Early Pan-African evolution of the basement around Elat, Israel, and the Sinai Peninsula revealed by single-zircon evaporation dating, and implications for crustal accretion rates

A. Kröner, M. Eyal, Y. Eyal

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128 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report 207 Pb/ 206 Pb single-zircon evaporation ages for early Pan-African rocks from southern Israel and the northeastern Sinai Peninsula, the northernmost extension of the Arabian-Nubian shield. The oldest rocks are metamorphic schists of presumed island-arc derivation; detrital zircons date the source terrain at ca. 800-820 Ma. A major phase of tonalite-trondhjemite plutonism occurred at ca. 760-780 Ma; more evolved granitic rocks were emplaced at about 745 Ma. A metagabbro-metadiorite complex reflects the youngest igneous phase at ca. 640 Ma. We find no evidence for pre-Pan-African crust, and our data document important crust-forming events that correlate with similar episodes elsewhere in the Shield. The widespread presence of early Pan-African juvenile rocks (i.e., ca. 760-850 Ma) in many parts of the Arabian-Nubian shield makes this period the most important in the magmatic history of the shield and supports earlier suggestions for unusually high crust-production rates.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)545-548
Number of pages4
JournalGeology
Volume18
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 1990

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geology

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