Synonyms
Keywords
Archean, greenstone belt, granite, Australia, astrobiology sites, stromatolites
Definition
The Archean Pilbara Craton in northwestern Australia is a nearly circular piece of generally low-grade granite-greenstone crust, whose boundaries are defined by aeromagnetic and gravity anomalies and by flanking Proterozoic orogenic belts. The northern part of the craton is well exposed over an area of 530 km × 230 km and is divided into several discrete terranes with distinct geological histories from 3.52 to 3.11 Ga that were stitched together by granites and overlain by late tectonic sedimentary basins during accretion and subsequent crustal relaxation from 3.07 to 2.83 Ga. The Pilbara Craton is famous for containing some of the Earth’s oldest well-preserved rocks and fossil stromatolites and it is a location for several astrobiology analogue sites and Archean drilling projects(see single entries listed below for a detailed description of those Pilbara’s localities...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References and Further Reading
Smithies RH, Champion DC, Van Kranendonk MJ, Howard HM, Hickman AH (2005) Modern-style subduction processes in the Mesoarchaean: geochemical evidence from the 3.12 Ga Whundo intraoceanic arc. Earth Planet Sci Lett 231:221–237
Van Kranendonk MJ, Smithies RH, Bennet V (2007) Earth’s Oldest Rocks. Developments in Precambrian Geology 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 855–896
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this entry
Cite this entry
Van Kranendonk, M.J. (2011). Pilbara Craton. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_1213
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_1213
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-11271-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-11274-4
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics