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Abstract: Re–Os geochronology of fractions composed of unsized, coarse, and fine molybdenite from a pod of unusual monazite–xenotime gneiss within a granulite facies paragneiss, Hudson Highlands, NY, yielded dates of 950.5±2.5, 953.8±2.6, and 941.2±2.6Ma, respectively. These dates are not recorded by co-existing zircon, monazite, or xenotime. SEM–BSE imagery of thin sections and separated grains reveals that most molybdenite grains are composed of core and rim plates that are approximately perpendicular. Rim material invaded cores, forming irregular contacts, probably reflecting dissolution/reprecipitation. EPMA and LA-ICP-MS analyses show that cores and rims have different trace element concentrations (for example, cores are relatively enriched in W). On the basis of inclusions of zircon with metamorphic overgrowths, we conclude that molybdenite cores and rims formed after high-grade regional metamorphism. The discovery of cores and rims in individual molybdenite grains is analogous to multi-component U-Pb geochronometers such as zircon, monazite, and titanite; thus, molybdenite should be carefully examined before dating to ensure that the requirement of age homogeneity is fulfilled. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Late Neoproterozoic (c. 555 Ma) high-pressure–ultrahigh-temperature (HP–UHT) metamorphism has been documented for MgAl-rich migmatitic granulites from the Palni Hills in the Southern Granulite Terrane (South India). Conspicuous reaction textures indicate a clockwise P–T evolution, which is constrained through P–T pseudosection modelling and thermobarometry. The transformation of sillimanite to kyanite, which coexisted with orthopyroxene and/or garnet, records an early stage of loading. During subsequent heating to UHT conditions at deep-crustal levels (c. 1000°C, 13·0 kbar) kyanite was transformed to sillimanite, and distinct peak-temperature assemblages (orthopyroxene + sillimanite + mesoperthite + rutile ± garnet ± quartz ± sapphirine, garnet + biotite + sillimanite + spinel + corundum + rutile + plagioclase and garnet + orthopyroxene + rutile + plagioclase ± quartz) formed in specific bulk compositions through biotite-dehydration-melting reactions. A sequence of corona and sapphirine-bearing symplectite textures records subsequent isothermal decompression of the order of c. 6 kbar at persistent extreme temperatures (1010–920°C). UHT decompression is consistent with the uniformly high Al contents of porphyroblastic, coronitic and symplectitic orthopyroxene (up to 10·4 wt % Al2O3). Regrowth of garnet and biotite documents post-decompressional cooling to subsolidus conditions of <800°C at mid-crustal levels (c. 6 kbar). HP–UHT metamorphism and the clockwise P–T path of the Palni Hills granulites is attributed to a single late Neoproterozoic tectono-metamorphic event, which has been consistently dated at c. 555 Ma through laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry U–Pb analyses of zircon and in situ electron microprobe U–Th–total Pb analyses of monazite. The MgAl-rich granulites occur as enclaves in enderbitic orthogneiss. The intrusion of the orthogneiss in the late Archean (2534 ± 28 Ma) marks the beginning of voluminous granitoid emplacement in the Southern Granulite Terrane between 2530 and 2440 Ma, which presumably caused a first high-grade metamorphic event in the early Paleoproterozoic (2469 ± 13 Ma), recorded by zircon cores in the MgAl-rich granulites. The clockwise P–T–t evolution indicates that HP–UHT metamorphism in the central part of the Southern Granulite Terrane is related to collisional tectonics during the final assembly of Gondwana in the late Neoproterozoic. Extreme heating is ascribed to upwelling of the asthenosphere during delamination of the thickened lithospheric mantle. Fast uplift of the rocks followed by mid-crustal isobaric cooling reflects extension of the hot overthickened crust and its subsequent cooling to a normal geotherm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Garnet-bearing micaschists and paragneisses of the Yaounde Group in the Pan-African Central African Orogenic Belt in Cameroon underwent a polyphase structural evolution with the deformation stages D1–D2, D3 and D4. The garnet-bearing assemblages crystallized in course of the deformation stage D1–D2 which led to the formation of the regional main foliation S2. In X Ca–X Mg coordinates one can distinguish several zonation trends in the garnet porphyroblasts. Zonation trends with increasing X Mg and variably decreasing X Ca signalize a garnet growth during prograde metamorphism. Intermineral microstructures provided