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Inception and demise of a Neoproterozoic ocean basin: evidence from the Ougda complex, western Hoggar (Algeria)

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Abstract

The Neoproterozoic Ougda magmatic complex occurs within platformal carbonate rocks in the western part of the Pan-African fold belt of the Tuareg shield (NW Africa). It is composed of - 800 Ma old, relatively high P-T (i.e., Grt + Cpx-bearing: P > 5 kbar; T≈900'Q, tholeiitic mafic/ultramafic cumulates and related rocks intruded by intermediate to mafic calcalkali plutons (e.g., Cpx+Hbl-bearing gabbro) and dikes. Apparent contrasts in structural level of crystallization indicate that the calc-alkali rocks are significantly younger than the tholeiites, which temporally correlate with a period of regional extension in this part of Africa. Intrusion of the calc-alkali rocks may have occurred during the formation of an arc after the tholeiitic rocks had been (diapirically?) emplaced within the shelf carbonates, and prior to (> 630 Ma) the Pan-African orogeny. Data reported herein indicate that the Ougda complex records the inception and demise of a Neoproterozoic ocean basin. Similar crustal sections have been described from collisional (e.g., Aleutian islands) and extensional (e.g., Ivreä-Verbano zone) settings, indicating that processes operating in both environments can generate nearly indistinguishable igneous suites; the prevalence of shallow-level calc-alkali rocks in both settings may mask the presence of more mafic, tholeiitic rocks at depth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H3C3, Canada

    J. Dostal & J. V. Owen

  2. Laboratoire de Tectonophysique, Universite de Montpellier II, Sciences et Techniques, F-34095, Montpellier, Cedex 05, France

    R. Caby

  3. Centre Geologique et Geophysique, Universite de Montpellier II, Sciences et Techniques, F-34095, Montpellier, Cedex 05, France

    C. Dupuy

  4. Laboratoire de Petrologie, Universite P. et M. Curie, 4 place Jussieu, F-75252, Paris, Cedex 05, France

    C. Mevel

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  1. J. Dostal
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  2. R. Caby
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  3. C. Dupuy
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  4. C. Mevel
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  5. J. V. Owen
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Dostal, J., Caby, R., Dupuy, C. et al. Inception and demise of a Neoproterozoic ocean basin: evidence from the Ougda complex, western Hoggar (Algeria). Geol Rundsch 85, 619–631 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02440100

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