Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293

www.elsevier.com/locate/jafrearsci

Neoproterozoic subductions and differential exhumation of western

Hoggar (southwest Algeria): new structural, petrological
and geochronological evidence
a,* b
Renaud Caby , Patrick Moni
e
a
Laboratoire de Tectonophysique, UMR 5568, Universit
e de Montpellier 2, 34095 Montpellier II, CNRS-UM2,
Place Eugene Bataillon (Case 049), 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
b
Laboratoire Dynamique de la Lithosphere––UMR 5573, Universit
e de Montpellier 2, 34095 Montpellier II,
Place Eugene Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
Received 8 November 2001; accepted 20 January 2003

Abstract
The western terranes exposed east of the Pan-African suture in western Hoggar (southwest Algeria), are reexamined in the light
of new structural, petrologic and by the 40 Ar/39 Ar laser probe data on metamorphic micas and amphiboles. To the north, the
Tassendjanet nappe includes the Paleoproterozoic basement, its Mesoproterozoic cover and mafic rocks representing the roots of a
ca. 680 Ma arc overlain by Late Neoproterozoic andesites and volcanic greywackes. The nappe preserved at rather shallow crustal
level in the east was emplaced southward (D1a ) to southeastward (D2 ). In the south, two metamorphic suites are distinguished. The
Tideridjaouine–Tileouine high-pressure metamorphic belt (T ¼ 550–600
C, P ¼ 1:4–1:8 GPa) represents a slab of subducted
continental material exposed along the western edge of the In Ouzzal granulite unit interpreted as a microcontinent. Differential
exhumation of tectonic slices from the high-pressure belt occurred around 615–600 Ma through a system of west-directed recumbent
folds (D1b ). The Egatalis high grade belt in the west was intruded by syn-metamorphic gabbro–norite bodies. It includes unret-
rogressed low-pressure granulite facies rocks (T around 750–800
C, P 6 0:45 GPa) cooled at a rate of 15
/m.y. between 600 and 580
Ma, and followed by the emplacement of several late-kinematic granitic plutons. Final exhumation of the low-pressure, high-
temperature metamorphic rocks, that are not found as pebbles in the molasse, took place in the Late Cambrian. The early and
relatively fast cooling of the high-pressure and high-temperature metamorphic rocks of the southern part of the Tassendjanet terrane
is at variance with the slow cooling of central Hoggar where repeated magmatic activity as young as Late Cambrian occurred [Lithos
45 (1998) 245].
 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
40
Keywords: Hoggar; High-pressure metamorphism; Subduction; Ar/39 Ar geochronology; Neoproterozoic; Tectonics

1. Introduction 2003, this issue). In Algeria, the eastern part of this

The western part of the Trans-Saharan belt is exposed
in the Tuareg shield from southwest Algeria to northern
Mali (Fig. 1). This longitudinal domain that has been
mapped in detail in NW Hoggar (Caby, 1970) and later
in Mali (Fabre et al., 1982) represents the western terr-
anes of the Tuareg shield distinguished by Black et al.
(1994). The structure and complex geodynamic evolu-
tion of northern Mali have been described in several
papers (Fabre et al., 1982 and references therein; Caby,
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +33-67-14-39-47; fax: +33-67-52-39-08.
E-mail addresses: caby@dstu.univ-montp2.fr, caby@babouin.dstu.
univ-montp2.fr (R. Caby).
longitudinal domain includes the In Ouzzal granulite
unit (IOGU) in the east, which is a lithospheric block
nearly free of Pan-African tectono-metamorphic imprint
(Caby, 1970, 1996 and references therein) and its related
subsiding Proterozoic passive paleocontinental margin
exposed in the Ahnet region (Moussine-Pouchkine et al.,
1988). In northern Mali, the major part of the conti-
nental Kidal terrane is floored by Paleoproterozoic
basement overlain by metamorphic cover sequences,
metavolcanic rocks and cut by abundant pre-kinematic
intrusive bodies, all affected by lower amphibolite facies
metamorphism and anatexis (Fabre et al., 1982;
Champenois et al., 1987), and a subduction-and colli-
sion-related composite batholith (Li
egeois et al., 1987).

