Gawler Craton - Eastern and Central, Gawler Ranges

Eastern and Central, Gawler Ranges

Palaeoproterozoic rocks of the eastern and central Gawler craton are overlain by relatively unmetamorphosed clastics of the Corunna Conglomerate, the Gawler Range Volcanics, the Pandurra Formation, and thin platformal late Proterozoic and Cambrian sediments of the Stuart and Spencer Shelves. In and around the Gawler Ranges, the volcanics and older rocks were intruded by Hiltaba Suite granites which are closely associated with formation of the giant Olympic Dam orebody of the Eastern Olympic Copper-Gold Province. Although relatively undeformed, the Gawler Range Volcanics, which extend from the centre of the craton to its eastern margin, represent a major period of crustal deformation ca. 1590 Ma which heralded the final consolidation and stabilization of the craton as it is seen today.