Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 677–692

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Research Paper

Structural and tectonothermal evolution of the ultrahigh-temperature

Bakhuis Granulite Belt, Guiana Shield, Surinam: Palaeoproterozoic to recent
Frank F. Beunk a, *, Emond W.F. de Roever a, Keewook Yi b, Fraukje M. Brouwer a
a
Faculty of Science, Geology and Geochemistry Cluster, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA), De Boelelaan 1085, 1081, HV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
b
Division of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Korean Basic Science Institute, Ochang, 363-833, South Korea

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Richard Palin We constrain the multistage tectonic evolution of the Palaeoproterozoic UHT metamorphic (P ¼ 0.9–1.0 GPa, T
>1000  C, t ¼ 2088–2031 Ma) Bakhuis Granulite Belt (BGB) in Surinam on the Guiana Shield, using large- to
Keywords: small-scale structures, Al-in-hornblende thermobarometry and published fluid inclusion and zircon geochrono-
Bakhuis granulite belt logical data. The BGB forms a narrow, NE–SW striking belt between two formerly connected, ~E–W oriented
Guiana shield
granite-greenstone belts, formed between converging Amazonian and West African continental masses prior to
Transamazonian orogeny
collision and Transamazonian orogeny. Inherited detrital zircon in BGB metasediments conforms agewise to
UHT metamorphism
Tectonics Birimian zircon of West Africa and suggests derivation from the subsequently subducted African passive margin.
P-T-t evolution Ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism may have followed slab break-off and asthenospheric heat advection. Peak
metamorphic structures result from layer-parallel shearing and folding, reflecting initial transtensional exhu-
mation of the subducted African margin after slab break-off. A second HT event involves intrusion, at ca. 0.49
GPa, of charnockites and metagabbros at 1993–1984 Ma and a layered anorthosite at 1980 Ma, after the BGB had
already cooled to <400  C. The event is related to northward subduction under the greenstone belts, along a new
active margin to their south. A pronounced syntaxial bend in the new margin points northward towards the BGB
and is likely the result of indentation by an anticlinorial flexural bulge of the subducting plate. Tearing of the
subducting oceanic plate along this bulge explains why the charnockites are restricted to the BGB. The BGB
subsequently experienced doming under an extensional detachment exposed in its southwestern border zone.
Exhumation was focused in the BGB as a result of the flexural bulge in the subducting plate and localised heating
of the overriding plate by charnockite magmatism. The present, straight NE–SW long-side boundaries of the BGB
are superimposed mylonite zones, overprinted by pseudotachylites, previously dated at ca. 1200 Ma and 950 Ma,
respectively. The 1200 Ma mylonites reflect transpressional popping-up of the BGB, caused by EW-directed
intraplate principal compressive stresses from Grenvillian collision preserved under the eastern Andes. Further
exhumation of the BGB involved the 950 Ma pseudotachylite decorated faulting, and Phanerozoic faulting along
reactivated Meso- and Neoproterozoic lineaments.

1. Introduction
The Bakhuis Granulite Belt (BGB) forms a ca. 100 km long, 30–40 km
wide, NE–SW oriented, rectangular belt at a latitude of ca. 5 N in
northwestern Surinam, in the center of the Palaeoproterozoic Guiana
shield (Fig. 1). The Guiana shield is separated from the Guapor
e shield in
Brazil by the Phanerozoic Amazon River Basin. Together they form the
Amazon craton. Geological, geophysical, geochemical and ore deposit-
related reconnaissance and follow-up studies of the Surinam part of the
shield peaked in the 1950s–1970s, as documented mainly in reports of
the Geological and Mining Service of Surinam (GMD), and partly sum-
marized in the latest overview of the Precambrian bedrock geology of
Surinam by Kroonenberg et al. (2016). The BGB has commonly been
referred to as the ‘Bakhuis horst’ (e.g., Jharap, 1973; Cordani et al., 2010;
Girjasing et al., 2019), as it forms an apparently fault-bounded, low--
elevation ridge (ca. 200–480 m a.s.l.) above the neighbouring Phanero-
zoic peneplain (ca. 100–200 m). Both are covered by continuous tropical
rain forest.
First described as an ultrahigh-temperature metamorphic (UHTM)
terrain by de Roever et al. (2003), the BGB is still a relatively poorly

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: frank.beunk@vu.nl (F.F. Beunk).
Peer-review under responsibility of China University of Geosciences (Beijing).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2020.05.021
Received 16 August 2019; Received in revised form 10 February 2020; Accepted 20 May 2020
Available online 16 August 2020
1674-9871/© 2020 China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and Peking University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the
CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al. Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 677–692

Fig. 1. Geological bedrock map of the Guiana Shield,

adapted from Kroonenberg et al. (2016), with
permission from Cambridge University Press. The
shield underlies Venezuela (V) southeast of the Ori-
noco river (Or), a small part of easternmost Colombia
(C), the northernmost part of Brazil (B) and all of the
three Guianas: Guyana (G), Surinam (S), and French
Guiana (FG). Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments (light
green) cover the craton in the coastal plain and
offshore of Surinam. BGB ¼ Bakhuis Granulite Belt,
Am ¼ Amazon river. Thin black lines are state borders.
Two dashed white lines mark the approximate north-
ern boundary of the ‘older’ 1.99–1.95 Ga (Caicar-
a-Dalbana) felsic volcanic and (Wonotobo-Cuchivero)
granitoid belt south of and between the 2.26–2.08 Ga
greenstone belts. The significance of this boundary is
discussed in the text.

Fig. 2. Lithological map of the Bakhuis Granulite Belt,

with observation points of the 2012 and 2014 field
campaigns. Dashed red lines are the marginal
mylonite-pseudotachylite zones of the UHT belt. The
orientation symbol with 70 SE dip represents the
average orientation of S5 mylonitic foliations along the
Kabalebo river. They show reverse, Bakhuis-up sense
of shear, suggesting a ‘pop-up’, with a subsidiary right-
lateral component (dashed half arrows). Thin red lines
are from lines of lithological banding in the BGB,
copied from GMD (1977). a ¼ 3 km  4 km layered
anorthosite body along Mozes Creek; g ¼ horn-
blende-biotite granite; Ap ¼ Apoera dust road, BM ¼
Blanche Marie Falls, Co ¼ Coppename river, Fa ¼
Falawatra river, Ka ¼ Kabalebo river, RKa ¼ Right
Kabalebo river, MM ¼ Misty Mountain, Ni ¼ Nickerie
river, UPL ¼ ‘Uncle Piet’ lodge.

678
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
(caption on next column)
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Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 677–692
Fig. 3. Field pictures. Topographic coordinates in this caption use the WGS84
system and refer to block 21N. (a) Vertical drill core of anorthosite along Mozes
Creek (Fig. 2), with cm-scale. Top is on the right. Igneous lamination (dark
pyroxene-rich layers) dips 70 . (b) Typical lithological banding of UHTM
granulites. Coin for scale. Blanche Marie Falls (Fig. 2), ca. W0513273/
N0525226. (c) Migmatitic metapelite. Falawatra River. From Nanne (2013). (d)
10 cm-scale isoclinal F1 folds of metasedimentary bedding. The thin folded bed
is a quartzite. Vanam Creek (tributary of Nickerie River), ca.
W0518244/N0534873. (e) Tight, m-scale F1 fold of S0,1, lacking an axial planar
foliation. The fold plunges 85 to N330 E. An irregular patch of coarse granite
was collected in the hinge of the fold (outlined, white lines), transsected by the
two straight, white veins above the scale card. Hammer handle is 35 cm long.
Mozes Creek (tributary of Nickerie River), W0523806/N0536540. (f) Oblique
view onto dm-m scale upright F2 fold in fine S0,1 banding of granulites, plunging
42 to N56 E. Blanche Marie falls, Nickerie River, W0513416/N0525251. (g)
cm-scale vertical crenulation folds plunging 75 within subvertical, EW-striking
deformation band (below the scale card) in finely banded granulites. The
banding reflects alternation of leuco- and mesocratic bands,
W0466679/N0482550. (h) Leucosome-filled boudin neck (white outline), to the
right of pen, in finely banded UHT granulite (dashed white lines). Cremer Falls
in Falawatra River (tributary of Nickerie River), ca. W0544912/N0549799. (i)
Mafic fragment in coarse leucosome, containing subhorizontally extended, light
coloured orthopyroxene-plagioclase augen in a darker hornblende-opx-plag
matrix. Falawatra River (tributary of Nickerie River), W0544554/N0547102.