0899-5362/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2003.01.001
270 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293
Fig. 1. Simplified geological map of the western part of the Tuareg
shield. Inset: Tuareg shield in Northwestern Africa.
The structures and geodynamic evolution of the south-
west Algerian segment depicted in the 700 (Caby, 1970)
are reexamined in the light of new geochemical and
petrostructural data coupled with new 40 Ar/39 Ar ages on
metamorphic minerals from two distinct metamorphic
suites with contrasted P =T evolutions. This and addi-
Fig. 2. Geological map of Northwestern Hoggar (after Caby, 1970, modified).
tional structural data allow to reevaluate the respective
role of subduction, nappe emplacement, transpression
and transtension leading to the final exhumation of the
thickened crust comprising both reworked basement
and abundant juvenile material.
2. Lithostratigraphy and pre-collisional events in western
Hoggar and northern Mali after 2 Ga
Large areas floored by reworked Archean and Pa-
leoproterozoic basement that were stabilised around 2
Ga have been identified in the western terranes (Fig. 1):
the Iforas Granulite Unit (UGI, Boullier, 1982; Lancelot
et al., 1976); the Kidal terrane (Champenois et al., 1987)
and the Tassendjanet basement (Fig. 2).
2.1. Late Paleoproterozoic rocks
The oldest monometamorphic metasedimentary
rocks are never observed in contact with inliers of
polycyclic basement. These rocks comprise both in
western Hoggar and in northern Mali orthoquartzites
with conglomeratic horizons and aluminous metapelites
of a total thickness of several thousands of meters.
Metarhyolites, metaporphyries and subalkaline ortho-
gneisses (Dostal et al., 1979) with few sills of alkaline
metagabbro record a Late Paleoproterozoic (1.7–1.8
Ga) rifting stage well known in other parts of western
 R. Caby, P. Moni
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Gondwana (Caby and Andreopoulos-Renaud, 1983).
This supergroup is correlated with similar non-
metamorphic quartzites of the Ahnet region that rep-
resent a ca. 10 km deltaic accumulation on the passive
margin of the IOGU (Moussine-Pouchkine et al., 1988).
In the latter area, undated alkaline basalts and rhyolites
also record the rifting stage. Post-rift sedimentary suc-
cession begin with a second quartzitic group deposited
after strong erosion of lavas and associated subvolcanic
magmatic rocks.
2.2. Mesoproterozoic (?) rocks
The overlying metasedimentary rocks are dominated
by carbonates rich in stromatolitic horizons (Stromato-
lite series) that rest above pebbly quartzites correlated
with the post-rift cycle defined above. The age of this
formation is still uncertain (Late Paleoproterozoic or
Mesoproterozoic (Bertrand-Sarfati et al., 1987). In the
Tassendjanet area, the succession is represented by
carbonates, shales and quartzites accumulated over a
thickness of more than 6000 m in a subsident pericra-
tonic area floored by the 2.1 Ga granitic Tassendjanet
basement (Bertrand-Sarfati et al., 1987). The carbonates
unconformably overlie subalkaline rhyolites of assumed
Late Paleoproterozoic age only north of the Ougda
Complex (Fig. 2). Similar stromatolitic carbonates are
also known in northern Mali (Fabre et al., 1982) where
they contain locally abundant microfossils of assumed
Paleoproterozoic age (Amard, 1983). In central Hoggar
(Iskel terrane) the same succession is cut by 880 Ma old
pre-kinematic calc-alkaline plutons (Caby et al., 1982).
The possible Mesoproterozoic age of this shelf-type
carbonates is supported by the 1100–1145 Ma Pb–Pb
galena date from a stratabound lead occurrence in
marbles correlative to this succession exposed southeast
of the IOGU (Fariss, 2000).
2.3. Neoproterozoic rocks
During the Late Neoproterozoic, this piece of rifted
and thinned continental crust evolved as an active con-
tinental paleomargin (Caby et al., 1981). The Ougda
mafic complex intruded the stromatolitic carbonates
prior to deformation (Caby, 1987 and references there-
in). It encompasses a large variety of tholeiitic and calc-
alkaline rocks ranging from primitive gabbros and
ultramafic cumulates, to quartz-gabbros, diorites, ton-
alites, granodiorites and mafic dykes (Dostal et al.,
1996). The ultramafic cumulates contain grains of alu-
minous and Cr-poor spinel. These rocks were plastically
deformed at high temperature during their vertical em-
placement and are cut by metagabbroic veins. These
veins are garnet–rutile–pargasite bearing, a meta-
morphic assemblage that may relate to initial magma
271
crystallization in medium-pressure granulite facies
conditions (Dostal et al., 1996). The Ar–Ar data pre-
sented below document cooling of this complex before
680 Ma.
2.4. Late Neoproterozoic rocks
Late Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks deposited
west of the IOGU unconformably above the Neopro-
terozoic sedimentary succession and plutonic rocks
described above are essentially represented by turbiditic
volcanic greywackes and plutonic-pebble conglomer-
ates (Green series) labelled here the Neoproterozoic
volcanic-volcaniclastic Group (NVVG). Nearly all the
material is derived from the erosion of calc-alkaline
lavas and plutonic rocks. Sedimentation was synchro-
nous with calc-alkaline volcanism represented east of
the Tassendjanet basement nappe by up to 6000 m of
pyroclastic rocks and lavas ranging in composition
from early basaltic andesites to andesites and younger
dacites representing a typical calc-alkaline suite
(Chikhaoui et al., 1978; Chikhaoui et al., 1980). The In
Ziza synclinorium, south of the Tassendjanet Nappe
(Fig. 4a,b) is composed of turbiditic greywackes, of a
total thickness of several thousands of meters and may
represent trough deposits. Intercalated on top occur ho-
rizons and masses of metaconglomerates and polymict
breccias embedded in a greywacke matrix. This very de-
formed unit has been tentatively regarded as a glacio-
marine formation or a kinematic deposit. In the north,
the greywackes rest above mafic/ultramafic rocks and
in the south they overlie in unconformity amphibolites
and marbles correlated with the Stromatolite series.
Another tightly folded and sheared basin of NVVG is
exposed southwest of Ouallen (Fig. 3). It encompasses
non-turbiditic metagreywackes, plutonic-pebble con-
glomerates, volcanic complexes comprising amygdal
basalts, dacitoids and subvolcanic rocks, all intruded by
various plutons. A large amount of pre-metamorphic
dioritic to granodioritic plutons with syn-plutonic mafic
and felsic dyke swarms intruded the series prior to de-
formation. This igneous complex is labelled here the pre-
collisional Tanezrouft magmatic arc. The sigmoidal
shape of the dykes is suggestive of sinistral transten-
sional regime during their emplacement, unless the
shape is due to the superposed Pan-African deforma-
tion. This magmatic arc is located only 50 km east of the
major positive gravimetric anomalies that delineate the
Pan-African suture (Rechenmann, 1973, Figs. 1 and 2).
The Tanezrouft arc is apparently rooted by continental
crust as shown by slices of migmatitic granodioritic
basement gneisses and marbles between the dykes in the
south.
This lithostratigraphic–paleogeographic scenario is
thus similar to that documented in northern Mali (Caby,
1987 and references therein), where the deposition of
272 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293
Fig. 3. Geological sketch map of the Tanezouft dyke complex (after
Caby, 1970).
similar volcanic greywackes of the NVVG, mixed with
some terrigeneous material, took place between 700 and
635 Ma (Caby and Andreopoulos-Renaud, 1985).
Docking of the Tilemsi intraoceanic arc terrane (730–
720 Ma) along the active continental paleomargin in
northern Mali took place around 635 Ma (Caby, 1989).
However, the geodynamic picture reconstructed for NW
Hoggar indicates, west of the IOGU, a trough (The In
Ziza synclinorium) and two arcs (the Ouallen magmatic
arc and the Ougda/Tassendjanet andesitic arc). The
collision-related main Pan-African deformation and
metamorphism in the western terranes was coeval with
the emplacement of syn-kinematic tonalite-granodiorite
plutons. In northern Mali, this event took place at 620
Ma, as demonstrated by the U–Pb zircon age of a early
syn-kinematic tonalite (Caby and Andreopoulos-
Renaud, 1989).
A subduction context is clearly established in north-
ern Mali by docking of the Tilemsi intraoceanic arc
along the active continental paleomargin at about 635
Ma (Caby, 1989). West of the suture in the same area,
part of the innermost non-volcanic passive continental
paleomargin of the west African craton was subducted
to ca. 100 km depth and affected by high-pressure and
ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism at 620 Ma (Caby,
1994; Jahn et al., 2001).
3. Tectono-metamorphic domains and overview of the syn-
kinematic magmatism in northwestern Hoggar
Detailed mapping of the investigated area at the scale
of 1/50.000 and 1/200.000 (Caby, unpublished work) has
shown that the architecture of the westernmost part of
Hoggar (Tassendjanet terrane, Fig. 2) is characterized in
the north by nappe tectonics (Caby, 1970). Early re-
cumbent structures of the Tassendjanet nappe have been
refolded by N–S folds that represent the main stage of
deformation in the south. Post-metamorphic strike-slip
tectonics in part predating the opening of late-orogenic
molassic basins, obscured the general structure. It re-
sulted in a tectonic puzzle of variably uplifted and lat-
erally displaced crustal blocks delimited by steep
mylonitic zones that merge into the west IOGU sinistral
shear zone (Fig. 2).
3.1. Shallow upright folding of the Tanezrouft magmatic
arc
One single phase of NNW trending tight folds with
associated steep axial planar greenschist facies cleavage
(chlorite, epidote) is observed in the Neoproterozoic
metavolcanic rocks and metagreywackes west of Oual-
len (Fig. 3). The pre-kinematic plutons were overprinted
by a low-temperature cataclastic to mylonitic greens-
chist facies cleavage. Steeply dipping and curved fold
axes have been identified in the NVVG west of Ouallen.
Almost vertical stretching of rigid pebbles from matrix-
supported metaconglomerates indicates vertical shear-
ing, thus differential uplift and no strike–slip movement
along some major shear zones which, curiously, were
not reactivated in Phanerozoic times, at variance with
the overal strike–slip character of most shear zones from
the studied area.
The syn-kinematic Tanezrouft dyke swarm (Fig. 3) is
exposed 30 km south–southwest of Ouallen. The felsic
dykes encompass alkaline to peralkaline, mostly aphyric
rhyolites, microgranites, syenites, nepheline syenites
cutting dolerite dyke country rocks (Dostal et al., 1979).
The sigmoidal shape of the swarm may indicate syn- to
late-magmatic deformation of the dykes in agreement
with the high-temperature viscous deformation observed
in most plutonic rocks cut by undeformed pegmatoid
facies. In this respect, uncommon nepheline gneisses are
derived from high-temperature shearing of nepheline
syenite. Mylonitic rhyolitic dykes were deformed after
magma freezing and display steeply-dipping fold axes,
thus also indicating predominant vertical stretching co-
eval with that observed in the arc sequence in the north.
Rarely exposed biotite–andalusite–cordierite pelitic
hornfelses document the very low-pressure thermal au-
reoles of this plutono-volcanic complex. The lack of any
low-temperature retrogression from these hornfelses
suggests that this dyke complex may belong to the late
 R. Caby, P. Moni
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kinematic Pan-African alkaline family and comparable
in age with the Tin Zebbane dyke complex described
later.
3.2. Southeast-verging Tassendjanet Nappe
The basement nappe (Fig. 4a,b) includes the 2.1 Ga
Tassendjanet granite cutting a metamorphic supracru-
stal sequence of assumed Paleoproterozoic age that
comprises metaquartzites, schists, marbles, felsic meta-
volcanic rocks and amphibolites. The unconformable,
and in part undetached P 6 km-thick Stromatolite se-
ries was involved in a system of south- to southeast-
verging to plunging recumbent folds labelled here D1a
(Fig. 4b) coeval with only incipient cleavage (illite and
chlorite in metashales) in the east. The constant east-
ward axial plunge of the recumbent folds allows to ob-
serve deeper crustal levels westward, where the biotite,
garnet, staurolite and sillimanite isograds have been
mapped (Caby, 1970). This prograde metamorphic suite
in fact relates to a thermal aureole of a K-rich monzo-
diorite ballooning intrusion that is rimmed by a <150 m-
wide ring of protomylonitic granulites. To the south the
parautochthons terrains of the nappe are represented by
metagreywackes displaying greenschist facies recumbent
cleavage coeval with south-verging isoclinal folds (D1a ).
The occurrence of klippen in the southeast of the
Tassendjanet Nappe (Gour Raoua, Fig. 4a), and of
Fig. 4. Tectonic map (a) and synthetic geological profile (b) of the
Tassendjanet nappe (after Caby, 1970, modified).
273
windows of the turbiditic greywackes in the northeast,
coupled with the southeastward kinematic indicators
allows to stress that the Tassendjanet nappe was dis-
placed more than 50 km to the SE above turbidites of
the NVVG (Fig. 4b). On another hand, the very soft
behavior of metagreywackes from the NVVG, com-
pared to the features observed in shales of the Stro-
matolite series devoid of small-scale folds, suggests that
deformation may have affected unconsolidated turbi-
dites. If this was the case, the chaotic formation (Fig. 2)
with a greywacke matrix that comprises blocks of car-
bonates and quartzite several tens of meters in size could
represent an olistostrom.
3.3. West-verging recumbent folds and the emplacement
of syn-kinematic plutons in the In Ziza synclinorium
In the north, the early recumbent cleavage related to
the former southern extension of the Tassendjanet
Nappe is progressively overprinted and refolded by N–S
folds labelled here D2 that form the synclinorium. The
upright folds in the east, gradually change to recumbent
folds in the west (Fig. 5). Overall stretching lineations
trend N–S, thus arguing that closure of the basin took
place under sinistral transpressive regime, in agreement
with the trend of D2 folds at deeper crustal level in the
southeast. Further kinematic data are however required
to test this kinematic interpretation. Southward tem-
perature and pressure increase is documented by the
appearance of green biotite, blue-green amphiboles and
rare garnet in metagreywackes, whereas kyanite-phen-
gite assemblages are recorded in underlying Lower
Paleoproterozoic metapelites and quartzites. Further
temperature increase downward and westward in the
greywacke succession is documented approaching the
Tin ed Ehou synkinematic diorite-granodiorite pluton
(Fig. 5) around which crystallized green hornblende,
coarse non oriented brown biotite and andesine in meta-
greywackes. Though refractory metaconglomeratic ho-
rizons are still recognizable, lower amphibolite facies
conditions and partial melting in greywackes are re-
corded towards the root of the pluton to the west and its
northern tip. The pluton presents the geometry of a flat
sheet rooted in the east and involved in syn-magmatic
flow folds fringed by a ca. 250 m-thick envelope of
metatexites and diatexites in the north. A km sized slice
of kyanite–andalusite–rutile metaquartzite (sample
K.491) is exposed close to the margin of the Tin ed Ehou
granodiorite. Both Al-silicates are in perfect textural
equilibrium, suggesting that the pluton intruded the In
Ziza synclinorium at about 0.45 GPa. A marked low-
angle igneous foliation occurs in granodiorite, tonalite,
diorite and granite. The more mafic terms with an
isotropic fabric include mafic tonalite and lenses of two-
pyroxene biotite-rich diorite of apparently high-K calc-
alkaline affinities, and stocks of olivine gabbro. The
274 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293

W Tideridjaouine
High-pressure belt (ca. 1.5 GPa) E
Egatalis LP-HT domain († 0.4 GPa) 615 -600 Ma
600- 580 Ma

Turbiditic Tin ed Ehou West UGI

Egatalis W shear zone
A Egatalis
metagreywackes
(NVVG)
Synkinematic pluton
B
Molassic basin In Ziza
caldeira

?
IOGU
Diatexites

a Molasse Undifferentiated
b Volcanic rocks Green series
gneisses & diatexites
b
Late Paleoproterozoic Paleoproterozoic
Late kinematic 25 km
granite Metasedimentary rocks granulites
& orthogneisses (horizontal = vertical scale)

Fig. 5. Synthetic EW geological profile across the study area.

gradual transition from metatexite to diatexite and to

foliated granodiorite with pendants of anatectic meta-
greywackes is observed in the north. Such gradational
contacts, and the similar geochemical signature of
metagreywackes and igneous rocks suggest in situ
magma collection (Caby, 1970). The root of the pluton
in the northwest corresponds to a continuous gently
east-dipping layer of mylonitic sillimanite and K-feld-
spar-bearing metaquartzite considered to delineate a
syn- to late-magmatic thrust. Its southern tip rests hori-
zontally above staurolite schists and quartzites equiva-
lent to the phengite–kyanite rocks of the high-pressure
metamorphic suite described in Section 4.1.

