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3,500-Myr-old granite in southern Africa

Abstract

A GEOCHRONOLOGICAL study of the margin between the Rhodesian Craton and the Limpopo Belt in southern Africa has yielded the first conclusive evidence for the preservation of very old crustal material on the Rhodesian Craton. An age of 3,520±260 Myr has been obtained from a seven-point Rb–Sr whole rock isochron for samples of the Mushandike Granite, which intrudes tonalite gneisses near Fort Victoria (30° 50′E, 20° 04′S) in south-eastern Rhodesia. Its relation to the Bulawayan Group of the Victoria Schist Belt is uncertain. The possible presence of an intrusive contact of the granite within these rocks points out the need for a re-examination of the evidence for the widely accepted maximum age far the Bulawayan of 3,300–3,400 Myr (ref. 1).

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HICKMAN, M. 3,500-Myr-old granite in southern Africa. Nature 251, 295–296 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/251295a0

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