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The Gariep Belt

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Geology of Southwest Gondwana

Part of the book series: Regional Geology Reviews ((RGR))

Abstract

The Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian Gariep Belt in southwestern Namibia and westernmost South Africa, together with the Damara and Kaoko belts further north and the Saldania Belt to the south, forms an important part of the larger network of Pan-African/Brasiliano orogenic belts in SW-Gondwana. It is subdivided into two major tectonostratigraphic units: the external, continental, para-autochthonous Port Nolloth Zone in the east and the largely oceanic, internal Marmora Terrane in the west. Owing to its generally low metamorphic grade, the rocks exposed in the Gariep Belt provide an excellent record of Neoproterozoic Earth history from continental break-up, multiple glaciations, opening of a narrow oceanic basin, to continental collision in the course of Gondwana assembly. Crustal thinning of the pre-existing, Late Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia prior to continental rifting led to repeated alkaline, predominantly acid, magmatism at shallow crustal levels, starting at 837 ± 2 Ma, widespread emplacement of a doleritic dyke swarm, which most likely served as feeders to a flood basalt province, and eventually bimodal, predominantly felsic, volcanic rocks along the principal growth fault at around 750 Ma. The continental, ≤771 ± 6 Ma rift deposits reflect alluvial plain and delta environments that evolved into a shallow sea. The prevailing glacial conditions at around 750 Ma are indicated by an older diamictite (Kaigas Formation), which is overlain by first regionally persistent carbonate deposits in the succession. Following a major hiatus of at least 100 million years, a new major sequence sets in, first with predominantly coarse-grained, largely immature siliciclastic sedimentary rocks, including dolomitic megabreccias above a major unconformity, and shallow marine stromatolitic reef mounds. These units grade into a second, regionally extensive sheet of glaciogenic diamictite with minor intercalated banded iron formation. At that stage the westernmost graben became reactivated into a probably narrow basin floored by oceanic crust (now partly preserved in the Marmora Terrane with equivalents in the Cuchilla Dionisio Terrane in Uruguay) and locally with oceanic islands that developed into guyots. The timing of oceanic magmatism is estimated at 610 Ma. So far, no evidence of the global c. 635 Ma Marinoan glaciation has been detected in the Gariep Belt and it is speculated that the area was land at that time. The formation of oceanic crust in the Marmora Terrane is explained by the reactivation of a previous rift-graben as back-arc basin behind the large 640–590 Ma Cuchilla Dionisio-Pelotas magmatic arc in the Dom Feliciano Belt in southeastern Brazil and Uruguay. Climatic recovery after the Numees glaciation coincided with the closure of the Marmora back-arc basin and was followed by flyschoid foredeep deposits on top and in front of the advancing thrust sheets of the Marmora Terrane prior to continental collision between 550 and 545 Ma. Contractional deformation was largely transpressive, directed towards the southeast, with a strong sinistral wrench component along its eastern margin, and led to a fold-thrust belt with a steep orogenic front against a basement ramp in the east and southeast. Eventual exhumation and erosion fed detritus into the Nama foreland basin. Post-orogenic alkaline magmatism affected the southern part of the belt and the adjoining basement at 507 ± 6 Ma.

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Acknowledgements

This chapter summarizes some 25 years of research on the Gariep Belt, which was only possible thanks to logistical and sometimes financial support from several mining companies, especially Kumba Resources and Namdeb, as well as several research grants from the South African National Research Foundation and more recently the German Research Foundation (DFG; grant No. FR 2183/8). Special thanks go to the guest editors, S. Siegesmund and M. A. S. Basei, for the invitation to contribute this chapter, and to the latter also for his repeated company during field work in Namibia and South Africa. A very careful examination of the manuscript by an anonymous reviewer is much appreciated. I thank the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences for providing office space during my sabbatical, during which the manuscript was drafted.

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  1. Department of Geodynamics and Geomaterials Research, Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany

    Hartwig Ernest Frimmel

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa

    Hartwig Ernest Frimmel

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Correspondence to Hartwig Ernest Frimmel .

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  1. GZG—Structural Geology and Geodynamics University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Siegfried Siegesmund

  2. Geosciences Institute, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Miguel A. S. Basei

  3. Departamento de Geodinámica Interna, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Pedro Oyhantçabal

  4. GZG—Structural Geology and Geodynamics University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Sebastian Oriolo

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Frimmel, H.E. (2018). The Gariep Belt. In: Siegesmund, S., Basei, M., Oyhantçabal, P., Oriolo, S. (eds) Geology of Southwest Gondwana. Regional Geology Reviews. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68920-3_13

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