Thermochronological insights into the morphotectonic evolution of the Eastern Highlands, Zimbabwe: Implications for thermal history modelling of multi-thermochronometer data

Mackintosh, Vhairi; Kohn, Barry P.; Gleadow, Andrew; Belton, David

doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103542

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 111 publications

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“…This is also clear in AFT, AHe, and ZHe models where no Permian‐Carboniferous glaciation constraint is used and resulting thermal history models are highly improbable (Figures S3a and S3b). Similar observations where ZRDAAM is unable to replicate intrasample ZHe variability have been previously reported (e.g., Boone et al, 2018; Guenthner et al, 2014; Johnson et al, 2017; Mackintosh et al, 2017, 2019); Orme et al, 2016. ZHe grains from Sample 7315‐35 display relatively low eU (range 274–422 ppm) and age standard deviation (Table 4), but there is no coexisting AFT data available for this sample for which a baseline thermal history could be established.…”

Section: Inverse Thermal History Modelingsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Their long‐term survival is mainly attributed to their thicker lithosphere, characterized by a relatively cool but compositionally buoyant upper‐mantle keel (e.g., Jordan, 1978). Apart from some tectonic reworking near their margins (e.g., Lenardic et al, 2000; Mackintosh et al, 2019), cratonization has often been viewed as the end point in the evolution of continental lithosphere, after which it enters a relatively quiescent state (e.g., Pollack, 1986). A number of recent works, however, including some low‐temperature thermochronology studies, indicate that the uppermost few kilometers of cratonic crust may record evidence for widespread, discrete Neoproterozoic and/or Phanerozoic heating and cooling episodes (e.g., Ault et al, 2009, 2013; Baughman & Flowers, 2018; Danišík et al, 2008; Enkelmann & Garver, 2016; Feinstein et al, 2009; Flowers et al, 2006; Flowers & Schoene, 2010; Guenthner et al, 2017; Kasanzu, 2017; Kohn et al, 2005; Kohn & Gleadow, 2019; Larson et al, 1999; Mackintosh et al, 2017; Wildman et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Denuding a Craton: Thermochronology Record of Phanerozoic Unroofing From the Pilbara Craton, Australia

et al. 2020

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Cratons are ancient regions of relatively stable continental fragments considered to have attained long-term tectonic and geomorphic stability. Low-temperature thermochronology data, however, suggest that some cratons have experienced discrete Phanerozoic heating and cooling episodes. We report apatite fission track, and apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He low-temperature thermochronology data from the Archean Pilbara craton and adjacent Paleoproterozoic basement, NW Australia. Inverse thermal history simulations of this spatially extensive data set reveal that the region has experienced~50-70°C cooling, which is interpreted as a response to the unroofing of erodible strata overlying basement. The timing of cooling onset is variable, mainly~420-350 Ma in the southern and central Pilbara-eastern Hamersley Basin and~350-300 Ma in the northern Pilbara, while the westernmost Pilbara-central Hamersley Basin does not record a significant Paleozoic cooling event. These differences are attributed to variations in sedimentary thickness and proximity to adjacent rift basins, which lack Archean age zircons in their Paleozoic strata. The onset of Paleozoic cooling coincides with the timing of the episodic intraplate late Ordovician-Carboniferous Alice Springs Orogeny. This orogeny is thought to have resulted from far-field plate margin stresses, which in turn caused the opening of the adjacent Canning Basin, to the north and east of the craton. We propose that basin development triggered a change of base level, resulting in denudation and the crustal cooling event reported here. Our results provide further evidence for the transmission of far-field forces to cratons over hundreds of kilometers and support the view that cratons have experienced geomorphic changes during the Phanerozoic.

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Section: Inverse Thermal History Modelingsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Denuding a Craton: Thermochronology Record of Phanerozoic Unroofing From the Pilbara Craton, Australia

et al. 2020

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“…Importantly, this implies that the Nyika Plateau was an isolated, elevated feature by the Triassic, at least in the surrounding southern, northern, and eastern regions. Our data suggest that the topography along (Alessio et al, 2019;Bicca et al, 2019;Daszinnies, 2006;Emmel et al, 2011;Fernandes et al, 2015;Mackintosh et al, 2017;Mackintosh, Kohn, Gleadow, & Belton, 2019;Mackintosh, Kohn, Gleadow, & Gallagher, 2019;Mortimer et al, 2016;Noble, 1997;van der Beek et al, 1998). Cooling rates (∆T/∆t) are displayed at 5 Ma intervals from 400 Ma onward.…”

