Evolution of Pan-African island arc assemblages in the southern Red Sea Hills, Sudan, and in southwestern Arabia as exemplified by geochemistry and geochronology

Kr6ner, A., Linnebacher, P., Stern, R.J., Reischmann, T., Manton, W. and Hussein, I.M., 1991. Evolution of Pan-African island arc assemblages in the southern Red Sea Hills, Sudan, and in southwestern Arabia as exemplified by geochemistry and geochronology. In: R.J. Stern and W.R. van Schmus (Editors), Proterozoic Crustal Evolution in the Late Proterozoic. Precambrian Res., 53:99-117. We report Rb-Sr whole-rock and zircon ages for metavolcanic and plutonic associations in the southeastern part of the Red Sea Hills, Sudan, and show that these rocks constitute one of the earliest Pan-African arc assemblages within the Arabian-Nubian shield. The remarkable similarity in geochemistry and age bet…

Pan-African crustal evolution in the Nubian segment of northeast Africa

Detrital zircon and micropalaeontological ages as new constraints for the lowermost tectonic unit (Talea Ori unit) of Crete, Greece

The Talea Ori unit is the lowermost known tectonic unit of Crete and the most external part of the Hellenides. Its stratigraphy ranges from Late Carboniferous to Oligocene and outcrops of the lower part are only known in the Talea Ori mountains (central Crete). In this area, a black sandstone at the base of the Galinos Beds, thought to be the oldest formation, contains zircons which were dated using the single grain evaporation method. The majority of these grains yielded Late Carboniferous ages (Variscan), while a small group yielded Early Proterozoic ages. The age distribution of these zircons suggests that, at the Carboniferous–Permian boundary, not much of the older North Gondwanan base…

The Gabal Gerf complex: A precambrian N-MORB ophiolite in the Nubian Shield, NE Africa

We report geochemical and isotopic data for tectonically dismembered units of the Cabal Gerf mafic-ultramafic complex, the largest Neoproterozoic (Pan-African) ophiolite in the Arabian-Nubian Shield and located near the Red Sea in the border region between Egypt and the Sudan. The complex consists of basaltic pillow lavas, sheeted dykes, isotropic and layered gabbros and an ultramafic melange, all in tectonic contact along thrust sheets. Major- and trace-element data, including REE, for the pillow lavas and sheeted dykes are indistinguishable from modem high-Ti N-MORB. Chemical variations in the various rock types can be ascribed to fractionation and accumulation involving olivine, clinopyr…

The Pan-African continental margin in northeastern Africa: evidence from a geochronological study of granulites at Sabaloka, Sudan

Ion microprobe zircon ages, a Nd model age and RbSr whole-rock dates are reported from the high-grade gneiss terrain at Sabaloka on the River Nile north of Khartoum, formally considered to be part of the Archaean/early Proterozoic Nile craton. The granulites, which are of both sedimentary and igneous derivation, occur as remnants in migmatites. Detrital zircon ages range from ≈ 1000 to ≈ 2650 Ma and prove the existence of Archaean to late Proterozoic continental crust in the sedimentary source region. The Nd model age for one sedimentary granulite is between 1.26 (TCHUR) and 1.70 (TDM) Ga and provides a mean crustal residence age for the sedimentary precursor. Igneous zircons in enderbitic …

Rhyolitic dykes of Paros Island, Cyclades

Abstract The discovery of rhyolitic dykes from the NE part of the island of Paros is described here for the first time. The dykes that can be mapped for a length of ca. 1.1 km are striking about 6° and 38° NE. The width reaches up to 11m maximum. The rhyolitic rocks are porphyric with a fine-grained matrix of mainly feldspar, quartz, some biotites and opaques. K-feldspar, biotite and plagioclase occur as phenocrysts, and mafic-intermediate enclaves are common. At the chilled margin in contact to the gneissic country rocks the dykes are vitric. There, the enclaves have been preserved from contact reaction with the melt and alteration effects and show primary igneous minerals such as clinopyr…

Late palaeozoic magmatism in the basement rocks Southwest of Mt. Olympos, Central Pelagonian zone, Greece: Remnants of a permo-carboniferous magmatic arc

We dated basement rocks from several localities southwest of Mt. Olympos, as well as from a locality near the top of the mountain using the single zircon Pb/Pb evaporation technique. For the samples southwest of the mountain, the ages obtained range from ca. 280 to 290 Ma, with only a few zircon grains being around 300 Ma. By contrast, the sample from near the top of the mountain appears to be slightly younger, with ca. 270 Ma. These ages imply that the granitoids crystallized during Late Carboniferous - Early Permian times, and are therefore younger than the basement gneisses of other regions of the Pelagonian zone, which yielded zircon ages of around 300 Ma (e.g. Yarwood & Aftalion 19…

