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Granulite-facies Xenoliths in Rift Basalts of Northern Tanzania: age, Composition and Origin of Archean Lower Crust

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dc.creator Mansur, Adam T.
dc.creator Manya, Shukrani
dc.creator Timpa, Sean
dc.creator Rudnick, Roberta L.
dc.date 2016-03-08T14:13:07Z
dc.date 2016-03-08T14:13:07Z
dc.date 2014-07-01
dc.date.accessioned 2018-03-27T08:56:47Z
dc.date.available 2018-03-27T08:56:47Z
dc.identifier Mansur, A.T., Manya, S., Timpa, S. and Rudnick, R.L., 2014. Granulite-facies xenoliths in rift basalts of Northern Tanzania: age, composition and origin of Archean lower crust. Journal of Petrology, 55(7), pp.1243-1286.
dc.identifier 10.1093/petrology/egu024
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/696
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/3980
dc.description Granulite xenoliths entrained within Quaternary rift basalts in northern Tanzania document the composition, equilibration conditions, age and petrogenesis of the present-day lower crust beneath the eastern margin of the Tanzanian Craton (Labait) and the adjacent Mozambique Belt (Lashaine and Naibor Soito). Mafic to intermediate Archean lithologies dominate throughout the suites (∼2·66 Ga based on U–Pb zircon ages), demonstrating that deep-seated Archean lithosphere extends far to the east of the margin of the Tanzanian Craton within the Mozambique Belt. There is no evidence for significant additions to the crust via magmatic underplating since that time. Many of the lower crustal xenoliths share compositional similarities with lavas from the greenstone belts of the Tanzanian Craton, suggesting that they crystallized from similar magmas. Extreme depletions of highly incompatible elements (e.g. Cs, Rb, Th and U) in the granulites, relative to the lavas, coupled with unradiogenic 143Nd/144Nd (0·5114–0·5122) and 87Sr/86Sr (0·7040–0·7051), suggest that these depletions occurred coincident with or shortly after the rocks crystallized, possibly through partial melting associated with metamorphism. These samples may thus represent high-grade lower crustal complements to the greenstone belt lavas. Compared with the craton-margin samples, granulite xenoliths from within the Mozambique Belt record very high peak equilibration pressures at moderate temperatures (>1·2 to >1·7 GPa, 750–960°C, based on pseudosections), documenting their equilibration deep within thickened continental crust during the East African Orogeny, c. 560 Myr ago. These samples therefore offer an unusual window into the deepest reaches of the crust in a continental orogen. Despite the fact that the Mozambique Belt experienced significant crustal thickening followed by post-orogenic collapse, there is no evidence for loss of the deep lithosphere associated with these processes.
dc.language en
dc.publisher Oxford University Press
dc.subject Granulite-facies xenoliths
dc.subject Major and trace element
dc.subject Mozambique Belt
dc.subject Tanzania Craton
dc.subject U–Pb zircon dates
dc.title Granulite-facies Xenoliths in Rift Basalts of Northern Tanzania: age, Composition and Origin of Archean Lower Crust
dc.type Journal Article, Peer Reviewed


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