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The 3.5 b.y. old Onverwacht Group: A remnant of ancient oceanic crustThe interaction between seawater and submarine volcanic rock has had important consequences for the chemistry of the ocean during the Phanerozoic. Most extant terranes have been regionally metamorphosed to the amphibolite and granulite facies, so that their precursor lithologies and structures are not readily determinable. However, the 3.5 b.y. old supracrustal rocks of the Barberton Mountain Land, South Africa, have not been subjected to high grade regional metamorphism, and therefore there was reason to hope that a laboratory investigation might reveal the extent to which these rocks had been exposed to subseafloor hydrothermal activity. Hart and de Wit describe bulk geochemical evidence from the entire suite as well as field evidence which support the concept of hydrothermal activity in the Barberton Mountain Land. Mineralogical and textural features which unequivocally mark it as a submarine sequence emplaced in a midocean ridge/fracture zone or back arc/fracture zone environment are briefly discussed.
Document ID
19850024760
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Hoffman, S.
(Oregon State Univ. Corvallis, OR, United States)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1985
Publication Information
Publication: Lunar and Planetary Inst. Workshop on the Early Earth: The Interval from Accretion to the Older Archean
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
85N33073
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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