(j) Low-grade planar S3 fabric forming horizontal surface in leucogranites,
directly to the S of the southwestern charnockites of the BGB, on the bank of the
Right Kabalebo River (Fig. 2), at Double Step Falls, W0450277/N0447343.
Indigenous Amerindians used the surface for the shaping of stone tools. One
such tool was found on the river bank, ca. 1 km downstream of the outcrop
(inset, with coin for scale). (k) Looking to the SW at a small, steeply dipping cliff
along the Right Kabalebo river, with subhorizontal S3 foliation (below the
compass, cf. Fig. 3j) intersected by a steeply to the left (SE) dipping, NE–SW
striking S5b shear. The later shear follows the direction of the northwestern D5
mylonitic border zone of the BGB, dips towards the BGB, but, contrary to the
mylonites, shows ‘BGB-side-down’ normal offset; see discussion in the text.
Right Kabalebo River, W0445025/N0447436. (l) Top view onto near-vertical
S5a ‘Nickerie’ foliation (double pointed white arrow) in fine-grained quartz-
o-feldspathic gneiss, with a right-lateral component of D5a shear (red half ar-
rows), indicated by the sigmoidal shape of the included block (white outline),
and bent internal and external foliations (dashed white lines). North is to the
right. Right Kabalebo River, W0446032/N0446129. (m) Top view onto a ver-
tical, NE–SW striking, low-grade, dextral D5a shear in banded granulite. S-sha-
ped boudinaged mafic fragment (outlined) with internal banding (dashed lines).
Pen for scale. Kilo-3 Creek (tributary of Kabalebo River),
W0482677/N0491275. (n) Top view onto a vertical, NW–SE striking,
low-grade, sinistral S5a shear band in foliated charnockite. Zandkreek (tributary
of Kabalebo River), W0472516/N0480264. (o) Black,  1 m thick pseudo-
tachylite dykes (D6) in brownish granites. People in the background for scale.
Kabalebo River, W0451990/N0467770.
known member of the growing worldwide inventory of UHTM crustal
rocks. It is, for instance, lacking from the UHTM review of Kelsey and
Hand (2015). Ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism in the BGB occurred
at 2.09–2.03 Ga, based on SHRIMP analyses of zircon (de Roever et al.,
2019), at the end of the main phase of the Transamazonian orogeny, and
after the formation of the granite-greenstone belt. Peak metamorphic
temperatures of 900–1000  C and higher developed in metapelitic
granulites at a pressure of 0.9–1.0 GPa (de Roever et al., 2016; see section
4).
Besides granulites, the BGB contains a 30 km  30 km zone at its SW
end, with dominant orthopyroxene granitoids: the Kabalebo charnockites
(Fig. 2), completing a common association in (U)HT metamorphic belts.
They are associated with rare hornblende-biotite granites (Fig. 2). The
charnockites crystallized at >950  C and have an age range 1993–1984
Ma (Klaver et al., 2015). This age postdates UHT metamorphism of the
granulites by at least some 40 Myr and represents a second >900  C event
in the BGB. Element and Nd–Sr isotope geochemistry led Klaver et al.
(2015) to conclude that the charnockites stem from partial melting of
intermediate BGB granulites. The second UHT event is also represented
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
by numerous metagabbro and ultramafic bodies in the southwest, and by
a 3 km  4 km layered anorthosite intrusion along Mozes Creek in the
northeast (Fig. 2; de Roever et al., 2003). Structurally, the anorthosite is
of importance because its igneous lamination now dips steeply
(~70 –80 ; Fig. 3a), which, assuming original horizontality of the
lamination, indicates that it experienced rotation along a horizontal axis
after its solidification at 1980 Ma (single zircon Pb evaporation: de
Roever et al., 2003; SHRIMP: de Roever et al., 2019).
The BGB is bordered along its long, northwestern and southeastern
sides by mylonite zones, associated with abundant pseudotachylites
(Fig. 2). The mylonitisation occurred around 1200 Ma, as deduced from
the resetting of Rb–Sr and K–Ar biotite ages (Priem et al., 1971; Cordani
et al., 2010), and is known as the K’Mudku or Nickerie episode, the latter
preferentially used in Surinam. A 40Ar/39Ar study of pseudotachylite
indicated subsequent lower temperature faulting at 950 Ma (Enjolvy
et al., 2007).
Previous and ongoing studies of the BGB have mainly focused on its
metamorphic, igneous and geochronological characteristics, while its
thick lateritic cover has been explored for bauxite. Detailed structural
analysis is lacking so far, but, in conjunction with the metamorphic
studies structures can help resolve the tectonic evolution of the belt. The
BGB shares major, long-standing issues with other granulite facies ter-
ranes (Rudnick and Fountain, 1995), particularly with Proterozoic UHT
belts, the tectonic drivers of which remain largely elusive (Kelsey and
Hand, 2015): What brought the metasediments to lower crustal depth,
and by what means were they uplifted with respect to the low grade
supracrustal rocks on both sides, and to the surface?
Here, we take a structural geologic approach to the BGB to address
these issues. We report results of a first effort to collect and interpret
structural data within the BGB and along its northwestern mylonitic
boundary. We also investigate the part of the belt’s extreme southwestern
boundary known to be least affected by ‘Nickerie’ mylonitisation, where
the charnockite domain gives way to similarly aged, 1987 Ma old
gneissose felsic metavolcanics of the Caicara-Dalbana suite and associ-
ated leucogranite (Fig. 1). By combining our structural observations with
new hornblende thermobarometry and existing thermobarometric re-
sults, age determinations and a fluid-inclusion study, we derive a cooling
and exhumation history of the BGB. Finally, we address the Proterozoic
tectonic setting of the BGB and the associated charnockites.
2. Methods, data sources, and field strategy
Our work relies primarily on field and microscopic observations.
Wavelength-dispersive electron-microprobe analyses of magmatic am-
phiboles, first reported here (Appendix Table A1), were acquired using a
JEOL JXA 8800M instrument at VU Amsterdam, equipped with 4 spec-
trometers, operated at 15 kV acceleration voltage and a beam current of
25 nA, with matrix corrections by ZAF-software provided by JEOL, and
calibrated against natural and synthetic mineral standards. The heating-
freezing experiments of the fluid inclusion study by Van Ryt (2014) were
performed under the supervision of Dr. J.M. Huizenga. A full account of
that study will be published elsewhere. U–Pb geochronological zircon
data in de Roever et al. (2019), cited herein, were derived from three
unpublished M.Sc. theses at VUA: (i) Nanne (2013), LA-ICP-MS; (ii) Van
de Steeg (2016), SHRIMP; (iii) Vos (2016), SHRIMP. Stereoplots were
made using StereoWin1.2 (Allmendiger, 2002); for palaeostress analysis
we used WinTensor (Delvaux and Sperner, 2003; http://damiende
lvaux.be/Tensor/WinTensor/).
The BGB is poorly accessible and outcrops are predominantly avail-
able in river beds and banks during the dry season, and along small
streams down hillslopes. Roads for abandoned bauxite exploration are
mostly no longer accessible. The GMD carried out extensive drilling
campaigns in the 1960s and 1970s, cores of which are in part still
available for study. Therefore, our field observations during two cam-
paigns, in 2012 and 2014, mainly addressed outcrops along the Kabalebo
River, which follows the northwestern mylonitic border zone in the
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Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 677–692
southwest of the BGB (Fig. 2), and its tributaries, as well as the Nickerie
River system in the northeastern half of the BGB. Below we concentrate
on characteristic, outcrop scale structural elements to infer the larger
scale structure and its evolution.
