The Gifford Creek Ferrocarbonatite Complex, Gascoyne Province, Western Australia: Associated fenitic alteration and a putative link with the ~ 1075 Ma Warakurna LIP

• Ferrocarbonatite sills and dykes in the Gascoyne Province, Western Australia
• Ironstone veins
• Fenitic alteration
• Apatite dating
• Link with the 1075 Ma Warakurna Large Igneous Province

The Gifford Creek Ferrocarbonatite Complex (GFC), located in the Neoarchean–Palaeoproterozoic Gascoyne Province, Western Australia, comprises sills, dykes, and veins of ferrocarbonatite intruding the Pimbyana Granite and Yangibana Granite of the Durlacher Supersuite and metasedimentary rocks of the Pooranoo Metamorphics. The ferrocarbonatites are associated with complex and irregularly distributed zones of fenitic alteration. These ferrocarbonatites and fenites are also associated with a swarm of ironstone veins, containing magnetite, hematite and goethite. The GFC and associated fenite outcrops are distributed within a ~ 700 km2 area, north of the Lyons River Fault. Ferrocarbonatite sills and dykes are predominant in a northwest-trending belt, along the southern margin of the complex; whereas ferrocarbonatite veins tend to be distributed in a series of sub-parallel west–northwest-trending linear belts, generally associated with the Fe oxide veins with sinuous trends. These veins have margins of Fe-rich carbonates associated with zones of alteration that have a fenitic character. The fenitic haloes are characterised by the presence of Na–K-feldspars and/or Na-amphiboles and magnetite. In some cases monomineralic feldspar zones (orthoclasite) are present. Fenitic alteration is spatially associated with the carbonatites, but it can also form discrete veins and veinlets in basement granitic rocks (Pimbyana and Yangibana Granites). Petrographic, XRD and SEM analyses show that the ferrocarbonatites are dominantly composed of ankerite–dolomite, magnetite, arfvedsonite–riebeckite, and lesser calcite. Alkali amphibole has compositions ranging from potassian magnesio-arfvedsonite to magnesio-riebeckite. Sills and dykes north of the Lyons River, are characterised by a carbonate-rich matrix, containing > 50 vol.% ankerite–dolomite, with accessory quantities of apatite, barite, monazite, and phlogopite. In-situ U–Pb age determination of apatite grains by LA-ICP-MS on a sample of ferrocarbonatite was performed and an average age of 1075 ± 35 Ma was obtained. This age is within the range of ages (~ 1078–1070 Ma) of the Warakurna Large Igneous Province (WLIP) and we suggest that the GFC is related to the mantle plume event that generated the WLIP. This is a significant outcome, because it may lead to the recognition or discovery of other carbonatites within the area covered by the WLIP. In addition, monazite from fenitic rocks associated with the ironstones yielded an age of 1050 ± 25 Ma, suggesting that a second phase of carbonatite magmatism occurred, resulting in the emplacement of the carbonatite-ironstone veins swarm. A model is proposed to explain the formation of the GFC system.

(a) Simplified geological map of Gifford Creek Ferrocarbonatite Complex, showing ironstone veins, and NW-trending belt of ferrocarbonatite dykes and sills. (b) Sketch map showing distribution of the mineral prospects.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide