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A deep subaqueous fan depositional model for the Palaeoarchaean (3.46 Ga) Marble Bar Cherts, Warrawoona Group, Western Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2012

NICOLAS OLIVIER ,
GILLES DROMART ,
NICOLAS COLTICE ,
NICOLAS FLAMENT ,
PATRICE REY  and
RÉMI SAUVESTRE
NICOLAS OLIVIER*
Affiliation:
Université de Lyon, Lyon, France CNRS UMR 5276 Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France
GILLES DROMART
Affiliation:
Université de Lyon, Lyon, France CNRS UMR 5276 Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France ChemCam team, Mars Science Laboratory project
NICOLAS COLTICE
Affiliation:
Université de Lyon, Lyon, France CNRS UMR 5276 Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France
NICOLAS FLAMENT
Affiliation:
Université de Lyon, Lyon, France CNRS UMR 5276 Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France Earthbyte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
PATRICE REY
Affiliation:
Earthbyte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
RÉMI SAUVESTRE
Affiliation:
Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France
*
†Author for correspondence: Nicolas.Olivier@univ-lyon1.fr
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Abstract

The 3.46 Ga Marble Bar Chert Member of the East Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, is one of the earliest and best-preserved sedimentary successions on Earth. Here, we interpret the finely laminated thin-bedded cherts, mixed conglomeratic beds, chert breccia beds and chert folded beds of the Marble Bar Chert Member as the product of low-density turbidity currents, high-density turbidity currents, mass transport complexes and slumps, respectively. Integrated into a channel-levee depositional model, the Marble Bar Chert Member constitutes the oldest documented deep-sea fan on Earth, with thin-bedded cherts, breccia beds and slumps composing the outer levee facies tracts, and scours and conglomeratic beds representing the channel systems.

Keywords

Archaeanchertdeep-sea fanMarble Bar
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 149 , Issue 4 , July 2012 , pp. 743 - 749
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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