The Wadi Onib Mafic-Ultramafic Complex: A Neoproterozoic Supra-Subduction Zone Ophiolite in the Northern Red Sea Hills of the Sudan

Publisher Summary The Wadi Onib mafic–ultramafic complex represents the best preserved, though tectonically dismembered, Neoproterozoic (Pan-African) ophiolite in the northern Red Sea Hills of the Sudan. Arabian–Nubian shield (ANS) is the northern continuation of the Mozambique belt and, together, they have been referred to as the East African Orogen (EAO). The Wadi Onib mafic—ultramafic complex constitutes one of the best preserved, though tectonically fragmented, ophiolitic sequence within the ANS and makes up the major part of the prominent, southwest to northeast oriented Onib–Sol Hamed suture. An improved understanding of the composition and history of this complex has important region…

Precambrian basement around Wadi Halfa, Sudan: a new perspective on the evolution of the East Saharan Craton

This paper provides new geochemical and isotopic data on the evolution of the western foreland to the Nubian shield of north-east Africa. There is abundant evidence for early to middle Proterozoic crust west of the River Nile, but this was severely affected by the Pan-African (~ 500-900 Ma) orogenic cycle. The results are reported of Rb-Sr whole rock and zircon evaporation geochronological studies and whole rock Sm-Nd and feldspar Pb isotopic analyses for four rock units around Wadi Halfa in northern- most Sudan. These results indicate the presence of heterogeneous pre-Pan-African crustal components, preserved in mylonitic gneisses and in conglomerates that unconformably overlie the gneisse…

Palaeozoic pre- and post-collision calc-alkaline magmatism in the Qinling orogenic belt, central China, as documented by zircon ages on granitoid rocks

Based on large-scale reconnaissance mapping, we identified two calc-alkaline plutonic assemblages from the northern Qinling orogenic belt. central China. The older assemblage of intrusions. closely associated and deformed coevally with their host volcanic arc sequences, seems to represent the fractionation product of basaltic arc magma. It therefore predates the collision of the North China Block with the Central Qinling island-arc system that developed in a SW Pacific-type oceanic domain south of the North China Block. Single-zircon 207Pb/206Pb evaporation dating yielded early to middle Ordovician ages for this assemblage. with a relatively small range from 487.2 ± 1.1 to 470.2 ± 1.3 Ma. I…

Late Proterozoic and Silurian basement units within the Serbo-Macedonian Massif, northern Greece: the significance of terrane accretion in the Hellenides

Roots of an Archean volcanic arc complex: the Lac des Iles area in Ontario, Canada

Abstract The Lac des Iles area is located in the Wabigoon Subprovince, an Archean granite-greenstone terrain in the Superior Province in Ontario, Canada. The area consists of several unmetamorphosed plutons of biotite- and hornblende-tonalite and mafic and ultramafic intrusions which are emplaced into an older tonalitic gneiss. The mafic/ultramafic bodies are concentric in shape and consist of periodotite, pyroxenite, gabbro and hornblende gabbro cumulates and diorite. The largest intrusion, the Lac des Iles complex, consists of several mafic and ultramafic centers. An internal SmNd isochron from the southern ultramafic complex gives an intrusion age of 2736 ± 28 Ma (MSWD = 1.5; ϵNd(t) = 1…

The Early Palaeozoic break-up of northern Gondwana, new palaeomagnetic and geochronological data from the Saxothuringian Basin, Germany

Early Palaeozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks from the Saxothuringian Basin (Franconian Forest, northern Bavaria) have been subjected to detailed radiometric and palaeomagnetic studies in order to determine the tectonic environment and geographic setting in which they were deposited. Two hand samples were collected from the as yet undated pyroclastic flow deposits for 207Pb/206Pb age dating. Radiometric results for these samples, obtained by the single-zircon evaporation technique, are identical within error, and the mean age of all measured grains is 478.2±1.8 Ma (n=11). This age is considered to be primary and firmly constrains the eruption of the ignimbrites and formation of the subaqu…

Intrusion age of Pan-African augen gneisses in the southern Menderes Massif and the age of cooling after Alpine ductile extensional deformation

AbstractPb–Pb single zircon ages of 546.2 ± 1.2 Ma demonstrate that the augen gneisses in the southern Menderes Massif were generated from Pan-African intrusions. During the Alpine orogenic evolution of the Menderes Massif these granites were metamorphosed and transformed into augen gneiss in an extensional top-to-the-south shear zone, located between augen gneisses and overlying schists. Quartz fabrics suggest a pronounced static recrystallization that post-dates the ductile deformation in the shear zone. Ar–Ar muscovite ages of 43–37 Ma from augen gneisses and schists suggest that ductile deformation and subsequent cooling occurred in the Eocene. These results contradict previous models t…