New research is showing mine waste could help unlock critical metals to supply global minerals shortages, with a report pinpointing high-potential resources across South Australia.
Abstract
The Adelaide Rift Complex in South Australia records the break-up of Rodinia at a time of great climatic and biological evolution. The Boucaut Volcanics within the Neoproterozoic Adelaide Rift Complex of the Adelaide Superbasin lie at the base of the Burra Group, marking the boundary between the Burra Group and underlying Callanna Group. Despite their significance as one of the few volcanic units within the rift complex, there has been no robust age determination published for the Boucaut Volcanics. We use U–Pb zircon LA-ICP-MS data to determine an age of 788 ± 6 Ma for the eruption of the bimodal Boucaut Volcanics. This has important implications for constraining the timing of stratigraphy within the Adelaide Superbasin. This also has far-reaching implications for plate tectonic reconstructions of Australia and Laurentia, and for correlating global isotope anomalies for the Neoproterozoic.KEY POINTS New U–Pb zircon data provide a revised age for the Boucaut Volcanics