3.4. Isoclinal folding synchronous with high-pressure

metamorphism along the IOGU

A discontinuous lithotectonic unit entirely made up

of Late Paleoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks and
orthogneisses is exposed west of the IOGU (Fig. 2). The
Tideridjaouine and Tin Zebbane ridges (Figs. 2 and 5)
represent accumulations of metaquartzites affected by
recumbent to isoclinal folds coeval with high-pressure,
medium-temperature metamorphism. The axial surface
cleavage of the early folds here labelled D1b is defined
in metaquartzites by phengitic mica and kyanite.
Overturned cross-bedding indicate the existence of pluri-
hectometric in size inverted limbs of west- to northwest-
verging isoclinal folds (Fig. 6a,b). Early stretching
lineations are poorly defined due to the common
spherolithic habitus of kyanite in quartzites and to
overprinting by D2 deformation. D2 folds coeval with
those observed in the overlying NVVG also display a
vergence to the west (Fig. 6c). Steeply plunging pluri-
kilometre size folds are observed in the southern end of
the Tideridjaouine ridge. Part of these late folds with
Fig. 6. Style of the Pan-African deformation in metaquartzites. West-
verging recumbent D1b folds in the Tideridjaouine (a) and In Tassak
(b) areas. (c) Superposition of D2 west-verging folds on D1b isoclinal
folds. (d) Superposition of D3 upright folds in retrogressed kyanite
quartzites affected by D1b –D2 folds (northern Tideridjaouine ridge). (e)
Refolded folds, Egatalis west. Note the sillimanite cleavage cutting fold
limbs. (f) Section of sheath folds in the Tileouine quartzites.
curved axes evolve to sheath folds and are located along
a major strike–slip shear zone (Fig. 2).
The Tileouine area (Figs. 2 and 7) represents an
east-dipping wedge of sillimanite metaquartzites, quartz-
schists, marbles, calc-silicate gneisses and K-rich
 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293
Fig. 7. Geological map of the Tileouine area. White arrows indicate
the lateral expulsion of crustal blocks during the northward motion of
the IOGU.
allanite-fluorite orthogneisses. The metasedimentary
seriments are intermingled with amphibolites, lenses of
retrogressed eclogites and a ca. 500 m-thick slab of
schistose serpentinites, all the mafic rocks being possibly
derived from a sill complex. The metasedimentary rocks
were affected by late west-verging folds displaying gently
east-dipping axial planes and common geometry of
sheath folds (Fig. 6f). Such fold geometry suggests
continuous deformation at decreasing pressure during
west-directed tectonic transport, as shown later by the
successive metamorphic assemblages.
The Taoudrart ridge in the northern part of the
studied area (Fig. 2) also encompasses isoclinally folded
kyanite–sillimanite metaquartzites adjacent to a dome of
non-anatectic alkaline orthogneisses and metarhyolites.
3.5. Upright folding in the high-temperature Egatalis
domain
The Egatalis tectono-metamorphic domain (Fig. 2) is
made up of two blocks of similar composition and
metamorphic grade (East and West Egatalis) separated
by a molassic graben. The Egatalis rocks include meta-
texites of variable composition (amphibolitic, semi-
pelitic, calc-silicates, garnet-rich, etc.). Slightly anatectic
275
metasediments include metaquartzites and thick marble
horizons tentatively correlated with limestones and
dolomites from the Stromatolite Series. Layered alkaline
orthogneisses of assumed Late Paleoproterozoic age are
only affected by incipient anatexis. They form large
masses frequently rimmed by orthoquartzites. No evi-
dence for polymetamorphic rocks that could represent a
reworked basement has been found. N–S trending open
to very tight, upright folds with nearly horizontal axes
(D3 ) formed at high temperature. The foliation defined
by sillimanite is in fact a late fabric (Fig. 6e). The min-
eral and stretching lineations are ill-defined due to
overall post-kinematic mineral growth (common
spherolitic habitus of fibrolite) and annealing responsi-
ble for near isotropic coarse grained (P0.5 cm) fabrics
of most rocks. A late-metamorphic gabbro–troctolite
body formed entirely by dykes cutting across the vertical
foliation of metasedimentary gneisses may have been in
part associated with the end of high grade conditions.
4. Characteristics of regional metamorphism
The metamorphic suites distinguished by Caby (1970)
on the basis of a study of about 1200 thin sections have
been reinvestigated in order to obtain P–T estimates on
a few typomorphic mineral assemblages. The results are
summarized in Fig. 11 and Table 1.
4.1. High-pressure metamorphic suite
Tideridjaouine area. The prograde character of
metamorphism is known east of the 2
dextral shear
zone where some isograds have been roughly mapped
(Caby, 1970). Kyanite associated with phengitic mica is
observed in aluminous haematitic quartzites and quartz-
schists, inclusions of prismatic rutile being ubiquitous in
all minerals. The association chloritoid–kyanite–rutile
has been observed in a Fe–Mg white mica quartz-schist,
the Al silicate being included in chloritoid. Primary bi-
otite has not been observed in any metasedimentary
rock of the chlorite zone. Further west, a P 500 m-thick
metapelitic formation hardly exposed out in plains
covered by terraces indicates higher temperature con-
ditions. Fe–Mg quartz-poor to quartz-free metapelites
contain staurolite in equilibrium with kyanite, garnet
and Mg chlorite. Late biotite overgrowing the S2 cren-
ulation cleavage indicates T increase possibly related to
adjacent gabbro–dioritic intrusions.
Several samples of coarse-grained micaschists from
poorly exposed outcrops in the south allow to better
constrain the pressure-temperature conditions of this
domain. K353.1, a ca. 50 cm-thick massive quartz-rich
layer displays the assemblage garnet, staurolite (XFe ¼
0:825), kyanite, phengite (Si 3.30), plagioclase and Mg
chlorite. Garnet cores have preserved a relict cleavage
276 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293
Table 1
P–T estimates for metamorphic rocks from northwest Hoggar (explanations in text)
Sample Conditions
Tideridjaouine/Tileouine/Tin Zebbane high-pressure suite
K353.1 metapelite Prograde
Peak pressure
K548 metapelite Eclogitic
K548.4 eclogite T Max
K549 eclogite Eclogitic
Decompression
Egatalis/In Tassak low-pressure, high-temperature suite
K312 intrusive gabbro Solidus
C106 metapelite Prograde
Anatexis
L154 metapelite
defined by minute prismatic rutile. Rare kyanite and
chloritoid inclusions (XFe ¼ 0:71) are only observed to-
wards the cores, whereas staurolite is present in outer
domains and matrix, in textural equilibrium with Mg
chlorite (Fig. 8a). Prismatic rutile is partly replaced by
ilmenite, euhedral kyanite and staurolite prisms in the
matrix are in contact with garnet and chlorite without
any sign of destabilisation (Fig. 8b). K353.6, an adjacent
sample shows the development of biotite in contact with
garnet rims, but all stages of isomorphic replacement of
biotite by Mg chlorite can be observed. In another ad-
jacent garnet and plagioclase-free massive sample
(K353.7), staurolite, biotite, white mica and Mg chlorite
are in perfect textural equilibrium. We therefore con-
sider that chloritoid grew during the prograde stage at
T 6 550
C during garnet growth and that the other
phases relate to near-peak temperature conditions.
Following the petrogenetic grid of Spear (1993), the
assemblage of sample K353.1 suggests pressures of
about 1.2–1.4 GPa. Considering that all minerals are in
equilibrium, the calculation program of Powell and
Holland (1998) gives for this sample T ¼ 562  17 to
587 ± 29
C and P ¼ 0:83–0.87 GPa, respectively for
compositions of garnet domains close to both chloritoid
and staurolite (alm 64 pyr 23 gro 9 spe 4). This value
may represent the prograde conditions. Adjacent sample
K353.6 gives T ¼ 486
C and P ¼ 1:36  0:34 GPa.
These two preliminary estimates (J.R. Ki
enast, unpub-
lished results) may suggest non equilibrium assemblages
due to variable XH2 O . The higher pressure value could be
regarded as overestimated since rare associated meta-
morphosed igneous mafic rocks (sills) display the as-
semblage actinolite, chlorite, carbonate and clinozoisite,
with small relics of garnet and zoisite. However he dis-
covery of retrogressed eclogites reported below indicates
that the above assemblage should be considered as the
product of low-temperature retrogression.
Tin Zebbane el Kahla area. Coarse grained metaqu-
artzites contain white mica and prismatic rutile. Kyanite
up to several centimeters is associated with white mica in
Paragenesis T (
C) P (GPa)
Gt Ctd Ky St Mg Chl Rut 562–587 0.83–0.87
Gt St Ky Ph Bi P500 1.36
Gt Cpx1 Zois Rut P1.5
Cpx2 Gt Opx Pl Ilm 800
Cpx1 Zois Ky Rut P1.8
Cpx2 Amph Bi Ilm P600
Opx Cpx Amph Pl 910
St And Bi Spi Cor 550 0.5
Gt Crd Bi And Sill K-felds P750 0.45
Opx Amp Pl Crd Ilm 700–800 0.5
peraluminous metapelites. Most of the kyanite is re-
placed by aggregates of secondary white micas, indi-
cating low-temperature retrogression.
Retrogressed eclogites. Garnet–rutile–zoisite-bearing
amphibolites have been collected from a ca. 10 m-thick
lens derived from a pre-metamorphic sill intruding
metaquartzites west of the Tin Zebbane el Kahla ridge.
The least amphibolitised sample K548 displays abun-
dant symplectites and minute grains of pale green sec-
ondary clinopyroxene, green to pale brown amphibole
and plagioclase, thus suggesting the replacement of
a former abundant (ca. P 30%) and most probably
jadeite-rich omphacitic pyroxene. Secondary clinopy-
roxene minute grains contain up to 2.93 wt.% Na2 O (J.R
Ki
enast, personal communication). Zoisite is present
in adjacent samples. Pressures of P1.5 GPa may be as-
sumed for the eclogitic stage. Almandine garnet inher-
ited from the eclogitic assemblage still contains
abundant rutile inclusions, but their rims are in equi-
librium with amphibole and secondary pyroxene, thus
suggesting the recrystallization of garnet outer domains.
Veinlets filled by actinolite, chlorite and pistacite relate
to minor greenschist facies retrogression and fluid infil-
tration. K548.4, a very fine-grained (0.2–0.5 mm) and
quartz-rich garnet pyroxenite shows the late blastesis of
orthopyroxene grains surrounding amphiboles. Pre-
liminary calculations (Fettous, 2001; K. Ouzegane,
personal communication) suggest temperature increase
up to T ¼ 800
C during decompression. We interpret
such surprisingly high-temperature assemblage consis-
tent with high-pressure granulite facies conditions as an
overprinted thermal aureole produced by the intrusion
of the adjacent layered gabbro–troctolite–anorthosite
complex.
Tileouine sub-domain. White mica and sillimanite as-
semblages occur in metaquartzites, muscovite-rich
schists and quartz-schists. Rare Fe–Mg biotite meta-
pelites contain relict squeletal staurolite included in both
plagioclase and white mica. Late to post-kinematic
fibrolitic nodules may represent pseudomorphs after
 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293 277

Fig. 8. (a) Tideridjaouine metapelites (sample K353.1): inclusions of chloritoid (Ctd) and staurolite (St) in garnet (Gt), surrounded by chlorite and
phengite (Ph). (b) Staurolite and kyanite (Ky) in contact with Mg chlorite (Chl) and garnet (Gt) displaying rutile (Rut) inclusions. (c) Eclogite from
the Tileouine area (sample M549A). Garnet is surrounded by a symplectitic corona (Symp 1) of secondary clinopyroxene and amphibole. Barroisitic
amphibole (Am) and omphacitic pyroxene (Omp) with kyanite inclusions (Ky) mark the foliation. (d) Enlarged kyanite inclusion rimmed by an inner
dark symplectitic halo and with an external corona of plagioclase. (e) In Tassak anatectic metapelite (sample C106): fresh twinned cordierite (Crd)
with inclusions of green spinel (Spi) and sillimanite (Sill), in contact with garnet with biotite (Bt) and ilmenite (Ilm) inclusions. (f) L154 metapelite
from the southern Egatalis area: blasts of pink orthopyroxene (Opx) in equilibrium with Mg-cordierite (Crd) and Mg-rich biotite.

