Precise U-Pb titanite age constraints on the emplacement of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Abstract

The c. 2.06 Ga Bushveld Complex intrudes the Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. Calcsilicate xenoliths within the mafic phase of the Bushveld Complex (Rustenburg Layered Suite, or RLS) preserve calcsilicate xenoliths with high-temperature (c. 1200°C) mineralogies that were later metasomatized by hydrous, retrograde (c. 600-700°C) fluids whose timing has been unconstrained. New U-Pb isotope data from newly grown titanite within a completely retrogressed xenolith indicates that retogression occurred at 2058.9 ± 0.8 Ma. This suggests that retrogression was due to hydrothermal circulation associated with the cooling RLS, and not slightly later Bushveld-related granites. The new data place a tig..