Magmatism and Mineralization Associated with Phanerozoic Anorogenic Plutonic Complexes of the African Plate

Abstract

Most of the African continent consists of various terranes of different Precambrian ages accreted during major orogenies. It is not surprising therefore that the ages and orogenic events throughout Africa cannot always be correlated within the current configuration of the African continent. The Pan-African orogeny in the late Proterozoic played a major role in re-assembling old cratons and terranes to form the supercontinent Pangaea and its southern extremity, Gondwanaland. It was into this basement that the Phanerozoic plutonic complexes were emplaced. As a result of terrane accretion the mineralizing potential of each terrane as a possible source for ore metals must be considerably variable, and perhaps account for part of the irregular distribution of mineralized Phanerozoic complexes on the African plate.