Search results for "Supercontinent"

Vestiges of the Mesoproterozoic Events in the Neoproterozoic Mozambique Belt: the East African Perspective in the Rodinia Puzzle

2003

Abstract Most of the geological and palaeogeographical models consider the Neoproterozoic supercontinent Gondwana (∼650-550 Ma) as the direct offspring of the disintegrated Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia (∼1300-750 Ma). One of the main classical sutures along which the dispersing Rodinia fragments were fused into a new supercontinent (Godwana) is identified as the Mozambique belt of East Africa. The calc-alkaline magmatism (∼1200-950 Ma) in northern Mozambique, southern Malawi and southern Tanzania is regarded as the sole evidence for fragmentation of Rodinia, which is traced within this Neoproterozoic orogenic belt. There are no unequivocal Mesoproterozoic (Kibaran) sediments in th…

Ca. 750–1100 Ma magmatic events and Grenville-age deformation in Sri Lanka: relevance for Rodinia supercontinent formation and dispersal, and Gondwan…

2003

Abstract Large volumes of ∼880–1100 Ma calc-alkaline granitoid rocks in the Wanni and Vijayan crustal provinces of Sri Lanka make it likely that these domains were produced in active margin settings, probably Grenville-age magmatic arcs. We report new single zircon evaporation ages and Nd isotopic systematics for dioritic to granodioritic gneisses of the Kadugannawa Complex of central Sri Lanka which record a period of magmatic arc activity between 1006 and 881 Ma and show this complex to be part of the Wanni domain. Both provinces were probably generated in arc-related settings at the outer margin of Rodinia, but this cannot be ultimately proven on the basis of the currently available data…

Pan-African granulite formation in the Kabye Massif of northern Togo (West Africa): Pb−Pb zircon ages

2000

Metamorphic zircons from seven granulite facies orthogneisses of tonalitic composition (ender- bites), collected from four different nappes of the Kabye Massif in the Dahomeyide belt of northern Togo, were dated by the Pb-Pb evaporation method. They yielded consistent Neoproterozoic ages with a mean of 612.5  0.8 Ma, interpreted to reflect the peak of regional granulite facies metamorphism following Pan-African continental collision between the West African and Benin-Nigerian plates. These results sup- port previous ages obtained by various chronometers on high-grade rocks from the same suture zone and from surrounding units in Togo, Benin and Ghana. They are also similar to zircon ages fr…

Sapphire-bearing magmatic rocks trace the boundary between paleo-continents: A case study of Ilmenogorsky alkaline complex, Uralian collision zone of…

2021

Abstract Metamorphic gem corundum (mainly ruby) deposits are robust indicators of continent-continent collision processes. However, a systematic link of primary magmatic blue sapphire occurrences to orogenic belts is less understood. An example is the Ilmenogorsky alkaline complex, within the Ilmen Mountains region and part of the Uralian orogenic belt. The mobile belt is a product of the collision among Kazakhstania, Laurussia, and Siberia continents prior to the closure of the Paleo-Uralian ocean and formation of the Laurasia supercontinent (330–250 Ma). It is believed that the alkaline complex became inсluded into the separate Sysertsk-Ilmenogorsk microcontinent with unconstrained border…

Age, Nd–Hf isotopes, and geochemistry of the Vijayan Complex of eastern and southern Sri Lanka: A Grenville-age magmatic arc of unknown derivation

2013

Abstract The ca. 1.0–1.1 Ga Vijayan Complex (VC) of eastern and southeastern Sri Lanka is one of three high-grade metamorphic terranes making up the basement of the island and is in tectonic contact with the adjacent, older Highland Complex. It consists predominantly of granitoid gneisses ranging in composition from diorite to leucogranite, with a distinct calc-alkaline geochemical signature, and is interpreted as a magmatic arc. Strong ductile deformation has obliterated almost all original intrusive relationships. High-grade metamorphism during the Pan-African event at ca. 610–520 Ma has produced widespread granulite-facies assemblages that are now largely retrogressed and were affected b…

Single zircon ages of migmatitic gneisses and granulites in the Obudu Plateau: Timing of granulite-facies metamorphism in southeastern Nigeria

2006

Abstract A single zircon geochronological study of gneisses from the Obudu Plateau of southeastern Nigeria, using the evaporation technique, indicates that zircons recorded several Precambrian high-grade metamorphic events (Eburnean and Pan-African). Igneous and multifaceted metamorphic zircons yielded 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages of 2062.4 ± 0.4 Ma, 1803.8 ± 0.4 Ma and 574 ± 10 Ma, respectively and confirm for the first time that granulite-facies metamorphism affected the basement of southeastern Nigeria, resulting in the formation of charnockites and granulitic gneisses. The Pan-African high-grade event was coeval with the formation of granulites in Cameroon, Togo and Ghana and resulted from colli…

Has the East African Orogen Played Any Role in the Formation and Breakup of the Supercontinent Rodinia and the Amalgamation of Gondwana? New Evidence…

2001

African, southern Indian and South American cratons were not part of the Rodinia supercontinent: evidence from field relationships and geochronology

2003

We discuss the question whether the late Mesoproterozoic and early Neoproterozoic rocks of eastern, central and southern Africa, Madagascar, southern India, Sri Lanka and South America have played any role in the formation and dispersal of the supercontinent Rodinia, believed to have existed between about 1000 and 750 Ma ago. First, there is little evidence for the production of significant volumes of ~1.4–1.0 Ga (Kibaran or Grenvillian age) continental crust in the Mozambique belt (MB) of East Africa, except, perhaps, in parts of northern Mozambique. This is also valid for most terranes related to West Gondwana, which are made up of basement rocks older than Mesoproterozoic, reworked in th…

Structure, Composition and Evolution of the South Indian and Sri Lankan Granulite Terrains from Deep Seismic Profiling and Other Geophysical and Geol…

2005

We here argue the need for a multidisciplinary, integrated geophysical/geological survey across southern India and Sri Lanka, part of the largest exposed Neoproterozoic high-grade metamorphic terrain in the world. The purpose is to stimulate deep seismic profiling and other geophysical and geological investigations in order to better understand the structure, composition and evolution of a keystone of Precambrian continental crust and the role it played in the amalgamation and subsequent break-up of the Gondwana supercontinent. Of particular importance is that this lithospheric fragment records a 2 billion year long history of magmatism, sedimentation, deformation and metamorphism and now e…

African linkage of Precambrian Sri Lanka

1991

New age and isotopic data show that the high-grade basement rocks of Sri Lanka were not linked to the Archaean granulite domain of southern India but experienced their main structural and metamorphic development during the Pan-African event some 950 to 550 Ma ago. This occurred when West Gondwana and East Gondwana collided to form one of the longest collisional structures in the Supercontinent — the Mozambique belt that extends from Mozambique to Ethiopia and Sudan. A major tectonic boundary, interpreted as a thrust zone, divides the Highland/Southwestern Complex in the central part of Sri Lanka from the Vijayan Complex in the E and SE. The former is interpreted to represent the remnant of …