Abstract The Early Mesozoic magmatism of southwestern Gondwana is reviewed in the light of new U-Pb SHRIMP zircon ages (181 ± 2 Ma, 181 ± 3 Ma, 185 ± 2 Ma, and 182 ± 2 Ma) that establish an Early Jurassic age for the granites of the Subcordilleran plutonic belt in northwestern Argentine Patagonia. New geochemical and isotopic data confirm that this belt represents an early subduction-related magmatic arc along the proto-Pacific margin of Gondwana. Thus, subduction was synchronous with the initial phase of Chon Aike rhyolite volcanism ascribed to the thermal effects of the Karoo mantle plume and heralding rifting of this part of the supercontinent. Overall, there is clear evidence that successive episodes of calc-alkaline arc magmatism from Late Triassic times until establishment of the Andean Patagonian batholith in the Late Jurassic involved westerly migration and clockwise rotation of the arc. This indicates a changing geodynamic regime during Gondwana break-up and suggests differential rollback of the subducted slab, with accretion of new crustal material and/or asymmetrical ‘scissor-like’ opening of back-arc basins. This almost certainly entailed dextral displacement of continental domains in Patagonia.

Abstract The East African–Antarctica Orogen resulted from the continent–continent collision of East and West Gondwana, or parts thereof, during the Pan-African event at c . 650–510 Ma. The collision overprinted large areas of older, mainly Mesoproterozoic, crust up to granulite facies grade in East Antarctica. The collision history is well documented by folding and thrusting, isothermal decompression and metamorphic zircon growth at c . 580–560 Ma (Pan-African I). The convergence was succeeded by an extensional phase, probably representing orogenic collapse. This Pan-African II event at c . 530–510 Ma is characterized by large-scale extensional structures, finally resulting in the post-tectonic intrusion of voluminous A2-type granitoids. In central Dronning Maud Land the Pan-African II event started with the intrusion of syntectonic igneous rocks within an overall extensional setting. Two new SHRIMP data from gabbro zircons of the Zwiesel Gabbro give ages of 521±5.6 and 527±5.1 Ma. These ages are interpreted as crystallization ages and confirm the interpretation that the gabbro was emplaced early during the Pan-African II event. The gabbro was intruded by a network of leucogranite dykes and veins. Whereas the gabbro appears entirely undeformed, the leucogranite dykes are strongly mylonitized along extensional shear zones, indicating pronounced strain partitioning of the gabbro complex. Within the leucogranite mylonites, large tension gashes developed during mylonitization, indicating very high strain rates. Quartz c-axis orientations from quartz of the tension gashes show a distinct cross-girdle that formed during pure shear deformation. Fluid inclusion data from the leucogranite mylonites and the associated tension gashes mainly reveal recrystallization-related intracrystalline CO 2 -dominant inclusions with relatively low densities of < 1 g cm −3 . The fluid inclusion data are interpreted to represent the last stages of a retrograde P–T path that is characterized by simultaneous cooling and decompression during extensional exhumation, probably succeeding the collapse of overthickened crust. A comparable orogenic collapse of the East African–Antarctic Orogen is reported from other parts of the orogen, such as from western Madagascar and the northern Arabian–Nubian Shield.

Three granitoid types are recognised in the Famatinian magmatic belt of NW Argentina, based on lithology and new geochemical data: (a) a minor trondhjemite-tonalite-granodiorite (TTG) group, (b) a metaluminous I-type gabbro-monzogranite suite, and (c) S-type granites. The latter occur as small cordieritic intrusions associated with I-type granodiorites and as abundant cordierite-bearing facies in large batholithic masses. Twelve new SHRIMP U-Pb zircon ages establish the contemporaneity of all three types in Early Ordovician times (mainly 470–490 Ma ago). Sr- and Nd-isotopic data suggest that, apart from some TTG plutons of asthenospheric origin, the remaining magmas were derived from a Proterozoic crust-lithospheric mantle section. Trace element modelling suggests that the TTG originated by variable melting of a depleted gabbroid source at 10–12 kbar, and the I-type tonalite-granodiorite suite by melting of a more enriched lithospheric source at c. 5 kbar. The voluminous intermediate and acidic I-types involved hybridisation with lower and middle crustal melts. The highly peraluminous S-type granites have isotopic and inherited zircon patterns similar to those of Cambrian supracrustal metasedimentary rocks deposited in the Pampean cycle, and were derived from them by local anatexis. Other major components of the S-type batholiths involved melting of deep crust and mixing with the I-type magmas, leading to an isotopic and geochemical continuum.