U-Pb zircon calendar for Namaquan (Grenville) crustal events in the granulite-facies terrane of the O'okiep Copper District of South Africa

Clifford, Tom N.; Barton, Erika S; Stern, Richard A.; Duchesne, Jean-Clair

doi:10.1093/petrology/egg097

Article (Scientific journals)

U-Pb zircon calendar for Namaquan (Grenville) crustal events in the granulite-facies terrane of the O'okiep Copper District of South Africa

Clifford, Tom N.; Barton, Erika S; Stern, Richard A. et al.

2004 • In Journal of Petrology, 45 (4), p. 669-691

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2268/1887

DOI
10.1093/petrology/egg097

Files (1)Send to Details Statistics Bibliography Similar publications

Files

Full Text

clifford04.pdf

Publisher postprint (1.63 MB)

Request a copy

All documents in ORBi are protected by a user license.

Send to

RIS BibTex APA Chicago Permalink X Linkedin

Details

Keywords :

U-Pb; zircon; O'okiep; Namaqualand; granite plutonism; granulite facies; Koperberg Suite; Namaquan (Grenville) Orogeny

Abstract :

[en] The O'okiep Copper District is underlain by voluminous 1035-1210 Ma granite gneiss and granite with remnants of metamorphosed supracrustal rocks. This assemblage was intruded by the 1030 Ma copper-bearing Koperberg Suite that includes jotunite, anorthosite, biotite diorite and hypersthene-bearing rocks ranging from leuconorite to hypersthenite. New sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe age data demonstrate the presence of 1700-2000 Ma zircon as xenocrysts in all of the intrusive rocks, and as detrital zircon in the metasediments of the Khurisberg Subgroup. These data are consistent with published Sm-Nd model ages of c. 1700 Ma (T-CHUR) and c. 2000 Ma (T-DM) of many of the intrusives that support a major crust-forming event in Eburnian (Hudsonian) times. In addition, U-Th-Pb analyses of zircons from all major rock units define two tectono-magmatic episodes of the Namaquan Orogeny: (1) the O'okiepian Episode (1180-1210 Ma), represented by regional granite plutonism, notably the Nababeep and Modderfontein Granite Gneisses and the Concordia and Kweekfontein Granites that accompanied and outlasted (e.g. Kweekfontein Granite) regional tectonism [F-2(D-2)] and granulite-facies metamorphism (M-2); (2) the Klondikean Episode (1020-1040 Ma), which includes the intrusion of the porphyritic Rietberg Granite and of the Koperberg Suite that are devoid of regional planar or linear fabrics. Klondikean tectonism (D-3) is reflected by major east-west-trending open folds [F-3(D-3a)], and by localized east-west-trending near-vertical ductile folds ['steep structures'; F-4(D-3b)] whose formation was broadly coeval with the intrusion of the Koperberg Suite. A regional, largely thermal, amphibolite- to granulite-facies metamorphism (M-3) accompanied D-3. This study demonstrates, inter alia, that the complete spectrum of rock-types of the Koperberg Suite, together with the Rietberg Granite, was intruded in a short time-interval (<10 Myr) at c. 1030 Ma, and that there were lengthy periods of about 150 Myr of tectonic quiescence within the Namaquan Orogeny: (1) between the O'okiepian and Klondikean Episodes; (2) from the end of the latter to the formal end of Namaquan Orogenesis 800-850 Ma ago.

Disciplines :

Earth sciences & physical geography

Author, co-author :

Clifford, Tom N.

Barton, Erika S

Stern, Richard A.

Duchesne, Jean-Clair ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Services généraux (Faculté des sciences) > Relations académiques et scientifiques (Sciences)

Language :

English

Title :

U-Pb zircon calendar for Namaquan (Grenville) crustal events in the granulite-facies terrane of the O'okiep Copper District of South Africa

Publication date :

April 2004

Journal title :

Journal of Petrology

ISSN :

0022-3530

eISSN :

1460-2415

Publisher :

