The late Archean record: a puzzle in ca. 35 pieces

▪ Abstract Fission track analysis as a geological dating tool was first proposed in the early 1960s. The past 10 years has seen a major expansion in application to more general geological problems. This reflects advances in understanding the temperature dependence of fission track annealing and of the information contained in fission track length distributions. Fission track analysis provides detailed information on the low-temperature thermal histories of rocks, below ∼120°C for tracks in apatite and below ∼350°C for zircon. Fission track analysis has been applied to a variety of geological problems, including sedimentary provenance, thermal history modeling of sedimentary basins, structural evolution of orogenic belts, and long-term continental denudation.

Fission track analysis and its applications to geological problems

http://research.eas.ualberta.ca/catuneanu/files/Papers_PDF%20files/2005_Catuneanu%20el%20al_Karoo_JAES.pdf

The Karoo basins of south-central Africa

Climatically controlled river terrace staircases: A worldwide Quaternary phenomenon

[1] Unlike in the ocean basins where the shallow mantle eventually contributes to the destruction of the overlying crust, the shallow mantle beneath continents serves as a stiff, buoyant “root” whose presence may be essential to the long-term survival of continental crust at Earth's surface. These distinct roles for subcrustal mantle come about because the subcontinental mantle consists of a thick section of material left behind after extensive partial melt extraction, possibly from the wedge of mantle overlying a subducting oceanic plate. Melt removal causes the continental mantle to be cold and strong but also buoyant compared to oceanic mantle. These characteristics allow thick sections of cold mantle to persist beneath continental crust in some cases for over 3 billion years. If the continental mantle becomes gravitationally unstable, however, its detachment from the overlying crust can cause major episodes of intracontinental deformation and volcanism.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2004RG000156

Physical, chemical, and chronological characteristics of continental mantle

1 Tectonic Framework.- 1.1. Cratons, Mobile Belts, and Structural Provinces.- 1.2. Gravity Field and Crustal Structure.- 1.3. Evolutionary Stages in the Southern African Crust.- 1.4. Stage 1: Archean Crustal Development.- 1.5. Stage 2: Early Proterozoic Supracrustal Development.- 1.6. Stage 3: Proterozoic Orogenic Activity.- 1.7. Stage 4: The Gondwana Era.- 1.8. Stage 5: After Gondwana.- Stage 1: Archean Crustal Evolution.- 2 Granite-Greenstone Terrane: Kaapvaal Province.- 2.1. The Early Gneiss Terranes.- 2.2. Swaziland Supergroup: A Uniquely Preserved Early Archean Supracrustal Pile.- 2.3. Other Kaapvaal Greenstone Belts.- 2.4. Archean Cratonization: Granitoid Emplacement in the Eastern Kaapvaal Province.- 2.5. Pongola Supergroup: The Oldest Cratonic Cover.- 2.6. Post-Pongola Magmatism.- 2.7. Broad Implications of Archean Crustal Development in the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe Provinces.- 3 Granulite-Gneiss Terrane: Limpopo Province.- 3.1. Extent of Limpopo Province.- 3.2. Northern Marginal Zone.- 3.3. Central Zone-Limpopo Valley.- 3.4. Central Zone-Botswana.- 3.5. The Southern Marginal Zone.- Stage 2: Early Proterozoic Supracrustal Development.- 4 The Golden Proterozoic.- 4.1. Dominion Group: The Witwatersrand Protobasin.- 4.2. West Rand Group: The Witwatersrand Sea.- 4.3. Central Rand Group: Alluvial-Fan Environments.- 4.4. Ventersdorp Supergroup: Crustal Fracturing.- 5 The Transvaal Epeiric Sea.- 5.1. Protobasinal Phase.- 5.2. Inundation of the Kaapvaal Province.- 5.3. Sedimentation in a Clear-water Epeiric Sea.- 5.4. Renewed Terrigenous Influx and Progradation.- 5.5. Depositional History of the Epeiric Sea.- 6 The Bushveld Complex: A Unique Layered Intrusion The Vredefort Dome: Astrobleme or Gravity-Driven Diapir?.- 6.1. Framework of the Complex.- 6.2. Magmatic and Volcanic Stratigraphy.- 6.3. Age of the Bushveld Event.- 6.4. Geochemistry.- 6.5. Petrogenesis: Origin of Parent Magmas and Igneous Layering.- 6.6. Contact Metamorphism.- 6.7. Sulfide Mineralization.- 6.8. Vredefort Dome.- 6.9. Structural Setting and Mechanics of Intrusion.- 7 The Earliest Red Beds.- 7.1 The Intracratonic Waterberg Group.- 7.2. Soutpansberg Trough.- 7.3. The Miogeoclinal Umkondo Group.- 7.4. The Craton-Edge Matsap Group.- 7.5. Synthesis.- Stage 3: Proterozoic Orogenic Activity.- 8 Namaqua-Natal Granulite-Gneiss Terranes.- 8.1. The Natal Province.- 8.2. The Namaqua Province.- 8.3. Eastern Marginal Zone of the Namaqua Province.- 8.4. Western Zone of the Namaqua Province.- 8.5. Central Zone of the Namaqua Province.- 9 The Pan African Geosynclines.- 9.1. The Gariep Geosyncline.- 9.2. The Intracratonic Nama Platform Succession.- 9.3. The Malmesbury Geosyncline in the Western Saldanian Province.- 9.4. Pre-Cape Basins in the Eastern Saldanian Province.- 9.5. The Damara Province: Keystone of the Pan African Framework.- Stage 4: The Gondwana Era.- 10 The Cape Trough: An Aborted Rift.- 10.1. Table Mountain Group: The Quartz Arenite Problem.- 10.2. The Natal Embayment.- 10.3. Paleogeographic Synthesis of the Table Mountain and Natal Groups.- 10.4. Bokkeveld Group: Allocyclic Control Over Delta Progradation and Reworking.- 10.5. Witteberg Group: The Cape-Karoo Transition.- 11 The Intracratonic Karoo Basin.- 11.1. Glaciogene Dwyka Sedimentation.- 11.2. Postglacial Epicontinental Ecca Basin.- 11.3. The Beaufort Group: Fluvial Aggradation in a Foreland Basin.- 11.4. Upper Karoo Sedimentation.- 11.5. Cape Orogeny.- 11.6. Karoo Volcanism.- Stage 5: After Gondwana.- 12 Fragmentation and Mesozoic Paleogeography.- 12.1. The Proto-Atlantic Margin.- 12.2. Evolution of the Southern Continental Margin.- 12.3. The Transkei Swell and the Zululand Basin.- 12.4. Synthesis.- 13 Kimberlites and Associated Alkaline Magmatism.- 13.1. Carbonatites.- 13.2. Alkaline Complexes.- 13.3. Kimberlites.- 13.4. Petrogenesis of Alkaline Rocks.- 14 Changing Climates and Sea Levels: The Cenozoic Record.- 14.1. Tertiary Coastal Environments.- 14.2. Tertiary Shelf Sedimentation.- 14.3. Quaternary Transgressions and Regressions.- 14.4. The Interior Basin.- 14.5. Cenozoic Biogeography and Climatic Evolution.- References.

D. R. Hunter

Papers

Crustal Evolution of Southern Africa: 3.8 Billion Years of Earth History