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Workshop: Archean Shallow-water Environments: Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

Startdate: 5 October, 2017
Enddate: 10 October, 2017

Status: Held

The Moodies Group of the BGB (~ 3.22 Ga) represents one the world’s oldest well-preserved shallow-water strata. Its mostly quartzose siliciclastics and minor volcanics, up to 3.5 km thick and deposited within a few Ma, allow the detailed analysis and interpretation of Archean surface processes in a regional and temporal context. Its dominantly coastal, tidal-deltaic and fluvial facies, including BIFs, microbial mats, and paleosols, are ideal to combine information from adjacent terrestrial and marine settings. All strata are lower-greenschist facies (ca. 320-380°C) and dip subvertically.
The workshop will visit potential drill sites in the BGB that combine a variety of lithologies and facies ranging from alluvial to prodelta, discuss the drilling objectives, identify and prioritize sites and develop the rationale and scientific basis for a full drilling proposal, followed by science proposals to funding entities.
We invite researchers from the international scientific community and representing a very broad range of disciplines, including but not limited to sedimentology/stratigraphy, geomicrobiology, isotope and sedimentary geochemistry, geochronology, volcanology, sedimentary and low-grade metamorphic petrology, paleobiology, -climatology, -pedology, and -magnetism, and structural geology/tectonics to participate in the workshop. ICDP will support travel and expenses for selected participants.