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The early geological history of the Proterozoic Mount Isa Inlier, northwestern Queensland: an alternative interpretation

Created 17/10/2025

Updated 17/10/2025

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Correlations within the Proterozoic succession are complicated by repetitions of similar rock types at different stratigraphic levels, especially acid and basic volcanics, quartz sandstones, and calcareous rocks, and also by disconformities, igneous intrusions of various ages, tight to isoclinal folding, intense faulting, regional metamorphic effects, and scarcity of reliable isotopic age data. Consequently, there is plenty of scope for alternative interpretations. The interpretation proposed is that instead of equivalent sequences of cover rocks, known as the western and eastern successions, being separated by a narrow basement belt, as suggested previously for the Proterozoic Mount Isa Inlier, the oldest cover rocks in the west, those of the Haslingden Group, pre-date the eastern succession, and basic lavas (Eastern Creek Volcanics) within this group have no correlatives to the east. It is also suggested that volcanics previously regarded as part of the basement (Magna Lynn Metabasalt and Argylla Formation) are younger than most of the Haslingden Group, and that the extensive calcareous Corella Formation represents at least two quite separate units, one being younger than the Haslingden Group, and one being part of the underlying basement. These suggestions are consistent with U-Pb zircon dating carried out to date, as well as with the field evidence.

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Title The early geological history of the Proterozoic Mount Isa Inlier, northwestern Queensland: an alternative interpretation
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/dfc65c0f-8000-4149-8794-0b6dc58b2cf5
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        138.0,
        -22.5
      ],
      [
        141.0,
        -22.5
      ],
      [
        141.0,
        -17.0
      ],
      [
        138.0,
        -17.0
      ],
      [
        138.0,
        -22.5
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "The early geological history of the Proterozoic Mount Isa Inlier, northwestern Queensland: an alternative interpretation". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/the-early-geological-history-of-the-proterozoic-mount-isa-inlier-northwestern-queensland-an-alt2