FRONTIER RESEARCH ON EARTH EVOLUTION, VOL.
Subduction of continental crust during Gondwana amalgamation:
Very-high-pressure metamorphism and metasomatism in the Zambezi Belt
Simon P. Johnson1, Bert De Waele2, Francis Tembo3, Benjamin Mapani4 and Michael T. D. Wingate2
1 Program for Palaeoenvironment, Institute for Research on Earth Evolution (IFREE)
2 Tectonics Special Research Centre, School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, The University of Western Australia.
3 School of Mines, Geology Department, University of Zambia.
4 Department of Geology, University of Namibia.
1.Introduction
The Neoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic supercontinent
Gondwana (Fig. 1), formed by amalgamation of numerous craton-
ic blocks and island arcs over an extended period of ca. 150 M.y.
[e.g., Wilson et al., 1997; Meert and Van der Voo, 1997; Meert,
2003; Reeves et al., 2002; Veevers, 2003]. Although the post-col-
lision configuration of Gondwana is increasingly well constrained
[e.g. Unrug, 1996; Powell, 2002; Reeves et al., 2002; 2004], the
timing, order and nature of the collisions leading to amalgamation
are, in part, poorly understood. The African cratonic blocks form
the core of the Gondwana supercontinent and thus record critical
evidence of the timing and nature of the collisions that led to
Gondwana assembly (Fig. 1). The related Pan-African, tectono-
magmatic activity in southern and eastern Africa occurred along
two structurally perpendicular orogenic systems: the east-west
trending trans-continental Damara-Lufilian-Zambezi (DLZ)
Orogen and the north-south-oriented East African Orogen (EAO),
but the timing and identities of the blocks involved in the colli-
sions remain contentious [e.g., Jacobs et al., 1998; Meert, 2003;
Boger and Miller, 2004; Collins and Pisarevsky, in press].
Tectonic activity in the EAO is related to a succession of colli-
sions of the Azania (Antananarivo Block of Madagscar and parts
of east Africa and Arabian Shield; Fig. 1) and India blocks with
the Congo-Tanzania-Bangweulu (CTB) Craton [e.g., Meert, 2003
and references therein]. Similar collisions between the Antarctic-
Australian blocks and the Kalahari Craton prompted Jacobs et al.
[1998] and Jacobs and Thomas [2004] to favor a single, 8000 km
long collision zone, the East African-Antarctic Orogen or EAAO,
stretching from the Arabian-Nubian Shield to East Antarctica.
Recent investigations in the Zambezi and Lufilian Belts [John
et al., 1999; 2003; 2004; John, 2001; John and Schenk, 2003] and
better geochronological constraints on the Mesoproterozoic ter-
ranes on either side of the Zambezi Belt [De Waele et al., 2003],
however, clearly demonstrate that the DLZ Orogen represents a
major suture resulting from closure of the Zambezi Ocean
between the CTB and Kalahari Cratons, after the main collisional
events in the EAO (Fig. 1), thereby precluding a single EAAO.
Our new geochronology and peak-metamorphic Pressure-
Temperature (PT) data, together with results of recent geochrono-
logical investigations [Oliver et al., 1998; Johnson, 1999; 2000;
Johnson and Oliver, 2004; John et al., 2004], indicate a poly-tec-
tonic evolution for the Zambezi portion of the DLZ Orogen, and
redefine our knowledge of structural and temporal events leading
to the final amalgamation of Gondwana.
1
2.Geologic Setting and Petrology
The Zambezi Belt is a broadly defined zone of amphibolite-
grade metamorphism and east-west structural reworking of older
basement rocks. In Zambia, the Zambezi Belt consists of
reworked Mesoproterozoic lithologies of the Southern Irumide
Belt, whereas in northern Zimbabwe tectono-metamorphism is
restricted to the northern margin of the Archaean Zimbabwe
Craton and Neoproterozoic sediments (the Rushinga Group)
deposited on it (Fig 2). Data presented in this paper were collected
mainly from the Chongwe River area of southern Zambia with
additional data from the Kadunguri Whiteschists of the Chewore
Inliers in northern Zimbabwe (Fig. 2).
2.1 The Chongwe River Area
The Chongwe River area is underlain by a variety of garnet-
bearing meta-igneous and meta-sedimentary lithologies that
include, K-feldspar augen gneisses, amphibolites, meta-dacites,
quartzites and talc-kyanite-bearing whiteschists. Crystallization
ages of the meta-igneous rocks range from 1105 Ma to 1037 Ma
[Johnson et al., in press] and the region is interpreted as a series
of juvenile to mature island arcs and associated sediments that
accreted to the CTB margin during the late Mesoproterozoic
[Johnson et al., in press]. The Chongwe region has been metamor-
phosed to upper amphibolite facies and has experienced intense
