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Cusp tectonics: an Ediacaran megakarst landscape and bidirectional mass slides in a Pan-African syntaxis (NW Namibia)

Paul F. Hoffman
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 503, 105-142, 20 May 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP503-2019-253
Paul F. Hoffman
1School of Earth & Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8P 5C2
2Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Roles: [Conceptualization (Lead)], [Investigation (Lead)], [Writing - Original Draft (Lead)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Lead)]
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  • For correspondence: paulfhoffman@gmail.com
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Abstract

Lithospheric cusps occur where arcs are joined end to end. Where a subducting plate moves directly into a cusp, the slab experiences lateral constriction due to the cusp geometry. Buckled slabs of Cenozoic age occur at cusps (also known as ‘syntaxes’) in the Arabian, Indian, Pacific, Juan de Fuca and other plates. Here I report an Ediacaran example from the cusp of the Congo Craton where Pan-African collision zones meet at a right angle in NW Namibia. The craton was blanketed by syn- and post-rift Neoproterozoic marine carbonate, disconformably overlain by collision-related foredeep clastics. The disconformity has little stratigraphic relief in a 900 km-long fold belt rimming the craton, except within 60 km of the cusp apex where foredeep deposits bury a megakarst landscape floored by exhumed crystalline basement. Forebulge uplift, estimated from palaeokarst relief, was ≥1.85 km. This far exceeds characteristic forebulge heights of c. 0.5 km and matches the deepest part of the Grand Canyon of Arizona (USA). Coeval with megakarst development, map-scale mass slides moved coherently westwards and southwards towards the advancing accretionary prisms. Rapid burial by foredeep clastics preserved the megakarst palaeosurface and associated mass slides; folding them brought protection from complete destructive resurfacing for eons.

  • © 2020 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved
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Geological Society, London, Special Publications: 503 (1)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Volume 503
2021
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Cusp tectonics: an Ediacaran megakarst landscape and bidirectional mass slides in a Pan-African syntaxis (NW Namibia)

Paul F. Hoffman
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 503, 105-142, 20 May 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP503-2019-253
Paul F. Hoffman
1School of Earth & Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8P 5C2
2Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Roles: [Conceptualization (Lead)], [Investigation (Lead)], [Writing - Original Draft (Lead)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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  • For correspondence: paulfhoffman@gmail.com

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Cusp tectonics: an Ediacaran megakarst landscape and bidirectional mass slides in a Pan-African syntaxis (NW Namibia)

Paul F. Hoffman
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 503, 105-142, 20 May 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP503-2019-253
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Regional tectonic setting
    • Neoproterozoic cover succession of the Congo foreland
    • Forebulge disconformity in the Huab cusp
    • Bilateral mass slides: Saturn nappe and Ombonde detachment
    • Discussion
    • Conclusions
    • Acknowledgements
    • Funding
    • Author contributions
    • Data availability statement
    • References
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