kyanite. Garnet-free amphibolites contain green to pale
brown amphiboles. Retrogressed eclogites have been
sampled from a ca. 15 m-thick lens that may be derived
from a sill interlayered with metasediments and adjacent
to K-rich layered subalkaline orthogneisses. M549.2 is a
massive garnet-rich rock (grain size < 0.5 mm) contain-
ing ca. vol. 30% of garnet around which a symplectitic
corona of amphibole–plagioclase formed during the
blastesis of green hornblende with pale cores. Abundant
symplectites of secondary clinopyroxene and amphibole
are present. Greenish veinlets and patches, up to some
centimeters thick, are chiefly made up of symplectitic
clinopyroxene, plagioclase and green amphibole that
may derive from omphacite veins and segregates. Ad-
jacent sample M549A is a less retrogressed eclogite
displaying a strong L–S fabric. The plano-linear fabric is
defined by elongate barroisitic amphibole, rarely pre-
served primary omphacitic clinopyroxene, quartz, fresh
prismatic rutile, secondary plagioclase and ca. 40 vol.%
of diverse types of symplectitic secondary clinopyroxene
(Fig. 8c). Some layers a few mm thick are enriched in
two types of symplectitic pseudomorphs. The first type
of brownish color contains few relics of zoisite, and the
second, darker symplectites contain some relics of kya-
nite that is also observed within omphacitic pyroxene
(Fig. 8d). The occurrence of prograde staurolite relics in
278 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293
adjacent metapelites suggests maximum temperature
6 620
C, whereas undeformed secondary sillimanite in
adjacent metapelites suggests decompression at similar
temperatures. The coexistence of kyanite and omphacite
in mafic rocks indicates peak pressure of P 1.8–2.0 GPa
at such temperatures (Holland, 1979). These preliminary
data suggest that the rocks of the Tileouine sub-domain
were subducted to about 60 km depth, suffered near
isothermal decompression down to ca. 0.6 GPa and were
sealed at about 600
C.
Medium-pressure domain and overprint. West of the 2

shear zone low-pressure, medium temperature overprint
is best documented in aluminous quartzites from Tin
Zebbane el Beida (Fig. 5). These aluminous quartzites
are cross-bedded and display ripple marks, detrital
quartz gravels being only moderately recrystallized.
These quartzites are always in a right way-up position
and display a faint refolded east dipping S1 cleavage
defined by white mica. Poikilitic kyanite has replaced the
former probable pyrophyllite matrix in aluminous
quartzites. Kyanite also occurs as cm-size spheroliths
and is also concentrated in veinlets. Southward, anda-
lusite is in textural equilibrium with, or overgrows
kyanite. Fibrolite overprint occurs progressively to the
west mainly as spheroliths in bedding planes from
massive orthoquartzites still displaying preserved high-
angle oblique bedding of assumed fluviatile origin. Ap-
proaching the late-kinematic granitic plutons, fibrolite
crystallization was synchronous with the steep cleavage
axial planar of N–S upright folds (D3 ). A progressive
transition northward to the high grade rocks of the E-
gatalis domain is inferred, though obscured by several
late-kinematic plutons. The rather regional low strain
observed in this sub-domain is at much variance with
the mylonitic fabrics of the Tideridjaouine and Tin
Zebbane el Kahla metaquartzites. The Tin Zebbane el
Be€ıda quartzites obviously did not record the early stage
of syn-high-pressure isoclinal folds. They possibly rep-
resent the foreland above which the higher pressure
metaquartzites with associated retrogressed eclogites
may have been thrusted during the D1b event.
4.2. High-temperature, low-pressure metamorphic suite
(Egatalis–In Tassak)
Metapelites and aluminous quartzites contain K-
feldspar and sillimanite-bearing assemblages and lack
any muscovite. Besides calcareous quartzites associated
with calc-silicate gneisses (clinopyroxene–garnet–
bytownite bearing), a regular 100 m-thick metapelitic
horizon has been identified. The rocks sampled are
coarse grained black metapelites displaying the mineral
assemblage quartz, cordierite, garnet, sillimanite, green
spinel, K-feldspar, plagioclase, ilmenite and graphite.
Adjacent layered alkaline to peralkaline gneisses are
anatectic, with both concordant and discordant veins of
microcline-clinopyroxene ± riebeckite to arfvedsonite
granitoid. Among the common plagioclase amphibolites
interlayered with marbles and calc-silicates, one occur-
rence of garnetiferous amphibolite derived from a two-
pyroxene pyrigarnite has been sampled. Garnet from
this sample shows the development of complex coronas
of symplectitic clinopyroxene, pale-brown amphibole,
epidote and scapolitised plagioclase, whereas orthopy-
roxene is observed in the matrix. Though symplectites of
secondary clinopyroxene are present, the lack of rutile
and quartz, and the presence of plagioclase and titanite
inclusions in garnet preclude that the rock might
represent a retrogressed eclogite. Plugs of fine-grained
sub-isotropic cordierite–garnet granite and leucomonz-
ogranite represent the only syn-metamorphic Pan-
African felsic intrusions in this high grade domain.
In Tassak condensed metamorphic suite. At In Tassak
(Fig. 9), the transition from two mica schists to kinzig-
ites occur over 300 m close to the contact of noritic–
troctolitic gabbro sills. The prograde metamorphism in
the country rocks and the evolution of the mafic igneous
rocks have been studied using about 50 thin sections.
Mafic rocks from the core of the thicker sill display
unaltered ophitic texture. Euhedral zoned calcic pla-
gioclase laths and olivine surrounded by pink ortho-
pyroxene are included in clinopyroxene up to 2 cm long,
the latter being progressively replaced by pargasite.
Other olivine-free samples show weak foliation and
lineation marked by the alignment of ilmenite and
orthopyroxene, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, pargasite
and minor phlogopite. These rocks display a polygonal
texture marking late-magmatic recrystallization of ig-
neous minerals leading to brown and then to green
amphibole assemblages. The rocks close to the margins
of the sill, that are mingled with marbles and calc-silicate
gneisses subjected to metasomatic alterations, are com-
mon plagioclase–ilmenite amphibolites with green to
brown amphiboles. Such igneous rocks are mimetic
from adjacent blackish calc-silicate gneiss displaying the
mineral assemblage quartz, bytownite, diopside, ac-
tionolite, tremolite, epidote and titanite. The purely ig-
neous mineralogy and fabric in the centre of the sill
allow to interpret it as a syn-kinematic/syn-metamorphic
intrusive body. Its nearly undeformed, anhydrous and
non-metamorphic core possibly represents the youngest
magmatic phase fed by channeling dykes, whereas am-
phibolitised rocks from the margins are interpreted as
the result of late-magmatic autometamorphism and
hydration.
We have analyzed a moderately amphibolitised
sample K312 chosen for argon dating that was collected
toward the margins of a sill. It contains elongate poly-
crystalline pink orthopyroxene (XMg ¼ 0:58) surrounded
by diopsidic augite (XCa ¼ 0:46), plagioclase (XCa ¼
0:82) and brown pargasitic amphibole (TiO2 ¼ 1:7–2
wt.%). A temperature of 780
C is obtained on this
 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293 279

Fig. 9. Detailed map of the In Tassak area: (1) metasedimentary succession comprising quartzites (a), metapelites (b) and marbles; (2) alkaline and
peralkaline gneisses (a) and porphyritic gneisses (b); (3) syn-kinematic foliated granodiorite from the sole of the Tin Ed Ehou pluton; (4) Sill complex:
troctolite, norite, and amphibolitised margins; (5) diatexites; (6) syn-kinematic granodiorite sheet; (7) late-kinematic monzogranite; (8) post-kine-
matic granite pluton affected by dextral shear (other lithologies are not distinguished); (9) high-temperature stretching lineation (a) and foliation (b).

sample using the opx–cpx thermometer (Wells, 1977)
and of 910
C using the Blundy and Holland (1990)
amphibole–plagioclase geothermometer. The lower
temperature given by the two-pyroxene geothermometer
may account for severe Fe–Mg exchanges during cool-
ing, whereas the second geothermometer gives a valu-
able figure consistent with the solidus of a noritic
magma.
At a distance of about 300 m (perpendicular to the
walls of the sill), metapelites still contain muscovite and
no K-feldspar, together with plagioclase and greenish
biotite. Euhedral minute garnet (<100 lm) first appears
as euhedral crystals included in plagioclase, and fibrolite
first occurs at grain boundaries of K-feldspar-free as-
semblages. At a distance of about 150 m from the sill,
the assemblage andalusite, sillimanite, biotite and late
cordierite is observed in a garnet-free graphitic metap-
elite affected by incipient anatexis, K-feldspar being
present without muscovite. Cordierite occurs as complex
nodules and millimeter-thick streaks always containing
numerous magnetite and/or green spinel inclusions.
Polycrystalline sillimanite may represent in some sam-
ples pseudomorphs after kyanite. At ca. 50 m from the
sill, most rocks have been converted into cordierite
diatexites containing 20–30 vol.% of K-feldspar and
cordierite-rich leucosomes. Garnet up to 1 cm in diam-
eter occurs both in leucosomes surrounded by cordierite,
and in restitic bands that are enriched in brown biotite
and graphite. Mesoperthitic feldspar has been observed
in leucosome from one sample. Among the minute in-
clusions observed in twinned monocrystalline or poly-
crystalline cordierite almost free of any alteration,
magnetite, green spinel and ilmenite are ubiquitous. In
other samples a thin andalusite rim develops around
spinel-magnetite grains adjacent to corundum. Squeletal
staurolite + corundum were observed in two samples.
Xenomorphic monazite is very abundant both in cor-
dierite and in leucosomes.
Ca. 106, a coarse-grained pelitic metatexite chosen for
Ar dating, was collected at a few meters from the mafic
sill. It contains the very fresh mineral assemblage quartz,
garnet, brown biotite, cordierite, plagioclase, perthitic
K-feldspar, ilmenite, graphite and monazite as major
phases. Garnet shows Mg decrease from cores to rims
(from alm 72 pyr 17 gro 03 spe 08 to alm 83 pyr 10 gro
02 spe 05). The leucosomes contain both antiperthitic
plagioclase An 23 and perthitic orthoclase. Fresh cor-
dierite (XMg ¼ 0:58) is mainly concentrated in the thicker
parts of the leucosomes and contains in its core nu-
merous epitaxic inclusions of sillimanite and green spinel
(Fig. 8e). Garnet–biotite pairs give 620–635
C (cores)
and only 530–550
C for rims, thus implying significant
Fe–Mg exchange between both minerals during cooling.
Cordierite–garnet thermometry gives temperatures of
740–750
C (Holdaway and Lee, 1977) for garnet cores
and only around 580–600
C for garnet rims indicating
280 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293
net transfer during cooling. The temperature of 750
C
represents a minimum estimate since diatexites are in
direct contact with the mafic noritic/troctolitic magma
for which the solidus temperature can be estimated
around 900
C. The coexistence of garnet and cordierite
constrains the pressure below 0.45 GPa at this temper-
ature (Spear, 1993). In conclusion, there are few evi-
dences for earlier higher pressure conditions, and the
mineral assemblages observed in anatectic kinzigites
suggest near isobaric heating from the andalusite–stau-
rolite stability field at ca. 550
C to T P 750 and may be
900
C close to the noritic magma, at P 6 0:45 GPa, the
retrograde path being not documented.
Orthopyroxene bearing assemblages. Very few out-
crops of metapelites and calc-silicate rocks could be
sampled between the quartzites ridges exposed between
Tin Zebbane el Be€ıda and Egatalis (Fig. 2). Such rocks
are hardly exposed close to a dome of two-mica granitic
diatexite that cuts across the foliation of K-feldspar–
sillimanite–quartzites and may eventually represent a
piece of diapiric anatectic basement. Calc-silicate rocks
nearby comprise Fe–Mg layers converted into diopsi-
dite, zoisitite and grossularite, all minerals being crow-
ded by minute inclusions of magnetite and green spinel.
Aluminous metapelite L154.3 contains garnet up to 2
cm in diameter, plagioclase, quartz, phlogopite and non
oriented prismatic sillimanite intergrown with garnet.
Associated sample L154, a Fe–Mg pelitic metatexite
(Fig. 8f) displays the mineral assemblage quartz, fresh
cordierite (XMg ¼ 0:80), biotite (XMg ¼ 0:67), pink
orthopyroxene (XMg ¼ 0:60–65, up to 3 wt.% Al2 O3 ),
antophyllite (XMg ¼ 0:64) and magnetite. Following
the petrogenetic grid of Spear (1990) for cordierite–
antophyllite rocks, metamorphic conditions close to the
reaction Sill + Oam ¼ Crd + Grt at 0.5 GPa pressure and
temperature between 700 and 800
C can be estimated.
5. Late metamorphic thrusts, shear zones and related
magmatism
West-directed thrusting of the slightly deformed sil-
limanite quartzites of the Tin Zebbane el Beida ridge
above low-temperature greenschist facies metagreywac-
kes of the NVVG has been mapped (Fig. 2). This thrust
dipping ca. 30
to the east is cut by post-kinematic po-
tassic red alkaline sub-granites, so its northward exten-
sion is unknown but may coincide with the location of
the molassic basin. It is thus assumed that part of the
uplift of the Egatalis high grade rocks occurred above a
east dipping thrust.
The major shear zones are oblique to, and merge into
the west IOGU shear zone. The shear zones adjacent to
the high-pressure belt are associated with plurikilometer
(in size) folds with curved axes, that constitute the
southern termination of the Tideridjaouine ridge. These
folds include sheath folds that were sealed by recrys-
tallized muscovite and coarse-grain quartz. Most shear
zones were active at decreasing temperatures following
the metamorphic peak, since they are defined by
greenschist facies mylonites generally bearing chlorite
and/or minute biotite and white mica. Those mapped in
the In Ziza synclinorium cut the N–S trending folds and
axial planar greenschist facies cleavage and also affect
the margins the late-to post-kinematic plutons (Fig.
10A). They formed synchronously with a family of
small-scale chevron folds with steep axes (D4 ). The shear
zones cutting and adjacent to the Egatalis catazonal
domain (Fig. 10B) were however active during the
vanishing high-temperature, low-pressure metamorphic
conditions, since unaltered lineated fibrolite is observed
in mylonitic quartzites close to the fault planes.
The main west IOGU shear zone dipping 70–80
to
the east is hardly exposed. Paleoproterozoic granulites
from its hangingwall were converted into greenschist
facies protomylonites at most some tens of meters and
occasionally cut by younger cataclastic bands. A sinis-
tral movement is indicating by the sense of truncation of
the Tideridjaouine quartzite ridge and ubiquitous shear-
sense criteria such as C/S planes from protomylonites.
However, petrological and structural considerations
suggest multiple reactivations of this major shear zone
that assisted the upward exhumation of high-pressure
units during transpression. The late-kinematic, 12 km-
wide Tin Zebbane el Kahla dyke swarm (Fig. 2) was
emplaced after the metamorphic peak in a void resulting
from the bent of the fault. The nearly vertical sigmoidal
dyke complex includes mantle originating gabbro–
dolerite and alkaline to peralkaline rocks (Dostal et al.,
1979; Hadj Kaddour et al., 1998). Folding of the dyke
swarm occurred during and after magma crystallization,
as shown by a large open fold with nearly vertical axis
(Dostal et al., 1979). Mylonitic fabrics of the felsic dykes
were accompanied by partial recrystallization of alkaline
minerals (aegyrine, riebeckite) and the partial replace-
ment of perthitic K-feldspar by microcline and albite.
The rocks of this complex yielded a Rb–Sr isochron date
of 592 Ma (Hadj Kaddour et al., 1998). The composite
dyke swarm is spatially associated with a late-kinematic
layered gabbro–troctolite–anorthosite complex. The
isotopic signature (Sri ¼ 0:7028 and eNd ¼ þ6:2) indi-
cates a depleted mantle for both mafic and felsic rocks
(Hadj Kaddour et al., 1998) allowing to consider the
west IOGU shear zone as a lithospheric fault displaying
a large-scale sinistral strike–slip component. It is sug-
gested that the Tileouine/Tideridjaouine high-pressure
metamorphic belt was extruded westward to north-
westward. A younger transtensional stage along the west
IOGU fault is also identified west of the Taoudrart ridge
(Fig. 2) by the intrusion of a dyke swarm parallel to the
shear zone. This youngest magma generation encom-
passes porphyritic rhyolite, ignimbrite, peralkaline mi-
 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293 281

