Thermotectonic Evolution of the Archean Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia: Insights into Gondwana Amalgmation and Breakup

Abstract:

The post-cratonisation history of the Yilgarn craton is somewhat fragmentary due to the paucity or absence of a stratigraphic record. Previously reported Rb-Sr biotite cooling ages suggest that the western craton margin was subjected to late ‘Pan-African’ tectonism (~400-600 Ma) and E-W compression, resulting in tectonic sedimentary loading. We report ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar results on muscovite and single biotite grains from well-documented sample sites broadly comparable to those sampled for Rb-Sr biotite analysis. Muscovites record consistent ages between ~2400 and 2200 Ma. Coexisting single-grain biotite results, however, reveal significant age variations, showing similar ages of ~2500 Ma across much of the craton but decreasing abruptly to ~620-1000 Ma over a ~50-100 km wide belt at the western margin. Petrographic and chemical studies indicate that biotites are distinctly different in origin, i.e. magmatic to the east versus hydrothermal to the west. The more scattered biotite ages along the western margin are therefore unlikely to represent cooling ages, but rather indicate probable fluid-induced partial or complete biotite recrystallization at ~620 Ma. This age is in agreement with palaeomagnetic reconstructions suggesting oblique collision between Great India and Australian during Gondwana amalgamation. Complementary zircon He data from low radiation damage grains ([eU] <900 ppm), yield consistent ages 256 ±13 Ma, whereas those with [eU] values of 900-2000 ppm are negatively correlated with younger ages (~ 40-200 Ma). Coexisting apatite fission track ages are similar in range to zircon He ages, whereas apatite He ages are younger (227 ±18 Ma). These data confirm that much of the Yilgarn craton experienced extremely slow cooling (<0.1 ºС/Myr) from the Late Archean to Permian times. However, during the Late Permian to Triassic, the craton apparently experienced accelerated cooling (>4 ºС/Myr), possibly related to earliest rifting between Great India and Western Australia during Gondwana break-up or a response to the termination of the large scale Permo-Carboniferous glaciation of Western Australia.