criteria for local equilibria and a structurally controlled application of geothermobarometers based on cation exchange and net transfer reactions. The syndeformational P–T path sections calculated from cores and rims of garnets in individual samples partly overlap and align along clockwise P–T trends. The P–T evolution started at ∼450°C/7 kbar, passed high-pressure conditions at 11–12kbar at variable temperatures (600–700°C) and involved a marked decompression toward 6–7kbar at high temperatures (700–750°C). Th–U–Pb dating of metamorphic monazite by electron microprobe (EMP-CHIME method) in eight samples revealed a single period of crystallization between 613±33Ma and 586±15Ma. The EMP-monazite age populations between 613±33Ma enclosed in garnet and 605±12Ma in the matrix apparently bracket the high temperature–intermediate pressure stage at the end of the prograde P–T path. The younger monazites crystallized still at amphibolite-facies conditions during subsequent retrogression. The Pan-African overall clockwise P–T evolution in the Yaounde Group with its syndeformational high pressure stages and marked pressure variations is typical of the parts of orogens which underwent contractional crustal thickening by stacking of nappe units during continental collision and/or during subduction-related accretionary processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Zircon and monazite U–Pb data document the geochronology of the felsic crust in the Mozambique Belt in NE Mozambique. Immediately E of Lake Niassa and NW of the Karoo-aged Maniamba Graben, the Ponta Messuli Complex preserves Paleoproterozoic gneisses with granulite-facies metamorphism dated at 1950±15Ma, and intruded by granite at 1056±11Ma. This complex has only weak evidence for a Pan-African metamorphism. Between the Maniamba Graben and the WSW–ENE-trending Lurio (shear) Belt, the Unango and Marrupa Complexes consist mainly of felsic orthogneisses dated between 1062±13 and 946±11Ma, and interlayered with minor paragneisses. In these complexes, an amphibolite- to granulite-facies metamorphism is dated at 953±8Ma and a nepheline syenite pluton is dated at 799±8Ma. Pan-African deformation and high-grade metamorphism are more intense and penetrative southwards, towards the Lurio Belt. Amphibolite-facies metamorphism is dated at 555±11Ma in the Marrupa Complex and amphibolite- to granulite-facies metamorphism between 569±9 and 527±8Ma in the Unango Complex. Post-collisional felsic plutonism, dated between 549±13 and 486±27Ma, is uncommon in the Marrupa Complex but common in the Unango Complex. To the south of the Lurio Belt, the Nampula Complex consists of felsic orthogneisses which gave ages ranging from 1123±9 to 1042±9Ma, interlayered with paragneisses. The Nampula Complex underwent amphibolite-facies metamorphism in the period between 543±23 to 493±8Ma, and was intruded by voluminous post-collisional granitoid plutons between 511±12 and 508±3Ma. In a larger context, the Ponta Messuli Complex is regarded as part of the Palaeoproterozoic, Usagaran, Congo-Tanzania Craton foreland of the Pan-African orogen. The Unango, Marrupa and Nampula Complexes were probably formed in an active margin setting during the Mesoproterozoic. The Unango and Marrupa Complexes were assembled on the margin of the Congo-Tanzania Craton during the Irumidian orogeny (ca. 1020–950Ma), together with terranes in the Southern Irumide Belt. The distinctly older Nampula Complex was more probably linked to the Maud Belt of Antarctica, and peripheral to the Kalahari Craton during the Neoproterozoic. During the Pan-African orogeny, the Marrupa Complex was overlain by NW-directed nappes of the Cabo Delgado Nappe Complex before peak metamorphism at ca. 555Ma. The nappes include evidence for early Pan-African orogenic events older than 610Ma, typical for the Eastern Granulites in Tanzania. Crustal thickening at 555±11Ma is coeval with high-pressure granulite-facies metamorphism along the Lurio Belt at 557±16Ma. Crustal thickening in NE Mozambique is part of the main Pan-African, Kuunga, orogeny peaking between 570 and 530Ma, during which the Congo-Tanzania, Kalahari, East Antarctica and India Cratons welded to form Gondwana. Voluminous post-collisional magmatism and metamorphism younger than 530Ma in the Lurio Belt and the Nampula Complex are taken as evidence of gravitational collapse of the extensive orogenic domain south of the Lurio Belt after ca. 530Ma. The Lurio Belt may represent a Pan-African suture zone between the Kalahari and Congo-Tanzania Craton. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