3. Geological and tectonic setting of the Bakhuis UHT belt
The BGB is exposed between two extensive granite-greenstone belts
to its WNW and ESE, aged 2.26–2.08 Ga (Delor et al., 2003a, b; Fig. 1),
mostly interpreted as an intraoceanic island arc overlying a southward
dipping subduction zone, in present-day geography (Tedeschi et al.,
2018, and references therein). Plate convergence led to the ultimate
collision between North Amazonian and West African continental
masses, capturing the intervening island arc during the Transamazonian
orogeny (2.26–1.93 Ga; Delor et al., 2003a). Delor et al. (2003b)
explained the discordant, straight, NE–SW oriented boundaries of the
BGB (Figs. 1 and 2) as a result of large scale boudinage of the greenstone
belt due to oblique southward subduction below the greenstones. In their
model, collision and orogen-parallel shearing and extension resulted in a
boudin neck between the eastern and western greenstone belts, filled by
the BGB. Shearing was inferred from the existence of pull-apart basins in
the greenstone belt of French Guiana and eastern Surinam (Delor et al.,
2003a, b). The Imataca and Amapa granulite belts of Venezuela and NE
Brazil, respectively, are Neo- to Meso-archaean belts that straddle the
western and eastern borders of the Guiana Shield (Fig. 1). Towards the
northeast, the BGB disappears under the Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary
platform cover of the coastal plain and offshore (Fig. 1). An aeromagnetic
survey for the GMD in the 1960s indicated that the WNW–ESE trend of
the greenstone belt continues across the northeastern extension of the
BGB under the Cenozoic cover of the coastal plain.
Inland, on the shield, the BGB is mainly surrounded by biotite gran-
ites, subvolcanic leucogranites and felsic metavolcanics of the Wonotobo-
Cuchivero and Caicara-Dalbana suites, respectively (Fig. 1), as well as
minor metagabbros and ultramafic intrusions, all 1.99–1.98 Ga in age
(Klaver et al., 2015, and references therein). Most of the contacts be-
tween the BGB and the granites and metavolcanics are tectonic (Fig. 2).
The 1.99–1.98 Ga volcano-plutonic suite forms a sinuous, ca. 1800 km
long belt southwest of, and in between the greenstone belts (Fig. 1).
Fraga et al. (2009a) first identified subduction of the high-grade Cauar-
ane-Coeroeni belt (Fig. 1) to the north along the southern margin of the
western granite-greenstone belt, starting around 2.04 Ga. Northward
subduction under the western greenstone belt followed the early oblique
southward subduction from the north. The felsic extrusive rocks of the
Caicara-Dalbana belt bordering the BGB carry the supra-subduction zone
chemical compositions related to this later phase of northward subduc-
tion (Mahabier and de Roever, 2018). At the longitude of the BGB, the
younger magmatic belt forms a pronounced northeastward syntaxial
bend between the two older granite-greenstone belts (Fig. 1). It contains
remnants of the greenstones east and west of the BGB, and completely
encloses the BGB proper.
The second, charnockite-anorthosite UHT event of the BGB is sup-
posedly the result of the new geodynamic configuration, i.e., northward
subduction below the greenstone belts from the south, in present-day
coordinates (Klaver et al., 2015). While the Caicara-Dalbana meta-
volcanics and Wonotobo-Cuchivero granitoids border the two
granite-greenstone belts along most of their southern, respectively
western margin, the coeval charnockites occur exclusively within the
BGB (Fig. 2). The reason for this contrast will be explored in section 7.4.
4. Granulites of the BGB
The granulites form a migmatitic, supracrustal suite, compositionally
banded at the centimeter to meter scale (Fig. 3b), as is commonly
observed in lower crustal high-grade suites worldwide. Concordant mafic
granulite bands of volcanic origin (Vos, 2016) form 30%–35% of the
outcrops. Intermediate granulites (55%) chemically resemble
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
greywackes or intermediate volcanics (Vos, 2016); metapelites, quartz-
ites and other rock types constitute the remaining 10%–15% of the
granulites (percentages after de Roever, 1975). Intercalated manganif-
erous spessartine quartzites (‘gondites’) and calc-silicate granulites
further attest to the metasedimentary origin of the assemblage.
Essentials of the peak metamorphic conditions of the BGB are here
summarized from Klaver et al. (2015), de Roever et al. (2016) and Nanne
et al. (2020). A metapelite area in the northeastern part of the belt shows
mineral assemblages diagnostic of UHTM: (high-Al) orthopyroxene þ
sillimanite þ quartz and sapphirine þ quartz. The orthopyroxene shows
8–10.5 wt.% Al2O3 in its core. Metapelites elsewhere in the belt contain
cordierite þ sillimanite, occasionally with (high-Al) orthopyroxene.
Mesoperthite and antiperthite are common in the metapelites and also
occur in part of the granulites. Feldspar thermometry, using the Fuhrman
and Lindsley (1988) model, gives peak temperatures of 900–1000  C and
higher. This indicates that most of the BGB witnessed UHT meta-
morphism and that the assemblage cordierite þ sillimanite  (high-Al)
orthopyroxene was also formed under UHTM conditions (Nanne et al.,
2020). The pressure prevailing during UHTM, 0.9–1.0 GPa, was deter-
mined on a garnet–orthopyroxene pair in the NE metapelite, as well as on
Mg–Al covariation in aluminous orthopyroxene, based on Hensen and
Harley (1990) and Tateishi et al. (2004). The BGB, like other UHTM
terrains, experienced a peak geothermal gradient around 1000  C/GPa.
Zircon in BGB leucosomes has ages of 2.09–2.03 Ga (de Roever et al.,
2019), interpreted to date the UHT metamorphism. Older cores of zircon
in two metapelites range in age from ~2.23 Ga to 2.10 Ga; in an inter-
mediate granulite they range up to 2.26 Ga (de Roever et al., 2019). Some
Archaean detrital zircon has previously been identified in the amphibo-
lite to granulite-facies Coeroeni gneisses to the southwest of the BGB
(Fraga et al., 2009a, 2017; de Roever et al., 2015), which are part of the
high-grade metasupracrustal Cauarane-Coeroeni belt (Fig. 1). However,
Nd-depleted mantle-model ages from the BGB granulites of 2.4–2.2 Ga
(de Roever et al., 2003) preclude any significant involvement of
Archaean crust in the evolution of the BGB.
5. Results: A structural geologic approach to the BGB (section
5.1–-5.3), and thermobarometry of charnockites (section 5.4)
The subvertical orientation and bending around of intercalations of
sillimanite gneisses in the northeast of the BGB (Fig. 2) led de Roever
(1973) to suggest a dome-like structure for this part of the belt. Orien-
tations of S0 and S1 in granulite outcrops support the continuation of the
dome in the central and southwestern part of the BGB (Fig. 2; Dahlberg,
1973). The map suggests that the dome has been truncated by the
younger southeastern mylonitic border zone (Fig. 2). The regional dis-
tribution of metamorphic peak temperatures in the BGB was studied by
Nanne (2013) and Nanne et al. (2020). They used ternary feldspar
thermometry on meso- and antiperthites to construct the map repro-
duced in Fig. 4. The early, 2.09–2.03 Ma UHT domain seems to comprise
two local temperature maxima 1000  C, in the northeast and in the
southwest. Since lithological banding in the BGB predominantly dips
steeply (Fig. 3b), the map suggests the presence of a migmatitic double
dome similar to those of the metamorphic core complexes of Naxos in
Greece and the Montagne Noir of S. France (Kruckenberg et al., 2011;
Rey et al., 2011a, b). In these core complexes adjacent migmatite domes
are separated by a vertical high-strain zone. Because of the apparent
similarity we planned to check for the presence of an analogous
high-strain zone in the middle of the BGB, at a latitude of ca. 4 400 N
(Figs. 2 and 4), but collapsed bridges along a former bauxite exploration
road prevented us from reaching the area.
5.1. Classification of observed structures
We distinguish six groups of structures in the BGB and its border
zones, which are described and illustrated in detail below:
D1: UHT S1, L1-fabric of the BGB (Figs. 3b,c, 5a,b, 6a,b and 7b);
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Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 677–692
intrafolial, isoclinal recumbent and sheath-type F1 folds of S0 (Figs. 3d,e
and 7b).
D2: Open to tight, upright F2 folds, axially parallel to F1 folds (Figs. 3f
and 7b); conjugate ductile shear bands at right angles (Fig. 7a); exten-
sional features, σ3 subparallel to b2 fold axes as shown by boudinage and
pegmatite filled tension gashes (Figs. 3h and 7a), and extended objects
(Figs. 3i and 7a).
