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Field investigations of Proterozoic mafic-ultramafic intrusions in the Arunta Province, central Australia

Created 16/10/2025

Updated 16/10/2025

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Field investigations by AGSO-Geoscience Australia in late 2000, as part of a National Geoscience Agreement with the Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS), evaluated the geological setting of Proterozoic mafic-ultramafic intrusions in the Arunta Province of central Australia. The major aims of this regional study were to constrain the various mafic-ultramafic magmatic systems within the event chronology of the Arunta Province, and to provide a geoscientific framework for assessing the prospectivity and resource potential of the intrusions. This report summarises the field relationships and mineralisation features of the major mafic-ultramafic intrusions in the Arunta Province. They form large homogeneous gabbroic bodies, folded high-level mafic sills, steeply dipping amphibolite sheets and relatively undeformed ultramafic plugs with alkaline and tholeiitic affinities. Metamorphic grades range from granulite to sub-amphibolite facies. Chilled and contaminated margins and net-vein complexes resulting from the commingling of mafic and felsic magmas indicate that most intrusions crystallised in situ and were not tectonically emplaced. The intrusions were subdivided into western, central and eastern groups on the basis of lithology, metamorphic-structural history, degree of fractionation and limited geochronology. The field investigations described here and preliminary geochemical data (see Hoatson 2001) indicate that the western and central intrusions have some potential for Ni-Cu-Co sulphide deposits, whereas the eastern intrusions appear to be more prospective for platinum-group element (PGE) mineralisation. The recent emerging evidence that the eastern Arunta is prospective for PGE mineralisation is supported by exploration companies defining anomalous PGE-Cu-Au concentrations in hydrothermal veins hosted by the Riddock Amphibolite and in magnetite layers of the Attutra Metagabbro. These results, for the first time, highlight geographical differences in the mineral prospectivity of mafic-ultramafic rocks in the Arunta Province.

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Title Field investigations of Proterozoic mafic-ultramafic intrusions in the Arunta Province, central Australia
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/c021c95b-a466-434f-a9aa-b91f5920a53c
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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Data Portal Geoscience Australia

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This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Field investigations of Proterozoic mafic-ultramafic intrusions in the Arunta Province, central Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/field-investigations-of-proterozoic-mafic-ultramafic-intrusions-in-the-arunta-province-central-