Fig. 10. Two examples of strike–slip ductile faults affecting post-metamorphic granitic plutons after their solidification: (A) a nearly isotropic
granodiorite grades to orthogneiss along a sinuous dextral shear zone (country rocks are greenschist facies metagreywackes from the In Ziza
synclinorium); (B) the In Tassak post-kinematic porphyritic granite cut in two units allowing to deduce a ca. 10 km dextral displacement along a ca. 5
km-wide dextral shear zone. The granite grades progressively to orthogneiss with overall horizontal stretching lineations along and close to the shear
zone.

6. Timing of metamorphism, cooling and exhumation

40
1.8 Ar/39 Ar laser probe analyses were carried out on
representative samples of metamorphic rocks from the
1.6 Neoproterozoic Trans-Saharan belt (see Figs. 2 and 9
for sample location and Appendix A for a brief ana-
1.2
lytical procedure and petrographic description). The set
of samples include a pre Pan-African amphibolite from
1
the Ougda volcanic arc (sample M775), several high-
pressure rocks from the Tideridjaouine area (samples
0.8
K333-1, M406, K760, L170, K353, I71-1), two am-
phibolites (samples 154-3 and K312) and a pelitic
0.6 metatexite from the LT–HT Egatalis domain (sample
0.4
C106).

0.2 6.1. Phengite

The results of laser-probe spot mapping on HP

400 500 600 700 800
Fig. 11. Pressure–temperature diagram showing the estimated condi-
tions of the high-pressure and low-pressure metamorphic suites of
northwestern Hoggar and their assumed prograde and retrograde
paths.
crogranite and tholeiitic microgabbro, all free of visible
post-magmatic alteration. The alkaline to peralkaline
hypersolvus granites and associated felsic lavas of the In
Ziza caldeira and a outlier of flat-lying red molasse (Fig.
8) are sharply cut by the fault.
phengites from the Tideridjaouine area are reported in
Fig. 12 and Table 2. These phengites show consistent
internal result grouping, with the lack of an important
and systematic core–rim zonation. For two samples
(K353 and M406), the first spot gives date significantly
younger than the remaining spots from the sample and
contains a higher atmospheric argon contamination. It
is suggested that part of the argon released during this
first experiment originates from the phengite surface
that probably experienced some argon loss during
sample preparation or irradiation. Therefore, the cor-
responding data are considered as meaningless and
282 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293

40
Fig. 12. Laser probe Ar/39 Ar data on phengite from the high-pressure belt.

have been excluded from the discussion. Phengite
K333-1 displays very consistent apparent ages ranging
from 597 to 605 Ma (with about 2 Ma error bar) and a
total age obtained by summing the argon released on
19 spots of 600.9 ± 5.0 Ma. Apparent ages from sam-
ples K760, K353, L170 and I71-1 are slightly older and
range from 619 to 601 Ma (with 1.5–3 Ma error bar)
with total ages of 607.4 ± 5.1, 606.7 ± 5.1, 611.1 ± 5.1
and 604.0 ± 5.1 Ma respectively. Samples K353 and
L170 have older ages in their core than along their rim,
with an age difference of 10–15 Ma which could be the
result of a progressive closure of the mica during its
cooling. For samples K760 and I71-1, there is no clear
age domain. Ages measured along a section made on
sample I71-1 scatter between 612 and 588 Ma, with the
younger age on the phengite rim. The age spectrum
obtained on a second phengite crystal also displays
evidences of age discordance, mainly from 614 to 600
Ma. A plateau date of 606.8 ± 5.1 Ma has been cal-
culated for about 50% of the argon released. The origin
 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293 283

Table 2
40
Phengite Ar/39 39Ar analytical data
40
No. Ar*/39 Ar 36
Ar/40 Ar · 1000 39
Ar/40 Ar 37
Ar/39 Ar % Atm. AGE ± 1sd
K333-1 Phengite (spot fusions), J ¼ 0.017986
1 21.865 0.203 0.0429 0 6.01 598.3 ± 1.3
2 21.989 0.169 0.0431 0 5.01 601.2 ± 1.6
3 22.030 0.117 0.0438 0 3.46 602.2 ± 1.7
4 21.924 0.152 0.0435 0 4.51 599.7 ± 2.0
5 22.132 0.094 0.0438 0 2.78 604.5 ± 1.1
6 22.227 0.062 0.0441 0 1.85 606.7 ± 3.1
7 22.028 0.149 0.0433 0 4.41 602.1 ± 1.6
8 22.077 0.074 0.0442 0 2.21 603.3 ± 2.0
9 21.972 0.092 0.0442 0 2.74 600.8 ± 1.4
10 22.073 0.073 0.0443 0 2.17 603.2 ± 1.6
11 21.906 0.055 0.0447 0 1.65 599.3 ± 1.4
12 21.888 0.071 0.0447 0 2.10 598.9 ± 1.6
13 21.876 0.086 0.0445 0 2.57 598.6 ± 1.1
14 21.848 0.064 0.0447 0 1.91 597.9 ± 2.5
15 21.867 0.074 0.0447 0 2.20 598.4 ± 1.1
16 21.811 0.119 0.0442 0 3.53 597.1 ± 2.2
17 22.153 0.070 0.0441 0 2.10 605.0 ± 2.0
18 21.934 0.065 0.0447 0 1.94 599.9 ± 2.2
19 22.020 0.055 0.0446 0 1.63 601.9 ± 1.2
Total age 600.9 ± 5.0

M406 Phengite (spot fusions), J ¼ 0.017986

1 20.937 0.296 0.0435 0 8.77 576.6 ± 1.5
2 21.416 0.061 0.0458 0 1.81 587.9 ± 2.1
3 21.642 0.008 0.0460 0 0.24 593.1 ± 3.5
4 21.661 0.039 0.0456 0 1.18 593.6 ± 4.0
5 21.574 0.016 0.0460 0 0.50 591.6 ± 2.1
6 21.627 0.014 0.0460 0 0.43 592.8 ± 1.4
7 21.519 0.008 0.0463 0 0.25 590.3 ± 2.3
8 21.537 0.014 0.0462 0 0.43 590.7 ± 1.2
9 21.436 0.137 0.0447 0 4.06 588.3 ± 1.3
10 21.591 0.013 0.0460 0 0.39 591.9 ± 1.6
11 21.335 0.017 0.0466 0 0.53 586.0 ± 1.8
12 21.348 0.060 0.0460 0 1.78 586.3 ± 1.5
13 21.392 0.012 0.0465 0 0.37 587.3 ± 2.0
14 21.343 0.027 0.0464 0 0.81 586.1 ± 0.9
15 21.527 0.025 0.0460 0 0.75 590.4 ± 1.7
Total age 588.2 ± 4.9

K760 Phengite (spot fusions), J ¼ 0.017986

1 22.026 0.212 0.0425 0 6.29 602.1 ± 1.3
2 22.078 0.184 0.0428 0 5.45 603.3 ± 2.0
3 22.486 0.042 0.0438 0 1.25 612.7 ± 1.3
4 22.222 0.111 0.0435 0 3.30 606.6 ± 2.1
5 22.372 0.011 0.0445 0 0.33 610.1 ± 1.7
6 22.309 0.033 0.0443 0 1.00 608.7 ± 1.3
7 22.516 0.003 0.0443 0 0.10 613.4 ± 1.6
8 22.158 0.019 0.0447 0 0.58 605.1 ± 1.9
9 22.190 0.020 0.0447 0 0.60 605.9 ± 1.4
10 22.415 0.019 0.0443 0 0.58 611.1 ± 1.3
11 22.108 0.015 0.0450 0 0.46 604.0 ± 2.8
Total age 607.4 ± 5.1

