Authors / CoAuthors
Abstract
Alkaline and related rocks are a relatively rare class of igneous rocks worldwide. Alkaline rocks encompass a wide range of rock types and are mineralogically and geochemically diverse. They are typically though to have been derived by generally small to very small degrees of partial melting of a wide range of mantle compositions. As such these rocks have the potential to convey considerable information on the evolution of the Earth’s mantle (asthenosphere and lithosphere), particularly the role of metasomatism which may have been important in their generation or to which such rocks may themselves have contributed. Such rocks, by their unique compositions and or enriched source protoliths, also have considerable metallogenic potential, e.g., diamonds, Th, U, Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta, REEs. It is evident that the geographic occurrences of many of these rock types are also important, and may relate to presence of old cratons, craton margins or major lithospheric breaks. Finally, many alkaline rocks also carry with them mantle xenoliths providing a snapshot of the lithospheric mantle composition at the time of their emplacement. Accordingly, although Alkaline and related rocks comprise only a volumetrically minor component of the geology of Australia, they are of considerable importance to studies of lithospheric composition, evolution and architecture and to helping constrain the temporal evolution of the lithosphere, as well as more directly to metallogenesis and mineralisation. This GIS product presents the first part of an ongoing compilation of the distribution and geology of alkaline and related rocks throughout Australia. The accompanying report document alkaline and related rocks of Archean age. All are from the Pilbara and Yilgarn Cratons of Western Australia. The report also reviews the nomenclature of alkaline rocks and classification procedures. GIS metadata is documented in the appendices.
Product Type
dataset
eCat Id
146944
Contact for the resource
Point of contact
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Point of contact
- Contact instructions
- MEG
Resource provider
Digital Object Identifier
Keywords
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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- EARTH SCIENCES
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- Australia
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- Alkaline rocks
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- Igneous rocks
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- Published_External
- ( Project )
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- Australia’s Resources Framework
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- EFTF - Exploring For The Future
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- Alkaline Rocks Atlas of Australia
Publication Date
2022-10-20T02:00:37
Creation Date
2022-06-20T09:00:00
Security Constraints
Legal Constraints
Status
completed
Purpose
This GIS project contains spatial representations of alkaline and related rocks of Archean age, all of which are located in the Pilbara and Yilgarn Cratons of Western Australia.
Maintenance Information
asNeeded
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
Series Information
Lineage
Data in this GIS package has been compiled from various sources to accompany the Geoscience Australia Record 2022/36 (http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/Record.2022.036). The geological unit polygons layer was compiled from: (1) Raymond, O.L., Liu, S., Gallagher, R., Highet, L.M., Zhang, W., 2012. Surface Geology of Australia, 1:1 000 000 scale, 2012 edition [Digital Dataset]. Geoscience Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. http://www.ga.gov.au, and (2) Bastrakova, I.V., Champion, D.C., Cassidy, K.F., Budd, A.R. and Whitaker, A.J. 2001. Characterisation and metallogenic significance of Archaean granitoids of the Yilgarn Craton AMIRA P482 project GIS data. Geoscience Australia.
Parent Information
Archean alkaline and related igneous rocks of Australia
UUID - 7120ce29-606f-4329-abbf-dd6cb56a1cbf,
eCat ID - 146943
Extents
[-44.00, -9.00, 112.00, 154.00]
Reference System
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Association Type - operatedOnBy
Archean alkaline and related igneous rocks of Australia MapServer
eCat Identifier - 146945,
UUID - be054c3c-fe25-4be6-b1ec-2582f9acc879
Association Type - operatedOnBy
Archean alkaline and related igneous rocks of Australia WMS
eCat Identifier - 146946,
UUID - d1426486-738b-4b1e-b25f-0841411374b3
Association Type - operatedOnBy
Archean alkaline and related igneous rocks of Australia WFS
eCat Identifier - 146947,
UUID - ae37b73a-d5d6-4a48-a4db-4bb6bc0aec39
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Source Information