Evolution of the Palaeoproterozoic Prize, Gun and lower Loretta Supersequences of the Surprise Creek Formation and Mt Isa Group

Sequence‐stratigraphic interpretations of the 4200 m‐thick Palaeoproterozoic (1700–1650 Ma) Mt Isa Group and underlying Surprise Creek Formation identify three unconformity‐bounded packages termed the Prize, Gun and Loretta Supersequences. Siliciclastic rocks of the Surprise Creek Formation and Warrina Park Quartzite comprise the Prize Supersequence. Rapid facies changes from proximal, conglomeratic fluvial packages to distal, fine‐grained and deep‐water, rhythmites characterise this supersequence. Conglomeratic intervals in the Mt Isa area reflect syndepositional movement along basin‐margin faults during the period of supersequence initiation. A major unconformity, which extends over a period of about 25 million years, separates the Gun and Prize Supersequences. In the Leichhardt River Fault Trough uplift and incision of Prize sedimentary rocks coincided with emplacement of the Sybella Granite (1671±8 Ma) and Carters Bore Rhyolite (1678±2 Ma) and the removal of an unknown thickness of Prize Supersequence section. Deep‐water, turbiditic rhythmites of the Mt Isa Group dominated the Gun and Loretta Supersequences. Tempestites are present over discrete intervals and represent times of relative shallowing. High accommodation and sedimentation rates at the base of the Gun Supersequence resulted in the deposition of transgressive nearshore facies (uppermost Warrina Park Quartzite) overlain by a thick interval of deep‐water, siltstone‐mudstone rhythmites of the Moondarra Siltstone and Breakaway Shale. With declining rates of siliciclastic sedimentation and shallowing of the succession, calcareous sediments of the Native Bee Siltstone prograded over the deeper water deposits. Two third‐order sequences, Gun 1 and 2, characterise these lower parts of the Gun Supersequence. An increase in accommodation rates near the top of the Native Bee Siltstone in Gun 3 time, resulted in a return to deep‐water sedimentation with deposition of dolomitic rhythmites of the Urquhart Shale and Spear Siltstone. The Pb–Zn–Ag ore‐hosting interval of the Urquhart Shale is interpreted to occur in progradational highstand deposits of the Gun 3 Sequence. In the Leichhardt River Fault Trough the Loretta Supersequence boundary forms a correlative conformity. Coarser grained and thicker bedded sediments of the Kennedy Siltstone comprise lowstand deposits at the base of this cycle. These sediments fine up into the transgressive, deep‐water, siliciclastic facies of the Magazine Shale, which in turn are truncated against the Mt Isa Fault.

Keywords:

• base‐metal deposits
• Leichhardt River Fault Trough
• Mt Isa Group
• Palaeoproterozoic
• sequence stratigraphy
• Surprise Creek Formation