L170 Phengite (spot fusions), J ¼ 0.017986

1 22.221 0.147 0.0429 0 4.37 606.6 ± 1.0
2 22.693 0.216 0.0412 0 6.41 617.5 ± 2.3
3 22.425 0.163 0.0424 0 4.83 611.3 ± 1.4
4 22.527 0.045 0.0436 0 1.35 613.7 ± 1.5
5 22.777 0.124 0.0422 0 3.67 619.5 ± 2.9
(continued on next page)
284 R. Caby, P. Moni
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Table 2 (continued)
40
No. Ar*/39 Ar 36
Ar/40 Ar · 1000 39
Ar/40 Ar 37
Ar/39 Ar % Atm. AGE ± 1sd
6 22.401 0.119 0.0429 0 3.52 610.8 ± 1.9
7 22.675 0.098 0.0428 0 2.91 617.1 ± 1.2
8 22.282 0.061 0.0440 0 1.82 608.0 ± 1.1
9 22.250 0.028 0.0445 0 0.84 607.3 ± 3.0
10 22.428 0.058 0.0438 0 1.74 611.4 ± 2.2
11 22.338 0.071 0.0438 0 2.12 609.3 ± 1.9
12 22.473 0.044 0.0438 0 1.33 612.4 ± 1.4
13 22.421 0.106 0.0431 0 3.15 611.2 ± 2.1
14 22.429 0.013 0.0444 0 0.39 611.4 ± 1.4
15 22.136 0.035 0.0446 0 1.05 604.6 ± 1.7
16 22.508 0.043 0.0438 0 1.28 613.2 ± 8.5
17 22.512 0.055 0.0436 0 1.65 613.3 ± 1.5
Total age 611.1 ± 5.1

K353 Phengite (spot fusions), J ¼ 0.017986

1 21.371 0.423 0.0409 0 12.50 586.8 ± 2.3
2 22.533 0.155 0.0423 0 4.60 613.8 ± 3.3
3 22.529 0.037 0.0438 0 1.10 613.7 ± 1.5
4 22.517 0.079 0.0433 0 2.34 613.5 ± 2.0
5 22.469 0.034 0.0440 0 1.02 612.3 ± 1.9
6 22.161 0.042 0.0445 0 1.27 605.2 ± 1.3
7 22.326 0.065 0.0438 0 1.95 609.0 ± 2.9
8 22.021 0.051 0.0447 0 1.52 602.0 ± 2.1
9 22.131 0.051 0.0444 0 1.53 604.5 ± 1.8
10 22.094 0.031 0.0447 0 0.93 603.7 ± 1.5
11 22.676 0.026 0.0436 0 0.79 617.1 ± 2.9
12 22.280 0.012 0.0447 0 0.36 608.0 ± 1.4
13 22.159 0.046 0.0445 0 1.37 605.2 ± 2.1
14 22.231 0.017 0.0447 0 0.53 606.8 ± 1.8
15 22.138 0.040 0.0446 0 1.19 604.7 ± 1.8
Total age 606.7 ± 5.1

I71-1 Phengite (spot fusions), J ¼ 0.017986

1 22.232 0.284 0.0412 0 8.40 606.9 ± 5.8
2 22.425 0.075 0.0436 0 2.22 611.3 ± 2.7
3 22.188 0.029 0.0446 0 0.88 605.8 ± 1.7
4 22.038 0.059 0.0445 0 1.75 602.4 ± 4.1
5 22.092 0.085 0.0441 0 2.52 603.6 ± 2.1
6 21.994 0.016 0.0451 0 0.49 601.3 ± 2.2
7 22.455 0.037 0.0440 0 1.11 612.0 ± 3.6
8 21.419 0.087 0.0454 0 2.58 587.9 ± 3.2
Total age 604.0 ± 5.1
40 39 36 40 39 40 37 39 39
No. Ar*/ Ar Ar/ Ar · 1000 Ar/ Ar Ar/ Ar % Ar cum. AGE ± 1sd
I71-1 Phengite (step-heating), J ¼ 0.017986
1 19.296 1.231 0.0328 0 0.2 537.5 ± 8.9
2 22.665 0.258 0.0407 0 1.7 616.9 ± 2.5
3 22.066 0.194 0.0427 0 12.3 603.0 ± 1.1
4 22.237 0.053 0.0442 0 18.8 607.0 ± 1.3
5 22.390 0.022 0.0443 0 26.3 610.5 ± 1.4
6 22.914 0.022 0.0433 0 28.6 622.6 ± 7.3
7 21.951 0.087 0.0443 0.18 35.0 600.3 ± 0.8
8 21.953 0.032 0.0451 0 42.1 600.4 ± 1.1
9 22.192 0.022 0.0447 0 50.7 605.9 ± 1.0
10 22.346 0.019 0.0444 0 55.7 609.5 ± 0.9
11 22.352 0.018 0.0444 0 59.0 609.6 ± 1.4
12 22.209 0.014 0.0447 0 61.8 606.3 ± 1.5
13 22.175 0.018 0.0447 0 64.1 605.5 ± 1.7
14 22.220 0.028 0.0446 0 68.7 606.6 ± 1.2
15 22.306 0.017 0.0445 0 72.9 608.6 ± 1.1
16 22.314 0.024 0.0444 0 76.0 608.8 ± 1.8
17 22.174 0.016 0.0447 0 81.3 605.5 ± 1.1
 R. Caby, P. Moni
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Table 2 (continued)
18 22.163 0.025 0.0447 0 87.6 605.3 ± 1.2
19 22.138 0.031 0.0447 0 91.9 604.7 ± 1.3
20 22.264 0.035 0.0444 0 93.7 607.6 ± 1.7
21 22.434 0.010 0.0444 0 94.4 611.5 ± 4.7
22 22.523 0.004 0.0443 0 95.8 613.6 ± 2.7
23 22.338 0.006 0.0446 0 100 609.3 ± 1.8

Total age 606.4 ± 5.1

of the age variations remains debatable. They could be

interpreted to result from one or several following ef-
fects: progressive closure during slow cooling, partial
resetting during a late disturbance such as the em-
placement of the dyke swarm dated at 592 Ma (Hadj
Kaddour et al., 1998); presence of excess argon,
chemical control on argon closure, argon diffusion
along microstructural defects. However, despite this
uncertainty, we did not observe variations as large as
those recently reported by Giorgis et al. (2000) in UHP
phengites contaminated by excess argon from the Sulu
terrane in China. The intra- and inter-grain consistency
of our 40 Ar/39 Ar data suggests that, if they exist, the
effects of excess argon or argon loss have a limited
influence on the argon signature in the studied
phengites. Ages of 600–615 Ma are interpreted to es-
sentially reflect the closure of phengites for argon dif-
fusion when the rocks were exhumed from depth at a
temperature that still remains partially uncertain, most
likely in the range 350–450
C (Kirschner et al., 1996;
Dahl, 1996a). A possible mechanism of exhumation is
presented in the discussion.
Among the dated phengites, sample M406 gives the
younger age. Fourteen spots yield apparent ages from
586 to 594 Ma (with about 2 Ma error bar), with a
total date of 588.2 ± 4.9 Ma. The age homogeneity
suggests that cooling was fast when the mica became
closed to argon diffusion, precluding the development
of a core–rim age zonation. This results are in agree-
ment with the position of this sample near the sillima-
nite isograd and about 500 m west of the 2
Shear Zone
that was still active after the emplacement of the In
Tassak granitic pluton. Therefore, cooling of this wes-
tern area, which is cut by numerous high-level granitic
plutons, occurred much later than the previous HP
Tideridjaouine rocks.

6.2. Amphibole

The results of single grain step-heating experiments

are reported in Fig. 13 and Table 3 for which both age
and Ca/K spectra are displayed.
Sample M775, a Fe pargasite from the Ougda arc
sequence, yields a saddle-shaped age spectrum with a Fig. 13. Age spectra of amphiboles.
286 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293

Table 3
40
Amphibole Ar/39 Ar analytical data
40
No. Ar*/39 Ar 36
Ar/40 Ar · 1000 39
Ar/40 Ar 37
Ar/39 Ar % 39
Ar AGE ± 1sd
M775 Amphibole (step-heating), J ¼ 0.014283
1 421.475 1.997 0.0009 11.981 0.0 3516 ± 289
2 204.413 2.929 0.0006 60.311 0.1 2464 ± 277
3 100.251 2.617 0.0022 74.207 0.3 1603 ± 171
4 55.519 0.982 0.0127 18.717 7.2 1053.4 ± 9.5
5 32.182 0.164 0.0295 14.119 21.8 682.3 ± 6.6
6 32.321 0.009 0.0308 13.984 45.1 684.8 ± 4.0
7 31.660 0.153 0.0301 14.006 73.3 673.1 ± 6.8
8 30.908 0.147 0.0309 14.193 83.1 659.7 ± 11.7
9 31.485 0.021 0.0315 14.816 87.7 670.0 ± 8.3
10 33.705 0.240 0.0275 17.760 88.8 709.0 ± 31.1
11 34.694 0.283 0.0264 15.685 100.0 726.1 ± 8.1
Total age 718.6 ± 7.2

L154-3 Amphibole (step-heating), J ¼ 0.014283

1 38.564 2.134 0.0095 0.928 0.6 792 ± 76
2 4.563 3.143 0.0155 1.317 1.9 114 ± 116
3 22.019 1.059 0.0311 0.301 6.7 493.4 ± 12.5
4 24.054 0.320 0.0376 0.092 19.4 532.8 ± 15.2
5 24.782 0.233 0.0375 0.081 29.1 546.7 ± 6.0
6 26.488 0.188 0.0356 0.177 36.2 578.9 ± 9.7
7 27.370 0.063 0.0358 0.075 55.7 595.3 ± 6.3
8 27.888 0.026 0.0355 0.119 69.3 604.9 ± 2.0
9 27.981 0.041 0.0353 0.162 76.1 606.6 ± 5.6
10 28.229 0.070 0.0346 0.131 80.3 611.2 ± 7.8
11 27.941 0.040 0.0353 0.360 85.6 605.8 ± 8.0
12 28.063 0.094 0.0346 0.060 89.8 608.1 ± 5.2
13 27.701 0.101 0.0350 0.557 100.0 601.4 ± 2.9
Total age 577.3 ± 6.1

K312 Amphibole (step-heating), J ¼ 0.014283

1 12.294 2.978 0.0097 7.727 4.5 291.9 ± 43.9
2 12.513 2.796 0.0138 89.261 9.6 296.7 ± 31.8
3 25.810 0.373 0.0344 30.295 44.7 566.2 ± 5.6
4 25.473 0.303 0.0357 26.723 73.1 559.8 ± 6.1
5 25.189 0.205 0.0372 29.216 89.2 554.4 ± 10.6
6 25.521 0.263 0.0361 58.062 100.0 560.7 ± 17.3
Total age 537.3 ± 6.9

