Tectonic brines and sedimentary basins: further applications of fission track analysis in understanding Karoo Basin evolution (South Africa) |
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| Authors: | Michael J. Duane Roderick W. Brown |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Geology and Applied Geology, King George V Ave., University of Natal, South Africa;Victorian Institute for Earth and Planetary Sciences, Fission Track Research Group, Department of Geology, La Trobe University, Bundoora 3083, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Fission track analyses of detrital components in the Permo-Triassic Karoo Basin (South Africa), highlight the potency of tectono-magmatically driven fluids to penetrate wide and far in foreland basins. The data, together with the data published on Karoo tectonics and magmatism, support a model which requires that fluids were driven north out of the Cape-Karoo orogen during the Cape Orogeny (270–200 Ma). Later fluids were redistributed and aquifers rejuvenated during (and after) the final break-up of Gondwana (<200 Ma). The fission track data indicate that thermal annealing of fission tracks in zircon occurs non-uniformly between individual zircon grains. This model is in agreement with recent models applied to deformed foreland basins and implicates tectonic fluids in U metallogenesis. |
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