AFRICA | Pan-African Orogeny

Supracrustal gneisses in southern Swaziland: a basalt-sandstone assemblage of the upper Mozaan Group deformed in the Neoarchaean

Zircon evaporation ages and geochemistry of metamorphosed volcanic rocks from the Vinjamuru domain, Krishna Province: evidence for 1.78 Ga convergent tectonics along the southeastern margin of the Eastern Dharwar Craton

Palaeoproterozoic intermediate to potassic felsic volcanism in volcano-sedimentary sequences could either have occurred in continental rift or at convergent magmatic arc tectonic settings. The Vinjamuru domain of the Krishna Province in Andhra Pradesh, SE India, contains such felsic and intermediate metavolcanic rocks, whose geochemistry constrains their probable tectonic setting and which were dated by the zircon Pb evaporation method in order to constrain their time of formation. These rocks consist of interlayered quartz–garnet–biotite schist, quartz–hematite–baryte–sericite schist as well as cherty quartzite, and represent a calc-alkaline volcanic sequence of andesitic to rhyolitic rock…

Geochronology and palaeomagnetism of a late Proterozoic island arc terrane from the Red Sea Hills, northeast Sudan

Abstract Size fractions and single grains of zircon, hornblende and biotite have been dated to define the formation age and thermal history of the northern Haya Terrane (NHT), a late Proterozoic island arc terrane of the Red Sea Hills (RSH), northeast Sudan. U Pb and 207 Pb/ 206 Pb zircon data for acidic volcanics and granitoid rocks bracket the time of formation of the NHT between 887 ± 20 and 854 ± 9 Ma. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar hornblende and biotite ages of a gabbro near Suakin suggest passage through the argon closing temperature for hornblende at about 841 ± 4 Ma and 782 ± 6 Ma for biotite. The hornblende age is considered to be representative of the age of magnetic blocking and, hence, the age o…

PAN-AFRICAN MOBILE BELTS AS EVIDENCE FOR A TRANSITIONAL TECTONIC REGIME FROM INTRAPLATE OROGENY TO PLATE MARGIN OROGENY

Pan-African belts of the African mainland and the Arabian-Nubian Shield exhibit evolutionary features which are either compatible with intracontinental ensialic development or with plate margin and Wilson cycle tectonics. Some of these belts are discussed and, considered together, they appear to reflect variations in crustal mobility during a transitional tectonic regime from intraplate to plate margin orogeny which lasted some 50. Ma from ca. 1000 Ma to ca. 500 Ma ago.

Early Silurian tholeiitic-boninitic Mailisu ophiolite, South Tianshan, Kyrgyzstan: a geochemical record of subduction initiation

Ophiolite assemblages of the South Tianshan fold-and-thrust-belt (STS) track the sea floor dynamics of the late Cambrian to Carboniferous Turkestan Ocean in the western Central Asian Orogenic Belt. We interpret new geochronological and geochemical data for the Mailisu ophiolite from western Kyrgyzstan as evidence for an early Silurian incipient subduction zone outboard the South Chatkal Arc of the Middle Tianshan. Igneous zircons from a leucogabbro yielded a U-Pb age of 440 ± 6 Ma indicating one of the oldest sea floor fragments in the STS. Metabasalt samples have N- to E-MORB trace element patterns and initial εNd values of ~5 to 9 support melting of depleted asthenosphere comprising a min…

Age and evolution of late Mesozoic metamorphic core complexes in southern Siberia and northern Mongolia

Numerous Cretaceous metamorphic core complexes (MCCs) extend from Transbaikalia in Russia to northern Mongolia within the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. We investigated the Buteel and Zagan MCCs in detail. Shear sense indicators in mylonitized rocks show footwall-to-the-NW tectonic transport. Single zircon dating of footwall rocks in the Buteel MCC establishes the emplacement of granitoid orthogneiss precursors at 240–211 Ma, a felsic metavolcanic rock at 265.0 ± 1.2 Ma, a syenite at 265.5 ± 1.2 Ma and a metarhyolite of the pre-granitoid basement at 553.6 ± 2.9 Ma. A peralkaline granite intruding orthogneisses of the Zagan MCC has a new U–Pb zircon age of 151.6 ± 0.7 Ma. 40Ar/39Ar ages of 133…

Single-zircon geochronology and Nd isotopic systematics of Proterozoic high-grade rocks from the Mozambique belt of southern Tanzania (Masasi area): implications for Gondwana assembly

The Mozambique belt of southern Tanzania is underlain by locally restricted 1100–950 Ma (late Kibaran) granitoid gneisses that were derived from remelting of Archaean continental crust, as suggested by Nd isotopic systematics. These rocks were deformed and metamorphosed during an intense Neoproterozoic (Pan-African) event at around 630 Ma together with tectonically interlayered and widespread 800–650 Ma granitoid gneisses and minor clastic metasediments. The 800–650 Ma granitoids were derived predominantly from Neoproterozoic juvenile melts. There is no evidence for pre-800 Ma deformation. The 630 Ma event led to extensive migmatization in all gneisses and caused local melting. Similarities…

Geochronology and palaeomagnetism of a late Proterozoic island arc terrane from the Red Sea Hills, northeast Sudan (Dataset)