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Archaean zircons in Miocene oceanic hotspot rocks establish ancient continental crust beneath Mauritius

Author

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  • Lewis D. Ashwal

    (School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand)

  • Michael Wiedenbeck

    (School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand
    Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Telegrafenberg)

  • Trond H. Torsvik

    (School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand
    Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Telegrafenberg
    Center for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED), University of Oslo
    Geodynamics, Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse (NGU))

Abstract

A fragment of continental crust has been postulated to underlie the young plume-related lavas of the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius based on the recovery of Proterozoic zircons from basaltic beach sands. Here we document the first U–Pb zircon ages recovered directly from 5.7 Ma Mauritian trachytic rocks. We identified concordant Archaean xenocrystic zircons ranging in age between 2.5 and 3.0 Ga within a trachyte plug that crosscuts Older Series plume-related basalts of Mauritius. Our results demonstrate the existence of ancient continental crust beneath Mauritius; based on the entire spectrum of U–Pb ages for old Mauritian zircons, we demonstrate that this ancient crust is of central-east Madagascar affinity, which is presently located ∼700 km west of Mauritius. This makes possible a detailed reconstruction of Mauritius and other Mauritian continental fragments, which once formed part of the ancient nucleus of Madagascar and southern India.

Suggested Citation

  • Lewis D. Ashwal & Michael Wiedenbeck & Trond H. Torsvik, 2017. "Archaean zircons in Miocene oceanic hotspot rocks establish ancient continental crust beneath Mauritius," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14086
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14086
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