Abstract

This research paper investigates the thermo-tectonic history of the north Mozambican basement subsequent to the Pan-African metamorphism. Six ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar hornblende, three ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar biotite and 25 titanite fission-track data place new constraints on the earliest timing of rifting in the central sector of Gondwana, and demonstrate a close linkage between the geometric rift configuration and the ductile metamorphic basement fabrics during the initial dispersal of the supercontinent.

The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar hornblende and biotite ages range from c. 542 to 456 Ma and from c. 448 to 428 Ma, respectively. These data record slow basement cooling after the latest Pan-African metamorphism at rates of c. 7–11 °C Ma⁻¹ between Early and Late Ordovician times. Locally, syn- to post-tectonic granitoid emplacements around 500–450 Ma delayed basement cooling to Late Ordovician–Early Silurian times. The titanite fission-track (TFT) ages fall into two age groups of c. 378–327 Ma and c. 284–219 Ma. The older TFT ages record very slow cooling from the Late Ordovician–Early Silurian to below 275±25 °C in the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous at slow rates of less than 1 °C Ma⁻¹. This slow cooling is related to decreasing denudation in association with the establishment of pre-Karoo peneplains in central Gondwana. The younger TFT ages record denudation due to rift flank uplift in the context of initial Gondwana disintegration in the Mozambican sector. Corresponding Early–Late Permian crustal extension proceeded obliquely to a NW–SE tensional palaeo-stress field and was associated with a brittle reactivation of easterly trending ductile basement fabrics. In total, up to ≤9–12 km of denudation is deduced from the TFT results since Permo-Carboniferous times.