A late Mesozoic – early Cenozoic sedimentary recycling system on the Gondwana rifted margin of southeast Africa

Abstract Detrital zircons in late Cretaceous – Palaeogene, calcareous sandstone and conglomerate deposited in continental basins on the southeastern African margin after the breakup of Gondwana have characteristic combinations of age and epsilon-Hf that indicate an origin by recycling of Palaeoproterozoic (Waterberg, Soutpansberg and Pretoria groups) and Phanerozoic (Karoo Supergroup) cover successions. The latter is dominant in the south and east (Boane, Mahosi, Chilojo Cliffs), and the Palaeoproterozoic sources in the northwest (Pafuri, Wright’s Tower, Masisi). This recycling and mixing regime was restricted to late Mesozoic and Palaeogene time in northeastern South Africa and adjoining parts of Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Detrital zircon distribution patterns in these deposits reflect the denudation history of the southern African continental surface after breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent.

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Enigmatic provenance signature of sandstone from the Okwa Group, Botswana

South African Journal of Geology ◽

10.25131/sajg.123.0022 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 123 (3) ◽

pp. 331-342

Author(s):

T. Andersen ◽

M.A. Elburg ◽

J. Lehmann

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Detrital Zircon ◽

Sedimentary Rock ◽

Age Distribution ◽

Sedimentary Rocks ◽

Detrital Zircons ◽

Significant Shift ◽

Zircon Age ◽

Three Samples ◽

Isotope Distributions

Abstract Detrital zircon grains from three samples of sandstone from the Tswaane Formation of the Okwa Group of Botswana have been dated by U-Pb and analysed for Hf isotopes by multicollector LA-ICPMS. The detrital zircon age distribution pattern of the detrital zircons is dominated by a mid-Palaeoproterozoic age fraction (2 000 to 2 150 Ma) with minor late Archaean – early Palaeoproterozoic fractions. The 2 000 to 2 150 Ma zircon grains show a range of epsilon Hf from -12 to 0. The observed age and Hf isotope distributions overlap closely with those of sandstones of the Palaeoproterozoic Waterberg Group and Keis Supergroup of South Africa, but are very different from Neoproterozoic deposits in the region, and from the Takatswaane siltstone of the Okwa Group, all of which are dominated by detrital zircon grains younger than 1 950 Ma. The detrital zircon data indicate that the sources of Tswaane Formation sandstones were either Palaeoproterozoic rocks in the basement of the Kaapvaal Craton, or recycled Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary rocks similar to the Waterberg, Elim or Olifantshoek groups of South Africa. This implies a significant shift in provenance regime between the deposition of the Takatswaane and Tswaane formations. However, the detrital zircon data are also compatible with a completely different scenario in which the Tswaane Formation consists of Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary rock in tectonic rather than depositional contact with the other units of the Okwa Group.

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Finding of Ca. 1.6 Ga Detrital Zircons from the Mesoproterozoic Dagushi Group, Northern Margin of the Yangtze Block

Minerals ◽

10.3390/min11040371 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 371

Author(s):

