Crustal Evolution of Southern Africa: 3.8 Billion Years of Earth History

1 Tectonic Framework. - 1.1. Cratons, Mobile Belts, and Structural Provinces. - 1.2. Gravity Field and Crustal Structure. - 1.3. Evolutionary Stages in the Southern African Crust. - 1.4. Stage 1: Archean Crustal Development. - 1.5. Stage 2: Early Proterozoic Supracrustal Development. - 1.6. Stage 3: Proterozoic Orogenic Activity. - 1.7. Stage 4: The Gondwana Era. - 1.8. Stage 5: After Gondwana. - Stage 1: Archean Crustal Evolution. - 2 Granite-Greenstone Terrane: Kaapvaal Province. - 2.1. The Early Gneiss Terranes. - 2.2. Swaziland Supergroup: A Uniquely Preserved Early Archean Supracrustal Pile. - 2.3. Other Kaapvaal Greenstone Belts. - 2.4. Archean Cratonization: Granitoid Emplacement in the Eastern Kaapvaal Province. - 2.5. Pongola Supergroup: The Oldest Cratonic Cover. - 2.6. Post-Pongola Magmatism. - 2.7. Broad Implications of Archean Crustal Development in the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe Provinces. - 3 Granulite-Gneiss Terrane: Limpopo Province. - 3.1. Extent of Limpopo Province. - 3.2. Northern Marginal Zone. - 3.3. Central Zone-Limpopo Valley. - 3.4. Central Zone-Botswana. - 3.5. The Southern Marginal Zone. - Stage 2: Early Proterozoic Supracrustal Development. - 4 The Golden Proterozoic. - 4.1. Dominion Group: The Witwatersrand Protobasin. - 4.2. West Rand Group: The Witwatersrand Sea. - 4.3. Central Rand Group: Alluvial-Fan Environments. - 4.4. Ventersdorp Supergroup: Crustal Fracturing. - 5 The Transvaal Epeiric Sea. - 5.1. Protobasinal Phase. - 5.2. Inundation of the Kaapvaal Province. - 5.3. Sedimentation in a Clear-water Epeiric Sea. - 5.4. Renewed Terrigenous Influx and Progradation. - 5.5. Depositional History of the Epeiric Sea. - 6 The Bushveld Complex: A Unique Layered Intrusion The Vredefort Dome: Astrobleme or Gravity-Driven Diapir? - 6.1. Framework of the Complex. - 6.2. Magmatic and Volcanic Stratigraphy. - 6.3. Age of the Bushveld Event. - 6.4. Geochemistry. - 6.5. Petrogenesis: Origin of Parent Magmas and Igneous Layering. - 6.6. Contact Metamorphism. - 6.7. Sulfide Mineralization. - 6.8. Vredefort Dome. - 6.9. Structural Setting and Mechanics of Intrusion. - 7 The Earliest Red Beds. - 7.1 The Intracratonic Waterberg Group. - 7.2. Soutpansberg Trough. - 7.3. The Miogeoclinal Umkondo Group. - 7.4. The Craton-Edge Matsap Group. - 7.5. Synthesis. - Stage 3: Proterozoic Orogenic Activity. - 8 Namaqua-Natal Granulite-Gneiss Terranes. - 8.1. The Natal Province. - 8.2. The Namaqua Province. - 8.3. Eastern Marginal Zone of the Namaqua Province. - 8.4. Western Zone of the Namaqua Province. - 8.5. Central Zone of the Namaqua Province. - 9 The Pan African Geosynclines. - 9.1. The Gariep Geosyncline. - 9.2. The Intracratonic Nama Platform Succession. - 9.3. The Malmesbury Geosyncline in the Western Saldanian Province. - 9.4. Pre-Cape Basins in the Eastern Saldanian Province. - 9.5. The Damara Province: Keystone of the Pan African Framework. - Stage 4: The Gondwana Era. - 10 The Cape Trough: An Aborted Rift. - 10.1. Table Mountain Group: The Quartz Arenite Problem. - 10.2. The Natal Embayment. - 10.3. Paleogeographic Synthesis of the Table Mountain and Natal Groups. - 10.4. Bokkeveld Group: Allocyclic Control Over Delta Progradation and Reworking. - 10.5. Witteberg Group: The Cape-Karoo Transition. - 11 The Intracratonic Karoo Basin. - 11.1. Glaciogene Dwyka Sedimentation. - 11.2. Postglacial Epicontinental Ecca Basin. - 11.3. The Beaufort Group: Fluvial Aggradation in a Foreland Basin. - 11.4. Upper Karoo Sedimentation. - 11.5. Cape Orogeny. - 11.6. Karoo Volcanism. - Stage 5: After Gondwana. - 12 Fragmentation and Mesozoic Paleogeography. - 12.1. The Proto-Atlantic Margin. - 12.2. Evolution of the Southern Continental Margin. - 12.3. The Transkei Swell and the Zululand Basin. - 12.4. Synthesis. - 13 Kimberlites and Associated Alkaline Magmatism. - 13.1. Carbonatites. - 13.2. Alkaline Complexes. - 13.3. Kimberlites. - 13.4. Petrogenesis of Alkaline Rocks. - 14 Changing Climates and Sea Levels: The Cenozoic Record. - 14.1. Tertiary Coastal Environments. - 14.2. Tertiary Shelf Sedimentation. - 14.3. Quaternary Transgressions and Regressions. - 14.4. The Interior Basin. - 14.5. Cenozoic Biogeography and Climatic Evolution. - References.