Oxford Univ Press, Oxford, United Kingdom

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

669-691

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 03 December 2008

Statistics

Number of views

95 (5 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

1 (1 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

Bibliography

Ahrens, L. H., Cherry, R. D. & Erlank, A. J. (1967). Observations on the Th-U relationship in zircons from granitic rocks and from kimberlites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 31, 2379-2387.
Barton, E. S. (1983). Reconnaissance isotopic investigations in the Namaqua mobile belt and implications for Proterozoic crustal evolution-Namaqualand geotraverse. Geological Society of South Africa, Special Publication 10, 45-66.
Benedict, P. C., Wiid, D. de N., Cornelissen, A. K. & Staff (1964). Progress report on the geology of the O'okiep copper district. In: Haughton, S. H. (ed.) The Geology of some Ore Deposits in Southern Africa. Geological Society of South Africa II, 239-302.
Bird, P. (1978). Initiation of intracontinental subduction in the Himalaya. Journal of Geophysical Research 83, 4975-4987.
Blignault, H. J., Van Aswegen, G., Van der Walt, S. W. & Colliston, W. P. (1983). The Namaqualand geotraverse and environs: part of the Proterozoic Namaqua Mobile Belt. Geological Society of South Africa, Special Publication 10, 1-29.
Boer, R. H., Meyer, F. M. & Cawthorn, R. G. (1994). Stable isotopic evidence for crustal contamination and desulphidation of the cupriferous Koperberg Suite, Namaqualand, South Africa. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58, 2677-2687.
Botha, B. J. V., Potgieter, G. H. A., Malherbe, S. S. & Moen, H. F. G. (1980). Gladkop Suite. In: Kent, L. E. (compiler) Stratigraphy of South Africa. Geological Survey of South Africa, Handbook 8 (Part 1), 291-293.
Cahen, L. & Snelling, N.J. (1966). The Geochrononology of Equatorial Africa. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 195 pp.
Cahen, L., Snelling, N. J., Delhal, J. & Vail, J. R. (1984). The Geochronolgy and Evolution of Africa. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 512 pp.
Cawthorn, R. G. & Meyer, F. M. (1993). Petrochemistry of the Okiep Copper District basic intrusive bodies, northwestern Cape Province, South Africa. Economic Geology 88, 590-605.
Clifford, T. N. (1967). The Damaran Episode in the Upper Proterozoic-Lower Palaeozoic history of southern Africa. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 92, 100 pp.
Clifford, T. N. (1970). The structural framework of Africa. In: Clifford, T. N. & Gass, I. G. (eds) African Magmatism and Tectonics. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, pp. 1-26.
Clifford, T. N., Gronow, J., Rex, D. C. & Burger, A. J. (1975a). Geochronological and petrogenetic studies of high-grade metamorphic rocks and intrusives in Namaqualand, South Africa. Journal of Petrology 16, 154-188.
Clifford, T. N., Stumpll, E. F. & Melver, J. R. (1975b). A sapphirine-cordierite-bronzite-phlogopite paragenesis from Namaqualand, South Africa. Mineralogical Magazine 40, 347-356.
Clifford, T. N., Stumpll, E. F., Burger, A. J., McCarthy, T. S. & Rex, D. C. (1981). Mineral-chemical and isotopic studies of Namaqualand granulites. South Africa: a Grenville analogue. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 77, 225-250.
Clifford, T. N., Barton, E. S., Retief, E. A., Rex, D. C. & Fanning, C. M. (1995). A crustal progenitor for the intrusive anorthosite-charnockite kindred of the cupriferous Koperberg Suite, O'okiep District, Namaqualand, South Africa: new isotope data for the country rocks and the intrusives. Journal of Petrology 36, 231-258.
Conradie, J. A. & Schoch, A. E. (1986). Iron-titanium oxide equilibria in copper-bearing diorites, Namaqualand. Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa 89, 29-34.
Conradie, J. A. & Schoch, A. E. (1988). Rare earth element geochemistry of an anorthosite-diorite suite, Namaqua mobile belt, South Africa. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 87, 409-422.
Cornell, D. H. & Hegardt, E. A. (2003). No more blind dates with zircon! Geophysical Research Abstracts 5. Abstract number EAE03-A-02524.
