Geology topics

Tor Grenne

Publications and source records attributed to Tor Grenne.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2017

Evidence for early life in Earth’s oldest hydrothermal vent precipitates

Although it is not known when or where life on Earth began, some of the earliest habitable environments may have been submarine-hydrothermal vents. Here we describe putative fossilized microorganisms that are at least 3,770 million and possibly 4,280 million years old in ferruginous sedimentary rocks, interpreted as seafloor-hydrothermal vent-related precipitates, from the Nuvvuagittuq belt in Quebec, Canada. These structures occur as micrometre-scale haematite tubes and filaments with morphologies and mineral assemblages similar to those of filamentous microorganisms from modern hydrothermal vent precipitates and analogous microfossils in younger rocks. The Nuvvuagittuq rocks contain isotopically light carbon in carbonate and carbonaceous material, which occurs as graphitic inclusions in diagenetic carbonate rosettes, apatite blades intergrown among carbonate rosettes and magnetite–haematite granules, and is associated with carbonate in direct contact with the putative microfossils. Collectively, these observations are consistent with an oxidized biomass and provide evidence for biological activity in submarine-hydrothermal environments more than 3,770 million years ago.

Quebec↗

USGS2007

Suboxic deep seawater in the late Paleoproterozoic: Evidence from hematitic chert and iron formation related to seafloor-hydrothermal sulfide deposits, central Arizona, USA

A current model for the evolution of Proterozoic deep seawater composition involves a change from anoxic sulfide-free to sulfidic conditions 1.8??Ga. In an earlier model the deep ocean became oxic at that time. Both models are based on the secular distribution of banded iron formation (BIF) in shallow marine sequences. We here present a new model based on rare earth elements, especially redox-sensitive Ce, in hydrothermal silica-iron oxide sediments from deeper-water, open-marine settings related to volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. In contrast to Archean, Paleozoic, and modern hydrothermal iron oxide sediments, 1.74 to 1.71??Ga hematitic chert (jasper) and iron formation in central Arizona, USA, show moderate positive to small negative Ce anomalies, suggesting that the redox state of the deep ocean then was at a transitional, suboxic state with low concentrations of dissolved O2 but no H2S. The presence of jasper and/or iron formation related to VMS deposits in other volcanosedimentary sequences ca. 1.79-1.69??Ga, 1.40??Ga, and 1.24??Ga also reflects oxygenated and not sulfidic deep ocean waters during these time periods. Suboxic conditions in the deep ocean are consistent with the lack of shallow-marine BIF ??? 1.8 to 0.8??Ga, and likely limited nutrient concentrations in seawater and, consequently, may have constrained biological evolution. ?? 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters↗

USGS2005

Geochemistry and jasper beds from the Ordovician Løkken ophiolite, Norway: origin of proximal and distal siliceous exhalites

Stratiform beds of jasper (hematitic chert), composed essentially of SiO 2 (69–95 wt %) and Fe 2 O 3 (3–25 wt %), can be traced several kilometers along strike in the Ordovician Løkken ophiolite, Norway. These siliceous beds are closely associated with volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits and are interpreted as sea-floor gels that were deposited by fallout from hydrothermal plumes in silica-rich seawater, in which plume-derived Fe oxyhydroxide particles promoted flocculation and rapid settling of large (~200 μm) colloidal particles of silica-iron oxyhydroxide. Concentrations of chalcophile elements in the jasper beds are at the parts per million level implying that sulfide particle fallout was insignificant and that the Si-Fe gel-forming plumes were mainly derived from intermediate- (100°–250°C) to high-temperature (>250°C) white smoker-type vents with high Fe/S ratios. The interpreted setting is similar to that of the Lau basin, where high-temperature (280°–334°C) white smoker venting alternates or overlaps with sulfide mound-forming black smoker venting. Ratios of Al, Sc, Th, Hf, and REE to iron are very low and show that the detrital input was <0.1 percent of the bulk jasper. Most jasper beds are enriched in U, V, P, and Mo relative to the North American Shale Composite, reflecting a predominantly seawater source, whereas REE distribution patterns (positive Eu and negative Ce anomalies) reflect variable mixing of hydrothermal solutions with oxic seawater at dilution ratios of ~10 2 to 10 4 . Trace element variations in the gel precursor to the jasper are thought to have been controlled by coprecipitation and/or adsorption by Fe oxyhydroxide particles that formed by the oxidation of hydrothermal Fe 2+ within the variably seawater-diluted hydrothermal plume(s). Thick jasper layers near the Høydal VMS orebody show distinct positive As/Fe and Sb/Fe anomalies that are attributed to near-vent rapid settling of Si-Fe particles derived from As- and Sb-rich hydrothermal fluids prior to extensive mixing with seawater in the buoyant plume. Particles that formed later in the highly diluted nonbuoyant plume formed relatively As and Sb poor distal jasper. The large particle sizes and accordingly high settling rates of the particles, together with mass-balance calculations based on modern vent field data, suggest that individual meter-thick jasper beds formed within a plume lifetime of 200 years or less. The lack of thick jasper beds near the Løkken VMS orebody, which is larger than the Høydal orebody by more than two orders of magnitude, probably reflects a shift to anoxic conditions during Løkken mineralization. This environment limited oxidation of iron in the hydrothermal plume and formation of the ferric oxyhydroxides necessary for the flocculation of silica and sea-floor deposition of the gel precursor of the jasper beds. Distal pyritic and iron-poor cherts are more common than jasper in ancient VMS-hosting sequences. The origin of these other types of siliceous exhalite is enigmatic but at least in some cases involved sulfidation, reduction to magnetite, or dissolution of the original ferric iron in precursor Si-rich gels, either by hydrothermal or diagenetic processes.