D3: Low-angle, low-grade S- and L-fabric (S3, L3) in southwestern
border zone of the BGB (Figs. 3j, k, 5c and 6e, f).
D4: Doming, reflected by large-scale map pattern and by quasi-
random scatter of D1,2 planar and linear elements (Figs. 2 and 6a, -b).
D5: Steeply dipping brittle-ductile shear zones which determine the
straight, parallel, NE–SW oriented boundaries of the BGB (Figs. 2, 3k, 5d,
e and 6c). Subvertical conjugate S5 shear bands occur within the BGB
(Fig. 3l–n).
D6: Faulting with pseudotachylite generation superimposed upon
NE–SW striking D5 boundary shear zones, and locally within the BGB
(Figs. 3o and 5f).
Not all of these groups of structures represent separate deformation
phases. We will argue below that D1,2 and D3,4 structures are manifes-
tations of two successive phases in the tectonic evolution of the BGB.
Also, two kinematically different subphases, D5a and D5b, constitute the
D5 group which forms the northwestern boundary shear zone (section
5.3.3).
5.2. Mesoscale high-grade D1–D2 structures within the BGB
The granulite banding is an UHT fabric parallel to sedimentary
bedding (Fig. 3b; de Roever et al., 2003), described here as S0,1. Fertile
bands in the granulites transformed into coarse-grained concordant
leucosomes and finer-grained melanosomes (Fig. 3c). Tight to isoclinal
recumbent F1 folds of the banding are common in granulites and in
metapelitic gneisses (Fig. 3d, e), with a sillimanite lineation parallel to
fold axes. Locally, quartz rods with lattice-preferred orientation form
pronounced lineations in (meso)perthitic leucogranulite (Fig. 5a, b).
Some of these folds display oval intersections consistent with a
sheath-type, non-cylindrical geometry. The F1 folds in places collect
irregular granite patches in their hinges (Fig. 3e).
Upright, meter to hectometer-scale F2 folds of granulite banding are
locally observed in outcrop (Fig. 3f), or mapped between outcrops.
Where observed together, recumbent and sheath-type F1 and upright F2
folds are coaxial (Fig. 7b). The F1,2 folds typically lack an axial planar
foliation. On a larger scale, orientations of lithological banding derived
from sedimentary bedding of the protoliths vary widely throughout the
BGB, but steep dips dominate, with a tendency to trend parallel to the
belt’s long direction (Fig. 6a). If the rare examples of F2 folds are
representative for F2 folding, they suggest significant variation in axial
azimuths and (moderate) plunge of the b2 fold axes.
Three more types of structures deform S0,1 and appear to belong to the
high-grade D2 group as well: (i) steeply plunging crenulation folds
(Fig. 3g), (ii) leucosome-filled tension gashes (AC-joints) and boudin
necks in granulite (Fig. 3h) and metadolerite, and (iii) extended objects
(Fig. 3i).
5.3. Retrograde structures (D3–D6)
5.3.1. The southwestern border of the BGB: D3 structures
The only exposed boundary of the BGB not pervasively affected by the
subvertical structures of Mesoproterozoic D5 mylonitisation and Neo-
proterozoic D6 faulting is along the eastern side of its southwestern
border. River banks in the easternmost part of the west-flowing Right
Kabalebo river (Fig. 2) expose a low-grade, spaced, subhorizontal, stri-
ated parting in 1.98 Ga (Wonotobo-Cuchivero) leucogranite, biotite
granite and granodiorite (Fig. 3j, k), and in associated felsic (Caicara-
Dalbana) metavolcanics. In thin section, the leucogranite displays a
weak, spaced and annealed fabric of grain-size reduced quartz and
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
feldspar, and parallel aggregates of white mica (Figs. 5c and 6e). A
palaeostress analysis of these structures yields NE–SW directed sub-
horizontal extension (Fig. 6f) which we identify as D3.
5.3.2. D4: BGB-wide rotations of D1,2 structures
The scatter of poles to S0,1 (Fig. 6a), and of b1,2 fold axes and L1
mineral lineations (Fig. 6b) illustrates the effect of rotations of all D1,2
structures during retrograde D4. We present our tectonic interpretation of
D3 extension and of D4 rotation of D1,2 structures in the discussion section
6.2.
5.3.3. D5 mylonites of the borders of the BGB, and S5 shear bands within the
BGB
Along the northwestern border of the BGB (Fig. 2), mylonites devel-
oped in a deformation zone that is locally up to 3–5 km wide (GMD,
1977). Mylonitisation affected the BGB granulites and charnockites, as
well as the country rock biotite granites and felsic metavolcanics (Fig. 1).
Feldspar deformed mostly in a brittle way and shows only limited
recrystallization. Similar mylonites occur along the southeastern
boundary of the BGB (de Roever, 1975), but this zone could not be
reached for more detailed study. Along the Kabalebo river, the north-
western mylonites strike between N30 E and N70 E and dip predomi-
nantly 60 –80 SE, towards the BGB (Figs. 2 and 6c). Shear planes (S5)
have downdip lineations, and microfabrics show a pronounced ‘BGB-up’
reverse slip sense of shear in vertical sections (Figs. 2 and 5d), and a
weaker right lateral component in horizontal sections (Figs. 2 and 3l). A
subset of the mylonites dips steeply to the NW, away from the BGB
(Fig. 6c). These mylonites display ‘BGB-down’ sense of shear.
Away from the border zone mylonites, the BGB is intersected by
numerous small-scale, low-grade, vertical, conjugate shear bands
(Fig. 3m, n). Right-lateral and left-lateral bands, at right angles, have
NE–SW and NW–SE orientations, respectively.
The upper Kabalebo river follows the S5 foliation along the char-
nockites in the southwest of the BGB (Fig. 2). Only along this section of
the northwestern border of the BGB steeply southeast-dipping mylonites
were found which overprint the ‘BGB-up’ S5 mylonites with extensional,
‘BGB-down’ sense of shear (Figs. 3k and 5e), and oblique, 65 ESE-
plunging lineations on the shear plane. Apart from shear sense, their
fabrics are rather similar, although the extensional shears are less
penetrative and more localized, in outcrop as well as in thin section
(compare Fig. 5d, e). Because of their similarities we identify the older
generation as D5a and the younger, extensional shears as D5b. Along the
Right Kabalebo river similar NE–SW oriented discrete S5b shear bands
offset the horizontal S3 fabric as normal, ‘BGB-down’ faults (Fig. 3k).
5.3.4. D6 pseudotachylites and cataclasites
A chaotic network of spectacular, black, glassy pseudotachylite veins
and dykes overprints the northwestern mylonite zone (Figs. 3o and 5f).
Country rocks are strongly cataclastic. Similar concentrations of pseu-
dotachylites and cataclasites occur in the southeastern border zone as
well (de Roever, 1975). They are also present locally within the BGB. No
systematic study has so far been undertaken of their orientations and
kinematics. Within the BGB few UHT rocks escaped any form of low-T
textural overprint, be it only for subgrain formation in quartz, likely
related to D5,6 deformation.
5.4. Hornblende thermobarometry of charnockites and related intrusions
The Misty Mountain composite intrusion at the northeastern margin
of the charnockite domain of the southwestern BGB (Fig. 2) contains
hornblende-bearing charnockite and rare titanite-hornblende-biotite
granodiorite. Unfortunately, the intrusive relations between the two
remain obscure due to poor outcrop conditions. The zircon 207Pb/206Pb
age of charnockite sample MKS22 is 1991 Ma (Klaver et al., 2015); the
granodiorite (#MKS17) is as yet undated. In order to evaluate the depth
of these intrusions Al-in-hornblende barometry of two of these rocks is
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reported in Appendix A, Tables A1 and A2. We apply five independent
pressure calibrations (Hammarstrom and Zen, 1986; Hollister et al.,
1987; Johnson and Rutherford, 1989; Schmidt, 1992; Anderson and
Smith, 1995), which are based on empirical calibration and experimental
studies showing a positive linear correlation between total Al composi-
tion in calcic amphiboles and pressure of crystallization. Both rocks
satisfy the prerequisite for the application of the Al-in-hornblende ba-
rometers, i.e., the buffering assemblage amphibole þ plagioclase þ
K-feldspar þ quartz, and medium to high oxygen fugacity; the latter
constraint is satisfied by the presence of primary magnetite, and by the
elevated Ce/Ce* of zircon in the charnockites (Klaver et al., 2015).
