Time-space evaluation of the tectono-metallogenic evolution of the northern Tasman Fold Belt System, northeast Queensland, Australia

Abstract

The Tasman Fold Belt System in eastern Australia provides a record of the Palaeozoic geological history and growth of the Australian continent along the proto-Pacific margin of Gondwana inboard of an extensive and long-lived subduction system. The Hodgkinson and Broken River provinces represent prominent geological elements of this system and together form the northern Tasman Fold Belt System. Integration of newly-obtained data with a time-space evaluation of the geological evolution of the Hodgkinson and Broken River provinces, as well as other terranes in the northern Tasman Fold Belt System, allows for the development of a geodynamic model for the Palaeozoic evolution of the northern Tasman Fold Belt System. Our model indicates that three cycles of extension ? contraction occurred during the Palaeozoic evolution of the northern Tasman Fold Belt System. Episodes of extension were controlled by roll-back of the subduction system along the Australian margin, whereas episodes of contraction resulted from accretion following the arrival of positively buoyant segments (i.e., micro-continental blocks / oceanic plateaux) at the subducting trench. Our composite interpretative model on the geodynamic evolution of the northern Tasman Fold Belt System integrates the timing of the development of mineral deposits throughout this part of the system and provides a significant advancement in the understanding of Palaeozoic geodynamics along the margin of Gondwana in northeast Australia.