Topic summary

Greenstone belts

Greenstone belts

Extracted from the Wikipedia article Greenstone belt.

Nature and formation

Greenstone belts are primarily formed of volcanic rocks, dominated by basalt, with minor sedimentary rocks inter-leaving the volcanic formations. Through time, the degree of sediment contained within greenstone belts has risen, and the amount of ultramafic rock (either as layered intrusions or as volcanic komatiite) has decreased.