Single fusion 26.475 0.434 0.0328 26.999 / 578.6 ± 10.8

plateau date of 676.3 ± 6.9 Ma calculated for 80% of the
argon released and corresponding to homogeneous Ca/
K ratios. Older ages due to the presence of excess argon
are obtained on both sides of the plateau, coeval with
higher Ca/K ratios. This suggests that excess is held by a
Ca richer phase trapped as inclusion in the amphibole,
most probably some tiny pyroxene. An intercept age of
681.5 ± 7.2 Ma is obtained in the 36 Ar/40 Ar vs 39 Ar/40 Ar
correlation plot, with an initial 40 Ar/36 Ar ratio of
270 ± 93. This age is interpreted to reflect cooling and
coeval closure of the amphibole at a temperature close
to 550
C (Dahl, 1996b). Because the sample equili-
brated at high temperature in the deepest levels of the
Ougda arc sequence, the age of 680 Ma is considered as
a minimum age for the development of this arc.
Sample 154-3, an antophyllite from the Egalis low-
pressure high grade domain, gives a discordant age
pattern, with apparent ages progressively increasing
during argon degassing from a minimun value of
493 ± 13 Ma until a plateau date of 602.3 ± 6.0 Ma cal-
culated over 74% of the 39 Ar released. The Ca/K ratio is
very low (0.2 to 0.6) compared to the previous amphi-
bole (about 25). Ca/K ratios are higher in the first
heating steps which give also the younger ages. An in-
tercept age of 606.6 ± 5.7 Ma is obtained in the 36 Ar/40 Ar
vs 39 Ar/40 Ar correlation plot, with an initial 40 Ar/36 Ar
ratio of 240 ± 76. According to Dahl (1996b), the age of
607 Ma can be interpreted to date a closure of the iso-
topic system at a temperature somewhat above 550
C,
most likely close to 600
C. Nonetheless, the discordant
 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293 287

age spectrum of this sample clearly indicates that the

sample suffered some argon loss during an event close to
500 Ma or younger.
Sample K312 from the same high-temperature do-
main gives a younger plateau date of 564.4 ± 6.7 Ma for
90 % of the argon released, with an intercept age of
571.5 ± 6.8 Ma in the isotope correlation plot. A second
grain from the same sample was fused in a single ex-
periment and yielded an age of 578.6 ± 10.8 Ma, in
agreement with the previous data. It is noticeable that
the Ca/K ratio is high for this sample (about 45), at-
testing for a more calcic composition than the above
dated pargasitic amphibole. Its younger age can be in-
terpreted to reflect argon closure at a lower temperature
(Dahl, 1996b) or to result from some overprinting due to Fig. 14. Laser probe 40
Ar/39 Ar data on biotite from the In Tassak
the superposition of the thermal effect of the adjacent kinzigite.
late-kinematic granitic pluton.
amphibole L154-3 suggests that the rocks from the
6.3. Biotite
Egatalis belt experienced initial fast cooling rates from
700 to ca. 550
C and then a cooling rate close to 15
C/
A single biotite from the Egatalis domain was ana-
m.y. between 600 and 580 Ma. This may record the
lyzed during this study (sample C106, Fig. 14 and Table
thermal effect of the adjacent In Tassak granitic pluton.
4). Fourteen spot fusion ages range from 571 to 604 Ma,
The lack of low-temperature fluid infiltration in these
but no core–rim age distribution can be recognized.
dehydrated restitic metapelites is indicated by the com-
Nine ages are in the range 578–587 Ma. A check of the
38 plete lack of pinitisation of cordierite. This is at variance
ArCl /39 ArK ratio does not indicate any variation
with the gabbro–noritic sill in which significant recrys-
among the various spots that could be correlated with
tallization of the brown high-temperature amphiboles
the possible presence of chlorine. No linear trend was
towards green hornblendes, actinolite and even chlorite
found in the isotope correlation plot. Therefore, due to
was significant while cooling, though not observed in
their random distribution, it seems likely that ages above
K312.
590 Ma result from the presence of some inherited argon
trapped by biotite during its closure. Most probably,
this closure occurred at about 580 Ma, as the rocks
reached thermal conditions of 300–350
C (Harrison 7. Syn- to post-molasse tectonics and final exhumation
et al., 1985). A comparison with the U–Pb age of 603
Ma obtained on monazite from the same sample (Bosch Most of the Pan-African molasse has been accumu-
et al., 2001) and with the data given by the pargasitic lated in NW Hoggar, where it forms residual basins and