ductile deformation that produced decimeter-scale, northeast-
verging thrusts and sheath folds. The felsic lithologies are charac-
terized by the metamorphic assemblage quartz + plagioclase +
garnet + biotite + rutile ± muscovite ± K-feldspar ± magnesio-
hornblende and the mafic lithologies contain plagioclase + garnet
+ magnesio-hornblende ± biotite ± epidote ± scapolite.
Whiteschists contain talc + kyanite + quartz + hematite whereas
Fe-rich whiteschists developed gedrite instead of talc. Both vari-
eties display a breakdown of kyanite ± talc (gedrite) to cordierite
and chlorite. A meta-pelitic sample (C66), contains the assem-
blage garnet + quartz + kyanite + staurolite + plagioclase +
biotite. In the meta-mafic and meta-pelitic lithologies, cm-scale
quartz + plagioclase melt pockets have developed in extensional
regions of folds, indicating that temperatures exceeded the wet-
melting solidus.
Previous estimates of the metamorphic PTt path in the
Chongwe River area, based mainly on intricate decompression
textures within the whiteschist lithologies, indicate that the path
passed through 10 kbar at 700°C on a near-isobaric decompres-
sion path [John and Schenk, 2003; John et al., 2004]. We ana-
lyzed the compositions of metamorphic minerals that have under-
 FRONTIER RESEARCH ON EARTH EVOLUTION, VOL. 2
gone cation exchange and net transfer reactions with each other
(i.e. garnet, plagioclase, biotite, muscovite and amphibole) in
lithologies other than whiteschists, in order to better constrain the
peak metamorphic conditions. Table 1 and Figure 3a show a sum-
mary of the PT data for the samples analyzed. PT data from all
samples show a prograde PTt evolution in the kyanite field, con-
sistent with the regional prevalence of kyanite in Al-rich litholo-
gies. Maximum pressures of 20 kbar and moderate temperatures
of 700–750°C are obtained from mineral-rim compositions and,
owing to variable degrees of post-peak metamorphic re-equilibra-
tion, the data define a near-isothermal decompression path (Fig.
3a), similar to that obtained by John and Schenk [2003] and John
et al. [2004]. Garnet porphyroblasts show a prograde zonation
with increasing grossular contents from core to rim compatible
with increasing pressures (maximum ~ 35-36%Grs) and are
accompanied by an increase in albite concentration in plagioclase
(maximum ~ 75-80%Ab). Garnet + biotite + plagioclase PT esti-
mations for meta-pelite sample C66 overlap the higher-tempera-
ture, moderate-pressure portion of the staurolite stability field
(Fig. 3a). The lack of staurolite inclusions within garnet and the
skeletal habit of staurolite porphyroblasts suggests that they grew
during decompression rather than during the prograde portion of
the PTt path.
2.2 The Chewore Inliers
Whiteschists also occur in the Ophiolite Terrane of the
Chewore Inliers (the Kadunguri Whiteschists). The Chewore
Inliers are interpreted as an imbricated mature or continental mar-
gin arc that was active between 1100 and 1080 Ma [Johnson and
Oliver, 2004], and contain older (1393 ± 22 Ma) slivers of a mar-
ginal basin ophiolite [Oliver et al., 1998; Johnson and Oliver,
2000]. The petrology of the Kadunguri Whiteschists, the struc-
turally highest unit of the inliers, is described by Johnson and
Oliver [1998, 2002]. They formed by extreme metasomatic alter-
ation of mafic igneous lithologies under highly oxidizing condi-
tions. The presence of the mineral yoderite indicates that PT con-
ditions were most likely between 13-15 kbar at >600°C but less
than 800°C [Johnson and Oliver, 1998, 2002].
3.Timing of Tectono-metamorphism
Zircons from three Chongwe River area samples (C6, C7 and
C9) are generally euhedral, with oscillatory-zoned igneous cores
surrounded by low-cathodoluminescent, non-zoned rims up to 30
µm in thickness that are interpreted to have developed during high-
grade metamorphism (Fig. 4e-g). Zircons extracted from
Kadunguri Whiteschist sample SJ124 are equally complex, show-
ing oscillatory-zoned igneous cores, invariably resorbed and
recrystallised, overgrown by new thin rims, one of which was large
enough to permit analysis by ion microprobe (Fig. 4h). Zircon rims
were dated using the Sensitive High Resolution Ion MicroProbe
(SHRIMP II) of the Perth Consortium at Curtin University of
Technology, using standard operating and data reduction proce-
dures [Claoué-Long et al., 1995; Ludwig, 2001a,b]. Corrections for
common Pb, based on measured 204Pb, were minor, and employed
an average crustal common Pb composition appropriate to the age
of the mineral [Stacey and Kramers, 1975]. U-Pb concordia plots
are given in Fig. 4a-d. Zircon rims have low Th/U ratios (<0.3),
consistent with growth during metamorphism. Although the rim