Plagioclase and K-feldspar form separate magmatic phases in the
granodiorite MKS17, but they crystallized as a single, ternary feldspar in
charnockite MKS22. Anderson and Smith’s (1995) calibration in-
corporates a correction up to 0.2 GPa per 100  C for the temperature
dependence of the Al-in-hornblende barometer, with respect to the
experimental conditions (675  C) used by Schmidt (1992). Therefore, we
estimated the temperature of crystallization of the hornblendes using the
Ti-in-hornblende thermometer proposed by Otten (1984), while for the
charnockite also an independent temperature estimate based on exsolved
mesoperthitic ternary feldspar was taken from Klaver et al. (2015). On
average, hornblende composition reflects a pressure of crystallization,
uncorrected for temperature, of 0.46 and 0.42 GPa in charnockite and
granodiorite, respectively, with an overall standard deviation of 50–60
MPa. The charnockite (#MKS22) crystallized at ca. 980  C, based on
feldspar mesoperthite thermometry, compared to 933  C obtained from
the Ti-in-hornblende thermometer of the present amphiboles (Table A1).
The Ti-based hornblende thermometer indicates a significantly lower
temperature of crystallization, on average 650  C, for the titanite-bearing
granodiorite MKS17 (Table A2).
The high temperature of the charnockite causes a significant down-
ward correction of ca. 100 MPa to the uncorrected Al-in-hornblende
barometer, from ca. 0.46 GPa to ca. 0.36 GPa (Table A1). The titanite-
bearing granodiorite experiences a positive pressure correction, from
ca. 0.42 to ca. 0.49 GPa (Table A2). The results make the choice of the
pressure of crystallization of the intrusions somewhat ambiguous. Since
the charnockite is extreme in many respects, we consider the
temperature-corrected pressure of the titanite-bearing granodiorite, ca.
0.49 GPa, as the most plausible estimate. Taking the average continental
crustal density of the shield as 2.825 g/cm3 (Artemieva and Shulgin,
2019), this pressure corresponds to a depth of ~17.3 km.
6. Discussion
6.1. Structures and tectonics of the first UHT event (2.09–2.03 Ga)
6.1.1. D1,2 deformation and migmatisation under peak metamorphic
condition
Peak UHT metamorphism at 2.09 Ga (de Roever et al., 2019) occurred
during the late stages of Transamazonian convergence and
orogen-parallel left-lateral shearing at 2.11–2.08 Ga. In the lower crustal
granulites, layer-parallel shearing explains F1 isoclinal and sheath folds
with b-lineations. We suggest that upright F2 folding, coaxial with F1,
developed synchronously with F1 folds (Fig. 7). The observations in
section 5.2 suggest constrictional strain during high-grade deformation.
The absence of axial planar foliation of the F1,2 folds can be explained by
the constrictional nature of deformation, but the high temperature
probably played a role as well, in that the migmatising rocks may have
been too weak to support differential stresses. Transtension explains the
constrictional and extensional features, as well as upright F2 folding
(Fig. 7; cf. Fossen et al., 2013) axially parallel to F1 folds.
6.1.2. Possible isothermal decompression during D1,2
Solid-phase barometry showed that UHTM occurred at 0.9–1.0 GPa
(section 3). Fluid-phase barometry of quartz included in high-Al2O3
orthopyroxene (Van Ryt, 2014) revealed a retrograde path of fluid
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
Fig. 4. Summary of results of ternary feldspar thermometry within the BGB, from Nanne (2013) and Nanne et al. (2020). Ages from Klaver et al. (2015) and de Roever
et al. (2019).
evolution starting at ~0.75 GPa (Fig. 8). Fluid inclusions formed at or
near peak metamorphism commonly indicate lower pressure than the
peak pressure derived from solid phases. This may be due to differences
in CO2 fluid inclusion densities in different minerals and/or within single
minerals (e.g., Santosh et al., 2008). Lower than peak pressure may also
be due to the presence of some unobserved water in CO2 inclusions
(Touret and Huizenga, 1999; Touret, 2001). This may explain the
0.1–0.2 GPa discrepancy between solid state and fluid-based pressure
estimates for UHTM in the BGB. However, such differences may alter-
natively suggest some initial isothermal decompression (ITD) at UHT
conditions. So far, the issue is unresolved and for the time being we prefer
the explanation of initial isothermal decompression of ca. 200 MPa.
6.1.3. Isochoric decompression and cooling following D1,2
Van Ryt’s (2014) fluid inclusion studies are indicative of a period of
gradual, CO2-isochoric uplift following ITD to ca. 0.75 GPa and subse-
quent isobaric cooling (Fig. 8). The gradual uplift was punctuated by the
emplacement of charnockites and related intrusions at a pressure of ca.
0.49 GPa indicated by the hornblende barometry reported in section 5.4.
No structures were encountered that plausibly represent this tectonic
phase. Probably, extensional collapse of the upper and middle crust, and
erosion were responsible for decompression, leaving the granulitic lower
crust structurally unaffected. However, its fluid system did record this
phase. The pressure recorded by Al-in-hornblende barometry of the
1.99–1.98 Ga charnockite suite corresponds to the pressure of the latter
of two successive tectonometamorphic stages in the southern branch of
the greenstone belt of French Guiana (D2 of Delor et al., 2003a). Their D2
evolved from 600  C at 0.5 GPa to ~400  C at 0.5 GPa (Fig. 9), and
its age was inferred to be ~2.10–2.06 Ga. While final D2 conditions in the
greenstone belt of French Guiana were encouragingly similar to our es-
timates for the BGB during charnockite intrusion, the latter was 60–70
Myrs younger. Although that may appear long for P,T-stability, the
longevity is in accordance with the very slow cooling rate we deduced for
post-charnockite evolution of the BGB (Fig. 9).
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6.2. Structures and tectonics of the charnockite UHT event (1993 Ma):
Possible migmatite dome formation under an extensional detachment (D3,4)
Possible explanations for the variation of S0,1 orientations visualized
in Fig. 6a, and the rotation of collective early HT structural elements from
one outcrop to the next, such as mineral lineations and b1,2 fold axes
(Fig. 6b), conjugate high-grade shears, and leucosome-filled tension
gashes also need to address the 50 –70 dips of igneous laminations in
the 1980 Ma layered anorthosite complex along Mozes Creek (Figs. 2, 3a
and 6d). We suggest that doming (D4) followed subhorizontal transten-
sional F1,2 folding and anorthosite intrusion. This scenario accounts for
the apparent rotations of D1,2 structures along vertical and horizontal
axes (D4, Fig. 6a), and explains the large-scale dome structure of the BGB
(Fig. 2). The field observations dictate dome-related deformation struc-
tures at multiple scales: a large scale dome versus small scale, outcrop-to-
outcrop azimuthal variations.
Palaeostress analysis of the low-grade, striated S3 planes found along
the Right Kabalebo River (section 5.3.1, Fig. 6f) indicates horizontal
NE–SW directed extension. Jharap (1973) reported a rapid northeast-
ward increase in metamorphic grade from greenschist to granulite facies.
Both observations are consistent with an interpretation of the D3 struc-
ture in the southwestern BGB as an extensional detachment. The
low-grade character of the structure indicates that the outcrops are
located in its hanging wall, which is consistent with a northeastward
transition from the hanging wall into the footwall of a gently southwest
dipping detachment overlying a metamorphic core complex. Doming
under an extensional detachment steepens originally horizontal marker
horizons to variable extents. The quasi-random orientations of S0,1
planes, b1,2 fold axes and lineations (Fig. 6a, b), conjugate high-grade
shears and leucosome-filled tension gashes express the dome structure
of the BGB, as they do for instance in the Naxos dome of the Greek
Cyclades (Kruckenberg et al., 2011). The 70 –80 dipping igneous
lamination of the 1980 Ma old anorthosite body along Mozes Creek in the
northeast of the BGB (Figs. 2, 3a and 6d) shows that the steepening of the
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
layering and granulite banding postdated ~1980 Ma anorthosite intru-
sion, assuming original horizontality of the lamination. Hence, dome
formation postdated both the first and the second UHT event, which
raises the question of the tectonic setting of the dome complex (section
7.4).