Table 4
Biotite 40 Ar/39 Ar analytical data
40
No. Ar*/39 Ar 36
Ar/40 Ar · 1000 39
Ar/40 Ar 37
Ar/39 Ar % Atm. AGE ± 1sd
C106 Biotite (spot fusions), J ¼ 0.014283
1 26.438 0.186 0.0357 0 5.51 578.0 ± 3.1
2 26.619 0.053 0.0369 0 1.57 581.3 ± 3.6
3 26.608 0.277 0.0344 0 8.2 581.1 ± 5.2
4 26.646 0.153 0.0358 0 4.53 581.8 ± 7.2
5 26.057 0.132 0.0368 0 3.92 570.8 ± 3.1
6 26.594 0.036 0.0370 0 1.08 580.9 ± 4.1
7 27.817 0.033 0.0355 0 1.00 603.6 ± 5.7
8 27.708 0.031 0.0357 0 0.92 601.6 ± 4.0
9 26.871 0.115 0.0359 0 3.41 586.0 ± 2.5
10 27.329 0.070 0.0358 0 2.09 594.6 ± 7.2
11 27.577 0.089 0.0353 0 2.65 599.1 ± 4.4
12 26.715 0.073 0.0366 0 2.16 583.1 ± 5.1
13 26.927 0.085 0.0361 0 2.54 587.1 ± 7.5
14 26.946 0.119 0.0357 0 3.54 587.4 ± 8.1
Total age 585.9 ± 5.5
288 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293
graben filled by up to 6000 m of red and green clastic
sediments. In the Tanezrouft area, the ca. 1200 m-thick
early molassic unit (Tagengant basin, Fig. 3) encom-
passes purple silty shales, arkosic sandstones, and
limestone-dolomite tentatively correlated with the
Adoudounian Group of south Morocco (Caby and
Moussu, 1967). The deeper part of the basin was de-
formed by open folds and affected by incipient slaty
cleavage before the deposition of the Ouallen series. The
extrusion of early rhyolites was synchronous with the
deposition of a limestone–dolomite formation that
contains stromatolites of Cambrian affinity. Glacial,
aeolian, lacustrine and possibly marine environments
are known in the Ouallen basin (Caby and Moussu,
1967; A€ıt Kaci Ahmed and Moussine-Pouchkine, 1987).
The uppermost green formation of illitic siltstones and
shales deposited in glaciogenic conditions (P3000 m) is
tentatively correlated with the Late Cambrian of Anti-
Atlas. The Cambrian age for the molassic cycle in
northwest Africa is now well established from paleo-
geographic, paleontological and geochronological evi-
dence (Bertrand-Sarfati et al., 1987 and references
therein). Syn- and post-Paleozoic reactivations of faults
in brittle conditions were minor and some N–S shear
zones have been only active prior to the deposition of
the molasse, whereas others were reactivated as brittle
normal faults during basin infill coeval with felsic vol-
canism, or after basin infill.
In the Egatalis molassic basin, a N–S fracture cleavage
is relatively intense in axial planes of upright folds and
close to major faults in silty arkosic sandstones. Epidote,
albite, adularia, chlorite, and tremolite–actinolite are the
common low-temperature greenschist facies metamor-
phic minerals accompanied by pressure-solution in meta-
arkoses and greywackes from the deeper part of the
basin. The upright folds observed in the basin suggest
minor horizontal E–W shortening, but they can also
form through down-folding of the subsiding basin, a
consequence of late uplift of the cooled Egatalis rocks
during post-collisional extension. This is shown by the
northwestern termination of the west Egatalis high grade
domain which is reduced to a thinned and thoroughly
retrogressed vertical slice, flanked by mylonitised am-
phibolite facies rocks of the NVVG bearing vertical
stretching lineations. Only close to such faults the Ega-
talis rocks are cataclastic and retrogressed under low-
temperature conditions (chlorite, epidote, tremolite,
calcite). This indicates that the Egatalis high grade do-
main came to the surface during a very late stage of dif-
ferential vertical movements, taking into account the fact
that no pebbles of Egatalis high grade rocks are observed
in the molasse. In the Pharusian terrane, the U–Pb zircon
age of 523 Ma obtained on a syn- to late-kinematic
granitic pluton from central/western Hoggar (Paquette
et al., 1998) witnesses that the final stabilization of the
shield did not occur before the Late Cambrian.
8. Discussion and possible geodynamic scenario for
northwestern Hoggar
The variability of structural styles and the contrasted
metamorphic suites identified in western Hoggar sug-
gests that this Pan-African segment includes disparate
elements and displaced terranes that are delineated by
thrusts and vertical strike–slip faults.
8.1. Pre-collisional events
Several superposed geodynamic contexts directly
linked to the Pan-African orogeny s.l. have been iden-
tified in this domain. The tectonometamorphic evolu-
tion of the Late Neoproterozoic Tanezrouft magmatic
arc and the occurrence of the undersaturated alkaline
synorogenic dyke complex may suggest that this west-
ernmost area is rooted by continental crust of inferred
Paleoproterozoic age. The nature of the 2 Ga old gra-
nitic basement of the Tassendjanet nappe shares some
similarities with the west African craton and its Meso-
proterozoic (?) cover, the Stromatolite series, is corelated
with the Atar Group deposited all over the northern
part of the West African craton (Bertrand-Sarfati et al.,
1987). The crustal evolution of metamorphic units ex-
posed south of the Tassendjanet nappe is imprinted by
Late Paleoproterozoic sedimentation and rift-related
magmatism (1.8–1.7 Ga) that is unknown in the whole
West African craton. The same lithology and rift-related
magmatism is observed in similar non-metamorphic
sedimentary rocks deposited on the northern edge of
the IOGU (Ahnet region). This may suggest that the
high-pressure metamorphic units (Tideridjaouine, Tin-
Zebbane, Tileouine, Taoudrart areas etc.) could repre-
sent the former rift margin of the IOGU. The 1775 Ma
39
Ar/40 Ar plateau age of high-temperature biotites from
a granulite from the IOGU (Maluski et al., 1990) shows
that the exhumation of the granulite block was syn-
chronous with the alkaline magmatism. The post-rift
Mesoproterozoic (?) shelf carbonates of the Stromatolite
series were unconformably deposited above the older
sequence. Ca. 800 Ma old (?) tholeiitic mafic magmatism
and continental fragmentation was followed by the ed-
ification of the Ougda magmatic arc slightly before 680
Ma. The negligible metamorphic overprint of part of the
Tassendjanet nappe suggests that the nappe may have
overridden the Late Neoproterozoic turbiditic trough
rooted by an attenuated crust, thus producing no sig-
nificant crustal thickening. After 665 Ma the opening of
a trough filled by several thousands of meters of turbi-
ditic greywackes was coeval with the edification of
subduction-related andesitic volcanism. Infill of the
trough may eventually be as young as the onset of de-
formation and the southeastward emplacement of the
Tassendjanet nappe. This should be tested by a study of
 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293
chaotic formations exposed in the north of the nappe
that may represent olistoliths.
8.2. Subduction/collision vs exhumation
Two metamorphic suites formed under rather differ-
ent paleogeothermal gradients have been identified
(Table 1, Fig. 11). The high-pressure metamorphic belt is
localized along the west IOGU shear zone. The kyanite–
phengite–garnet bearing assemblages and associated
retrogressed eclogites identified in the Tideridjaouine
and Tileouine areas indicate tectonic burial to respec-
tively ca. 45 and P 60 km depth under a paleogeo-
thermal gradient of <10
C/km typical of subduction
settings. It is therefore concluded that high-pressure
metamorphic conditions were established as a result of
the eastward subduction of 1.8–1.7 Ga old continental
units. The high-pressure metamorphic rocks were thus
exhumed around 615–600 Ma in the form of a discon-
tinuous west-directed extruded wedge from underneath
the In Ouzzal granulitic block through a system of syn-
to late-metamorphic isoclinal folding (D1b ). The high-
pressure rocks in the south were thrust westward onto
slightly deformed similar Paleoproterozoic platform
lithologies that never experienced pressures higher than
0.4–0.5 GPa. We consider that the west IOGU fault is
inherited from the hanging wall of the assumed east-
dipping subduction zone. The high pressures deduced
from the two occurrences of eclogites suggest that the
Tileouine, Taoudrart and Tin Zebbane areas cannot be
simply put close together assuming only late-metamor-
phic sinistral strike–slip motion of crustal blocks along
the system of steep anastomosed shear zones. We pro-
pose that these sub-units were expulsed from the same
east-dipping subduction, following to the model of
Chemenda et al. (1995). The differences of maximum
pressures recorded in sub-units could be the result of
variable rates of exhumation from the steep subduction.
The subduction setting proposed for the IOGU terrane
is in agreement with the occurrence of the Gara Akofou
andesites poured directly on the eroded granulites and
only subjected to static zeolite facies (Chikhaoui et al.,
1980). These flat-lying volcanics were cut by granodio-
rite plutons, then by high-level alkaline granites, and
finally unconformably overlain by the Cambrian red
molasse and associated rhyolitic ignimbrites and sub-
volcanic alkaline to peralkaline granites.
Searching possible relics of oceanic lithosphere
comparable to that having been consumed together
with continental crust along the assumed subduction,
several possible candidates can be found. The northern
part of the Tileouine sub-domain (Fig. 8) includes large
masses of serpentinites and metagabbros affected by
high-temperature amphibolite facies and anatexis which
do not contain eclogitic rocks. Neoproterozoic gabbros
and ultramafic cumulates (the Ougda complex, Fig. 2)
289
are exposed over ca. 1000 km2 in the northern litho-
tectonic block east of the Tassendjanet nappe. The
geochemical characters of these metaigneous rocks
suggest that they represent the mafic roots of an earlier
arc sequence (Dostal et al., 1996). The age of ca. 680
Ma obtained on a late magmatic pargasite documents
the Late Neoproterozoic age of the unconformable
young andesite pile and associated volcanic greywackes
(the NVVG) that predates any compressive tectono-
metamorphic event. Another metagabbroic complex,
the Zora mafic–ultramafic complex is exposed along the
east IOGU shear zone (Fig. 2). These metagabbros were
deformed and recrystallized with a high-pressure gran-
ulitic mineralogy similar to that of the Ougda complex.
They may represent arc roots in tectonic contact against
the Ahnet passive margin sequence to the east (Mous-
sine-Pouchkine et al., 1988). Our reconnaissance work
in this area has shown the mafic complex to be allo-
chthonous above a metabasalt-metadolerite greenschist
facies parautochthonous terrain of oceanic affinity. The
sole thrust however displays typical Alpine-type high-
pressure, low-temperature metamorphic imprint por-
trayed by glaucophane and phengite (Ki
enast and Caby,
unpublished results), recording minimum pressure of
P 0.8 GPa. The identification of these two high-pres-
sure, low-temperature metamorphic belts (Tideridjaou-
ine–Tileouine and Zora high-pressure belts) strongly
suggest that the two IOGU shear zones in fact represent
the superficial expression of two cryptic sutures along
which an unknown amount of lithosphere may have
been consumed slightly before 615 Ma. In Adrar des
Iforas, Boullier (1979, 1982) has proposed from struc-
tural and kinematic data that the Iforas Granulite Unit
(IGU, Fig. 1) may represent a giant crystalline nappe
thrust above the Late Paleoproterozoic quartzites af-
fected by medium-pressure, low-temperature metamor-
phism. The subduction setting proposed for the IOGU
may also be valid for the IGU (Caby, 2003, this issue),
taking into account the occurrence, along the west IGU
shear zone, of slices of serpentinite and lenses of ret-
rogressed eclogites equilibrated at P 1 GPa (Champe-
nois et al., 1987).
8.3. Geochronological constraints
Our 40 Ar/39 Ar geochronological data on phengite
indicate a diachronism of only 5 Ma between the sub-
duction of the edge of the west African craton in Mali
(620 Ma, Jahn et al., 2001) and the eastward subduction
of continental crust under the IOGU. It is significant
that the gravity map of the study area (Rechenmann,
1973) has identified short wavelengths positive anoma-
lies centered on the above two mentioned mafic-ultra-
mafic complexes (Tileouine, Zora) and another located
immediately east of the Tideridjaouine ridge.
290 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293
Fig. 15. Geodynamic sketch of the subduction model around 615 Ma. Assumed oceanic crust in black. Explanations in the text.
Our structural and petrological data allow to con-
sider that the west IOGU shear zone shares the char-
acteristics of a former exhumation fault with large-scale
post-metamorphic sinistral strike–slip reactivation. The
syn-shear zone emplacement of the Tin Zebane el Khala
dyke complex at 592 Ma (Hadj Kaddour et al., 1998)
witnesses the age of the main activity along the west
IOGU shear zone during the northward motion of the
IOGU terrane. The lack of Pan-African deformation in
the IOGU and its present-day horizontal Late Neo-
proterozoic peneplain is best explained if the two gran-
ulite units are regarded as two displaced pieces of a
Paleoproterozoic microcraton with preserved thick and
cold lithospheric root (Caby, 1996; Caby, 2003, this
issue). If the two shear zones represent cryptic sutures,
the IOGU is actually a microcraton underlain by a rather
sharp lithospheric keel and with two possible Late Neo-
poterozoic paleosubductions in opposite directions
(Fig. 15).
High-temperature, low-pressure metamorphic condi-
tions affected the Egatalis domain only a few Ma after
the cooling of the high-pressure Tideridjaouine belt.
Relaxed geotherms were thus established over an area
of 10,000 km2 , around 600–580 Ma. The In Tassak
condensed metamorphic section and the field control
of occurrences of Pan-African granulites show that
this regional thermal anomaly, consistent with a paleo-
geothermal gradient of about 55
/km, was associated
with the shallow emplacement of noritic–troctolitic
magmas. Then the Egatalis area was intruded (around
580 Ma) by high level K-rich post-kinematic granites
predating the deposition of the Cambrian molasse and
associated volcanism. Final exhumation of the high
grade rocks occurred only towards the end of the mol-
assic cycle. The new 40 Ar/39 Ar ages obtained in this
study indicate a relatively fast cooling from 700 to ca.
550
C for the high-pressure and high-temperature rocks
exposed ca. 200 km east from the main Pan-African
suture (615–600 Ma) and then slow cooling rate close to
15
C/my between 600 and 580 Ma. This is at variance
with central Hoggar that represents the core of the Pan-
African belt, where the syn-to late-kinematic granites
were emplaced at 523 Ma in the Pharusian terrane
(Paquette et al., 1998) and at about the same period in
the LATEA terrane (Cheilletz et al., 1992).
Acknowledgements
Many discussions with J.M. Bertrand, A.M. Boullier,
R. Black, J. Fabre, J.P. Li
egeois, M. Mattauer, A.
Leyreloup, K. Ouzegane, A. Moussine-Pouchkine and
J.R. Ki
enast are warmly acknowledged. This work is a
contribution to the project ‘‘H
eritage
eburn
een et
structuration panafricaine du Hoggar:
etude g
eologique
et g
eophysique’’ supported by the French-Algerian co-
operation program 00MDU476.
Appendix A
A.1. Analytical procedure
Single grains of micas and amphiboles have been
extracted from the samples and analyzed following dif-
ferent procedures of argon extraction. For micas, due to
their large grain size in most samples, we preferentially
performed spot fusion experiments on their cleavage
 R. Caby, P. Moni
e / Journal of African Earth Sciences 37 (2003) 269–293
plane with a laser-probe operating in the semi-pulsed
mode (Moni
e et al., 1997). For one sample (I71-1), both
spot fusion and step-heating analyses were achieved on
phengite single grain in order to compare the argon
signatures given by the two procedures of argon release.
For amphiboles, due to their low potassium content, a
step-heating argon extraction was chosen using a con-
tinuous mode for lasering. The samples were irradiated
in the McMaster nuclear reactor (Canada) together with
different aliquots of MMHb-1 (520.4 ± 1.7 Ma) as flux
monitor. For this reactor, the following correction fac-
tors for argon nuclear interferences were used: (36 Ar/
37
Ar)Ca ¼ 0.000254; (39 Ar/37 Ar)Ca ¼ 0.000651; (40 Ar/
39
Ar)K ¼ 0.0156. After irradiation, the single grains and
rock sections were placed on a Cu-holder inside an UHV
gas extraction system and baked for 48 h at 150
C. The
analytical device consists of: (a) a multiline continuous 6
W argon-ion laser; (b) a beam shutter for selection of
exposure times, typically 30 s for each step and 30 ms for
each spot; (c) divergent and convergent lenses for defi-
nition of the beam diameter; (d) a small inlet line for the
extraction and purification of gases; (e) a MAP 215-50
noble gas mass spectrometer. Each analysis involves 5
min for gas extraction and cleaning and 15 min for data
acquisition by peak switching from mass 40 to mass 36.
System blanks were evaluated every three experiments
and ranged from 3 · 1012 cc for 40 Ar to 4 · 1014 cc for
36
Ar. Ages and errors were calculated according to
McDougall and Harrison (1988). Results are reported in
Tables 1–3 and displayed as age spectra and spot fusion
age maps. The quoted errors represent one sigma devi-
ation in laser probe experiments and only the plateau
and total dates include the uncertainties on the monitor
age and its 40 Ar/39 Ar ratio. Ca/K ratios in amphiboles
are evaluated from the relation Ca/K ¼ 1.72 · (37 Ar/
39
Ar) deduced from the flux monitor analysis.
A.2. Sample description
M406. Leucocratic albitic orthogneiss. Albite is the
chief mineral forming newly grown polycrystalline
ocellae up to 0.5 mm with unbent cleavage representing
recrystallized former igneous albite phenocrysts. The
foliation is defined by the planar disposition of phengite
(ca. 10 vol.%, mean gain size 3 mm) displaying slightly
bent cleavage planes. <2 vol.% squelettal garnet growing
in the core of former albite phenocrysts and intergrown
with quartz and phengite is the only Fe–Mg phase.
K460. Kyanite–phengite quartz-schist with late
tourmaline prisms. The microfolded foliation is defined
by kyanite and phengite (mean grain size 1 mm). Both
minerals were plastically deformed. They display nu-
merous inclusions of prismatic rutile and magnetite. In
quartz-rich domains smaller size white mica grew as
polygonal arcs.
291
K353. Kyanite–staurolite micaschist. The assemblage
includes garnet, staurolite, kyanite, phengite (Si 3.30),
plagioclase, minor biotite and Mg chlorite.
L170. Coarse-grained segregate of kyanite up to
several centimeters long included in primary phengite.
Most of the kyanite is replaced by secondary fibrous
white mica.
I71-1. Phengite schist derived from a 5 cm-thick
quartz-poor micaceous layer intercalated with quartz-
ites. Numerous rutile, magnetite and apatite inclusions
are present in slightly undulose phengite (mean grain
size 0.3 mm).
C106. Coarse-grained pelitic metatexite containing
quartz, garnet, brown biotite, cordierite, plagioclase,
perthitic K-feldspar, ilmenite, graphite and monazite as
major phases.
L154. Fe–Mg metapelite displaying the mineral as-
semblage quartz, fresh cordierite, biotite, pink ortho-
pyroxene, antophyllite and magnetite.
M112. Amphibolite containing elongate polycrystal-
line pink orthopyroxene surrounded by diopsidic augite,
anorthite and brown pargasitic amphibole.
M775. Mafic amphibolite containing P80% of Fe
pargasite (grain size ¼ 2 mm), fresh labradorite, minor
garnet, prismatic rutile and ilmenite.
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