from whiteschist sample SJ124 has a high Th/U ratio of 1.68, its
2
homogenous morphology suggests growth during metasomatism.
Three Chongwe River area samples (C6, C7 and C9) yield mean
238U/206Pb ages (all ±1s) of 576 ± 3 Ma (MSWD=1.09), 568 ± 7
Ma (MSWD=2.4) and 576 ± 13 Ma (MSWD=1.18), respectively
(Fig. 2). A single rim analysis from whiteschist sample SJ124
yields a 238U/206Pb age of 580 ± 17 Ma (1s).
4. Implications for Gondwana Assembly
Our age data indicate that very-high-pressure metamorphism
and whiteschist metasomatism in the Chongwe River area, and in
the Kadunguri Whiteschists some 100 km away, occurred contem-
poraneously at ca. 575 Ma. This differs from other high-precision
U-Pb zircon ages for metamorphism in the Zambezi Belt that lie
in the 542-517 Ma age range and are some 30-50 M.y. younger
(Fig 3b, Vinyu et al., 1999; Müller et al., 2000; Hargrove et al.,
2003; Johnson and Oliver, 2004). Furthermore, estimates of peak-
metamorphic pressures from these younger localities are signifi-
cantly lower, suggesting that the younger metamorphism followed
a different PTt path to that at 575 Ma (Fig. 3b). Maximum record-
ed pressures are between 10-12 kbar [Johnson and Oliver, 1998;
Goscombe et al., 1998] for lithologies that are structurally juxta-
posed against the Kadunguri Whiteschists [Johnson and Oliver,
2002] and in which metamorphism has been precisely dated at
526 ± 17 Ma [Goscombe et al., 2000] and 517 ± 5 Ma [Johnson
and Oliver, 2004]. Along the northern margin of the Kalahari
Craton, various dates between 542 ± 10 Ma [Hanson et al., 1998]
and 534 ± 24 Ma [Hargrove et al, 2003] record peak metamor-
phism with a maximum PT of 10 kbar at >800°C [Hargrove et al.,
2003]. Taken together, these data suggest a two-phase tectonic
evolution of the Zambezi Belt, with initial very-high-pressure
metamorphism occurring at ca. 570 Ma in some lithologies , fol-
lowed by regional, much lower-pressure tectono-metamorphism at
ca. 530 Ma. This new two-phase model further explains various
tectonic features of the region. Mafic eclogites that rest tectonical-
ly on the CTB margin in southern Zambia record maximum pres-
sures of 26-28 kbar, have MORB-like compositions, and are inter-
preted as subducted fragments of the former Zambezi Ocean
[John and Schenk, 2003; John et al., 2003]. Eclogite facies meta-
morphism occurred during ongoing subduction and hence closure
of this ocean, the timing of which is constrained by mineral
isochron ages between 659 ± 14 Ma and 595 ± 10 Ma [John et al.,
2003; John et al., 2004] We propose that very-high pressure-
metamorphism and whiteschist-metasomatism at ca. 575 Ma
resulted from attempted subduction of the CTB margin to at least
50 km depth, marking the first contact between the CTB and
Kalahari Cratons (Fig. 5a). Relict high-pressure eclogites and
whiteschists in the Domes Region of the Lufilian Belt [Cosi et al.,
1984; John et al., 2003] indicate that some parts of the Lufilian
Basin were also subducted at this time (Fig. 5a). Activity along
the DLZ Belt, therefore, postdates orogenesis in the EAO by some
70 M.y. and thus negates a single EAAO. Collins and Pisarevsky
[in press] suggest that tectonic activity in the EAO at ca. 640 Ma
was the result of closure of a basin between the eastern-margin of
the CTB Craton and Azania and that the closure of the
Mozambique Ocean, now outboard of Azania, lead to the collision
with India at ~530 Ma (Fig. 5b), synchronous with collision
between Australia-Antarctica and Kalahari at ca. 530 Ma. Oblique
collision between the Indian-Antarctic-Australian-Kalahari
Cratons at ca. 530 Ma caused renewed convergence between the
 FRONTIER RESEARCH ON EARTH EVOLUTION, VOL. 2
CTB and Kalahari Cratons and clockwise rotation of the Kalahari
Craton [Veevers, 2003] (Fig. 5b), causing closure and north-
directed thrusting of the Lufilian Basin over the CTB Craton,
thrusting and tectonic loading of the CTB Craton margin, closure
and tectono-metamorphism of the Damara Basin, and the exhuma-
tion of previously deeply-subducted rocks in both the Lufilian
Belt and CTB margin (Fig. 5b). Clockwise rotation of the
Kalahari Craton also accounts for the asymmetric doubly-vergent
architecture of the Zambezi-Lufilian Belts [Johnson et al., 2005],
the westward progression of tectonism along the DLZ Orogen
from 540-520 Ma in the Zambezi Belt to 520-510 Ma in the
Damara Belt [Jung et al., 2000; Jung and Mezger, 2003a, 2003b],
and the development of major transcontinental strike-slip shear-
zones such as the Mwembeshi-Chimaliro Shear Zone [Daly and
Coward, 1984].
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 FRONTIER RESEARCH ON EARTH EVOLUTION, VOL. 2

