Geophysical characteristics of the Namaqua-Natal Belt and its boundaries, South Africa

A study of the available gravity, magnetic and geoelectrical data for the Proterozoic Namaqua-Natal Belt of South Africa shows that the boundaries of this tectonic province have distinct geophysical signatures. The southern boundary is marked by a large static field magnetic anomaly and a transition from electrically resistive to conductive crust. The northern margin of the belt is associated with a distinctive gravity signature. These geophysical signatures proved ideal to extrapolate and interpolate the boundaries of the Namaqua-Natal Belt, especially through areas where the transition is covered by Phanerozoic sediments. Numeraial modelling of the gravity data shows that a simple model of uplift in the Namaqua-Natal Belt associated with differential movement along a faulted transition to the older provinces can explain the gravity signature. This model is consistent with the development of the Namaqua-Natal Belt in its final stages as part of an Andean mountain belt with northward subduction and the associated trench south of the southern boundary of the belt. The Andean model of crustal development for this Proterozoic province is consistent with features such as the large quantity of calcalkaline magmatism, the low-pressure, high-temperature metamorphism, the metamorphic zonation and differential uplift along the northern margin, the major mantle derived contribution to the crust between 1300 and 1200 Ma ago and the deformational history.