Monazite U-Pb dating and Ar-40-Ar-39 thermochronology of metamorphic events in the Central African Copperbelt during the Pan-African Lufilian Orogeny

Abstract

New SHRIMP U-Pb age data on metamorphic monazite, as well as step-heating Ar- Ar ages on metamorphic biotite, muscovite and microcline, from Katangan metasedimentary rocks of the Central African Copperbelt are presented. These rocks were deformed and metamorphosed during the Pan-African Lufilian Orogeny. Three samples of metamorphic monazite from the Chambishi structural basin give ages of 592 ± 22 Ma, 531 ± 12 Ma and 512 ± 17 Ma, which correspond respectively to the ages of eclogite facies metamorphism, high-pressure talc-kyanite whiteschist metamorphism, and of a regional metamorphism/mineralisation pulse elsewhere within the Lufilian Orogen. A biotite population from Luanshya gives a Ar..