Figure 1. Gondwana reconstruction after Meert 2003. Coloured regions indicate the orogenic belts along which
Gondwana was assembled. Abbreviations: ANS–Arabian Nubian Shield; AUS–Australia; CTB–Congo-Tanzania-
Bangweulu; DLZ–Damara-Lufilian–Zambezi; EAO–East African Orogen; M–Madagascar. Dotted line outlines the
terranes that make up Azania (from Collins and Pisarevsky, in press).

Figure 2. a) Tectonic map of Africa after Hanson, 2003. Box indicates location of main figure. Key: 1–Post Pan
African Basins; 2–Pan African belts; 3–Mesoproterozoic Belts; 4–Palaeoproterozoic belts; 5–Archaean cratons. b)
Simplified geological map of central, southern Africa. Box locates the Chongwe River area. Abbreviations the same as
Fig1 except: CFB–Cape Fold Belt; Chi.–Chipata Terrane; CI–Chewore Inliers; CR–Chowe River area; D–Damara Belt;
I–Irumide Belt; K–Kibaran Belt; L–Limpopo Belt; LK–Lake Kariba; Lu. Luangwa Terrane; LUF–Lufilian Belt;
MG–Makuti Group; MO–Mozambique Belt; NA–Namaqua Belt; NL–Natal Belt; Ny. Nyimba Terrane; P-S–Petauke-
Sinda Terrane; TC–Tanzanian Craton; U–Ubendian Belt; ZAM–Zambezi Belt; ZC–Zimbabwe Craton.