Cumming, G. L. & Richards, J. R. (1975). Ore lead isotope ratios in a continuously changing earth. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 28, 155-171.
Davidson, A. (1995). A review of the Grenville orogen in its North American type area. Australian Geological Survey Organization, Journal of Australian Geology and Geophysics 16, 3-24.
De Beer, J. H. & Meyer, R. (1983). Geoelectrical and gravitational characteristics of the Namaqua-Natal mobile belt and its boundaries. Geological Society of South Africa. Special Publication 10, 91-100.
Duchesne, J. C., Liégeois, J. P., Vander Auwera, J. & Longhi, J. (1999). The crustal tongue melting model and the origin of massive anorthosites. Terra Nova 11, 100-105.
Eglington, B. M., Harmer, R. E. & Kerr, A. (1986). Petrographic, Rb-Sr isotope and geochemical characteristics of intrusive granitoids from the Port Edward-Port Shepstone area, Natal. Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa 89, 199-213.
Eglington, B. M., Thomas, R. J., Armstrong, R. A. & Walraven, F. (2003). Zircon geochronology of the Oribi Gorge Suite, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: constraints on the timing of the trans-current shearing in the Namaqua-Natal Belt. Precambrian Research 123, 29-46.
Gibson, R. L., Robb, L. J., Kisters, A. F. M. & Cawthorn, R. G. (1996). Regional setting and geological evolution of the Okiep Copper District, Namaqualand, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 99, 107-120.
Green, R. W. E. & Durrheim, R. J. (1990). A seismic refraction investigation of the Namaqualand Metamorphic Complex, South Africa. Journal of Geophysical Research 95(B12), 19927-19932.
Heaman, L. & Parrish, R. (1991). U-Pb geochronology of accessory minerals. In: Heaman, L. & Ludden, J. N. (eds) Applications of Radiogenic Isotope Systems to Problems in Geology. Mineralogical Society of Canada, Short Course Handbook 19, 59-102.
Holmes, A. (1951). The sequence of Pre-cambrian orogenic belts in south and central Africa. XVIII International Geological Congress, Part 14, 254-269.
Jacobs, J., Falter, M., Thomas, R. J., Kunz, J. & Geßberger, E. K. (1997). 40Ar/39Ar thermochronological constraints on the structural evolution of the Mesoproterozoic Natal Metamorphie Province, SE Africa. Precambrian Research 86, 71-92.
Joubert, P. (1986). Namaqualand-a model of Proterozoic accretion. Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa 89, 79-96.
Kennedy, W.Q. (1965). The influence of basement structure on the evolution of coastal (Mesozoic and Tertiary) basins in Africa. In: Salt Basins around Africa. London: Institute of Petroleum, pp. 7-16.
Kent, L. E. (1980). Nama Group. In: Kent, L. E. (compiler) Stratigraphy of South Africa. Geological Survey of South Africa. Handbook 8(Part 1), 495-510.
Kerrick, D. M. (1972). Experimental determination of muscovite + quartz with PH2O < Plot. American Journal of Science 272, 946-958.
Kisters, A. F. M., Potgieter, J. E., Charlesworth, E. G., Anhaeusser, C. R., Gibson, R. L. & Watkeys, M. K. (1994). Emplacement features of cupriferous noritoids in the Okiep Copper District, Namaqualand, South Africa. Exlporation and Mining Geology 3, 297-310.
Kisters, A. F. M., Charlesworth, E. G., Gibson, R. L. & Anhaeusser, C. R. (1996). Steep structure formation in the Okiep Copper District, South Africa: bulk inhomogeneous shortening of a high-grade metamorphic granite-gneiss sequence. Journal of Structural Geology 18, 735-751.
Lombaard, A. F. & Schreuder, F. J. G. (1978). Distribution patterns and general geological features of steep structures, megabreccias and basic rocks in the Okiep Copper District. In: Verwoerd, W. J. (ed.) Mineralization in Metamorphic Terranes. Geological Society of South Africa, Special Publication 4, 269-295.
Lombaard, A. F. & the exploration staff of the O'okiep Copper Company Limited (1986). The copper deposits of the Okiep District, Namaqualand. In: Anhaeusser, C. R. & Maske, S. (eds) Mineral Deposits of Southern Africa. Geological Society of South Africa II, 1421-1445.
Ludwig, K. R. (2001). Isoplot/Ex (version 2.49). A geochronological toolkit for Microsoft Excel. Berkeley Geochronology Center, Special Publication 1a.
Marais, J. A. H. & Joubert, P. (1980). Spektakel Suite. In: Kent, L. E. (compiler) Stratigraphy of South Africa. Geological Survey of South Africa, Handbook 8(Part 1), 314-316.
