Isua Supracrustal Belt, West Greenland: Geochronology

The 35-km-long by up to 4-km-wide Isua supracrustal belt (ISB) lying within the Isukasia terrane, southern West Greenland (Fig. 1), consists of ca. 3,700 and 3,800 million years old (Ma) volcanic and sedimentary rocks that are among the oldest on the Earth. The ISB is the most significant and highly studied region for understanding early Earth chemistry and environments. This is because of its great antiquity and excellent exposures of a diverse range of rock types, including pillow basalts and banded iron formations (BIF).

Summary geological map of the Isua area, Nuuk region, West Greenland. The arcuate Isua supracrustal belt is composed of two temporally distinct terranes, both containing a range of volcanic and metasedimentary rocks. The northern terrane has rocks with ages of ca. 3,700 million years old and the southern terrane with rock ages of ca. 3,800 million years old (constrained by >30 zircon U/Pb age determinations – see...

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia

   Vickie C. Bennett

2. School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

   Allen P. Nutman

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vickie C. Bennett .

Editors and Affiliations

1. School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

   W. Jack Rink

2. Department of Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

   Jeroen Thompson

Cite this entry

Bennett, V.C., Nutman, A.P. (2014). Isua Supracrustal Belt, West Greenland: Geochronology. In: Rink, W., Thompson, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6326-5_109-1

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• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6326-5_109-1

• Received: 20 March 2014

• Accepted: 20 March 2014

• Published: 09 April 2014

• Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

• Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6326-5

• eBook Packages: Living Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences