Geochronology of basement rocks in the Kalahari Desert, Botswana, and implications for regional Proterozoic tectonics

The Kalahari Craton during the assembly and dispersal of Rodinia

“…The north-western margin of this belt, and thus that of the Kalahari Craton, is defined by the Neoproterozoic Matchless-Rooibok zone, which consists of amphibolites and intercalated granitic gneisses (Singletary et al, 2003). Zircons from the granite gneiss gave an igneous crystallisation age of 716.8 ± 2.2 Ma, which is a minimum estimate for the onset of ocean floor spreading along this part of the Kalahari margin (Singletary et al, 2003).…”

“…West of the Chewore Inliers, the Choma-Kalomo Block probably represents the exposed part of an extensive northeast-trending Mesoproterozoic orogenic belt along the margin of the ProtoKalahari Craton, continuing possibly into Namibia (Hutchins and Reeves, 1980;Hanson et al, 1988;Steven et al, 2000;Singletary et al, 2003). An amphibolite facies metasedimentary sequence is exposed that is intruded by at least two distinct granitoid generations (Hanson et al, 1988;Bulambo et al, 2004).…”

“…The belt has been penetrated by boreholes in the Kalahari desert, where amphibolite facies gneisses are intruded by granites, the latter of which were U-Pb zircon-dated at ca. 1108 Ma (Singletary et al, 2003).…”

A review of the Mesoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic magmatic and tectonothermal history of south–central Africa: implications for Rodinia and Gondwana

“…The rift stratigraphy includes tholeiitic Kgwebe Volcanic series and rhyolite and granitic stocks (Kampunzu et al 1998). The presence of Palaeoproterozoic zircon xenocrysts in volcanic units (Singletary et al 2003) Fig. 3), and have been correlated with the volcanic rocks in the Upper Sinclair sequence (Hoal 1993) that occur along strike to the SW in Namibia and have a U/Pb age of 1094 AE 20 Ma (Hegenberger & Burger 1995 [80][81][82][83] , which are interpreted to represent the time of A-type magmatism and granulite-facies metamorphism (Hargrove et al 2003).…”

Geophysical Modelling of the Molopo Farms Complex in Southern Botswana; Implications for Its Emplacement Within the 2 Ga Large Igneous Provinces of Southern and Central Africa

“…This province comprises large granitic and ultramafic/mafic intrusions (including the Bushveld Complex) and less common extrusive volcanic complexes into/onto the Kalahari and Congo Cratons (e.g. Carney et al, 1994;Key and Ayres, 2000;Singletary et al, 2003). The associated thermal anomaly is recorded in widespread rock and mineral ages of about 2000 Ma in Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean rocks of southern Africa, including the Limpopo Belt (van Breemen and Dodson, 1972;Hanson, 2003).…”