6.3. Final emplacement of the BGB as a result of D5 ‘Nickerie’
transpression
Most of our observations along the straight northwestern boundary
zone of the BGB imply transpressional ‘pop-up’ of the BGB, intersecting
and truncating the D4 dome, particularly along the straight southeastern
boundary (Fig. 2). D5a shearing, including the ‘BGB-down’ thrusting on
subordinate NW-dipping D5 shears, indicates E–W oriented, sub-
horizontal principal compressive stress. In the northeasternmost expo-
sures of the BGB, along the Nickerie River (Fig. 2), the northwestern
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Fig. 5. Thin sections. (a) Scan of a thin section (XPL,
cross-polarised light, sample S1212) and (b) detail,
with gypsum red-I plate superimposed, of high-grade
D1 fabric in quartzofeldspathic granulite. Character-
istic quartz rods with lobate boundaries after GBM
(grain boundary migration) recrystallization >500  C,
showing lattice preferred orientations, and weak
lower-T textural overprint (subgrain formation).
Kabalebo River, W0456756/N0481649. (c) Leucog-
ranite (XPL, sample S1402) with arrowed weakly
developed, spaced, planar, subhorizontal low-grade D3
microfabric (reduced grain size, parallel white micas).
Double Step falls, Right Kabalebo River, W0450277/
N0447343. (d) Vertical section (plane polarized light;
sample S1206) looking to the NE through D5a mylonite
after coarse biotite granite, in the northwestern border
zone of the BGB; mylonitic foliation with feldspar
augen forming asymmetrically winged objects dips
70 towards the BGB and shows ‘BGB-up’ reverse dip-
slip sense of shear (red half arrows). Lineations (in
outcrop) plunge down-dip. Kabalebo River,
W0485547/N0504764. (e) Vertical section (XPL;
sample S1401) looking NE through D5a,b mylonite
after biotite granite in the northwestern border zone of
the BGB. S5b forms the dominant, wavy, spaced folia-
tion, dipping 75 –88 SE towards the BGB and showing
‘BGB-down’, dip-slip sense of shear (red half arrows).
S5b overprints and forms a SC-fabric with S5a
(sigmoidal dashed red lines). ‘Uncle Piet’ lodge, upper
Kabalebo river (Fig. 2), W0451010/N0464974. (f)
Pinkish leucogranite (XPL, sample S1205) in the NW
border zone of the BGB, strongly cataclased and
transsected by irregular, isotropic pseudotachylite
veinlets (D6); widest veinlets vertical, middle of sec-
tion, and horizontal, in middle of right half. Kabalebo
River, W0483837/N0504641.
border zone mylonites appear to die out, also shown by the local irregular
map contact between BGB granulites and 1.99–1.95 Ga country rock
granites. In this area, strikes of characteristic early D1,2 UHT structures
(fold axes, lineations, tension gashes, shear bands) vary strongly on
hectometer scales. Here, in the absence of localized shearing, D5 defor-
mation in the BGB was apparently accommodated by distributed rotation
of early structures around vertical axes (Fig. 6a).
The Nickerie event, and its ca. 1200 Ma age, reflect intraplate stresses
caused by Grenvillian age collision as preserved in the eastern Colombian
Andes (Kroonenberg, 1982; Gibbs and Barron, 1993; Cordani et al.,
2010). Cordani et al. (2010) showed that the NE–SW ‘Nickerie shears’ in
Surinam are part of a large family of orthogonal, conjugate lineaments in
the entire Amazon craton. Their overprinting by pseudotachylites, D6 in
the BGB, is common everywhere (e.g., Almeida et al., 2008, and refer-
ences therein). The Grenvillian compressional pop-up of the BGB makes
the popular name ‘Bakhuis horst’ a misnomer for its Mesoproterozoic
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
tectonics. Along the charnockites which dominate the southwestern part
of the BGB, extensional, ‘BGB-down’ mylonites (D5b) overprint the earlier
D5a structures. The resulting graben possibly caused contrasting levels of
exhumation between charnockites and the main, relatively deeper part of
the BGB; it may explain why the charnockites are spatially restricted to
the southwest of the BGB.
We question the recent arguments in favour of a Transamazonian age
of the uplift of the BGB along its northwestern and southeastern
boundary faults by Girjasing et al. (2019), for several reasons: (i)
40
Ar/39Ar dating of micas of the mylonites by Enjolvy et al. (2007)
produced a 1200 Ma Grenvillian age from a fine grain size fraction in the
mylonites, while a coarser, undeformed mineral fraction still retained a
Palaeoproterozoic, Transamazonian age; (ii) the Transamazonian, large
scale dome structure of the BGB is truncated by the straight southeastern
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Fig. 6. Lower hemisphere stereographic projections of
(a) poles to S0,1, (b) b1,2 fold axes (solid symbols) and
L1 lineations (open symbols), (c) poles to S5 (NW
border zone mylonites). (d) Great circle projections of
igneous lamination in the anorthosite body along
Mozes Creek (Figs. 2 and 3a). (e) Great circle pro-
jections of low-grade, near-horizontal S3 fabric and
their L3 striations, in granite in the southwestern
border zone of the BGB, Right Kabalebo river (Figs. 2
and 3j-k); small arrows on four of the piercing points
of the striations indicate sense of motion of top. (f)
Palaeostress solution for the S3-L3 fabric in panel (e).
Contour interval in (a) and (c) 2%.
boundary fault (Fig. 2), indicating post-Transamazonian faulting; (iii) the
disappearance of the geomagnetic trace of the BGB under the coastal
plain, on the aeromagnetic map of the 1960s (Isaacs, 1960; Rattew, 1966,
and references therein), was tentatively explained by Girjasing et al.
(2019) by displacement of the BGB along a WNW–ENE running
right-lateral wrench fault, the North Suriname Shear Zone (NSSZ) around
2.0 Ga, as postulated by Voicu et al. (2001); however, the structural high
shows up clearly on the E–W seismic profile of the coastal plain across the
northeastern extension of the linear BGB (Nelson, 2016); the apparent
geomagnetic absence of the strongly magnetic granulites under the
younger cover sediments of the coastal plain is likely to be an artefact of
the shallow sampling depth (ca. 70 m) of the airborne acquisition; (iv)
finally, the coastal plain is situated above the northern flank of the dome
in the granulites (Fig. 2), where the dome is expected to dip to greater
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
depth, and to end altogether.
6.4. Cooling and exhumation of the BGB
Our preferred P-T-t path for the post-UHTM evolution of the BGB is
shown in Figs. 8 and 9. Important benchmarks for P-T, and age for the
cooling and exhumation of the BGB, used for the construction of the two
figures, are (i) first stage UHT metamorphism, (ii) the CO2-isochoric
cooling path of UHT rocks as determined by the fluid inclusion study by
Van Ryt (2014), (iii) the charnockitic and related intrusions of the second
UHT-event, and (iv) structures formed during D5 ‘Nickerie’ shearing and
D6 pseudotachylite faulting.
Isothermal decompression (ITD, section 6.1.2) has long been attrib-
uted to major thickening of continental crust (Harley, 1989; Rudnick and
Fountain, 1995). We suggest that transtensional, buoyancy-driven D1,2
adiabatic return of the subducted West African passive margin after slab
break-off is responsible for early ITD. ITD of the BGB and subsequent
isochoric cooling to ca. 400  C took about 40 Myrs (Fig. 8), between the
Fig. 8. Inferred PTt-path of the Bakhuis granulites. Pressure of the 2.09 Ga peak
UHTM from solid phase barometry (0.9–1.0 GPa; de Roever et al., 2016). The
curved CO2-isochoric cooling path starting at ca. 0.75 GPa and 750  C (full red
curve) is taken from the fluid inclusion study by Van Ryt (2014), on quartz
included in high-Al UHT orthopyroxene (de Roever et al., 2016). The caveat in
the text (section 6.1.2), re. the initial isobaric part of the path may eventually
lead to a revised interpretation of the initial cooling path (dashed red line). The
1.99–1.98 Ga heat spike represents the second >900  C HT event in the BGB,
associated with major charnockite intrusions. The temperature and hence po-
sition of the 1200 Ma D5 ‘Nickerie’ event and the 950 Ma pseudotachylites along
the cooling curve is estimated from their microfabrics.
