Felsic crust development in the Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa: A reference sample collection to investigate a billion years of geological history

Moyen, J.F., McCoy-West, A.J., Bruand, E., Millet, M.A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2710-5374, Nebel, O., Cawood, P.A., Saji, N., Ladwig, A., Klaver, Martijn and Elburg, M. 2024. Felsic crust development in the Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa: A reference sample collection to investigate a billion years of geological history. Earth-Science Reviews 250 , 104680. 10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104680

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Abstract

The crust of the Kaapvaal craton accreted throughout the Archaean over nearly 1 billion years. It provides a unique example of the various geological processes that shape Earth's continental crust, and is illustrated by a reference collection of granitoids and mafic rocks (SWASA collection). This sample collection is fully characterised in term of age, major and trace elements, and documents the following multistage history of the craton. In the Barberton area, the initial stages of accretion (stage B·I, > 3.33 Ga and B.II, 3.28—3.21 Ga) correspond to the formation of a sodic (TTG) crust extracted from a near-chondritic reservoir. Stage B.III (ca. 3.1 Ga) corresponds to reworking of this crust, either through intracrustal melting, or via recycling of some material into the mantle and melting of this enriched mantle. Stage B.IV (2.85—2.7 Ga) corresponds to the emplacement of small, discrete plutons involving limited intracrustal reworking. The Northern Kaapvaal craton corresponds to a mobile belt flanking the Barberton cratonic core to the North. Stage NK·I (> 3.1 Ga) resembles stages B·I and B.II: formation of a TTG crust from a chondritic reservoir. In contrast, stage NK.II. (2.97–2.88 Ga) witnesses probable rifting of a cratonic fragment and formation of greenstone basins as well as a new generation of TTGs with both the mafic and felsic magmatism extracted from an isotopically depleted mantle (super-chondritic) reservoir. Intra-crustal reworking dominates stage NK.III (2.88–2.71 Ga), whereas sanukitoids and related granites, involving a mantle contaminated by recycled crustal material, are common during stage NK.IV (ca. 2.67 Ga).

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0012-8252
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 February 2024
Date of Acceptance:	15 January 2024
Last Modified:	06 Mar 2024 15:28
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/166023

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