Geology topics

B. De Waele

Publications and source records attributed to B. De Waele.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2011

Provenance and tectonic significance of the Palaeoproterozoic metasedimentary successions of central and nothern Madagascar

New detrital zircon U–Pb age data obtained from various quartzite units of three spatially separated supracrustal packages in central and northern Madagascar, show that these units were deposited between 1.8 and 0.8 Ga and have similar aged provenances. The distribution of detrital zircon ages indicates an overwhelming contribution of sources with ages between 2.5 and 1.8 Ga. Possible source rocks with an age of 2.5 Ga are present in abundance in the crustal segments (Antananarivo, Antongil and Masora Domains) either side of a purported Neoproterozoic suture (“Betsimisaraka Suture Zone”). Recently, possible source rocks for the 1.8 Ga age peak have been recognised in southern Madagascar. All three supracrustal successions, as well as the Archaean blocks onto which they were emplaced, are intruded by mid-Neoproterozoic magmatic suites placing a minimum age on their deposition. The similarities in detrital pattern, maximum and minimum age of deposition in the three successions, lend some support to a model in which all of Madagascar's Archaean blocks form a coherent crustal entity (the Greater Dharwar Craton), rather than an amalgamate of disparate crustal blocks brought together only during Neoproterozoic convergence. However, potential source terranes exist outside Madagascar and on either side of the Neoproterozoic sutures, so that a model including a Neoproterozoic suture in Madagascar cannot be dispelled outright.

Precambrian Research↗

USGS2011

Cover sequences at the northern margin of the Antongil Craton, NE Madagascar

The island of Madagascar is a collage of Precambrian, generally high-grade metamorphic basement domains, that are locally overlain by unmetamorphosed sedimentary rocks and poorly understood low-grade metasediments. In the Antalaha area of NE Madagascar, two distinct cover sequences rest on high-grade metamorphic and igneous basement rocks of the Archaean Antongil craton and the Neoproterozoic Bemarivo belt. The older of these two cover sequences, the Andrarona Group, consists of low-grade metasedimentary rocks. The younger sequence, the newly defined Ampohafana Formation, consists of unmetamorphosed sedimentary rocks. The Andrarona Group rests on Neoarchaean granites and monzogranites of the Antongil craton and consists of a basal metagreywacke, thick quartzites and an upper sequence of sericite-chlorite meta-mudstones, meta-sandstones and a volcaniclastic meta-sandstone. The depositional age of the volcaniclastic meta-sandstone is constrained in age by U–Pb laser-ablation ICP-MS analyses of euhedral zircons to 1875 ± 8 Ma (2σ). Detrital zircons of Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic age represent an input from the Antongil craton and a newly defined Palaeoproterozoic igneous unit, the Masindray tonalite, which underlies the Andrarona Group, and yielded a U–Pb zircon age of 2355 ± 11 Ma (2σ), thus constraining the maximum age of deposition of the basal part of the Andrarona Group. The Andrarona Group shows a low-grade metamorphic overprint in the area near Antalaha; illite crystallinity values scatter around 0.17°Δ2Θ CuKα, which is within the epizone. The Ampohafana Formation consists of undeformed, polymict conglomerate, cross-bedded sandstone, and red mudstone. An illite crystallinity value of >0.25°Δ2Θ CuKα obtained from the rocks is typical of the diagenetic zone. Occurrences of rhyodacite pebbles in the Ampohafana Formation and the intrusion of a basaltic dyke suggest a deposition in a WSW-ENE-trending graben system during the opening of the Indian Ocean in the Upper Cretaceous, that was characterized by extensive rhyolitic to basaltic magmatism along Madagascar's eastern coast.

Antongil Craton↗

USGS2010

Post-collisional magmatism in the central East African Orogen: The Maevarano Suite of north Madagascar

Late tectonic, post-collisional granite suites are a feature of many parts of the Late Neoproterozoic to Cambrian East African Orogen (EAO), where they are generally attributed to late extensional collapse of the orogen, accompanied by high heat flow and asthenospheric uprise. The Maevarano Suite comprises voluminous plutons which were emplaced in some of the tectonostratigraphic terranes of northern Madagascar, in the central part of the EAO, following collision and assembly during a major orogeny at ca. 550 Ma. The suite comprises three main magmatic phases: a minor early phase of foliated gabbros, quartz diorites, and granodiorites; a main phase of large batholiths of porphyritic granitoids and charnockites; and a late phase of small-scale plutons and sheets of monzonite, syenite, leucogranite and microgranite. The main phase intrusions tend to be massive, but with variably foliated margins. New U-Pb SHRIMP zircon data show that the whole suite was emplaced between ca. 537 and 522 Ma. Geochemically, all the rocks of the suite are enriched in the LILE, especially K, and the LREE, but are relatively depleted in Nb, Ta and the HREE. These characteristics are typical of post-collisional granitoids in the EAO and many other orogenic belts. It is proposed that the Maevarano Suite magmas were derived by melting of sub-continental lithospheric mantle that had been enriched in the LILE during earlier subduction events. The melting occurred during lithospheric delamination, which was associated with extensional collapse of the East African Orogen. ?? 2009 Natural Environment Research Council.

