Carpentaria - Mt Isa Zinc Belt: basement framework, chronostratigraphy and geodynamic evolution of the Proterozoic successions - Australian Journal of Earth Sciences special volume

Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary rocks of the McArthur-Mt Isa-Cloncurry mineral belt of northern Australia host the world's most important zinc repository, several world-class Cu-Au deposits and Australia's principal uranium reserves. Advances in exploration techniques in the 1980s led to the discovery of several major deposits, including Walford Creek and Grevillea.

This thematic issue comprises 12 papers organised under the three main objectives or themes of the NABRE project. The first two manuscripts consider the evolution of metamorphic and stratigraphic basement to the prospective intervals of the Mt Isa, McNamara, Fickling and McArthur Groups. The next two papers document SHRIMP zircon and palaeomagnetic datasets used to constrain the sequence stratigraphic results. The remaining set of eight papers report the results of the integrated chronostratigraphic analyses. The sequence-stratigraphic papers are arranged in approximate chronological order and progress from southeast to northwest across the outcrop belt. The framework studies documented herein will be of use to geoscientists worldwide. The processes of basin evolution will assist geoscientists to unravel the early phases of basin evolution in Palaeoproterozoic successions now preserved as structurally dismembered and metamorphosed provinces in Australia and overseas.

澳大利亚北部麦克阿瑟-芒特艾萨-克隆柯里（McArthur-Mt Isa-Cloncurry）成矿带的古元古代沉积岩，赋存着全球最重要的锌矿富集区、多处世界级铜金（Cu-Au）矿床，以及澳大利亚境内最主要的铀矿储量。20世纪80年代勘探技术的进步，促成了包括Walford Creek与Grevillea在内的多座大型矿床的发现。

本专题特刊共收录12篇研究论文，全部围绕NABRE项目的三大核心目标与研究主题展开。前两篇论文聚焦芒特艾萨（Mt Isa）群、麦克纳马拉（McNamara）群、菲克林（Fickling）群与麦克阿瑟（McArthur）群找矿有利层位的变质基底与地层基底演化历程。后续两篇论文详细记录了用于约束层序地层学研究结果的SHRIMP锆石（SHRIMP zircon）与古地磁数据集。剩余的8篇论文则汇报了综合年代地层学分析的相关成果。层序地层学相关论文大致按时间顺序排布，并沿着研究区露头带从东南端向西北端依次推进。本文所收录的地层格架研究成果，将为全球地质学家提供重要参考。相关盆地演化研究，也将助力地质学家解析现今留存于澳大利亚及海外地区、经构造解体并遭受变质作用的古元古代沉积序列的盆地演化早期阶段。