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Greenstones, aside from containing basalts, also give rise to several types of metamorphic rocks which are used synonymously with 'metabasalt' et cetera; greenschist, whiteschist and blueschist are all terms spawned from the study of greenstone belts. The West African early Proterozoic greenstone belts are similar to the Archean greenstone belts.
The greenstone belts of the various Archean cratons are commonly altered to the greenschist facies. These ancient rocks are noted as host rocks for a variety of ore deposits in Australia, Namibia and Canada. Greenschist-like rocks can also be formed under blueschist facies conditions if the original rock contains enough magnesium.
These sinking greenstones forced the granitic partial melts sideways and upwards, emplacing them into the margins of the belt and later folding them. The greenstone cover allows the granitic layer to remobilize and form the dome structure. This two stage event is dated between 3.26 and 3.22 Ga. [10]
A large number of geological and geochemical methods have been applied to the rocks of the Isua Greenstone Belt. These include subdivision of the various lithologies and units within the belt using a combination of geological mapping and U-Pb zircon dating, typically using sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP), analyses; [3] major and trace element chemistry; [11] [12] structural ...
The Barberton Greenstone Belt is located on the Kaapvaal craton, which covers much of the southeastern part of Africa, and was formed by the emplacement of granitoid batholiths. [7] The Kaapvaal craton was once part of a supercontinent geologists term Vaalbara that also included the Pilbara craton of western Australia. [ 7 ]
Eoarchean geology is the study of the oldest preserved crustal fragments of Earth during the Eoarchean era from 4.031 to 3.6 billion years ago. Major well-preserved rock units dated to this era are known from three localities, the Isua Greenstone Belt in Southwest Greenland, the Acasta Gneiss in the Slave Craton in Canada, and the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt in the eastern coast of Hudson Bay ...
The top layer is made by meta-sedimentary rocks, for example quartzite and marble. [16] According to the data of zircon dating, the bottom layer of the greenstone sequence formed in about 2.54 billion years ago, [24] while the middle and upper layers have the age later than 2.51 billion years. [23]
The Leonean Orogeny 3.5 to 2.9 billion years ago and the Liberian Orogeny 2.9 to 2.5 billion years ago both influenced the Archean rocks.. Greenstone belts, sequences of metamorphic and volcanic rocks associated with cratons and used by geologists to study early tectonics are found in south-central Liberia, dating to 2.1 billion years ago.