The table hill volcanics of the officer Basin—Precambrian or Palaeozoic?

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Abstract
The Table Hill Volcanics of the Officer Basin were first dated as approximately 1100 m.y. from Rb‐Sr model ages for total‐rock samples of basalt from the Yowalga No. 2 bore. Later regional mapping, however, places the Volcanics as Marinoan (very late Precambrian) or younger, and receives support from discordant K‐Ar ages ranging from 330 m.y. to 445 m.y. New total‐rock analyses confirm the original Rb‐Sr data, but analyses of separated minerals do not confirm the low value for the initial 87Sr/86Sr that had been assumed to calculate the 1100 m.y. model age. Instead, apparently‐unaltered primary pyroxenes indicate that the initial 87Sr/86Sr could be as high as 0.718. Combined with the total‐rock results, this yields an apparent age for the basalt of 575 ± 40 m.y. It is possible in principle that the high 87Sr/86Sr in the pyroxenes could be due to Sr isotope exchange during a Palaeozoic metamorphism, but there is absolutely no field or petrological evidence for such an event. Consequently, and in view of the stratigraphic evidence for their age, the Rb‐Sr data are best interpreted as signifying an original extrusion of the basalts at 575 ± 40 m.y., together with a prehistory of the magma that includes contamination with radiogenic Sr and alkalis from Precambrian crustal material.