Marais, J. A. H., Agenbacht, A. L. D., Prinsloo, M. & Basson, W. A. (2001). The geology of the Springbok area. Explanation: Sheet 2916 (scale: 1:250,000). Pretoria: Council for Geoscience, 103 pp.
Martens, F. (1979). A sequence of deformational events in the Ratelpoort fold area, Namaqualand. M.Sc. thesis, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, 84 pp.
Melver, J. R., McCarthy, T. S. & Packham, B. de V. (1983). The copper-bearing basic rocks of Namaqualand, South Africa. Mineralium Deposita 18, 135-160.
Nguuri, T. K., Gore, J., James, D. E., Webb, S. J., Wright, G., Zengeni, T. G., Gwavava, O., Snoke, J. A. & the Kaapvaal Seismic Group (2001). Crustal structure beneath southern Africa and its implications for the formation and evolution of the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons. Geophysical Research Letters 28, 2501-2504.
Nicolaysen, I., O. & Burger, A. J. (1965). Note on an extensive zone of 1000 million-year old metamorphic and igneous rocks in southern Africa. Sciences de la Terre 10, 497-518.
Onstott, T. C., Hargraves, R. B. & Joubert, P. (1986). Constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Namaqua Province II: reconnaissance paleomagnetic and 40Ar/39Ar results from the Namaqua Province and Kheis Belt. Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa 89, 143-170.
Parrish, R. R. (1990). U-Pb dating of monazite and its application to geological problems. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 27, 1431-1450.
Pohl, W. (1994). Metallogeny of the north-eastern Kibara belt, Central Africa-recent perspectives. Ore Geology Reviews 9, 105-130.
Raith, J. G. (1995). Petrogenesis of the Concordia Granite Gneiss and its relation to W-Mo mineralization in western Namaqualand, South Africa. Precambrian Research 70, 303-335.
Raith, J. G. & Harley, S. L. (1998). Low-P/high-T metamorphism in the Okiep Copper District, western Namaqualand, South Africa. Journal of Metamorphic Geology 16, 281-305.
Raith, J. G. & Meisel, T. (2001). Metabasites along the amphibolite-granulite facies transition in the Okiep Copper District, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 104, 77-100.
Raith, J. G. & Stein, H. J. (2000). Re-Os dating and sulfur isotope composition of molybdenite from tungsten deposits in western Namaqualand, South Africa; implications for ore genesis and the timing of metamorphism. Mineralium Deposita 35, 741-753.
Raith, J. G., Stein, H. & Finger, F. (1999). Timing and duration of high-grade metamorphism in western Namaqualand, South Africa. Journal of Conference Abstracts, European Union of Geosciences 4, 462-463.
Reid, D. L. Welke, H. J., Erlank, A. J. & Betton, P. J. (1987). Composition, age and tectonic setting of amphibolites in the Central Bushmanland Group, western Namaqua Province, southern Africa. Precambrian Research 36, 99-126.
Reid, D. L., Smith, C. B., Watkeys, M. K., Welke, H. J. & Betton, P. J. (1997). Whole-rock radiometric age patterns in the Aggeneys-Gamsberg ore district, central Bushmanland, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 100, 11-22.
Richardson, S. W., Gilbert, M. C. & Bell, P. M. (1969). Experimental determination of kyanite-andalusite and andalusite-sillimanite equilibria: the aluminum silicate triple point. American Journal of Science 265, 259-272.
Rivers, T. (1997). Lithotectonic elements of the Grenville Province; review and tectonic implications. Precambrian Research 86, 117-154.
Robb, L. J., Armstrong, R. A. & Waters, D. J. (1999). The history of granulite-facies metamorphism and crustal growth from single zircon U-Pb geochronology: Namaqualand, South Africa. Journal of Petrology 40, 1747-1770.
Rogers, A. W. (1912). Report on a portion of Namaqualand. Annual Report of the Geological Survey of South Africa, 125-151.
Smalberger, J. M. (1975). Aspects of the History of Copper Mining in Namaqualand 1846-1931. Cape Town: Struik, 152 pp.
Stern, R. A. (1997). The GSC Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP): analytical techniques of zircon U-Th-Pb age determinations and performance evaluation. Geological Survey of Canada, Current Research 1997-F; Radiogenic Age and Isotopic Studies Report 10, 1-31.