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Fig. 7. Synoptic diagram of synmigmatitic transten-
sional D1,2 deformation features in granulites of the
BGB. (a) Structural elements projected on a sub-
horizontal surface: fold axes, boudins and extended
objects, granite (-pegmatite)-filled joints and boudin
necks, and conjugate ductile shears. Pink arrows are
the instantaneous shortening and stretching axes. The
elements get variably rotated during subsequent
doming and shearing (D4, D5), but they retain their
mutual geometric relations. (b) Cogenetic, coaxial,
isoclinal folds (‘F1’), upright folds (‘F2’), stretching
lineations and boudinaged granulite layers (dark grey)
reflect transtension and layer-parallel shearing oblique
to the plate boundary. Shearing also formed sheath
folds, not shown here; their tubular axes align with
those of the other folds and with the stretching line-
ations. No axial planar foliations developed in the
isoclinal and upright folds. Structures occur at cm to
hm scale. Orientation is arbitrary. Blue: horizontal
surface.
end of UHT metamorphism (ca. 2030 Ma) and the emplacement of the
charnockites (~1990 Ma). Note that several UHTM complexes of
Pan-African age in East Antarctica reveal initial ITD-type T-t paths and
also cooled from 850–1000  C to 300  C in about 40 Myrs (Harley, 2004).
Back-slip of the subducted West African margin has been incomplete,
leaving a metasedimentary lower continental crust (section 7.1), likely
under the entire greenstone belt. Subsequent gradual, CO2-isochoric
decompression may reflect extensional collapse and erosion of the
suprastructure.
Intrusion of the charnockites and related plutons of the second,
1993–1984 Ma UHT-event in the BGB preceded domal D4 rotations. The
charnockites reflect a considerably shallower depth of intrusion, at ca.
0.49 GPa, than the pressure during UHTM of the granulites, and about
half of the overall exhumation of the granulites occurred between the
first and the second UHT events, i.e., between ca. 2030 and 1990 Ma.
Notably, this difference in depth is based on charnockites from the SW
part of the BGB, and may not be representative for the entire BGB. The
relatively shallow charnockites in the southwest may indicate differential
exhumation within the BGB, with deeper levels now exposed in the
centre and northeast of the belt. The extensional ‘BGB-down’ D5b shears,
only found alongside the charnockites in the southwest of the BGB
(section 5.3.3), suggest a Grenvillian age of differential SW–NE exhu-
mation of the BGB. Alternatively, the restriction of the charnockites to
the southwest of the BGB may simply result from the southwestward
plunge of the major D4 dome. Both explanations imply that the char-
nockites overlie and magmatically overplated the granulites from which
they are sourced.
The cataclastic ~950 Ma event is broadly coeval to dolerite dyke
swarms parallel to the Sveconorwegian (Grenvillian) orogenic front in
southern Sweden, which faced N. Amazonia in the Rodinia supercon-
tinent (Johansson, 2013), and may represent initiation of rifting that
ultimately led to the break-up of Rodinia from ca. 830 Ma onward (e.g.,
Cawood, 2005). Exhumation continued after ~950 Ma pseudotachylite
faulting, as indicated by the raised Precambrian/Cretaceous and Ceno-
zoic boundaries beneath the coastal plain of Surinam (Bosma and de
Roever, 1975; Nelson, 2016), as well as by several Upper Cretaceous to
Tertiary bauxite levels in the BGB (Aleva, 1979). So far, the mechanisms
for post-1200 Ma uplift of the BGB remain unstudied.
6.5. Granulite-greenstone belt connection
Although the greenstone belts are not part of our study, the tec-
tonics of the BGB, the lower plate in Transamazonian orogeny, should
have had recognizable effects on the greenstone belts of the upper
plate, particularly on their sedimentary sequences. This is a promising
and potentially fruitful field for future studies. Herein, summarising
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
Fig. 9. Inferred T-t path of the Bakhuis granulites. Rapid isobaric cooling (IBC)
to ~750  C may have followed initial isothermal decompression (ITD), and is
itself followed by CO2-isochoric cooling (ICC) to about 400  C. GB FG ¼ Late
Transamazonian (~2.06 Ga) conditions in the southern branch of the green-
stone belt of French Guiana (Delor et al., 2003a; their D2). The two initial steps,
ITD þ IBC, depend critically on the interpretation of the fluid inclusions by Van
Ryt (2014), as discussed in section 6.1.2 and in the caption of Fig. 8. Thereafter,
a short heat spike occurs during the 1.99–1.98 Ga charnockite-anorthosite
event. Subsequent slow cooling, on average ~0.2  C per Myr, up to the pre-
sent is interrupted by slightly accelerated cooling after the Grenvillian pop-up of
the BGB.
existing knowledge, we draw attention to the stratigraphy of the
Marowijne Greenstone Belt (MGB) of eastern Surinam and its contin-
uation in French Guiana (Fig. 1). Basal volcanics with tholeiitic to calc-
alkaline affinities (Kroonenberg et al., 2016) range from komatiitic to
subordinate rhyolitic composition and are overlain by the sedimentary
Armina Formation, unconformably followed by the Rosebel Forma-
tion, the latter restricted to isolated pull-apart basins in French Guiana
(Delor et al., 2003a). In the Rosebel gold district of the western MGB
the sedimentary sections are approximately 1100–1800 m thick and
show a general trend of upward shallowing, from deep-water turbi-
dites to alluvial sandstones and conglomerates (Kroonenberg et al.,
2016, 2018; Watson et al., 2019). Detrital zircons in these formations
constrain the maximum ages of sedimentation of the Armina and
Rosebel Formations to 2.15 Ga and 2.11 Ga respectively (Kroonenberg
et al., 2018), the latter ~20 Myrs before the earliest UHT meta-
morphism in the BGB. We suggest that the shallowing of the basins
may be a consequence of uplift due to tectonic underthrusting of the
greenstone belt (oceanic island arc) by the West African passive
margin, before the breaking-off of its leading oceanic plate. Recent
analogies to the mechanics and time scale of uplift of the greenstone
belt are found in supra-subduction zone ophiolites, for example in the
upward shallowing of the sedimentary cover of the Late Cretaceous
Troodos complex of Cyprus since the early Miocene as a result of its
underthrusting by the thinned passive North African margin (e.g.,
Robertson, 1998; Ring and Pantazides, 2019, and references therein).
7. Geodynamic implications
7.1. Whence a metasedimentary lower continental crust?
Kroonenberg et al. (2016) reiterated earlier suggestions of deposition
of the Bakhuis (and Coeroeni) sedimentary protoliths in a rift, presum-
ably thought to have existed in its present location. Klaver et al. (2015)
assumed that the sedimentary protoliths of the BGB granulites are
derived from the Transamazonian granite-greenstone belt. These views
are difficult to reconcile with a continental collisional setting, as they
assume sedimentation in a rift of the active margin of the upper plate.
Even though intra-arc extension of upper plates is a common process
(Busby-Spera, 1988), sinking of intra-arc rift sediments to lower crustal
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Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 677–692
depth and their re-exhumation to the surface is not. Rather than such an
apparently fixistic model, we prefer a mobilistic view wherein conti-
nental collision is preceded by subduction and stacking of sediments of a
thinned passive continental margin, trailing behind the subducting
oceanic plate, beneath the active continental margin of the overlying
plate (cf. Chopin et al., 2012; Rao et al., 2012; Chin et al., 2013, and
references therein; Hyndman, 2018, 2019). The subducted margin then
underplates the overlying crust when buoyancy stops continental sub-
duction, likely followed by break-off of the oceanic slab (e.g., Davies and
Von Blanckenburg, 1995; Replumaz et al., 2013, for the Himalayan
collision). A modern analogue for such underthrusting of the crust of the
upper plate by upper crust of the incoming plate is the Zagros-Iranian
plateau (Huangfu et al., 2019, and references therein).