Economic Geology↗

USGS2003

Bedded jaspers of the Ordovician Løkken ophiolite, Norway: seafloor deposition and diagenetic maturation of hydrothermal plume-derived silica-iron gels

Sedimentary beds of jasper (red hematitic chert) in the Ordovician Løkken ophiolite of Norway are closely associated with volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits. The jaspers occur in the immediate hangingwall and laterally peripheral to the large Løkken (25–30 Mt) and small Høydal (0.1 Mt) VMS deposits, and are exposed discontinuously for several kilometres along strike. Massive or laminated types predominate; jasper-sulphide debris-flow deposits are also abundant near VMS deposits. The jaspers contain hematite-rich laminae showing soft-sediment deformation structures and microtextural evidence that record the presence of a colloidal precursor and an origin as gels. Early textures include: (1) straight or curved chains of hematitic filaments 3–10 µm in diameter and 20–100 µm long; (2) branching networks of 15–25 µm-thick, tubular structures surrounded by cryptocrystalline hematite and filled with quartz and euhedral hematite; (3) small (up to 10 µm) spherules composed of cryptocrystalline hematite and silica; and (4) up to 50 µm silica spherules with hematitic cores. The small filaments seem to have been deposited in varying proportions in the primary laminae, possibly together with hematitic and siliceous microspheroids. Diagenetic changes are represented by polygonal syneresis cracks, and the presence of cryptocrystalline (originally opaline) silica, chalcedony, quartz, carbonate and cryptocrystalline hematite and/or goethite forming botryoidal masses and spheroids <10 µm to 5 mm in diameter. Coarser euhedral grains of quartz, carbonate, and hematite are integral parts of these textures. Bleached, silica-rich jaspers preserve only small relics of fine-grained hematite-rich domains, and locally contain sparse pockets composed of coarse euhedral hematite±epidote. The jaspers are interpreted to record colloidal fallout from one or more hydrothermal plumes, followed by maturation (ageing) of an Si-Fe-oxyhydroxide gel, on and beneath the Ordovician sea floor. Small hematitic filaments in the jaspers reflect bacteria-catalysed oxidation of Fe 2+ within the plume. The larger tubular filaments resulted from either microbial activity or inorganic self-organized mineral growth of Fe-oxyhydroxide within the Si-Fe-oxyhydroxide gel after deposition on the sea floor, prior to more advanced maturation of the gel as represented by the spheroidal and botryoidal silica-hematite textures. Bleaching and hematite±epidote growth are interpreted to reflect heat and fluids generated during deposition of basaltic sheet flows on top of the gels.

Mineralium Deposita↗

USGS2001

Juxtaposition of Neoproterozoic units along the Baruda - Tulu Dimtu shear-belt in the East African Orogen of western Ethiopia

Amalgamation of East and West Gondwanaland during the Neoproterozoic East African Orogen is recorded by several shear-belts or 'suture zones', some of which are associated with ultramafic and mafic complexes that have been interpreted as ophiolite fragments. The Baruda shear-belt is a major structure of this type that belongs to the N-S trending Barka - Tulu Dimtu zone. The significance of this zone has been studied within a transect in western Ethiopia which covers a variety of metasedimentary and metavolcanic sequences, ultramafic rocks and synkinematic intrusive complexes. All rocks participated in the regional D1 event as reflected in a penetrative steep foliation in supracrustal rocks and marginal parts of the intrusions. Highly strained rocks contain a stretching lineation that plunge to the east. The several-km thick Baruda shear-belt, comprising mylonitic supracrustal and plutonic rocks including mafic-ultramafic mega-lenses, is the most prominent expression of this event. Shear-sense indicators demonstrate top-to-the-west shear. Subsequent D2 deformation is recorded in 2-300 m wide, N-S striking, subvertical shear-zones with subhorizontal stretching lineation relatable to sinistral transcurrent movements. Our data indicate that rock units on either side of the Baruda shear-belt are related, rather than being exotic to each other as implied in suture zone models, since there is no major lithologic or metamorphic difference, geochemical data on metavolcanic rocks and pre-tectonic intrusions suggest a paleotectonic link, and style and extent of deformation is similar across the shear-belt. A tentative model for the transect suggests an arc and back-arc setting which experienced later continental collision and tectonic shortening. The initial setting was that of a shallow marine platform characterised by carbonates and sandstones, which covered extensive areas prior to break-up of a pre-existing supercontinent. Continental convergence is first recorded in high-K calc-alkaline volcanism characterised by pyroclastic deposits of andesitic composition, at an active continental margin at about 800 Ma. Subaerial arc volcanism was temporally and spatially overlapping with limited arc rifting, represented by submarine basalts compositionally transitional between enriched MORB and calc-alkaline magmas, and associated dyke swarms in the older carbonate-sandstone platform sequence. It is suggested that the large, mafic-ultramafic, bodies relate to this event and were originally formed as intrusions along one or more propagating rift axis within the arc complex. The regional Baruda shear-belt formed in response to contractional D1 deformation, and its location may have been largely controlled by competence contrasts between the array of rift-related intrusions and the marble-dominated lithologies. Associated shortening of the arc and back-arc region led to crustal thickening and emplacement of synkinematic, composite, batholiths at about 570-550 Ma. These are composed of moderately peraluminous granite and coeval, intermediate to mafic intrusions of shoshonitic affinity. D2 sinistral movements succeeded the contractional deformation. ?? 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.

Precambrian Research↗