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Summary of results. Joint NTGS-GA geochronology project: Rover mineral field, Warramunga Province, July–December 2020
This Record presents new Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro Probe (SHRIMP) U–Pb geochronological results for six drill core samples from the Rover mineral field, an area of prospective Palaeoproterozoic rocks southwest of Tennant Creek that is entirely concealed below younger sedimentary cover rocks. The work is part of an ongoing collaborative effort between Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) that aims to better understand the geological evolution and mineral potential of this region.
SHRIMP U–Pb detrital zircon results from two samples, a meta-siltstone/mudstone from the Au–Cu–Bi Rover 1 deposit (drillhole WGR1D011; sample BW20PGF090) and a volcaniclastic sandstone from the Explorer 142 prospect (drillhole NR142D001; sample BW20PGF156) gave near identical maximum depositional ages of 1849.1 ± 3.1 Ma and 1848.9 ± 3.0 Ma respectively. The euhedral nature of the zircons in both samples and their unimodal age distributions, support the interpretation that the maximum depositional ages of these samples are good approximations for their true age of deposition. These results are a very close match with U–Pb zircon geochronology of some other drill core samples from the Rover mineral field. Two magmatic rocks from drillhole RVDD0002 (located in the East of the Rover field), gave ages of ca 1851–1850 Ma, while a volcaniclastic sandstone from RVDD0002 gave a maximum depositional age of 1854.0 ± 2.9 Ma (Cross et al 2021). Our new results from drillholes WGR1D011 and NR142D001 confirm the widespread presence of detrital zircons at ca 1854–1849 Ma across much of the Rover mineral field.
SHRIMP U–Pb detrital zircon analysis was undertaken on four samples from the base metal Curiosity prospect drillhole, MXCURD002. The first sample analysed GS20PGF058 [520.0–525.7 m], has a maxima at ca 1842 Ma but youngest statistical grouping at 1729 ± 17 Ma (n = 6). This is in stark contrast with a previous sample from this drillhole (GS19DLH0056 [437.63–438.18 m]) that is 82 metres above GS20PGF058, and gave a MDA of 1854.0 ± 2.9 Ma (Cross et al 2021). In an effort to further investigate the ca 1729 Ma date given by GS20PGF058, three further samples were collected from drillhole MXCURD002, one sample below, GS20PGF190 [525.7–531.5 m] and two samples above, GS20PGF085 [515.0–520.0 m] and GS20PGF084 [468.1–473.45 m]. Additionally, samples GS20PGF190 and GS20PGF085 are continuations of the same meta-siltstone/mudstone unit sampled by GS20PGF058. These three samples returned maximum depositional ages of 1851.7 ± 3.9 Ma (GS20PGF085), 1846.6 ± 3.2 Ma (GS20PGF190) and 1841 ± 12 Ma (GS20PGF084). They are also indistinguishable within their uncertainties (MSWD = 0.71, POF = 0.49) and have an average date of ca 1848 Ma.
Therefore, the evidence from SHRIMP U–Pb detrital zircon studies of four rocks from drillhole MXCURD002 (this study and that of Cross et al 2021), indicates that the metasedimentary rocks in MXCURD002 were probably deposited at ca 1850 Ma, similar to other metasedimentary units within the Rover mineral field. We suggest that the relatively younger statistical grouping in sample GS20PGF058 at ca 1730 Ma is possibly the result of isotopic re-setting due to a thermal and/or fluid event associated with lead–zinc–copper mineralisation at a similar time which has been recently reported by Farias et al (2022). Although other explanations to explain the ca 1730 Ma grains in this sample such as laboratory contamination or that the zircons have in fact preserved their original crystallisation age, cannot be ruled out.
<b>Bibliographic Reference:</b> Cross AJ, Farias PG and Huston DL, 2022. Summary of results. Joint NTGS–GA geochronology project: Rover mineral field, Warramunga Province, July–December 2020. <i>Northern Territory Geological Survey</i>, <b>Record 2022-005</b>.
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Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2022-03-04
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-06-05T02:06:12
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/146364
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Cross, A.
MEG Internal Contact Author Farias, P.
External Contact Publisher Northern Territory Geological Survey
External Contact
- Issue identification
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Northern Territory Geological Survey Record 2022-005
- Purpose
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To publicly report geochronology results produced by GA in collaboration with the Northern Territory Geological Survey
- Status
- Completed
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Cross, A.
MEG Internal Contact Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
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- Geoscientific information
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))
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Product data repository: Various Formats
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FILE:DATA-DIRECTORY
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
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Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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GEOLOGY
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EARTH SCIENCES
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- Instrument
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SHRIMP
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- Keywords
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U-Pb
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detrital zircon
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drillhole
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maximum depositional age
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base metal mineralisation
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gold-copperbismuth mineralisation
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Rover 1
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Explorer 142
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Warramunga Formation
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Yungkulungu Formation
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GREEN SWAMP WELL
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BONNEY WELL
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Billiatt
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Chaluba
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Tennant Creek
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Published_External
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
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CC-BY
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4.0
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© Northern Territory of Australia (Northern Territory Geological Survey) and Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2022
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Australian Government Security Classification System
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- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
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Australian Government Security Classification System
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This work is part of an ongoing Geochronology Project, conducted by the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) and Geoscience Australia (GA) under a National Collaborative Framework agreement.
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Australian Government Security Classification System
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- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
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- Unclassified
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urn:uuid/94e0cf3f-46c6-4e66-bde4-1ab2efd90a74
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GeoNetwork UUID
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Owner Cross, A
Internal Contact Point of contact Cross, A.
MEG Internal Contact
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Joint NTGS-GA geochronology project
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with uuid
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- Date info (Creation)
- 2025-03-10T22:43:18.858Z
- Date info (Creation)
- 2022-03-04T10:19:35
- Date info (Revision)
- 2025-03-10T22:43:43.995Z
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
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ISO 19115-1:2014
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ISO 19115-3
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551