ISSN:
1437-3262
Keywords:
Pan-African
;
Granitoids
;
Geochronology
;
Isotope geochemistry
;
Mozambique Belt
;
Somalia
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Geosciences
Notes:
Abstract Granitoids within the Precambrian basement of north-eastern and southern Somalia are subdivided on the basis of geology, geochronology and petrology into three different assemblages. The post-kinematic assemblage in north-eastern Somalia (≈ 630 Ma) comprises granodiorites and granites which belong to a medium-K calc-alkaline suite. Average initial Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic ratios [Sri = 0.7048, ɛNd = −1.8, 206Pb/204Pb(i) = 17.704 and 207Pb/204Pb(i) = 15.611] indicate that these melts were derived from a mantle or juvenile crustal source with only slight involvement of pre-existing crust as a contaminant. Two different assemblages are found in southern Somalia. The older assemblage is composed of crustal anatectic, synkinematic, parautochthonous granites (≈ 600 Ma) related to amphibolite facies retrogression of an intensively reworked pre-Pan-African crust [Sri = 0.7100, ɛNd = −8.4, 206Pb/204Pb(i) = 15.403 and 207Pb/204Pb(i) = 15.259]. These monzo- and syenogranites are moderately potassic and peraluminous. The younger assemblage (≈ 470 Ma) consists of post-kinematic monzonites to syenogranites with A-type affinities. Initial Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic data for this metaluminous assemblage [Sri = 0.7114, ɛNd = −13.1, 207Pb/204Pb(i) = 16.913 and 207Pb/204Pb(i) = 15.512] indicate a significant lower crustal component but, however, also a mantle signature. The late Proterozoic to early Palaeozoic granitoids in Somalia thus express contrasting regimes, characterized by strong juvenile input in the north, close to the Arabian-Nubian Shield, whereas intense crustal reworking with little addition of juvenile material prevailed in the south. Somalia was definitively not a cratonic area during the Pan-African, but a zone of high crustal mobility.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00194167
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