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Quaternary kimberlitic volcanism on the Tanzania Craton

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Abstract

The tuffs and lava of the Igwisi Hills are the youngest magmatic rocks on the Tanzania Craton. They consist of small xenoliths of phlogopite-calcite-garnet lherzolite in an olivine-calcite-dolomite-apatite-perovskite-spinel-serpentine matrix. Their mineralogy, major element chemistry and isotope chemistry indicate strong affinities with kimberlite, particularly the calcite-rich kimberlites of the Benfontein Sills, South Africa. As such, the Igwisi Hills are the youngest example of kimberlite magmatism. The magma formed by small degrees of melting of a carbonate-apatite-bearing peridotite source at depths in excess of 110 km.

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  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, EH9 3JW, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

    J. B. Dawson

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Dawson, J.B. Quaternary kimberlitic volcanism on the Tanzania Craton. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 116, 473–485 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310913

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00310913

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