Proterozoic Study Notes

Archean-Proterozoic Boundary

 Geologists have rather arbitrarily placed

o the Archean-Proterozoic boundary
o at 2.5 billion years ago
o because it marks the approximate time
o of changes in the style of crustal evolution
 However, we must emphasize "approximate,"
o because Archean-type crustal evolution
o was largely completed in South Africa
o nearly 3.0 billion years ago,
o whereas in North America the change took place
o from 2.95 to 2.45 billion years ago

Major differences between Archean and Proterozoic

1. Style of crustal evolution

a. Reduced rate (Less radioactive decay, colder crust and slower
mantle convection)
b. plate tectonism as it is today (there is an existing felsic crust-
mountain forming!!!!)
2. 2. Widespread sedimentary rocks (some of them representing
shallow marine, river environment)
3. Occurrence of mature sedimentary rocks
4. Free oxygen in the atmosphere (ozone layer)
Focus on Laurentia

 Our focus here is on the geologic evolution of

Laurentia,
o a large landmass that consisted of what is now
 North America,
 Greenland,
 parts of northwestern Scotland,
 and perhaps some of the Baltic shield of
Scandinavia

Proterozoic Evolution of Laurentia

 Archean
o Mini-continents
o were sutured along deformation belts
o thereby forming a larger landmass
 By 1.8 billion years ago,
o much of what is now Greenland, central
Canada,
o and the north-central United States existed
 Laurentia grew along its southern margin by accretion
 Wilson cycle (Just as a reminder)
 Duration: 300-350 million
years
 The last supercontinent was
Pangea
 Evidence the
supercontinent cycle that
there is no older seafloor
than 200 million years.
 A Wilson Cycle is the full
tectonic loop of an ocean
basin—from rifting birth to
collisional death.
 Key evidence shifts: Rift
volcanics → passive-margin
sediment → arc volcanics &
ophiolites → high-grade collision rocks.
 Atlantic = mature; Red Sea = juvenile; Pacific = declining; Himalaya-
Tibet = terminal–suturing endgame.
 Rift volcanics & evaporites signal embryonic–juvenile phases.
 Passive-margin quartz sands & shelf carbonates pile up during mature
oceans.
 Arc volcanics, blueschist & ophiolite complexes mark declining stage
subduction.
 Syn-collision flysch–molasse sequences, high-grade metamorphic belts,
granite intrusions record terminal to suturing closure

Wopmay Orogeny

Adjacent to Slave craton in northwestern Canada. This orogeny gives us the

best preserved Wilson cycle of the Proterozoic.

1. The evidence of rifting here are the normal faults found in the area
representing extension. the extension created rift basins in which thick
accumulation of alluvial fan and fluvial deposits occurred. The basaltic
rift volcanism is also typical.
2. Continued opening produced an oceanic crust, which slowly widened.
3. The western edge of Slave craton became a passive
margin with characteristic sediments.
 a. Shallow marine quartz sandstone (clean mature quartz
sandstone evidence of existing chemical erosion; well developed
rain, fluvial system on the relatively large continent).
i. Stromatolitic dolomite (stromatolite)
ii. Deeper water turbidites and shale.
4. The closure of the ocean basin.
5. Collision, and mountain formation.

Cross-section showing the elements of the Wopmay orogenic belt

Trans-Hudson Orogeny

Similar to Wopmay Orogeny

 Initial rifting separates the Superior region from the rest of the
continent.
 Passive margin eventually develops with sedimentation along the
continental shelf. Ocean crust forms as divergence continues.
 Divergence stops and the Superior plate reverses direction.
o Ocean basin closes, with subduction zone forming .
o Volcanic arc develops.
 o Collision of the Superior and Wyoming plates with the Hearne
plate results in mountain building.

Banded Iron formations

Banded Iron formations occur in Proterozoic rocks, ranging in age from 1.8 to
2.5 billion years old. They are composed of alternating layers of iron-rich
material (commonly magnetite) and silica (chert). Each layer is relatively
thin, varying in thickness from a millimeter or so up to several centimeters.

