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Linking Olympic Dam and the Cariewerloo Basin: was a sedimentary basin involved in formation of the world’s largest uranium deposit?

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 10:31 authored by Cherry, AR, Jocelyn McPhieJocelyn McPhie, Vadim Kamenetsky, Ehrig, K, Keeling, JL, Maya KamenetskyMaya Kamenetsky, Sebastien MeffreSebastien Meffre, Apukhtina, OB
The supergiant Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au-Ag deposit is hosted by the Olympic Dam Breccia Complex within a ca. 1.59 Ga granite. The breccia complex is largely granite-derived but also includes volcanic clasts and domains of bedded clastic facies. Recently discovered quartz-rich sandstone has a provenance that included Paleoproterozoic and Archean units represented by zircon populations centered at ca. 2.4 Ga and ca. 1.7 Ga. The texture, detrital and cement mineralogy, and distribution of detrital zircon ages in the quartz-rich sandstone closely match those in sandstone of the Pandurra Formation deposited in the regionally extensive intracratonic Cariewerloo Basin (ca. 1.44 Ga). The age of authigenic apatite (1.44 ± 0.02 Ga) in the brecciated quartz-rich sandstone is equivalent to the minimum depositional age of the Pandurra Formation. We conclude that the quartz-rich sandstone is a remnant of the Pandurra Formation, that the Pandurra Formation originally extended across the Olympic Dam Breccia Complex, and that it was incorporated by tectonic activity at least 150 myr after initial formation of the breccia complex. Furthermore, we speculate that oxidized U-bearing fluids from the overlying Cariewerloo Basin may have interacted with the Olympic Dam U resource, consistent with mounting evidence for substantial post-1.59 Ga remobilization and probable addition of U.

Funding

Australian Research Council

BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation

History

Publication title

Precambrian Research

Volume

300

Pagination

168-180

ISSN

0301-9268

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Elsevier Science Bv

Place of publication

Po Box 211, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1000 Ae

Rights statement

Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V.

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Uranium exploration

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