Zircon reconnaissance dating of Proterozoic gneisses along the Kunene River of northwestern Namibia

The northern margin of the Epupa Metamorphic Complex (EMC) along the Kunene River in NW Namibia is one of the geologically least known terranes in Africa because of its remoteness and difficult accessibility. We report field relationships and reconnaissance zircon ages for granitoid gneisses from a...

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Main Authors: Kröner, A., Rojas-Agramonte, Y., Wong, J., Wilde, Simon
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24318
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author Kröner, A.
Rojas-Agramonte, Y.
Wong, J.
Wilde, Simon
author_facet Kröner, A.
Rojas-Agramonte, Y.
Wong, J.
Wilde, Simon
author_sort Kröner, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The northern margin of the Epupa Metamorphic Complex (EMC) along the Kunene River in NW Namibia is one of the geologically least known terranes in Africa because of its remoteness and difficult accessibility. We report field relationships and reconnaissance zircon ages for granitoid gneisses from a 120. km foot-traverse along the Kunene River between the Ruacana Falls in the east and Marienfluss in the west. Most rocks are late Palaeoproterozoic in age and correlate well with similar rocks of the EMC farther south in Kaokoland (1757-1835. Ma, one sample 1861. Ma) and with granitoid rocks in the Kamanjab Inlier, some 400. km SE of the Kunene River (1801-1836. Ma). All these rocks constitute a large magmatic province on the southwestern margin of the Congo Craton, whose protoliths are possibly related to arc magmatism during the Africa-wide so-called Eburnian event (ca. 2000. ±. 200. Ma). However, there are also Mesoproterozoic granitoids, 1520-1530. Ma in age, whose tectonic significance remains uncertain but which seem to document a thermal event also seen in high-grade metamorphism and isotopic resetting in this part of SW Africa.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-243182017-09-13T15:07:51Z Zircon reconnaissance dating of Proterozoic gneisses along the Kunene River of northwestern Namibia Kröner, A. Rojas-Agramonte, Y. Wong, J. Wilde, Simon The northern margin of the Epupa Metamorphic Complex (EMC) along the Kunene River in NW Namibia is one of the geologically least known terranes in Africa because of its remoteness and difficult accessibility. We report field relationships and reconnaissance zircon ages for granitoid gneisses from a 120. km foot-traverse along the Kunene River between the Ruacana Falls in the east and Marienfluss in the west. Most rocks are late Palaeoproterozoic in age and correlate well with similar rocks of the EMC farther south in Kaokoland (1757-1835. Ma, one sample 1861. Ma) and with granitoid rocks in the Kamanjab Inlier, some 400. km SE of the Kunene River (1801-1836. Ma). All these rocks constitute a large magmatic province on the southwestern margin of the Congo Craton, whose protoliths are possibly related to arc magmatism during the Africa-wide so-called Eburnian event (ca. 2000. ±. 200. Ma). However, there are also Mesoproterozoic granitoids, 1520-1530. Ma in age, whose tectonic significance remains uncertain but which seem to document a thermal event also seen in high-grade metamorphism and isotopic resetting in this part of SW Africa. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24318 10.1016/j.tecto.2015.04.020 Elsevier restricted
spellingShingle Kröner, A.
Rojas-Agramonte, Y.
Wong, J.
Wilde, Simon
Zircon reconnaissance dating of Proterozoic gneisses along the Kunene River of northwestern Namibia
title Zircon reconnaissance dating of Proterozoic gneisses along the Kunene River of northwestern Namibia
title_full Zircon reconnaissance dating of Proterozoic gneisses along the Kunene River of northwestern Namibia
title_fullStr Zircon reconnaissance dating of Proterozoic gneisses along the Kunene River of northwestern Namibia
title_full_unstemmed Zircon reconnaissance dating of Proterozoic gneisses along the Kunene River of northwestern Namibia
title_short Zircon reconnaissance dating of Proterozoic gneisses along the Kunene River of northwestern Namibia
title_sort zircon reconnaissance dating of proterozoic gneisses along the kunene river of northwestern namibia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24318