CLIMATIC PALEOTEMPERATURES FROM OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN ISOTOPES IN CHERT, AND PETROGRAPHY OF THE NEOPROTEROZOIC SIXTYMILE FORMATION: GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, AZ

Twenty-one chert samples from the middle and upper members of the NeoProterozoic Sixtymile Formation (SMF) at Nankoweap Butte in eastern Grand Canyon were analyzed for oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition. Plotted on a δ¹⁸O vs δD diagram, the δ values indicate that chert is non-marine and precipitated at climatic temperatures between 27-33ºC. The δ values are inconsistent with hydrothermal alteration. Hydrothermal isotopic signatures can only occur if hydrothermal fluids later permeate the deposit along fractures; in thin section, silica-filled fractures and veins, interlocking megaquartz (>35μm), and phyllosilicate minerals, are mostly absent. SMF chert contains quartz polymorphs as colloform crusts, detrital grains, glaebular aggregates, and pseudo-brecciated structures displaying great micromorphological complexity. Chert petrography reveals: (1) mosaic, microgranular (<35μm) quartz; (2) minor lath-shaped silicified crystallites; (3) fine polygonal cracks in poorly-ordered silica phases possibly due to dehydration of gel-like deposits; (4) an irregular but repetitive succession of wavy laminae; and, (5) radial and fibrous length-slow (quartzine) and length-fast (chalcedony). The affinity of quartzine to evaporite precursors is well-documented, but definitive evidence of early evaporite progenitors was not found. Alternating chert laminae suggest temperature and geochemical fluctuations typical of shallow continental lakes. Collectively, the micromorphological features and silica mineralogy suggest that SMF chert likely precipitated as inorganic, poorly-ordered silica in response to fluctuating pH and cation concentrations induced by periodic influx of meteoric water. The absence of phyllosilicates suggest that silica might have been introduced by groundwater and/or with some contribution from ash or dust.

The upper member of the post 742Ma SMF has been correlated with the diamictite beds of the Kingston Peak Formation (CA) placing the SMF in the Sturtian Ice Age (~750-700Ma). In outcrop, no striated clasts or features suggestive of glacial deposition were observed in the breccias of the upper member. The field data along with the new climatic temperatures suggest that chert from the middle member of SMF precipitated in a warm, shallow pan/lacustrine environment.