Banded Iron formations

Banded Iron formations occur

in Proterozoic rocks, ranging in
age from 1.8 to 2.5 billion years
old. They are composed of
alternating layers of iron-rich
material (commonly magnetite)
and silica (chert). Each layer is
relatively thin, varying in
thickness from a millimeter or
so up to several centimeters.

Sedimentary beds composed of alternating layers of chert and iron, plus

other sediments
They have a great importance, because

1. they prove the presence of shallow marine environment;

2. Since the iron is oxidative here Fe3+ (hematite, magnetite), its
presence prove the presence of free oxygen in the atmosphere.
3. upwelling deep water brings Fe2+.

Early Proterozoic Glaciation

There are some evidence in Canada for an

early Proterozoic glaciation.

Evidence of glaciation from 2000-2500

million years ago is shown by this ‘tillite’ – a
mixture of coarse and fine fragments in a
very hard rock, Whitefish Falls, Ontario,
Canada.
Red beds

During glacial time the presence of red beds are characteristic indicating arid
climate.

Red beds are sandstones, where the red coloration is coming from hematite
cement

Middle Proterozoic

 Igneous activity
 Between 1.6-1.3 billion years no further continent accretion happened,
however there are signs of a tremendous igneous activity, which was
apparently unrelated to orogenesis.
o They are present on almost every shield on the earth.
o They are mostly granite batholites, rhyolite lavaflows and
gabbro.
 Tremendous amount of ore deposit relates to these igneous activity .
Mostly copper, gold.

Grenville Orogeny

 1.3-1.0 billion years ago

  Southeastern Canada, and underneath this belt goes down to Kansas
and it’s rocks are also found in Scandinavia and Greenland.
 These rocks represent the whole Wilson cycle from rifting to collision.
 The rifting broke up Laurentia. That was a mid-continent rift, it cut
through Archean and early Proterozoic rocks.
 Supercontinent/s of the Middle
Proterozoic
o -LAURENTIA on the north
including Greenland,
Central Canada, north-
central US
o -GONDWANA on the
south.
 Australia, Antarctica, India,
Africa, South America
 Some people think that
probably at the end of the
Middle Proterozoic Gondwana
and Laurasia were assembled
into a supercontinent, but for
this there is no evidence.

Late Proterozoic

The late Proterozoic is characterized by large scale rifting, which resulted in

the break up of the supercontinent (Rodinia).

Because plates were drifting apart, large part of Gondwana got to the south
pole which started a big scale continental glaciation.

Glaciation

 How do we know if something is

glacial?
o -Unsorted, unstratified
sediments called TILLITE
o -tillite is associated by striated
bedrock pavement
 o -finally laminated argillites (varved sediments), that contain large
clasts dropped from floating ice

The last full-scale glaciation in Britain transported large amounts of material

southwards. The Isle of Arran in SW Scotland had its own centre of ice
dispersal, producing these whitish granite erratics.

There are several lines of evidence for

glaciation in ancient rocks. One of the
most useful is the presence of rocks
mixed with particles ranging from clay to
boulder size. This example is at Tillit
Nunatak in East Greenland, and is of Late
Proterozoic age (about 650 [Link]). Tillit
is Danish for ‘tillite’ the name give to
rocks of glacial origin.

Late Proterozoic glaciation in Namibia.

Dropstones are formed when icebergs release

debris into laminated sediments of the sea or
lake floor.

Figure 1 (Tilite)

Tillite in Norway

Figure 2 (Varve)
Overlies striated bedrock surface of sandstone

Glaciation

Widespreaded
glaciation occurred between 900-600 million years ago.
Tillites and other glacial deposits were recognized in all the
continents but Antarctica. Of course glaciation was not
continuous, it had four periods.

Most likely this glaciation was the largest in the earth

history, evidenced by the presence of tillites even near the
equator.

