Summary
In the West Rand Group of the 3.07–2.71 Ga old Witwatersrand Supergroup, South Africa, a series of banded iron-formations occur. They are of chemical origin and were deposited in an offshore shelf environment. The coarser-grained, in places pyrite-bearing, and partly auriferous metasedimentary rocks forming the bulk of the Witwatersrand Supergroup are regressive. The iron-formations, however, were deposited during transgression. The presence of allogenic pyrite in the fluviatile metaconglomerates and that of magnetite and, in places, haematite in the marine iron-formations suggests a lower pH and higher sulfur activity for the Archaean meteoric environment than for recent hydrothermal fluids on the ocean floor. Post-depositional alteration of the Witwatersrand rocks includes burial metamorphism at temperatures between 300 and 350 °C and pressures around 2.5 kbar, and multiple hydrothermal inflitration events at slightly lower temperatures, coeval with the brittle deformation of the basin fill during the deposition of the Transvaal Supergroup and the Bushveld Vredefort events.
Additional thermal metamorphic overprint of the iron-formations around the Vredefort Dome caused the growth of orthoamphiboles. They show a wide range of compositions between ferro-anthophyllite and ferrous alumino-gedrite, suggesting that the crest of the solvus curve for Fe-rich orthoamphiboles is below 500 °C.
Chlorite and amphibole compositions, and the presence of Fe-oxide-bearing horizons between pyrite-bearing ones indicate that the fluid composition during post-depositional alteration was largely controlled by the bulk rock composition of the infiltrated stratigraphic horizons and not by some external source.
Zusammenfassung
Die West Rand Group innerhalb der 3.07–2.71 Milliarden Jahre alten Witwatersrand Supergroup, Südafrika, führt eine Reihe von Magnetit- und Hämatit-haltigen Eisenformationen. Diese sind chemischen Ursprungs und wurden in einem flachmarinen Schelfmilieu abgelagert. Der überwiegende Teil der Witwatersrand Abfolge, bestehend aus klastischen, verschiedentlich Pyrit-führenden und teilweise goldhaltigen Metasedimentgesteinen, kann regressiven Phasen zugeschrieben werden. Die Eisenformationen wurden hingegen während transgressiven Phasen abgelagert. Aufgrund des Auftretens allogener Pyrite in den fluviatilen Konglomeratlagen und von Magnetit und Hämatit in den marinen Eisenformationen lassen sich für den meteorischen Bereich im Archaikum niedrigere pH-Werte und höhere Schwefelfugazität ableiten als für rezente submarine hydrothermale Fluide. Post-diagenetische Alterationsprozesse sind der Versenkungsmetamorphose mit Temperaturen zwischen 300 und 350 °C und Drucken um 2.5 kbar sowie etwas niedriger temperierten hydrothermalen Fluiden zuzuschreiben, die als Folge der inkompetenten Deformation der Beckenfüllung in diese während mehrer Stadien infiltrierten. Infiltration hydrothermaler Fluide während der Ablagerung der Transvaal Supergroup (2.55 Ga) und während des Bildung der Vredefort Struktur (2.0 Ga) sind durch Altersdaten belegt.
Zusätzliche thermische Metamorphose der Fe-reichen Pelite und Eisenformationen im Bereich der Vredefort Struktur führte zur Bildung von Orthoamphibolen, deren Zusammensetzung von Anthophyllit bis zu Fe-reichem Alumino-Gedrit reicht. Dies läßt darauf schließen, daß die Solvuskurve für Fe-reiche Orthoamphibole unterhalb von 500 °C liegt.
Die Zusammensetzung der Chlorite und Amphibole sowie das Auftreten von Fe-Oxid-führenden Horizonten in den generall Pyrit-reichen Metasedimentgesteinen gestatten die Annahme, daß die post-diagenetische Fluidzusammensetzung hauptsächlich durch die jeweilige Zusammensetzung der infiltrierten Gesteinshorizonte und nicht durch eine externe Quelle bestimmt wurde.
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Frimmel, H.E. Witwatersrand iron-formations and their significance for gold genesis and the composition limits of orthoamphibole. Mineralogy and Petrology 56, 273–295 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01162607
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01162607