Stern, R. A. (2001). A new isotopic and trace element standard for the ion microprobe; preliminary TIMS U-Pb and electron microprobe data. Geological Survey of Canada, Current Research 2001-FI; Radiogenic Age and Isotopic Studies Report 14, 7 pp.
Stern, R. A. & Amelin, Y. (2003). Assessment of errors in SIMS zircon U-Pb geochronological using a natural zircon standard and NIST SRM 610. Chemical Geology 197, 111-142.
Strauss, C. A. (1941). The geology, copper-ore deposits and ground water hydrology of the around Springbok and O'okiep, Namaqualand. D.Sc. thesis, University of Stellenbosch, 166 pp.
Suzuki, K., Shimizu, H. & Masuda, A. (1996). Re-Os dating of molybdenites from ore deposits in Japan: implications for the closure temperature of the Re-Os system for molybdenite and the cooling history of molybdenite ore deposits. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60, 3151-3159.
Tack, L., Liégeois, J. P., Deblond, A. & Duchesne, J. C. (1994). Kibaran A-type granitoids and mafic rocks generated by two mantle sources in a late orogenic setting (Burundi). Precambrian Research 68, 323-356.
Tack, L., Fernandez-Alonso, M., Tahon, A., Wingate, M. & Barritt, S. (2002). The 'northeastern Kibaran Belt' (NKB) and its mineralisations reconsidered: new constraints from revised lithostratigraphy, a GIS-compilation of existing geological maps and a review of recently published as well as unpublished igneous emplacement ages in Burundi. Conference Programme and Synopses, 11th Quadrennial IAGOD Symposium and GEOCONGRESS, July 2002, Windhoek, Namibia, p. 42.
Thomas, R. J., Eglington, B. M., Bowring, S. A., Retief, E. A. & Walraven, F. (1993a). New isotope data from a Neoproterozoic porphyritic granitoid-charnockite suite from Natal, South Africa. Precambrian Research 62, 83-101.
Thomas, R. J., Englington, B. M. & Bowring, S. A. (1993b). Dating the cessation of Kibaran magmatism in Natal, South Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences 16, 247-252.
Thomas, R. J., Agenbacht, A. L. D., Cornell, D. H. & Moore, J. M. (1994). The Kibaran of southern Africa: tectonic evolution and matallogeny. Ore Geology Reviews 9, 131-160.
Thomas, R. J., De Beer, C. H. & Bowring, S. A. (1996). A comparative study of the Mesoproterozoic late orogenic porphyritic granitoids of southwest Namaqualand and Natal, South Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences 23, 485-508.
Thomas, R. J., Cornell, D. H. & Armstrong, R. A. (1999). Provenance age and metamorphic history of the Quha Formation, Natal Metamorphic Province: a U-Th-Pb zircon SHRIMP study. South African Journal of Geology 102, 83-88.
Thomas, R. J., Moen, H. J. F., Cornell, D. H., Reid, D. L. & Moore, J. M. (2004). Namaqua-Natal Metamorphic Province. In: Anhaeusser, C. R., Thomas, R. J. & Johnson, M. R. (eds) Geology of South Africa. Geological Society of South Africa/Council for Geoscience, South Africa (in press).
Van Zyl, D. (1967). The geology of the O'Okiep Copper Mine, Namaqualand. Annals of the University of Stellenbosch, Series A 42(1), 58 pp.
Van Zyl, D. (1975). A petrological approach towards the ore-bearing potentialities of the O'okiep basic intrusives in Namaqualand. In: Abstracts, XVI Geokongres, Geological Society of South Africa, Stellenbosch, pp. 160-163.
Van Zyl, D. (1978). A petrological approach towards the ore-bearing potentialities of the Okiep basic intrusives in Namaqualand. In: Verwoed, W. J. (ed.) Mineralization in Metamorphic Terranes. Geological Society of South Africa, Special Publication 4, 323-329.
Vellet, V. (1958). The geology of the 'Copper District' Namaqualand, Cape Province, South Africa. Unpublished report of the O'okiep Copper Company, 110 pp.
Waters, D. J. (1989). Metamorphic evidence for the heating and cooling path of Namaqualand granulites. In: Daly, J. S., Cliff, R. A. & Yardley, B. W. D. (eds) Evolution of Metamorphic Belts. Geological Society, London, Special Publication 43, 357-363.
Williams, I. S. & Claesson, S. (1987). Isotopic evidence for the Precambrian provenance and Caledonian metamorphism of high grade paragneisses from the Seve Nappes, Scandinavian Caledonides. II Ion microprobe zircon U-Th-Pb. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 97, 205-217.