Section: Permo-jurassic Thermal History: Karoo Rifting and Nyika Form...mentioning

confidence: 57%

“… Summary of thermal history trends in the Malawi rifted zone showing main periods of cooling (Alessio et al., 2019; Bicca et al., 2019; Daszinnies, 2006; Emmel et al., 2011; Fernandes et al., 2015; Mackintosh et al., 2017; Mackintosh, Kohn, Gleadow, & Belton, 2019; Mackintosh, Kohn, Gleadow, & Gallagher, 2019; Mortimer et al., 2016; Noble, 1997; van der Beek et al., 1998). Cooling rates (∆ T /∆ t ) are displayed at 5 Ma intervals from 400 Ma onward.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data from previous studies suggest that Cretaceous cooling is likely a wide‐scale event as it is apparent in many LTT data sets (Figure 9), such as in northern Malawi and Tanzania (Kasanzu et al., 2016; van der Beek et al., 1998), Zambia (Alessio et al., 2019), southern Malawi (Daszinnies et al., 2008; Eby et al., 1995), Mozambique (Bicca et al., 2019; Daszinnies et al., 2009; Emmel et al., 2011, 2014), Zimbabwe (Belton & Raab, 2010; Mackintosh, Kohn, Gleadow, & Belton, 2019), and the South African Plateau (Wildman et al., 2017). Evidence for km‐scale uplift in the Cretaceous is also recorded in various central African cratons (e.g., the Congo Craton, Alessio et al., 2019 and the Tanzanian Craton, Noble et al., 1997; Kasanzu, 2017) and may be related to isostatic rebound in response to plume induced delamination of the lithosphere (Hu et al., 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of the Nyika Plateau, Malawi: A Long Lived Paleo‐Surface or a Contemporary Feature of the East African Rift?

McMillan

Boone

Kohn

et al. 2022

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Northern Malawi's Nyika Plateau is a 3,700 km2 large, highly elevated (∼2,500 m) plateau located at the western margin of the Miocene‐Recent Malawi rift and the confluence of multiple Proterozoic orogenic belts. Neighboring asthenospheric upwelling in the Rungwe Volcanic Province, associated with the active East African Rift, has created similar topographic highs, leading some to speculate that the formation of Nyika could be related. Here, we present new low‐temperature data using apatite fission track, apatite (U‐Th‐Sm)/He and zircon (U‐Th)/He thermochronology to constrain the upper crustal thermal history of the Nyika region since the Devonian. The data suggest that Nyika was an isolated feature since at least the Permo‐Triassic, well before more recent rifting in Malawi, and may have developed as a horst between two large Karoo grabens, the Henga‐Ruhuhu and the North Rukuru to the southeast and northwest, respectively. Similarities between the thermal histories of Nyika and the currently separated Livingstone Plateau to the east allow for the possibility that these may have been connected in a contiguous highland prior to the formation of the intervening Neogene Malawi rift. Thermal history models for exposed Precambrian basement samples adjacent to Nyika, and once buried beneath the neighboring Karoo basins, indicate that up to 3.4 km of Permo‐Triassic section has since been eroded, with samples along the plateau not indicating burial of Karoo‐type sediment at this time. Most recent cooling histories suggest that the plateau surface continued to denude at varying degrees from the Cretaceous and reached near‐surface temperatures in the Late Paleogene‐Neogene.

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Reconstruction of the Cenozoic tectono-thermal history of the Dongpu Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China: Constraints from apatite fission track and vitrinite reflectance data

Jiang

Zuo

Yang

et al. 2021

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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Thermochronological insights into the morphotectonic evolution of the Eastern Highlands, Zimbabwe: Implications for thermal history modelling of multi-thermochronometer data

Cited by 4 publications

References 111 publications

Denuding a Craton: Thermochronology Record of Phanerozoic Unroofing From the Pilbara Craton, Australia

Denuding a Craton: Thermochronology Record of Phanerozoic Unroofing From the Pilbara Craton, Australia

Development of the Nyika Plateau, Malawi: A Long Lived Paleo‐Surface or a Contemporary Feature of the East African Rift?

Reconstruction of the Cenozoic tectono-thermal history of the Dongpu Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China: Constraints from apatite fission track and vitrinite reflectance data

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