Potassium?argon ages on micas from the Precambrian region of North?Western Queensland

Abstract

Potassium‐argon measurements have been carried out on the separated micas of 27 samples, principally granites, from the Mount Isa‐Cloncurry region of north‐western Queensland. There is evidence for at least two tectonic periods within the “Lower Proterozoic” of the area. The first is represented only in the north‐western portion, with ages greater than 1,770 m.y. on the Ewen Granite, and on the granites of the Nicholson River area to the far north‐west. The second at 1,400–1,450 m.y. is manifested only to the south and east of the Kalkadoon‐Leichhardt complex, and including the Sybella Granite. The results may be further interpreted as lending support to the concept of a possible “metamorphic discontinuity” along the western flank of the Kalkadoon‐Leichhardt complex, postulated by Carter, Brooks and Walker; as suggesting possible contemporaneity of the Cliffdale Volcanics and the Argylla Formation; and as giving further evidence for the antiquity of stromatolites. Comparison with earlier work suggests that some deposits in this region may be contemporaneous with some of the Agicondian sediments of the Katherine‐Darwin area, and that the second tectonic period corresponds with the K‐Ar ages obtained on the Davenportian granites of Central Australia.