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Accepted manuscript version. Published version available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2017.06.017. Detrital zircon provenance study of a metamorphosed sedimentary succession in the eastern part of the Kaoko Belt in Namibia has revealed two distinct sources for the Neoproterozoic sedimentation along the southwestern Congo Craton margin. The lower part of the succession shows detrital zircon ages consistent with erosion of Paleoproterozoic basement of the Congo Craton with an inferred Mesoproterozoic volcano-sedimentary cover. Within the middle part of the succession, which includes glaciogenic sediments correlated with the Sturtian (717–660 Ma) glaciation, the Mesoproterozoic zircon grains disappear and the signal is dominated by ages known from the Congo Craton basement. The sedimentation in these parts of the succession is interpreted as related to the early Neoproterozoic rifting. The sedimentary rocks in the top part of the profile contain only subordinate proportion of the Paleoproterozoic–Archaean zircon grains and the populations are dominated by three age groups of ca. 1.0–1.2 Ga, ca. 800–750 Ma and ca. 650 Ma, consistent with erosion of the Punta del Este–Coastal Terrane exposed in the centre of the Kaoko–Dom Feliciano–Gariep orogen. An associated glaciogenic horizon interpreted as reflecting the Marinoan (645–635 Ma) glaciation constrains the sedimentation in the upper part of the succession and suggests a short time span between the high-grade metamorphism/magmatism in the Punta del Este–Coastal Terrane and its exhumation. Sedimentary rocks with such detrital zircon pattern appear also in the Damara and Gariep belts. Their source in the western part of the Kaoko–Dom Feliciano–Gariep orogen suggests that they represent an early orogenic flysch that originated during early collision in the western part of the orogen. The short time span between the metamorphism/magmatism in the Punta del Este–Coastal Terrane and deposition of the early orogenic flysch derived from it suggests that the Coastal Terrane was never separated from the Congo Craton by an oceanic domain. The estimated time span between the end of lithospheric stretching and sedimentation of the early flysch suggests that the hypothetical Adamastor Ocean separating the western and eastern forelands of the Kaoko–Dom Feliciano–Gariep orogen must have been small.

Garnet and zircon geochronology combined with trace element partitioning and petrological studies provide tight constraints on evolution of the UHT-(U)HP terrain of the Orlica-Śnieżnik Dome (OSD) in the NE Bohemian massif. Lu-Hf dating of peritectic garnet from two mesocratic granulites constrained the time of its initial growth at 346.9 ± 1.2 and 348.3 ± 2.0 Ma recording peak 2.5 GPa pressure and 950 °C temperature. In situ, U-Pb SHRIMP dating of zircon from the same granulite gave a younger age of 341.9 ± 3.4 Ma. Ti-in-zircon thermometry indicates crystallization at 810–860 °C pointing to zircon formation on the retrograde path. Lu partitioning between garnet rim and zircon suggest equilibrium growth and thus U-Pb zircon age constrain the terminal phase of garnet crystallization which lasted about 6 Ma. All Sm-Nd garnet ages obtained for mesocratic and mafic granulites are identical and consistently younger than the corresponding Lu-Hf dates. They are interpreted as reflecting cooling of granulites through the Sm-Nd closure temperature at about 337 Ma. The estimated PTt path documents the ca. 10 Ma evolution cycle of the OSD characterized by two distinct periods: (1) 347 - > 342 Ma period corresponds to nearly isothermal decompression resulting from crustal scale folding and vertical extrusion of granulites, and (2) at > 342–337 Ma which corresponds to a fast, nearly isobaric cooling.

Accepted manuscript version. Published version at http://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2016.05.011. License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. The match of geological units of the dissected Kaoko-Dom Feliciano-Gariep orogenic system exposed along the coasts of the South Atlantic is poorly understood. Two suites of intrusive rocks crop out in the Angra Fria Bay area, a part of the Coastal Terrane of the Kaoko Belt in Namibia. U–Pb zircon dating of three samples from the younger suite provided ages of 574 ± 6, 586 ± 3 and 584 ± 7 Ma, similar to the ages of the oldest syn-collisional granitoids in the area. Three samples of the older suite gave ages of 626 ± 5, 622 ± 5 and 620 ± 6 Ma respectively, which have not previously been recorded in intrusive rocks of the Kaoko Belt, but which coincide with those from the Florianópolis Batholith in the Dom Feliciano Belt in Brazil. Zircon ages, Sr–Nd isotopic composition and tectonic position of these granitoids suggest that this magmatic complex could be a continuation of the Florianópolis Batholith on the African side of the Atlantic Ocean. Consequently, the Angra Fria intrusions and the Florianópolis Batholith may represent suitable localities for spatial reconstruction of the Gondwana supercontinent in the area, where the robust pre-Mesozoic connecting points are scarce.

Lithospheric thickening during protracted Ediacaran supercontinent assembly was dissipated in various ways along the “Pan-African” East African–Antarctic Orogen. In NE Mozambique, late-tectonic extension and plutonism south of the Lurio Belt has been modelled in terms of lithosphere delamination, although rigorous testing of the hypothesis by structural analysis has not yet been undertaken. This study presents the first analyses of late-tectonic structures in both the Mesoproterozoic basement and the Cambrian cover sequences in the Nampula Complex, NE Mozambique, supported by, and integrated with, new geochronological data. Both late compressional and extensional fabrics overprint the main Pan-African collisional structures to a variable degree in identified structural domains. The long-lived northern boundary of the Nampula Complex, the Lurio Belt high-strain zone, initiated in the Ediacaran, was reactivated and segmented during these later phases, with boundary-parallel shortening. U–Pb SIMS ages from selected latest-tectonic units in the Nampula Complex and the Lurio Belt give consistent ages between 518 ± 2 and 514 ± 5 Ma. They are coeval with migmatisation and granitoid plutonism in the Nampula Complex. U–Pb titanite (471 ± 9 Ma) and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite (431 ± 3 Ma) data suggest subsequent slow cooling rates in the Nampula Complex, consistent with basal heating by asthenosphere uprise following lithosphere delamination. Consequently, we believe the new data suggest that the observed intense late polyphase deformation has preferentially occurred where the delaminated lithosphere was doubly weakened by loss of the mantle root and the resulting long-lived elevated temperature regime.