earth science

Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt

Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt rather than just read about it. In short: The Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt represents a fragment of a partially exposed synformal Archean greenstone belt within the Wyoming craton that was intruded by Cenozoic alkalic volcanics. The supracrustal belt has been subjected to multiphase deformation during the Archean and later brittle deformation during the Laramide orogeny.

Key takeaways

Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt represents a fragment of a partially exposed synformal Archean greenstone belt within the Wyoming craton that was intruded by Cenozoic alkalic volcanics. The supracrustal belt has been subjected to multiphase deformation during the Archean and later brittle deformation during the Laramide orogeny. Ductile deformation during the Archean produced foliation, and at least three episodes of folding.

Folding The exposed core of the Rattlesnake Hills forms an Archean supracrustal belt of metasedimentary and metavolcanic rock that has been intruded by more than 40 Cenozoic alkalic plugs and dikes. Mapping by Hausel indicated that the supracrustal belt consisted of a refolded, isoclinally folded, greenstone belt fragment with a lower(?) metasedimentary unit of metapelite, quartzite, banded iron formation and amphibolite named the Barlow Springs Formation. The Barlow Springs Formation is overlain by pillowed metatholeiites of the McDougal Gulch Metavolcanics, which, in turn, is overlain by metagreywacke with intercalated metacherts of the UT Creek Formation. The northern limb of the Rattlesnake synform was not uplifted and presumably underlies the Phanerozoic sediments north of the uplift.

Mineralization At least three episodes of gold mineralization are recognized in the district. These include syngenetic stratabound exhalitive mineralization, epigenetic mineralization, and disseminated epithermal gold associated with the volcanic activity. The presence of anomalous gold associated with the Cenozoic alkalic volcanism suggests that this region represents a favorable exploration target for low-grade, large-tonnage, gold mineralization. The greenstone belt was considered to have high potential for gold mineralization by Hausel who investigated the greenstone belt initially in 1982 and made several significant discoveries. Since 1996, several companies, the most notable at present being EVG (Evolving Gold Corp), have explored the belt finding additional gold anomalies including at least one deposit with > 1 million ounces of gold.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt

In research: Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Archean volcanism, Geology of Wyoming, Greenstone belts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt in simple terms?

Why does Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rattlesnake Hills greenstone belt.