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Science 13 September 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5588, pp. 1856 - 1858
DOI: 10.1126/science.1075270
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Reports

A Major Archean, Gold- and Crust-Forming Event in the Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa

Jason Kirk,1* Joaquin Ruiz,1 John Chesley,1 John Walshe,2 Gavin England3

The 2.89- to 2.76-gigayear-old conglomerates of the Central Rand Group of South Africa host an immense concentration of gold. The gold and rounded pyrites from the conglomerates yield a rhenium-osmium isochron age of 3.03 ± 0.02 gigayears and an initial 187Os/188Os ratio of 0.1079 ± 0.0001. This age is older than that of the conglomerates. Thus, the gold is detrital and was not deposited by later hydrothermal fluids. This Middle Archean gold mineralization event corresponds to a period of rapid crustal growth in which much of the Kaapvaal craton was formed and is evidence for a significant noble metal flux from the mantle.

1 Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
2 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Division of Exploration and Mining, 39 Fairway, Nedlands 6009, Western Australia.
3 Geology and Geophysics Department, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JW UK.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jkirk{at}geo.arizona.edu

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