LITHOS↗

USGS2010

Geological evolution of the Antongil Craton, NE Madagascar

The Antongil Craton, along with the Masora and Antananarivo cratons, make up the fundamental Archaean building blocks of the island of Madagascar. They were juxtaposed during the late-Neoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic assembly of Gondwana. In this paper we give a synthesis of the geology of the Antongil Craton and present previously published and new geochemical and U-Pb zircon analyses to provide an event history for its evolution.The oldest rocks in the Antongil Craton form a nucleus of tonalitic gneiss, characteristic of Palaeo-Mesoarchaean cratons globally, including phases dated between 3320 ?? 14. Ma to 3231 ?? 6. Ma and 3187 ?? 2. Ma to 3154 ?? 5. Ma. A series of mafic dykes was intruded into the Mesoarchaean tonalites and a sedimentary succession was deposited on the craton prior to pervasive deformation and migmatisation of the region. The age of deposition of the metasediments has been constrained from a volcanic horizon to around 3178 ?? 2. Ma and subject to migmatisation at around 2597 ?? 49. Ma. A subsequent magmatic episode generated voluminous, weakly foliated granitic rocks, that also included additions from both reworked older crustal material and younger source components. An earlier granodiorite-dominated assemblage, dated between 2570 ?? 18. Ma and 2542 ?? 5. Ma, is largely exposed in xenoliths and more continuously in the northern part of the craton, while a later monzogranite-dominated phase, dated between 2531 ?? 13. Ma and 2513 ?? 0.4. Ma is more widely developed. Together these record the stabilisation of the craton, attested to by the intrusion of a younger dyke swarm, the age of which is constrained by a sample of metagabbro dated at 2147 ?? 6. Ma, providing the first evidence for Palaeoproterozoic rocks from the Antongil Craton.The youngest events recorded in the isotopic record of the Antongil Craton are reflected in metamorphism, neocrystallisation and Pb-loss at 792 ?? 130. Ma to 763 ?? 13. Ma and 553 ?? 68. Ma. These events are interpreted as being the only manifestation of the Pan-African orogeny seen in the craton, which led to the assembly of the tectonic blocks that comprise the island. ?? 2010 NERC.

Precambrian Research↗

USGS2009

Geological evolution of the Neoproterozoic Bemarivo Belt, northern Madagascar

The broadly east-west trending, Late Neoproterozoic Bemarivo Belt in northern Madagascar has been re-surveyed at 1:100 000 scale as part of a large multi-disciplinary World Bank-sponsored project. The work included acquisition of 14 U-Pb zircon dates and whole-rock major and trace element geochemical data of representative rocks. The belt has previously been modelled as a juvenile Neoproterozoic arc and our findings broadly support that model. The integrated datasets indicate that the Bemarivo Belt is separated by a major ductile shear zone into northern and southern "terranes", each with different lithostratigraphy and ages. However, both formed as Neoproterozoic arc/marginal basin assemblages that were translated southwards over the north-south trending domains of "cratonic" Madagascar, during the main collisional phase of the East African Orogeny at ca. 540 Ma. The older, southern terrane consists of a sequence of high-grade paragneisses (Sahantaha Group), which were derived from a Palaeoproterozoic source and formed a marginal sequence to the Archaean cratons to the south. These rocks are intruded by an extensive suite of arc-generated metamorphosed plutonic rocks, known as the Antsirabe Nord Suite. Four samples from this suite yielded U-Pb SHRIMP ages at ca. 750 Ma. The northern terrane consists of three groups of metamorphosed supracrustal rocks, including a possible Archaean sequence (Betsiaka Group: maximum depositional age approximately 2477 Ma) and two volcano-sedimentary sequences (high-grade Milanoa Group: maximum depositional age approximately 750 Ma; low grade Daraina Group: extrusive age = 720-740 Ma). These supracrustal rocks are intruded by another suite of arc-generated metamorphosed plutonic rocks, known as the Manambato Suite, 4 samples of which gave U-Pb SHRIMP ages between 705 and 718 Ma. Whole-rock geochemical data confirm the calc-alkaline, arc-related nature of the plutonic rocks. The volcanic rocks of the Daraina and Milanoa groups also show characteristics of arc-related magmatism, but include both calc-alkaline and tholeiitic compositions. It is not certain when the two Bemarivo terranes were juxtaposed, but ages from metamorphic rims on zircon suggest that both the northern and southern terranes were accreted to the northern cratonic margin of Madagascar at about 540-530 Ma. Terrane accretion included the assembly of the Archaean Antongil and Antananarivo cratons and the high-grade Neoproterozoic Anaboriana Belt. Late- to post-tectonic granitoids of the Maevarano Suite, the youngest plutons of which gave ca. 520 Ma ages, intrude all terranes in northern Madagascar showing that terrane accretion was completed by this time.

Precambrian Research↗

USGS2004

Proterozoic tectonostratigraphy and paleogeography of central Madagascar derived from detrital zircon U-Pb age populations

Detrital zircon U‐Pb ages determined by SHRIMP distinguish two clastic sequences among Proterozoic metasedimentary rocks from central Madagascar. The Itremo Group is older: zircon data, stromatolite characteristics, and carbon isotope data all point to a depositional age around 1500–1700 Ma. The Molo Group is younger, deposited between ∼620 Ma (the age of the youngest zircon) and ∼560 Ma (the age of metamorphic overgrowths on detrital cores). Geochronologic provenance analysis of the Itremo Group points to sources in East Africa as well as local sources in central and southern Madagascar but provides no evidence for a detrital contribution from northern and eastern Madagascar nor from southern India. Detrital zircon and sedimentologic similarities between rocks of the Itremo Group and the Zambian Muva Supergroup suggest a lithostratigraphic correlation between the two. The Molo Group has a strong 1000–1100 Ma detrital signature that also indicates an east African provenance and suggests a Neoproterozoic geographic connection with Sri Lanka but shows no indication of input from the Dharwar craton and eastern Madagascar. Central Madagascar was probably juxtaposed with the Tanzanian craton in the Paleo‐ and Mesoproterozoic, whereas northern and eastern Madagascar were connected to India. Internal assembly of Madagascar postdates Neoproterozoic Molo Group sedimentation and is likely to have occurred at about 560 Ma.

Journal of Geology↗