SIMS microanalysis of the Strelley Pool Formation cherts and the implications for the secular-temporal oxygen-isotope trend of cherts

The SPF results from our sample suite demonstrate the ability to resolve complex history using detailed petrography and SIMS analysis. Similar studies may show equal complexity of δ18O(Qz) data for other localities that are interpreted to show secular-temporal trends for chert. The apparent increase of δ18O(Qz) through time may reflect differences in diagenesis, and/or an inherent and previously unrecognized sampling bias that compares fundamentally different populations of quartz, such as Archean hydrothermal chert from volcanic greenstone belts, with unrelated Phanerozoic biogenic quartz.