A Rubidium--Strontium Geochronological Study of the Willyama Complex, Broken Hill, Australia |
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| Authors: | PIDGEON R T |
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| Institution: | Department of Geophysics, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Rubidium-strontium isotopic measurements are reported for total-rockand minerals from igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks fromthe Willyama Complex, Broken Hill, Australia. The results ofmeasurements on total-rocks and some minerals from the high-gradegneisses indicate that nearly complete strontium isotopic redistributionoccurred within individual rock units 164040 m. y. ago. Thisage is interpreted as that of the high-grade regional metamorphismwhich recrystallized the Willyama rocks to gneisses in the BrokenHill area. Analyses of total-rocks and some minerals from intrusivemuscovite granites and pegmatites give consistent ages of 154O5Om. y. indicating that these rocks were emplaced soon after thehigh-grade regional metamorphism. Rubidium-strontium isotopic analyses of all biotites, and ofmuscovites from pegmatites concordant in schists at Thackaringareveal a 500 m. y. metamorphic episode of lesser intensity accompaniedby pegmatite emplacement. This metamorphism was not of sufficientstrength to open the total-rock systems significantly to rubidiumand strontium isotopes. Biotites, however, appear to have losttheir radiogenic strontium almost completely at this time andit is probable that this event accounts for the observed disturbanceof the potash-feldspar rubidium-strontium systems in most gneissand muscovite granite samples investigated. There is a close similarity between the rubidium-strontium ageresults and the Broken Hill model lead ages. This supports thehypothesis of two-stage lead development and, with the strontiumisotope evidence, suggests that the region has evolved largelyas a closed chemical system since at least the high-grade metamorphism. |
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