The origin of mafic–ultramafic rocks and felsic plutons along the Clarke River suture zone: implications for porphyry exploration in the northern Tasmanides

Edgar, A., Sanislav, I., and Dirks, P. (2023) The origin of mafic–ultramafic rocks and felsic plutons along the Clarke River suture zone: implications for porphyry exploration in the northern Tasmanides. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 70 (8). pp. 1123-1138.

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Abstract

The Clarke River Fault in northeast Queensland records an early Paleozoic history of subduction, accretion and continental suturing. Samples of mafic–ultramafic rocks collected proximal to the Clarke River Fault record oceanic geochemical affinities and comprise alteration assemblages consistent with an ophiolitic origin. The ca 456 Ma Falls Creek Tonalite records a continental-arc geochemical signature and was formed in response to long-lived subduction beneath the Thomson Orogen. Ordovician subduction beneath the Thomson Orogen is broadly coeval with arc magmatism documented in the Lachlan Orogen, which has been associated with the formation of several large porphyry ore deposits. The Falls Creek Tonalite yields adakite-like geochemical signatures that reflect a fertile melt source conducive to the formation of porphyry ore deposits. The outcropping plutons record ductile deformation consistent with mid-crustal depths, and they were emplaced during late syntectonic activity. This implies that the Falls Creek Tonalite was emplaced at too great a depth to have formed porphyry ore deposits. The northern Charters Towers Province shares many geological similarities to the Greenvale Province, where the erosional level may be shallower, and the potential for porphyry deposit formation and preservation may be greater.

Item ID: 79580
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1440-0952
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Copyright Information: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Date Deposited: 08 Aug 2023 03:49
FoR Codes: 37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3705 Geology > 370503 Igneous and metamorphic petrology @ 40%
37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3705 Geology > 370508 Resource geoscience @ 30%
37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3705 Geology > 370511 Structural geology and tectonics @ 30%
SEO Codes: 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280107 Expanding knowledge in the earth sciences @ 100%
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