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The age of Au–Cu–Pb-bearing veins in the poly-orogenic Ubendian Belt (Tanzania): U–Th–total Pb dating of hydrothermally altered monazite

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Abstract

The age of gold–copper–lead mineralization in the Katuma Block of the Ubendian Belt remains controversial because of the lack of radiometric ages that correlate with the age of tectonothermal events of this poly-orogenic belt. Previous studies reported whole rock and mineral Pb–Pb ages ranging between 1,660 and 720 Ma. In this study, we report U–Th–total Pb ages of monazite from hydrothermally altered metapelites that host the Au–Cu–Pb-bearing veins. Three types of chemically and texturally distinct types of monazite grains or zones of grains were identified: monazite cores, which yielded a metamorphic age of 1,938 ± 11 Ma (n = 40), corresponding to known ages of a regional metamorphic event, deformation and granitic plutonism in the belt; metamorphic overgrowths that date a subsequent metamorphic event at 1,827 ± 10 Ma (n = 44) that postdates known eclogite metamorphism (at ca. 1,880 Ma) in the belt; hydrothermally altered poikilitic monazite, formed by dissolution–precipitation processes, representing the third type of monazite, constrain the age of a hydrothermal alteration event at 1,171 ± 17 Ma (n = 19). This Mesoproterozoic age of the hydrothermal alteration coincides with the first amphibolite grade metamorphism of metasediments in the Wakole Block, which adjoins with a tectonic contact the vein-bearing Katuma Block to the southwest. The obtained distinct monazite ages not only constrain the ages of metamorphic events in the Ubendian Belt, but also provide a link between the metamorphism of the Wakole metasediments and the generation of the hydrothermal fluids responsible for the formation of the gold–copper–lead veins in the Katuma Block.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training of Tanzania (MOEVT), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Department of Geology of the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (through the Sida Earth Science Project), for providing funding for this research. We are grateful to Andreas Fehler and Barbara Mader for their service at the laboratories of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Ludewig-Meyn-Str. 10, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Emmanuel Owden Kazimoto, Volker Schenk & Peter Appel

  2. Department of Geology, University of Dar es Salaam, P. O. Box 35052, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Emmanuel Owden Kazimoto

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  1. Emmanuel Owden Kazimoto
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  2. Volker Schenk
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Correspondence to Emmanuel Owden Kazimoto.

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Communicated by O. Müntener.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

410_2014_1088_MOESM1_ESM.xls

Supplementary material 1 (XLS 40 kb) Electronic Supplement Table 1 Representative electron microprobe analyses of Manangotry monazite

410_2014_1088_MOESM2_ESM.xls

Supplementary material 2 (XLS 101 kb) Electronic Supplement Table 2 Electron microprobe analyses of unaltered monazite cores

410_2014_1088_MOESM3_ESM.xls

Supplementary material 3 (XLS 102 kb) Electronic Supplement Table 3 Electron microprobe analyses of unaltered monazite overgrowth zones

410_2014_1088_MOESM4_ESM.xls

Supplementary material 4 (XLS 99 kb) Electronic Supplement Table 4 Electron microprobe analyses of hydrothermally altered monazite

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Kazimoto, E.O., Schenk, V. & Appel, P. The age of Au–Cu–Pb-bearing veins in the poly-orogenic Ubendian Belt (Tanzania): U–Th–total Pb dating of hydrothermally altered monazite. Contrib Mineral Petrol 169, 1088 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-014-1088-1

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