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

Nicolas Olivier (1) , Gilles Dromart (1) , Nicolas Coltice (1) , Nicolas Flament (1, 2) , Patrice Rey (2) , Remi Sauvestre (3)

1 LGL-TPE - Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon - Terre, Planètes, Environnement
2 School of Geosciences - Earthbyte Grp
3 ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon

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.

Mots clés: Archaean; chert; deep-sea fan; Marble Bar

Domaines: Sciences de la Terre

Nicolas Olivier, Gilles Dromart, Nicolas Coltice, Nicolas Flament, Patrice Rey, et al.. A deep subaqueous fan depositional model for the Palaeoarchaean (3.46 Ga) Marble Bar Cherts, Warrawoona Group, Western Australia. Geological Magazine, 2012, 149 (4), pp.743-749. ⟨10.1017/S0016756812000131⟩. ⟨hal-00712845⟩