Archean sedimentary styles and early crustal evolution

The distinctions between and implications of early and late Archean sedimentary styles are presented. Early Archean greenstone belts, such as the Barberton of South Africa and those in the eastern Pilbar Block of Australia are characterized by fresh or slightly reworked pyroclastic debris, orthochemical sediments such as carbonates, evaporites, and silica, and biogenic deposits including cherts and stromatolitic units. Terrigenous deposits are rare, and it is suggested that early Archean sediments were deposited on shallow simatic platforms, with little or no components derived from sialic sources. In contrast, late Archean greenstone belts in the Canadian Shield and the Yilgarn Block of Australia contain coarse terrigenous clastic rocks including conglomerate, sandstone, and shale derived largely from sialic basement. Deposition appears to have taken place in deepwater, tectonically unstable environments. These observations are interpreted to indicate that the early Archean greenstone belts formed as anorogenic, shallow water, simatic platforms, with little or no underlying or adjacent continental crust, an environment similar to modern oceanic islands formed over hot spots.