Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters 286 (2009): 436-445, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.07.008.
Description:
Multiple S (δ34S and δ33S) and Fe (δ56Fe) isotope analyses of rounded pyrite grains from 3.1 to 2.6 Ga conglomerates of southern Africa indicate their detrital origin, which supports anoxic surface conditions in the Archaean. Rounded pyrites from Meso- to Neoarchaean gold and uranium-bearing strata of South Africa are derived from both crustal and sedimentary sources, the latter being characterised by non-mass dependent fractionation of S isotopes (Δ33S as negative as -1.35‰) and large range of Fe isotope values (δ56Fe between -1.1 and 1.2‰). Most sediment-sourced pyrite grains are likely derived from sulphide nodules in marine organic matter-rich shales, sedimentary exhalites and volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits. Some sedimentary pyrite grains may have been derived from in situ sulphidised Fe-oxides, prior to their incorporation into the conglomerates, as indicated by unusually high positive δ56Fe values. Sedimentary sulphides without significant non-mass dependent fractionation of S isotopes were also present in the source of some conglomerates. The abundance in these rocks of detrital pyrite unstable in the oxygenated atmosphere may suggest factors other than high pO2 as the cause for the absence of significant non-mass dependent fractionation processes in the 3.2 – 2.7 Ga atmosphere. Rounded pyrites from the ca. 2.6 Ga conglomerates of the Belingwe greenstone belt in Zimbabwe have strongly fractionated δ34S, Δ33S and δ56Fe values, the source of which can be traced back to black shale-hosted massive sulphides in the underlying strata. The study demonstrates the utility of combined multiple S and Fe isotope analysis for provenance reconstruction of Archaean sedimentary successions.
Description:
AH acknowledges support by NAI International Collaboration Grant and NRF grant
FA2005040400027. AB participation was supported by NSF grant EAR-937 05-45484, NAI
award No. NNA04CC09A, and NSERC 938 Discovery grant. Rouxel's contribution was
supported by NSF OCE-0622982.
Keywords:
Archaean
;
Witwatersrand basin
;
Belingwe greenstone belt
;
S isotope
;
Fe isotope
;
Pyrite
;
Gold mineralisation
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Preprint
Format:
application/pdf
Format:
application/vnd.ms-excel
Permalink
