Late Palaeoproterozoic evolution of the buried northern Gawler Craton R. Armit a,⇑ , P.G. Betts a , B.F. Schaefer b , K. Yi c , Y. Kim c , R.A. Dutch d,e , A. Reid d,e , L. Jagodzinski d , D. Giles f , L. Ailleres a a School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, VIC, Australia b GEMOC, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia c Korea Basic Science Institute, Daejeon 305-333, Republic of Korea d Geological Survey of South Australia, Department for State Development, GPO Box 1264, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia e School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia f School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, SA 5000, Australia article info Article history: Received 7 September 2016 Revised 18 December 2016 Accepted 23 January 2017 Available online 25 January 2017 Keywords: Gawler Craton Nawa Domain U-Pb geochronology In-situ zircon Lu-Hf isotopes Whole-rock Nd-Hf-isotopes abstract This study utilises U-Pb geochronology, Lu-Hf, Sm-Nd isotopes and geochemistry to constrain the timing of deposition, metamorphism and provenance characteristics of buried Palaeoproterozoic meta- sedimentary and meta-igneous rocks in the northern Gawler Craton, Australia. The data suggest that sed- imentary sequences were deposited between ca. 1780 and 1740 Ma across a wide region accompanied by syn-depositional magmatism. Restricted zircon age spectra, relatively radiogenic whole-rock Hf-Nd and in-situ zircon Hf isotopic compositions and enriched REE signatures support the notion of a connected series of basins or a single large basin, which developed on a common Neoarchaean substrate across the northern Gawler Craton during the Late Palaeoproterozoic. Temporal and isotopic correlation of these indurated rocks with Palaeoproterozoic basins throughout the North Australian Craton suggests they may form part of an extensive basin system that developed across the Australian continent during the Late Palaeoproterozoic. The meta-sedimentary and meta-igneous rocks of the northern Gawler Craton record high-grade crustal anatexis during the ca. 1730–1690 Ma Kimban Orogeny and subsequent Early Mesoproterozoic re-working. Ó 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction A major hindrance to unravelling the evolution of the Australian continent is the dearth of exposed geology in critical regions. Con- sequently tectonic interpretations have been biased from regions where there is outcrop. The northern Gawler Craton (Fig. 1a) occu- pies a region comparable in size to the United Kingdom, but due to the lack of basement outcrop there are fewer constraints than for other Proterozoic terranes of the Australian continent. The geography-based nomenclature of Myers et al. (1996) pro- vides a framework for the interpretation of Proterozoic Australia into the North, South, and West Australian cratons (Fig. 1b). The South Australian Craton comprises the Curnamona Province and the Gawler Craton, including the predominantly buried northern Gawler Craton. In palaeogeographical reconstruction models, the position of the South Australian Craton with respect to the North and West Australian cratons, the temporal correlation of major accretion, and deformational and thermal events across these blocks (e.g. Betts and Giles, 2006; Wade et al., 2006; Gibson et al., 2008; Swain et al., 2008; Payne et al., 2009; Korsch et al., 2011; Aitken et al., 2016; Betts et al., 2015). A consistent theme in these reconstruction models however, is the predominance of plate margin processes and continental growth at the margins of the Archaean nucleus of the Gawler Craton. In order to test these models a better understanding of the Proterozoic evolution of the northern Gawler Craton is required because it lies at the interface between the South and North Australian cratons. Geochronology coupled with isotopic and geochemical finger- printing of ancient rock packages is a powerful tool for constrain- ing reconstructions of Proterozoic terranes (e.g. Cawood et al., 1999; Nelson, 2001; Halilovic et al., 2004). These methods allow us to identify potential links between cratonic elements with greater confidence, which informs our understanding of the regio- nal tectonic evolution. This study aims to provide constraints on the timing and provenance for a series of meta-sedimentary and magmatic rocks intersected during the 2010 Gawler-Officer- Musgrave-Amadeus (GOMA) drilling program across the northern Gawler Craton (Korsch et al., 2010a). To achieve this, the isotopic and temporal signatures of distinct detrital, metamorphic, and http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2017.01.023 0301-9268/Ó 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: robin.armit@monash.edu (R. Armit). Precambrian Research 291 (2017) 178–201 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Precambrian Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/precamres