Crustal Evolution of Southern Africa

1 Tectonic Framework.- 1.1. Cratons, Mobile Belts, and Structural Provinces.- 1.2. Gravity Field and Crustal Structure.- 1.3. Evolutionary Stages in the Southern African Crust.- 1.4. Stage 1: Archean Crustal Development.- 1.5. Stage 2: Early Proterozoic Supracrustal Development.- 1.6. Stage 3: Proterozoic Orogenic Activity.- 1.7. Stage 4: The Gondwana Era.- 1.8. Stage 5: After Gondwana.- Stage 1: Archean Crustal Evolution.- 2 Granite-Greenstone Terrane: Kaapvaal Province.- 2.1. The Early Gneiss Terranes.- 2.2. Swaziland Supergroup: A Uniquely Preserved Early Archean Supracrustal Pile.- 2.3. Other Kaapvaal Greenstone Belts.- 2.4. Archean Cratonization: Granitoid Emplacement in the Eastern Kaapvaal Province.- 2.5. Pongola Supergroup: The Oldest Cratonic Cover.- 2.6. Post-Pongola Magmatism.- 2.7. Broad Implications of Archean Crustal Development in the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe Provinces.- 3 Granulite-Gneiss Terrane: Limpopo Province.- 3.1. Extent of Limpopo Province.- 3.2. Northern Marginal Zone.- 3.3. Central Zone—Limpopo Valley.- 3.4. Central Zone—Botswana.- 3.5. The Southern Marginal Zone.- Stage 2: Early Proterozoic Supracrustal Development.- 4 The Golden Proterozoic.- 4.1. Dominion Group: The Witwatersrand Protobasin.- 4.2. West Rand Group: The Witwatersrand Sea.- 4.3. Central Rand Group: Alluvial-Fan Environments.- 4.4. Ventersdorp Supergroup: Crustal Fracturing.- 5 The Transvaal Epeiric Sea.- 5.1. Protobasinal Phase.- 5.2. Inundation of the Kaapvaal Province.- 5.3. Sedimentation in a Clear-water Epeiric Sea.- 5.4. Renewed Terrigenous Influx and Progradation.- 5.5. Depositional History of the Epeiric Sea.- 6 The Bushveld Complex: A Unique Layered Intrusion The Vredefort Dome: Astrobleme or Gravity-Driven Diapir?.- 6.1. Framework of the Complex.- 6.2. Magmatic and Volcanic Stratigraphy.- 6.3. Age of the Bushveld Event.- 6.4. Geochemistry.- 6.5. Petrogenesis: Origin of Parent Magmas and Igneous Layering.- 6.6. Contact Metamorphism.- 6.7. Sulfide Mineralization.- 6.8. Vredefort Dome.- 6.9. Structural Setting and Mechanics of Intrusion.- 7 The Earliest Red Beds.- 7.1 The Intracratonic Waterberg Group.- 7.2. Soutpansberg Trough.- 7.3. The Miogeoclinal Umkondo Group.- 7.4. The Craton-Edge Matsap Group.- 7.5. Synthesis.- Stage 3: Proterozoic Orogenic Activity.- 8 Namaqua-Natal Granulite-Gneiss Terranes.- 8.1. The Natal Province.- 8.2. The Namaqua Province.- 8.3. Eastern Marginal Zone of the Namaqua Province.- 8.4. Western Zone of the Namaqua Province.- 8.5. Central Zone of the Namaqua Province.- 9 The Pan African Geosynclines.- 9.1. The Gariep Geosyncline.- 9.2. The Intracratonic Nama Platform Succession.- 9.3. The Malmesbury Geosyncline in the Western Saldanian Province.- 9.4. Pre-Cape Basins in the Eastern Saldanian Province.- 9.5. The Damara Province: Keystone of the Pan African Framework.- Stage 4: The Gondwana Era.- 10 The Cape Trough: An Aborted Rift.- 10.1. Table Mountain Group: The Quartz Arenite Problem.- 10.2. The Natal Embayment.- 10.3. Paleogeographic Synthesis of the Table Mountain and Natal Groups.- 10.4. Bokkeveld Group: Allocyclic Control Over Delta Progradation and Reworking.- 10.5. Witteberg Group: The Cape-Karoo Transition.- 11 The Intracratonic Karoo Basin.- 11.1. Glaciogene Dwyka Sedimentation.- 11.2. Postglacial Epicontinental Ecca Basin.- 11.3. The Beaufort Group: Fluvial Aggradation in a Foreland Basin.- 11.4. Upper Karoo Sedimentation.- 11.5. Cape Orogeny.- 11.6. Karoo Volcanism.- Stage 5: After Gondwana.- 12 Fragmentation and Mesozoic Paleogeography.- 12.1. The Proto-Atlantic Margin.- 12.2. Evolution of the Southern Continental Margin.- 12.3. The Transkei Swell and the Zululand Basin.- 12.4. Synthesis.- 13 Kimberlites and Associated Alkaline Magmatism.- 13.1. Carbonatites.- 13.2. Alkaline Complexes.- 13.3. Kimberlites.- 13.4. Petrogenesis of Alkaline Rocks.- 14 Changing Climates and Sea Levels: The Cenozoic Record.- 14.1. Tertiary Coastal Environments.- 14.2. Tertiary Shelf Sedimentation.- 14.3. Quaternary Transgressions and Regressions.- 14.4. The Interior Basin.- 14.5. Cenozoic Biogeography and Climatic Evolution.- References.