THE STRATIGRAPHY OF THE 3.5-3.2-GA BARBERTON GREENSTONE-BELT REVISITED - A SINGLE ZIRCON ION MICROPROBE STUDY

Recent field and geochemical studies indicate a need to test the stratigraphy of the ca. 3.5 Ga Barberton Greenstone Belt as it is presently adopted [1,2]. This work uses the ion microprobe SHRIMP, to attempt such a test. Results show that: (1) Volcaniclastic sediments of the Theespruit Formation (< 3453 ± 6 Ma) could be younger than the (structurally) overlying mafic and ultramafic volcanics of the Komati Formation (3482 ± 5 Ma). A major structural discontinuity may therefore exist between the two formations. (2) An age of 3538 ± 6 Ma established for a tectonic wedge of tonalitic gneiss within the Theespruit Formation confirms the presence of a sialic basement and deformed unconformity below that unit. The tonalitic gneiss is the oldest unit yet recorded within the greenstone belt, equal in age to the older components of the adjacent Ancient Gneiss Complex. (3) The interpreted ages of felsic volcanic rocks from both the Hooggenoeg (3445 ± 8 Ma) and Theespruit Formations and the nearby Theespruit Pluton (3437 ± 6 Ma) are essentially the same, and corroborate field and geochemical evidence that the felsic units were probably cogenetic and emplaced simultaneously as high-level equivalents of trondjhemite-tonalite plutons that intrude the greenstone belt at its southwestern extremity. (4) Felsic-intermediate volcanic-volcaniclastic rocks locally separating the two major groups (the Fig Tree and Moodies Groups) which overlie the Onverwacht Group record a second major peak of tonalitic magmatism in the Barberton terrain at about 3250 Ma. This is close to the age of the Kaap Valley tonalite pluton which intrudes the Barberton Greenstone Belt at ca. 3226 Ma along its northwestern margin. The present results indicate the Barberton Greenstone Belt is part of an allochthonous sequence containing major tectonic and stratigraphic breaks, with a protracted history; of which the last 200 million years, at least, evolved within a tectonically active convergent environment. © 1990.