Abstract Neoproterozoic–Cambrian amalgamation of West Gondwana involved the collision of several terranes of older crust that are now in eastern South America and western Africa. U–Pb (SHRIMP) detrital zircon ages from representative metasedimentary units of the Ribeira and Dom Feliciano belts (South America) and Gariep and Damara belts (Africa) provide constraints on the possible sediment source areas across probable suture zones. Ribeira detrital zircons are Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean. For the Dom Feliciano Belt, a contribution of Meso- and Neoproterozoic zircons is present, which definitely indicate Neoproterozoic sedimentation. It is proposed that the inflow of material to the Ribeira basin was essentially derived from the Paranapanema and Rio de la Plata cratons, whereas for the Damara and Gariep–Rocha belts source areas were from the Namaqua Belt. The Dom Feliciano Belt received sediments from the South American side and to a lesser degree from African sources. These results highlight the differences in the detrital zircon signatures across a proposed West Gondwanan suture, with those in the west being derived from distinctive South American basement sources and those in the east from distinctive African sources.

Abstract Basement inliers of high-grade metamorphic rocks within the eastern Colombian Andes record a Grenvillian history. Among them, the Garzón Complex and the Dibulla, Bucaramanga and Jojoncito gneisses were studied using different geochronological methods to produce better correlations in the context of the reconstruction of the Grenville belt and of the supercontinent of Rodinia. The dynamic evolution of all of these units includes a final collisional event with exhumation of high-grade rocks. Such a tectonic history bears strong similarities with the Grenville Province in Canada and seems to confirm that these domains took part in the aggregation of Rodinia. Mesoproterozoic U–Pb zircon ages indicate heritage from magmatic protoliths, and the Sm-Nd model ages, as well as the ε Nd values, suggest derivation from an evolved continental domain, such as the Amazonian craton, with some mixing with juvenile Neoproterozoic material. When these continental fragments are correlated with similar terrains in Mexico and the Central Andes, a large crustal fragment is implied; very probably it made up the southern portion of the Grenville belt within Rodinia, which was disrupted when Laurentia separated from Gondwana forming the Iapetus Ocean, leaving behind cratonic fragments that were later accreted to the South American Platform.

Full article available in PDF version.