Late syn- to post-collisional magmatism in Madagascar: The genesis of the Ambalavao and Maevarano Suites

Abstract

The East African Orogen involves a collage of Proterozoic microcontinents and arc terranes that became wedged between older cratonic blocks during the assembly of Gondwana. The Ediacaran–Cambrian Ambalavao and Maevarano Suites in Madagascar were emplaced during the waning orogenic stages and consist of weakly deformed to undeformed plutonic rocks and dykes of mainly porphyritic granite but also gabbro, diorite and charnockite. U-Pb geochronological data date emplacement of the Ambalavao Suite to between ca. 580 Ma and 540 Ma and the Maevarano Suite to between ca. 537 Ma and 522 Ma. Major and trace element concentrations are consistent with emplacement in a syn- to post-collisional tectonic setting as A-type (anorogenic) suites. Oxygen (δ18O of 5.27‰–7.45‰) and hafnium (εHf(t) of –27.8 to –12.3) isotopic data from plutons in the Itremo and Antananarivo Domains are consistent with incorporation of an ancient crustal source. More primitive δ18O (5.27‰–5.32‰) and εHf(t) (+0.0 to +0.2) isotopic values recorded in samples collected from the Ikalamavony Domain demonstrate the isotopic variation of basement sources present in the Malagasy crust. The Hf isotopic composition of Malagasy zircon are unlike more juvenile Ediacaran–Cambrian zircon sources elsewhere in the East African Orogen and, as such, Madagascar represents a distinct and identifiable detrital zircon source region in Phanerozoic sedimentary provenance studies. Taken together, these data indicate that high-T crustal anatexis, crustal assimilation and interaction of crustal material with mantle-derived melts were the processes operating during magma emplacement. This magmatism was coeval with polyphase deformation throughout Madagascar during the amalgamation of Gondwana and magmatism is interpreted to reflect lithospheric delamination of an extensive orogenic plateau.