Rights statement: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Precambrian Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Precambrian Research, 343, 105729, 20220 DOI: 10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105729
Accepted author manuscript, 3.97 MB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC-ND
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
| Article number | 105729 |
|---|---|
| <mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 31/07/2020 |
| <mark>Journal</mark> | Precambrian Research |
| Volume | 343 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Publication Status | Published |
| Early online date | 9/04/20 |
| <mark>Original language</mark> | English |
Pillow lavas are an abundant morphological lava type both on Earth and on some extraterrestrial bodies. We examine pillows from Kambalda (Western Australia) komatiites, that uniquely preserve pillow necks, inter-pillow cavities, and internal crusts. Our study is the first description of true pillows from an Archaean high-MgO (~31%) komatiite. Their size ranges from 0.5 to 5 cm and most have equal vertical and horizontal axes. Due to very low melt viscosities (~0.01 – 0.1 Pa s), these komatiite pillows are one to two orders of magnitude smaller than modern basaltic counterparts. True high-MgO komatiites, such as those at Kambalda, require a low flow rate, potentially found on distal flow edges. Such low flow rates are in conflict with the high flow velocities generally assumed for komatiites, and hence explains the rarity of komatiite pillow lavas.