Xiaofeng Xie ◽

Zhenning Yang ◽

Huan Zhang ◽

Ali Polat ◽

Yang Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Detrital Zircon ◽

Detrital Zircons ◽

Source Rocks ◽

Yangtze Block ◽

Northern Margin ◽

Provenance Studies ◽

Time Period ◽

Isotopic Analyses ◽

History Of ◽

T Values

The middle Mesoproterozoic is a crucial time period for understanding the Precambrian tectonic evolutionary history of the northern Yangtze Block and its relationship with the supercontinent Columbia. The Dagushi Group (Gp) is one of the Mesoproterozoic strata rarely found at the northern margin of the Yangtze Block. U–Pb geochronology and Lu–Hf isotopic analyses of detrital zircons were analyzed for three metamorphic quartz sandstone samples collected from the Luohanling and Dangpuling formations of the Dagushi Gp. These metasandstones yielded major zircon populations at ~2.65 Ga and ~1.60 Ga, respectively. The ~1.60 Ga ages first discovered yield a narrow range of ɛHf(t) values from −1.8 to +1.8, which lie above the old crust evolutionary line of the Yangtze Block, suggesting the addition of mantle material. Trace element data indicate that ~1.60 Ga detrital zircons share a basic provenance, whereby they have low Hf/Th and high Nb/Yb ratios. Zircon discrimination diagrams suggest that the ~1.60 Ga detrital zircon source rocks formed in an intra-plate rifting environment. Dagushi Gp provenance studies indicate that the ~1.60 Ga detrital zircon was most likely sourced from the interior Yangtze Block. Thus, we suggest that the late Paleoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic continental break-up occurred at the northern margin of the Yangtze Block.

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Late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic history of central Utah

Professional Paper ◽

10.3133/pp205d ◽

1946 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

E.M. Spieker

Keyword(s):

Late Mesozoic ◽

History Of ◽

Early Cenozoic

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Detrital zircon populations in quartzites of the Krkonoše–Jizera Massif: implications for pre-collisional history of the Saxothuringian Domain in the Bohemian Massif

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756811000744 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 149 (3) ◽

pp. 443-458 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

ELIŠKA ŽÁČKOVÁ ◽

JIŘÍ KONOPÁSEK ◽

JAN KOŠLER ◽

PETR JEŘÁBEK

Keyword(s):

Detrital Zircon ◽

Inductively Coupled Plasma ◽

Detrital Zircons ◽

Passive Margin ◽

Inductively Coupled ◽

Northwestern Margin ◽

Plasma Mass Spectrometry ◽

History Of ◽

Early Palaeozoic ◽

Ordovician Granitoids

AbstractAge spectra of detrital zircons from metamorphosed quartzites of the Krkonoše–Jizera Massif in the northeastern part of the Saxothuringian Domain were obtained by U–Pb laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry dating. The zircon ages cluster in the intervals of 450–530 Ma and 550–670 Ma, and show individual data between 1.6 and 3.1 Ga. Zircons in the analysed samples are predominantly of Cambrian–Ordovician and Neoproterozoic age, and the marked peak at c. 525–500 Ma suggests a late Cambrian maximum age for the sedimentary protolith. Detritus of the quartzites probably originated from the erosion of Cambrian–Ordovician granitoids and their Neoproterozoic (meta)sedimentary or magmatic country rocks. The lack of Neoproterozoic (meta)sedimentary rocks in the central and eastern part of the Krkonoše–Jizera Massif suggests that the country rocks to voluminous Cambrian–Ordovician magmatic bodies were largely eroded during the formation of early Palaeozoic rift basins along the southeast passive margin of the Saxothuringian Domain. The detrital zircon age spectra confirm the previous interpretation that the exposed basement, dominated by Neoproterozoic to Cambrian–Ordovician granitoids, was overthrust during Devonian–Carboniferous subduction–collision processes by nappes composed of metamorphosed equivalents of the uppermost Cambrian–Devonian passive margin sedimentary formations. Only a negligible number of Mesoproterozoic ages, typically from the Grenvillian event, supports the interpretation that the Saxothuringian Neoproterozoic basement has an affinity to the West African Craton of the northwestern margin of Gondwana.