Evolving atmosphere

 The photosyntethizing Cyanobacteria produced

oxygen,
 by 2.5-1.8 billion years ago enough free oxygen
existed in the atmosphere to start the formation of
ozone layer.
 Ultraviolet radiation converted some of the oxygen
into O and O3, both of which are oxidize surface materials more
effectively than O2.
 Once an ozone layer became established, no more ultraviolet radiation
reached the earth, and O2 become the primary source of surface
oxidation.
 Ozone formed by 2000 million years ago.

UV Radiation

O2 + O2 = O +O3
The Fossil Record

 Inherited Archean Life

o Photosynthetic cyanobacteria (oxygenated) (They produced their
own oxygen)
o anaerobic prokaryotes
 Stromatolites
 molecular fossils

Lack of organic diversity

 During the Archean, Early Proterozoic organic diversity was very low.
The reason, because these organism reproduced asexually.

 Most variation in

o sexually reproducing populations comes from the shuffling of

genes, and their alleles, from generation to generation
  Mutations introduce new variation into a population, but their effects
are limited in prokaryotes

Genetic variation in bacteria:

 A beneficial mutation would spread rapidly

o in sexually reproducing organism,
o but have a limited impact in bacteria
o because they do not share their genes with other bacteria
 Bacteria usually reproduce by binary fission
o and give rise to two cells
o having the same genetic makeup
 Under some conditions,
o they engage in conjugation during
o which some genetic material is transferred

Sexual Reproduction Increased the Pace of Evolution

 Prior to the appearance of cells capable of sexual reproduction,

o evolution was a comparatively slow process,
o thus accounting for the low organic diversity
 This situation did not persist
 Sexually reproducing cells probably
o evolved by Early Proterozoic time,
o and thereafter the tempo of evolution
o increased markedly

Eukaryotic Cells Evolve

 Union of 2 prokaryotic cells

o Mitochondrian
 Allow cells to derive energy
from their food by respiration
 Evolved from 1 prokaryotic cell
o Chloroplast
 Site of photosynthesis
 Protozoan consumed, retained
cyanobacterial cell
 Evolution Of Eukaryotes:

The Endosymbiotic Hypothesis

Eukaryotes

 Record of large cells: 1.6-1.4 b.y to present

 Steranes: molecular fossils
 Acritarchs (Planktonic Algae; Skiagia)
o Max age 1.6 b.y.
o Fossil sites; Russia, California, Australia,
Greenland
 Eukaryotic Protozoans: Vase-shaped fossils
from Spitsbergen and Arizona
 Metazoans
o Australia: Ediacara Hills
o China: Doushantuo Formation (~570
m.y.)
o Russia: White Sea coast (~550 m.y.)
 Some may not have modern equivalents
  Three present-day phyla may be
Figure 3 (Ediacaran Fauna)
represented in the Ediacaran fauna:
o jellyfish and sea pens (phylum Cnidaria),
o segmented worms (phylum Annelida),
o and primitive members of the phylum Arthropoda (the phylum
with insects, spiders crabs, and others)
 One Ediacaran fossil, Spriggina, has been cited as a possible ancestor
of trilobites
 Another might be a primitive member of the phylum Echinodermata

Other Proterozoic Animal Fossils

 Although scarce, a few older animal fossils exist

o A jellyfish-like impression is present in rocks 2000 m below the

Ediacara Hills Pound Quartzite

 Burrows, in many areas,

 o presumably made by worms, occur in rocks at least 700 million
years old

 Wormlike and algae fossils come

o from 700 to 900 million-

year-old rocks in China but
the identity and age of
these "fossils" has been
questioned

Proterozoic Mineral
Resources
 Iron
o Most of the world's iron
ore comes from the BIF-s
o Canada and the United
States have large deposits
of these rocks
 Nickel
o In the Sudbury mining district in Ontario, Canada
 Platinum and Chromium
o The Bushweld Complex of South Africa
 Pegmatites
o Main
o Jewelery