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A terrane interpretation of the Archaean Limpopo Belt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

H. R. Rollinson
H. R. Rollinson
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe
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Abstract

The Limpopo Belt is a zone of thickened Archaean crust whose origin is currently explained by a late Archaean continent-continent collision between the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons. This review shows that the two cratons have fundamentally different geological histories and that the Zimbabwe Craton was unlikely to have behaved as a stable ‘cratonic’ block at the time of the Limpopo Belt collision. The geological histories of the Zimbabwe Craton, the North Marginal, Central and South Marginal zones of the Limpopo Belt and the Kaapvaal Craton are shown to be sufficiently different from one another to warrant their consideration as discrete terranes. The boundaries between the five units outlined above are all major shear zones, further supporting a terrane model for the Limpopo Belt. The five units were all intruded by late- to syn-tectonic granites c.2.6 Ga, constraining the accretion event to c. 2.6 Ga.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 130 , Issue 6 , November 1993 , pp. 755 - 765
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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