A magmatic age and four successive metamorphic events recorded in zircons from a single meta-anorthosite sample in the central zone of the Limpopo Belt, South Africa

Ion microprobe U-Th-Pb analyses combined with cathodoluminescence imaging of zircons from a meta-anorthosite from the Central Zone of the Limpopo Belt record five distinct events. The most concordant ages of cores of zircon yielded a weighted mean (super 207) Pb/ (super 206) Pb age of 3344+ or -3.6 Ma, representing the protolith age. The unzoned overgrowths yielded four discrete groups with weighted mean (super 207) Pb/ (super 206) Pb ages of 3150+ or -15 Ma, 2614+ or -4 Ma, 2488+ or -22 Ma and 2009+ or -28 Ma, representing four possible metamorphic events in the Central Zone. This is the first time that a succession of several metamorphic events has been demonstrated in a single rock-type from the Limpopo Belt.