Centre for Research on Magmatic Ore Deposits, Department of Geology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa; Department of Geoscience, Australian Museum, 6 College St, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia; PRISE, Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
Graham, I.T., Centre for Research on Magmatic Ore Deposits, Department of Geology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa, Department of Geoscience, Australian Museum, 6 College St, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia; De Waal, S.A., Centre for Research on Magmatic Ore Deposits, Department of Geology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa; Armstrong, R.A., PRISE, Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
The Schurwedraai alkali granite is one of a number of prominent ultramafic-mafic and felsic intrusions in the Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic sub-vertical supracrustal collar rocks of the Vredefort Dome, South Africa. The alkali granite intruded the Neoarchaean Witwatersrand Supergroup and has a peralkaline to peraluminous composition. A new zircon SHRIMP crystallization age of 2052 ± 14 Ma for the Schurwedraai alkali granite places it statistically before the Vredefort impact event at 2023 ± 4 Ma and within the accepted emplacement interval of 2050-2060 Ma of the Bushveld magmatic event. The presence of the alkali granite and associated small ultramafic-mafic intrusions in the Vredefort collar rocks extends the southern extremity of Bushveld-related intrusions to some 120 km south of Johannesburg and about 150 km south of the current outcrop area of the Bushveld Complex. The combined effect of these ultramafic-mafic and felsic bodies may have contributed to a pronouncedly steep pre-impact geothermal gradient in the Vredefort area, and to the amphibolite-grade metamorphism observed in the supracrustal collar rocks of the Vredefort Dome. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.