The Nebo-Babel Ni-Cu-platinum-group element (PGE) magmatic sulphide deposit, a world-class ore body, is hosted in low-MgO, tube-like (chonolithic) gabbronorite intrusion in the West Musgrave Block, Western Australia. The Nebo-Babel deposit is the first significant discovery of a nickel sulphide deposit associated with the ca. 1078 Ma Giles Complex, which is part of the Warakurna large igneous province (LIP), now making the Musgrave Block a prime target for nickel sulphide exploration. The Musgrave Block is a Mesoproterozoic, east-west trending, orogenic belt in central Australia consisting of amphibolite and granulite facies basement gneisses with predominantly igneous protoliths. The basement lithologies have been intruded by mafic-ultramafic and felsic rocks; multiply deformed and metamorphosed between 1600 Ma and 500 Ma. The Giles Complex, which is part of the Warakurna LIP, was emplaced at ca. 1078 Ma and consists of a suite of layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions, mafic and felsic dykes and temporally associated volcanic rocks and granites. The Giles Complex intrusions are interpreted to have crystallised at crustal depths between 15km and 30km and are generally undeformed and unmetamorphosed.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/206990 |
Date | January 2008 |
Creators | Seat, Zoran |
Publisher | University of Western Australia. School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, Centre for Exploration Targeting |
Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Rights | Copyright Zoran Seat, http://www.itpo.uwa.edu.au/UWA-Computer-And-Software-Use-Regulations.html |
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