5
 FRONTIER RESEARCH ON EARTH EVOLUTION, VOL. 2

Figure 3. Pressure-Temperature diagram showing the PTt evolution of a) samples from the Chongwe
River area and b) from the Zambezi Belt. Abbreviations: And–Andalusite; chl–chlorite; C.I–Chewore
Inliers; g–gedrite; ky–kyanite; qtz–quartz; Sill–sillimanite; tlc–talc.

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 FRONTIER RESEARCH ON EARTH EVOLUTION, VOL. 2

Figure 4. Concordia plots of SHRIMP U-Pb data for samples C6, C7, C9 and SJ124. SHRIMP data is
listed in Table 2. Cathodoluminescence images of zircons from samples C6, C7, C9 and SJ124 showing
newly grown metamorphic rims surrounding inherited igneous cores.

7
 FRONTIER RESEARCH ON EARTH EVOLUTION, VOL. 2

Figure 5. Cartoon showing the tectonic evolution and assembly history of the southern African cratons at a)
570 Ma and b) 530 Ma. Abbreviations as previous except: Az–Azania; EH–Ellsworth-Haag; FI–Falkland
Islands; G–Grunehogna; LB–Lurio Belt; L-V–Lurio-Vijayan Peninsula; M-C SZ–Mwembeshi-Chimaliro
Shear Zone; SF–Sao Fransisco; SIB–Southern Irumide Belt; WCB–West Congo Belt.

Table 1. Summary of Pressure-Temperature estimates for the Chongwe River area samples.

TEMPERATURE °C PRESSURE kbar

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Sample Gnt+Bt Bt+Musc Gnt+Amph Gnt+Bt GASP GASP Gnt+Amph Gnt+Plag Gnt+Plag Gnt+Plag
(Analysis) +Plag +Plag +Musc+Qtz +Musc+Bt +Musc+Bt

ZM61B
A 675 11.5
B 675 750 11 16 15 12

ZM62A
A 725 12 12 12
B 775 15 15 15

ZM62B

A 775 12.5 12.5 12.5

B 775 12.5 13 12.5

C 725 12 12 12

ZM63

A 750 19 20 19
B 750 18 19 18

ZM66
A 725 9.5 9.5 10

C9
A 725 12 11 12

C10
A 600 18 14 14 16 16.5 16.5
675 20 15.5 15.5 18 19 18

C12
A 775 15.5 15.5 15.5
B 760 13.5 14 14
C 775 14 14.5 14.5

C24
A 760 14 16 15
B 800 17 19 18.5

C 760 15 17 16

1 Ferry and Spear with Bermann 1990
2 Wu, Pan and Wang 2002
3 Graham and Powell 1984
4 Hoisch 1990 R1 and R2
5 Ganguly and Saxena 1984
6 Hodges and Crowley 1985
7 Kohn and Spear 1989 Tscherm-Fe and Mg model
8 Hodges and Crowley 1985
9 Hoisch 1990 Fe end member-R6
10 Hoisch 1990 Mg end member-R5