U-Pb zircon dating indicates that the Balugaon Anorthosite Massif of the Chilka Lake Domain, Eastern Ghats Belt, India, crystallized at 983.0 ± 2.5 Ma, ∼200 m.yr. earlier than previously inferred from ferrodiorite that intruded the massif. An integration of the new date with published structural data indicates that the anorthosite intruded a crust that was deformed twice before the intrusion. Furthermore, U-Th-Pb chemical dating of monazite cores (714 ± 11 Ma) and rims (655 ± 12 Ma) yields results consistent with progressive high-grade metamorphism of the anorthosite, and monazite + allanite rims (463 ± 22 Ma) around apatite indicate low-grade pan-African thermal activity. The 714- 655-Ma dates possibly correspond to convergence and oblique collision between the Eastern Ghats-Rayner Block and western Australia in the mid-Neoproterozoic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electron microprobe chemical dating was carried out on monazites enclosed in two generations of mineral paragenesis of St + Ky + Grt and Sil + And + Gil + St, respectively, from the Qinling Group. Two different ages, 520±23 Ma and 435±9 Ma, were obtained from these monazites. This indicates that the Qinling Group experienced a metamorphism during the Early Cambrian, which is probably in response to the Late Pan-African subduction-accretion tectonothermal event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New results on the pressure–temperature–time evolution, deduced from conventional geothermobarometry and in situ U-Th-total Pb dating of monazite, are presented for the Bemarivo Belt in northern Madagascar. The belt is subdivided into a northern part consisting of low-grade metamorphic epicontinental series and a southern part made up of granulite facies metapelites. The prograde metamorphic stage of the latter unit is preserved by kyanite inclusions in garnet, which is in agreement with results of the garnet (core)-alumosilicate-quartz-plagioclase (inclusions in garnet; GASP) equilibrium. The peak metamorphic stage is characterized by ultrahigh temperatures of ∼900–950 °C and pressures of ∼9 kbar, deduced from GASP equilibria and feldspar thermometry. In proximity to charnockite bodies, garnet-sillimanite-bearing metapelites contain aluminous orthopyroxene (max. 8.0 wt% Al2O3) pointing to even higher temperatures of ∼970 °C. Peak metamorphism is followed by near-isothermal decompression to pressures of 5–7 kbar and subsequent near-isobaric cooling, which is demonstrated by the extensive late-stage formation of cordierite around garnet. Internal textures and differences in chemistry of metapelitic monazite point to a polyphasic growth history. Monazite with magmatically zoned cores is rarely preserved, and gives an age of c. 737 ± 19 Ma, interpreted as the maximum age of sedimentation. Two metamorphic stages are dated: M1 monazite cores range from 563 ± 28 Ma to 532 ± 23 Ma, representing the collisional event, and M2 monazite rims (521 ± 25 Ma to 513 ± 14 Ma), interpreted as grown during peak metamorphic temperatures. These are among the youngest ages reported for high-grade metamorphism in Madagascar, and are supposed to reflect the Pan-African attachment of the Bemarivo Belt to the Gondwana supercontinent during its final amalgamation stage. In the course of this, the southern Bemarivo Belt was buried to a depth of >25 km. Approximately 25–30 Myr later, the rocks underwent heating, interpreted to be due to magmatic underplating, and uplift. Presumably, the northern part of the belt was also affected by this tectonism, but buried to a lower depth, and therefore metamorphosed to lower grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper documents a late Palaeoproterozoic episode of metamorphism and anatexis in the Suomuja¨rvi Complex, an Archaean enclave in the Palaeoproterozoic Central Lapland Granitoid Complex of northern Finland. U–Pb ages were obtained from monazite and titanite in four Archaean granitoid rocks, one quartzite and a massive granite. The results show that growth of monazite and titanite in these rocks spanned a period of about 15 million years between 1780 and 1765 Ma, presumably reflecting complex processes of metamorphic (re-) crystallisation, invasion by granitic dykes, veins and fluids and post-peak-metamorphic retrogression. The timing of this activity corresponds to post-orogenic granitoid magmatism throughout the Baltic Shield. In this region, between the Lapland-Kola and that of Svecofennian orogens, it may represent a retarded response to their coeval, ca. 1.9 Ga convergent collision. The results support a proposed affinity of the Suomuja¨rvi Complex with the Belomorian rather than the Archaean Karelian Province. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]