoic transition as a geological event - A view from Australian evidence. in Holland, H. D. and Trendall, A. F. (eds.) Patterns of Change in Earth Evolution. 243-259, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
94. Ueno, Y., Isozaki, Y., Yurimoto, H. and Maruyama, S. (2001) Carbon isotopic signatures of individual Archean microfossils (?) from Western Australia. Intern. Geol. Rev., 43, 196-212.
95. Van Kranendonk, M. J., Hickman, A. H., Williams, I. R. and Nijman, W. (2001) Archaean geology of the East Pilbara granite-greenstone terrane, Western Australia - a field guide. Western Australia Geol. Surv., Record 2001/9, 134p.
96. Veizer, J. (1983) Geological evolution of the Archean-Early Proterozoic Earth. in Schopf, J. W. (ed.) The Earth's Earliest Biosphere: Its Origin and Evolution. 240-59, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
97. Veizer, J. (1984) 87Sr/86Sr evolution of sea water during geologic history and its significance as an index of crustal evolution. in Windley, B. F. (ed.) The Evolving Continents. 569-579, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
98. Veizer, J. and Compston, W. (1976) 87Sr/86Sr in Precambrian carbonates as an index of crustal evolution. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 40, 905-914.
99. Veizer, J. and Jansen, S. L. (1979) Basement and sedimentary recycling and continental evolution. Jour. Geol., 87, 341-370.
100. Veizer, J., Hoefs, J., Ridler, R. H., Jensen, L. S. and Lowe, D. R. (1989a) Geochemistry of Precambrian carbonates: I. Archean hydrothermal systems. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 53, 845-857.
101. Veizer, J., Hoefs, J., Lowe, D. R. and Thurston, P. C. (1989b) Geochemistry of Precambrian carbonates: II. Archean greenstone belts and Archean sea water. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 53, 859-871.
102. Walker, J. C. G. (1983) Possible limits on the composition of the Archean ocean. Nature, 302, 518-520.
103. Walker, J. C. G. (1985) Carbon dioxide on the early earth. Origins Life, 16, 117-127.
104. Walker, J. C. G., Hays, P. B. and Kasting, J. F. (1981) A negative feedback mechanism for the long-term stabilization of earth's surface temperature. Jour. Geophys. Research, 86, 9776-9782.
105. Walter, M. R. (1983) Archean stromatolites: Evidence of the earth's earliest benthos, in Schopf, J. W. (ed.) Earth's Earliest Biosphere. 187-213, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
106. Walter, M. R. and Heys, G. R. (1985) Links between the rise of metazoa and the decline of stromatolites. Precamb. Research, 29, 149-174.
107. Walter, M. R., Buick, R. and Dunlop, J. S. R. (1980) Stromatolites 3400-3500 Myr old from the North Pole area, Western Australia. Nature, 284, 443-445.