Articles | Volume 6, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-6-253-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-6-253-2015
Research article
 | 
20 Feb 2015
Research article |  | 20 Feb 2015

The rheological behaviour of fracture-filling cherts: example of Barite Valley dikes, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

M. Ledevin, N. Arndt, A. Davaille, R. Ledevin, and A. Simionovici

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Short summary
We investigate the composition, physical and rheological properties of fluids at the origin of Palaeoarchean chert dikes in South Africa. The dikes formed by repetitive hydraulic fracturing as overpressured oceanic fluids were released at low temperatures as a siliceous slurry. The gelation capacity of silica conferred the chert precursor a viscoelastic, probably thixotrope behaviour. It is an additional step to understand fluid circulations towards the ocean floor, the habitat of early life.