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Exhumation history of the Variscan suture: Constrains on the detrital zircon geochronology from Carboniferous–Permian sandstones (Northern Gemericum; Western Carpathians)

Geologica Carpathica ◽

10.2478/geoca-2019-0030 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 70 (6) ◽

pp. 512-530

Author(s):

Anna Vozárová ◽

Katarína Šarinová ◽

Dušan Laurinc ◽

Elena Lepekhina ◽

Jozef Vozár ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Detrital Zircon ◽

Tectonic Setting ◽

Age Distribution ◽

Foreland Basin ◽

Sedimentary Basins ◽

Distribution Patterns ◽

Magmatic Zircon ◽

Detrital Zircon Geochronology ◽

History Of ◽

Depositional Age

Abstract The Late Paleozoic sedimentary basins in the Northern Gemericum evolved gradually in time and space within the collisional tectonic regime of the Western Carpathian Variscan orogenic belt. The detrital zircon age spectra, obtained from the Mississippian, Pennsylvanian and Permian metasediments, have distinctive age distribution patterns that reflect the tectonic setting of the host sediments. An expressive unimodal zircon distribution, with an age peak at 352 Ma, is shown by the basal Mississippian metasediments. These represent a relic of the convergent trench-slope sedimentary basin fill. In comparison, the Pennsylvanian detrital zircon populations display distinct multimodal distributions, with the main age peaks at 351, 450, 565 Ma and smaller peaks at ~2.0 and ~2.7 Ga. This is consistent with derivation of clastic detritus from the collisional suture into the foreland basin. Similarly, the Permian sedimentary formations exhibit the multimodal distribution of zircon ages, with main peaks at 300, 355 and 475 Ma. The main difference, in comparison with the Pennsylvanian detrital zircon assemblages, is the sporadic occurrence of the Kasimovian– Asselian (306–294 Ma), as well as the Artinskian–Kungurian (280–276 Ma) igneous zircons. The youngest magmatic zircon ages nearly correspond to the syn-sedimentary volcanic activity with the depositional age of the Permian host sediments and clearly indicate the extensional, rift-related setting.

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Detrital Zircon U-Pb Data for Jurassic–Cretaceous Strata from the South-Eastern Verkhoyansk-Kolyma Orogen—Correlations to Magmatic Arcs of the North-East Asia Active Margin

Minerals ◽

10.3390/min11030291 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 291

Author(s):

Andrei V. Prokopiev ◽

Victoria B. Ershova ◽

Daniel F. Stockli

Keyword(s):

East Asia ◽

Detrital Zircon ◽

Detrital Zircons ◽

Passive Margin ◽

The South ◽

Late Mesozoic ◽

South Eastern ◽

North East ◽

The North ◽

Back Arc

We performed U-Pb dating of detrital zircons collected from Middle–Upper Jurassic strata of the Sugoi synclinorium and Cretaceous rocks of the Omsukchan (Balygychan-Sugoi) basin, in order to identify their provenance and correlate Jurassic–Cretaceous sedimentation of the south-eastern Verkhoyansk-Kolyma orogenic belt with various magmatic belts of the north-east Asia active margins. In the Middle–Late Jurassic, the Uda-Murgal magmatic arc represented the main source area of clastics, suggesting that the Sugoi basin is a back-arc basin. A major shift in the provenance signature occurred during the Aptian, when granitoids of the Main (Kolyma) batholith belt, along with volcanic rocks of the Uyandina-Yasachnaya and Uda-Murgal arcs, became the main sources of clastics deposited in the Omsukchan basin. In a final Mesozoic provenance shift, granitoids of the Main (Kolyma) batholith belt, along with volcanic and plutonic rocks of the Uyandina-Yasachnaya and Okhotsk-Chukotka arcs, became the dominant sources for clastics in the Omsukchan basin in the latest Cretaceous. A broader comparison of detrital zircon age distributions in Jurassic–Cretaceous deposits across the south-eastern Verkhoyansk-Kolyma orogen illustrates that the Sugoi and Omsukchan basins did not form along the distal eastern portion of the Verkhoyansk passive margin, but in the Late Mesozoic back-arc basins.

