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The Mesoarchaean Basement Complex of the Vredefort Dome—A Mid-Crustal Section Through the Central Kaapvaal Craton Exposed by Impact

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The Archaean Geology of the Kaapvaal Craton, Southern Africa

Part of the book series: Regional Geology Reviews ((RGR))

Abstract

Mesoarchaean Basement Complex rocks exposed in the core of the Vredefort Dome represent a composite terrane in which polydeformed high-grade TTG gneisses and granites with subsidiary greenstone remnants were tectonically juxtaposed against low-grade mafic–ultramafic metavolcanic greenschists along a major NE-trending shear zone prior to 3.07 Ga. The high-grade portion exposes a ≥10 km section through the mid-crust as a result of extreme rotation and differential uplift related to the 2.02 Ga Vredefort impact event. Syntectonic, 3.13–3.10 Ga, TTG gneisses and late-tectonic, 3.10–3.08 Ga, granites intruded and partially assimilated 3.3–3.5 Ga old supracrustal gneiss protoliths. Prior to impact rotational effects, the gneisses contained subhorizontal S2 and subvertical, NW-trending, S3 foliations. D3 straddled the metamorphic peak, which ranged from ~680 °C, 0.5 GPa to ~885 °C, 0.71–0.77 GPa. Together with the lithological and structural evidence, the tight clockwise P-T path derived from migmatitic-restitic metapelitic gneisses is interpreted to suggest the formation and docking of a volcanic arc with the southwestern edge of the Kaapvaal protocraton at 3.13–3.08 Ga. The D4 shear zone that juxtaposes the gneisses against greenschist facies (400 °C) komatiite to komatiitic metabasalts to the southeast is interpreted as an originally shallow NW-dipping, retrograde, crustal-scale extensional feature that aided rapid exhumation of the high-grade terrane prior to deposition of the 3.07 Ga Dominion Group. In addition to differential uplift of the Basement Complex, the impact caused significant post-shock heating that generated metamorphic reaction coronas, melting and annealing of Archaean features to produce granofelses under ultrahigh-T/low-P (>1050 °C, 0.2–0.3 GPa) conditions in the centre of the dome at 2.02 Ga.

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Acknowledgements

The ideas expressed in this chapter have grown out of fruitful discussions with colleagues and postgraduate students over the past two decades, particularly Uwe Reimold, Cristiano Lana, Paula Ogilvie, Allan Wilson, Luisa Broccardo and Richard Armstrong. Comments from Dirk van Reenen, Gary Stevens and Axel Hofmann helped improve the manuscript. Lyn Whitfield is thanked for assisting with drafting and Kimberley Beaton, Grant Bybee, Lew Ashwal and S’lindile Wela with the geochemical plots. The financial support of the NRF Rated Researcher Programme is gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, P O WITS, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Roger L. Gibson

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  1. Roger L. Gibson
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  1. Institut für Geowissenschaften, University of Mainz, Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

    Alfred Kröner

  2. Department of Geology, University of Johannesburg , Auckland Park, South Africa

    Axel Hofmann

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Gibson, R.L. (2019). The Mesoarchaean Basement Complex of the Vredefort Dome—A Mid-Crustal Section Through the Central Kaapvaal Craton Exposed by Impact. In: Kröner, A., Hofmann, A. (eds) The Archaean Geology of the Kaapvaal Craton, Southern Africa. Regional Geology Reviews. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78652-0_5

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