U-Pb SHRIMP ages and tectonic setting of the Munster Suite of the Margate Terrane of the Natal Metamorphic Belt

New U-Pb Zircon SHRIMP ages of 1091 +/- 7.1 Ma and 1093.1 +/- 5.8 Ma have been determined for two discrete phases of the Munster Suite. The Munster Suite is a calc-alkaline mafic to intermediate suite of intrusive igneous rocks that form part of the southern-most tectonic Terrane of the Mesoproterozoic-aged Natal Metamorphic Belt. Previously published geochemical data indicate that the discrete phases of the Suite are consanguineous and that these rocks originated within an oceanic island arc environment. The new age determinations now show that the different phases are also coeval. Moreover, the ages also indicate that the intrusions were, within statistical error, coeval with S-type granites within the Terrane. This is interpreted to indicate that magmatic underplating provided both the magma by way of a number of progressively more evolved pulses to produce the Munster Suite, as well as the heat necessary for crustal melting to produce the S-type granites within an island arc environment. Therefore, these new age determinations indicate a period of crustal growth at circa 1090 Ma. This moreover, is a maximum constraint on the age of the northward-verging structures within the Margate Terrane. (C) 2008 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.