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Archaean high grade complexes and modern continental margins

Nature volume 260, pages 671–675 (1976)Cite this article

Abstract

Two kinds of geological terrain formed before 2,500 Myr ago. First, the greenstone belts, which are linear basins full of sediments and volcanics, possibly comparable with the marginal basins that occur behind modern island arcs. Second, and the subject of this paper, are high grade complexes containing rocks that have been deformed and recrystallised at high temperatures and pressures—granitic gneisses derived from granitic rocks are particularly common. Examples occur in north-western Scotland, Greenland, the Labrador coast, the Limpopo Belt in southern Africa, southern India, and probably the Aldan and Kola shields in the USSR. These complexes are so similar lithologically that broad generalisations about their tectonic evolution are justifiable. No major attempt has been made to see if they share any similarities with modern geological environments whose origins are better understood. We suggest that they are ancient analogues of the modern deep seated granitic batholiths located along the main arc axis of active plate margins of North and South America, for example in California and the Andes; accordingly, they are complementary to the greenstone belts in their back-arc setting.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    B. F. Windley

  2. Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 60637

    J. V. Smith

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Windley, B., Smith, J. Archaean high grade complexes and modern continental margins. Nature 260, 671–675 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/260671a0

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