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Timing and tectonic setting of sediment-hosted Pb-Zn mineralisation in Paleoproterozoic northern Australia. A review and comparison with Mississippi Valley-and Irish-type deposits

Created 16/10/2025

Updated 16/10/2025

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Sediment-hosted Pb-Zn mineralisation is concentrated in the post-rift, syn-inversion fraction of the north Australian Paleoproterozoic Calvert Superbasin. Hangingwall uplift paired to subsidence in the footwalls of reactivated normal faults promoted not only fluid flow but the formation of synclinal depressions where sulphate-bearing brines ponded and mixed with an overpressured metalliferous fluid expelled from deeper levels during periods of seismic and tectonic instability. Seismic instability is manifest in discontinuous bedding and development of soft-sediment deformation in ore-bearing sequences compared to their absence from inter-ore horizons. On mixing with the pre-existing brine pool, the ore-bearing fluids facilitated sulphate reduction and replacement of carbonate by sphalerite and galena in seismically disturbed sedimentary layers. Mineralisation was episodic and occurred in a foreland setting during a 10 Myr period of transpression and reverse faulting accompanying the 1650 – 1640 Ma Riversleigh Tectonic Event. Paleozoic platform sequences hosting Mississippi Valley- and Irish-type mineral deposits share many similarities, raising questions about classification schemes in which the north Australian deposits belong to a separate category of sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) Pb-Zn mineralisation and formed under distinctly different tectonic circumstances compared to their younger counterparts. Instead, these various deposits may have a lot more in common than previously supposed and form part of a continuum. Citation: Gibson, G.M., Cloutier, J. & Huston, D.L., 2025. Timing and tectonic setting of sediment-hosted Pb–Zn mineralization in Palaeoproterozoic northern Australia: a review and comparison with Mississippi Valley- and Irish-type deposits. Journal of the Geological Society, 182(4), jgs2024-160. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2024-160

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Title Timing and tectonic setting of sediment-hosted Pb-Zn mineralisation in Paleoproterozoic northern Australia. A review and comparison with Mississippi Valley-and Irish-type deposits
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/en/dataset/aa0f08c7-45a1-4b80-b7fe-ed63b5e44e12
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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      [
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      ],
      [
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      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

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This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Timing and tectonic setting of sediment-hosted Pb-Zn mineralisation in Paleoproterozoic northern Australia. A review and comparison with Mississippi Valley-and Irish-type deposits". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/timing-and-tectonic-setting-of-sediment-hosted-pb-zn-mineralisation-in-paleoproterozoic-norther