Basin shape and sediment architecture in the Gun Supersequence: a strike-slip model for Pb–Zn–Ag ore genesis at Mt Isa

Sequence‐stratigraphic correlations provide a better understanding of sediment architecture in the Mt Isa and lower McNamara Groups of northern Australia. Sediments record deposition in a marine environment on a broad southeast‐facing ramp that extended from the Murphy Inlier in the northwest to the Gorge Creek, Saint Paul and Rufous Fault Zones in the southeast. Depositional systems prograded in a southeasterly direction. Shoreline siliciclastic facies belts initially formed on the western and northern parts of the ramp, deeper water basinal facies occurred to the east and south. The general absence of shoreline facies throughout the Mt Isa Group suggests that depositional systems originally extended further to the east and probably crossed the Kalkadoon‐Leichhardt Block. Fourteen, regionally correlatable fourth‐order sequences, each with a duration of approximately one million years, are identified in the 1670–1655 Ma Gun Supersequence. Stratal correlations of fourth‐order sequences and attendant facies...