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Heterogeneous Hadean crust with ambient mantle affinity recorded in detrital zircons of the Green Sandstone Bed, South Africa

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2004370118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 118 (8) ◽

pp. e2004370118 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nadja Drabon ◽

Benjamin L. Byerly ◽

Gary R. Byerly ◽

Joseph L. Wooden ◽

C. Brenhin Keller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Detrital Zircon ◽

Detrital Zircons ◽

Precambrian Geology ◽

Barberton Greenstone Belt ◽

Rock Record ◽

Magma Compositions ◽

Higher Temperature ◽

Lower Temperature ◽

Jack Hills

The nature of Earth’s earliest crust and the processes by which it formed remain major issues in Precambrian geology. Due to the absence of a rock record older than ∼4.02 Ga, the only direct record of the Hadean is from rare detrital zircon and that largely from a single area: the Jack Hills and Mount Narryer region of Western Australia. Here, we report on the geochemistry of Hadean detrital zircons as old as 4.15 Ga from the newly discovered Green Sandstone Bed in the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa. We demonstrate that the U-Nb-Sc-Yb systematics of the majority of these Hadean zircons show a mantle affinity as seen in zircon from modern plume-type mantle environments and do not resemble zircon from modern continental or oceanic arcs. The zircon trace element compositions furthermore suggest magma compositions ranging from higher temperature, primitive to lower temperature, and more evolved tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG)-like magmas that experienced some reworking of hydrated crust. We propose that the Hadean parental magmas of the Green Sandstone Bed zircons formed from remelting of mafic, mantle-derived crust that experienced some hydrous input during melting but not from the processes seen in modern arc magmatism.

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Late Mesozoic–Early Cenozoic deformation history of the Yuanma Basin, central South China

Tectonophysics ◽

10.1016/j.tecto.2012.08.012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 570-571 ◽

pp. 163-183 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Li Jianhua ◽

Zhang Yueqiao ◽

Dong Shuwen ◽

Li Hailong

Keyword(s):

South China ◽

Deformation History ◽

Late Mesozoic ◽

History Of ◽

Central South ◽

Early Cenozoic

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New U–Pb age constraints on the geological history of the Ganderian Bras d’Or terrane, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/cjes-2018-0248 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 56 (8) ◽

pp. 829-847 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

D. van Rooyen ◽

S.M. Barr ◽

C.E. White ◽

M.A. Hamilton

Keyword(s):

Detrital Zircon ◽

Subduction Zones ◽

Detrital Zircons ◽

Passive Margin ◽

Mountain Areas ◽

Mountain Area ◽

Cape Breton Island ◽

Cape Breton ◽

Amazonian Craton ◽

History Of

The northern Appalachian orogen preserves evidence of a complex history of amalgamation of terranes with both Laurentian and Gondwanan affinities. The Ganderian Bras d’Or terrane of central Cape Breton Island is not well represented elsewhere in the orogen and its relationship to other Ganderian terranes is enigmatic, particularly with respect to its pre-Neoproterozoic history. The Boisdale Hills and Kellys Mountain areas contain the oldest metamorphic rocks in the Bras d’Or terrane. Quartzite units in the Boisdale Hills have detrital zircon populations with ages ranging from 3.2 to ca. 1 Ga. Paragneiss units from the Kellys Mountain area contain Meso- to Neoproterozoic detrital zircons, in which the youngest grains indicate that the maximum depositional age is <600 Ma. The detrital zircon populations of rocks from both areas are consistent with Gondwanan provenance for the protoliths, most likely the Amazonian craton. New U–Pb dates for subduction-related dioritic to granodioritic plutons in the Boisdale Hills yielded ages of 560 to ca. 540 Ma. Sedimentary, bimodal volcanic and plutonic rocks from the Bourinot belt in the Boisdale Hills and related plutons in the Kellys Mountain area have ages of ca. 510–490 Ma and are interpreted to have formed during extension related to separation of Ganderia from Gondwana. The southeastern Bras d’Or terrane preserves rocks formed in Pan-African subduction zones on a former passive margin of Gondwana as well as rocks formed during the initial stages of rifting of Ganderia from Gondwana and the subsequent opening of the Rheic Ocean.

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