The problem revolves about the provenance of the Bakhuis meta-
sediments, either from the West African passive margin, or from the
North Amazonian active margin. Detrital zircon in an intermediate
granulite ranges in age between 2263 and 2146 Ma (SHRIMP analyses;
de Roever et al., 2019). This age population compares favourably with
zircon from Birimian TTG granitoids in the West African craton in Bur-
kina Fasso (Tapsoba et al., 2013), with detrital zircon from small catch-
ments on the Birimian crust of southern Mali (Parra-Avila et al., 2016)
and from five major rivers in Ghana, which drain the Birimian
granite-greenstone terrane (Petersson et al., 2018; also Grenholm, 2019)
and which is temporally equivalent to the Transamazonian greenstone
belt. An Amazonian origin of detrital BGB zircon would require sedi-
ments to have been scraped off from the North Amazonian accretionary
wedge, and their preservation in a subduction zone tectonic m
elange
(e.g., Ducea et al., 2009; Krohe, 2017), which is unknown from the BGB.
An alternative way to bring down Amazonian detritus to the lower crust
of the greenstone belts would be a mechanism investigated by Chemenda
et al. (2001). In their models the fore-arc, with or without the arc itself, of
the active margin of the upper plate is dragged down into the subduction
channel. The authors suggest the upper Cretaceous Samail ophiolite of
Oman as a natural example. Tan (2019) provided a similar interpretation
for flipping and subduction of Philippine oceanic fore-arc crust above the
presently subducting South China Sea plate at the Manilla Trench. The
issue does not seem to be convincingly resolved for the Guiana shield. We
favour the African heritage of the BGB, implying that the northern part of
the Guiana Shield is likely underlain by the subducted and underplated
sediments of the West African passive margin. The feasibility of under-
plating of sediments from the subducting plate is illustrated by the
modern Juan de Fuca plate in the Cascadia subduction zone of the
western USA (Peterson and Keranen, 2019). There, the incoming oceanic
plate is covered by up to 4 km of sediments. The d
ecollement between
upper and lower plate is at the interface between basaltic oceanic crust
and a high seismic wave speed metasedimentary unit, detached from its
oceanic sole. In Surinam, sizeable portions of the West African conti-
nental margin must have been tectonically stacked under the granulite
protolith, since the crust under Surinam is presently about 40 km thick
(Rivadeneyra-Vera et al., 2019).
UHT metamorphism of the lower crust is of all ages (Archaean to
recent) and typically associated with subduction (e.g., Santosh et al.,
2012; Kelsey and Hand, 2015). While lower crustal granulites often
reveal a Mg–Al-rich metapelitic origin of their protoliths, they likely
resulted from their tectonic underplating in a convergent setting.
7.2. Geodynamic setting of D1,2 transtension and 2.09–2.03 Ga UHTM
We propose the following tectonic scenario for the combined evi-
dence of the early, transtensional UHT-structures. Extension was likely
initiated by break-off of the leading oceanic slab following underthrust-
ing of the African margin, which set the stage for asthenospheric heat
advection and (ultra)mafic magmatism. Buoyancy-driven oblique
reversal of underthrusting of the African margin, once liberated from slab
pull, would follow oblique underthrusting (Delor et al., 2003b), similar to
the oblique exhumation parallel to the palaeosubduction of the Baltica
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
continental margin of the western Norwegian Caledonides (e.g., Cutts
et al., 2019, and references therein). Hence, foreland-directed extrusion
of the BGB was most likely transtensional. Layer-parallel shearing and
transtension will primarily have affected the interface between the upper
and lower plate, where the subducted sediments were located. Removal
of the southward subducting oceanic slab also made room for later
northward subduction from the south, and charnockite magmatism,
some 40 Myrs later.
Numerical models allowing UHT metamorphism in convergent set-
tings were presented by Sizova et al. (2014) and Gorczyk et al. (2015).
Sizova et al. (2014) model UHT metamorphism following continental
collision after subduction of an oceanic plate, invoking break-off of the
subducted plate and heat advection from hot asthenosphere and mantle
melts towards the subducted continental margin as its heat source.
Hyndman (2018, 2019) argues that precollision backarcs of the upper
plate are hot enough to generate a ductile detachment in the lower crust,
facilitating subsequent underthrusting of the incoming continent below
the upper-middle crust of the backarc. He cites P,T-conditions of Ceno-
zoic volcanic xenoliths from the Cascadian and Tibetan backarcs which
are identical to those of the granulites of the BGB, proving the feasibility
of UHT metamorphism in the lower crust of modern continental colli-
sional systems (see also Kelsey and Hand, 2015).
Numerical models by Maierov
a et al. (2018), Huangfu et al. (2019),
and Liu and Currie (2019) help to understand the outcome of Trans-
amazonian collision, wherein the continental crust of the subducting
plate directly underplates the crust of the hinterland, thereby removing
the mantle lithosphere of the latter. Their studies show, in concert with
those of Hyndman (2018, 2019), that such crustal-scale underthrusting
or ‘relamination’ requires a thin or weak overriding plate, whose litho-
spheric mantle is progressively delaminated from the overlying crust and
is replaced by the subhorizontally underthrusted plate. The model results
resemble those of early analogue experiments by Chemenda et al. (2000;
cited by Maierov
a et al., 2018) for the Himalaya-Tibet system, as well as
the interpretation by Chapman et al. (2020) of the Mesozoic southern
California continental arc batholith (W. USA). The batholith formed
where the Pacific Farallon plate subducted and flattened when it carried
oceanic plateaux into the subduction channel during the Laramide
orogeny. Much of the batholith is rootless and lies tectonically above
underplated sediments. Similar conditions seem to be applicable to the
Transamazonian orogeny, wherein the Guianan granite-greenstone belt
of the overlying plate was still a young and hot intraoceanic island
arc/backarc complex, most likely having a relatively thin lithosphere.
Although indicators for a mantle heat source are present in the BGB,
to be presented elsewhere, there are no signs that massive magmatic
intrusions advected the heat required for the UHT anomaly. Rather, the
scenario sketched above suggests that the BGB resided close to the
lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary during UHT metamorphism. This
happened not because of removal of its own lithospheric mantle, as in an
early model for UHT metamorphism (Platt et al., 1998), but as a com-
bined result of slab break-off and underthrusting by the West African
passive margin of the overlying Guiana plate, and concomitant removal
of the mantle lithosphere of the latter. Evidence for magmatic heat
advection as a cause of UHTM is generally scarce, while slab break-off is
favoured instead (Brown and Korhonen, 2009, and references therein).
7.3. Two-sided subduction under the granite-greenstone belts of the Guiana
Shield
After southward subduction under the northern active margin of the
greenstone belts, and the early UHT event, a tectonic switch occurred to
northward subduction under the southern margin, during the 1.99–1.98
Ga event (Fraga et al., 2009b). The early stage accreted the Guiana
greenstone belts to the Birimian continental margin of West Africa. The
accretion preceded stabilization and cratonisation of the Birimian
domain, and, what was to become the West African craton at the time
formed a collage of volcanic arcs and microcontinental blocks similar to
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Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 677–692
the present day Philippine archipelago (Grenholm, 2019; Grenholm
et al., 2019). The granite-greenstone belts of Guiana likely represent
another early intra-oceanic arc (Delor et al., 2003b), since the long and
voluminous Caicara-Dalbana belt of the second stage of supra-subduction
zone magmatism implies the existence of a sizeable ocean to the south of
the greenstones as well.
7.4. Geodynamic setting of the second UHT event, 1.99–1.98 Ga, and
modern analogues
The tectonic switch to northward subduction from the south appar-
ently initiated D3 extensional detachment in the granite-greenstone belt
overlying the new subduction system, cutting into, uplifting and rotating
its lower crustal granulites. The straight NE–SW striking boundaries of
the BGB are principally expressed by 1.2 Ga mylonites and younger
pseudotachylites. These structures may have overprinted and largely
obliterated faults of a Palaeoproterozoic boudin neck proposed by Delor
et al. (2003b). In their model, emplacement of the BGB followed bou-
dinage of the once continuous greenstone belt during oblique subduction
of the West African plate and transpressional shearing of Guiana, pre-
ceding its early UHT event. We argue instead, based on the 1980 Ma
Mozes Creek anorthosite, that doming of the BGB followed the second
UHT event, related to subduction from the Amazonia side.
The new plate boundary, south of the greenstone belts, is fossilized in
the northeastward pointing inverted Y-shape of the Caicara-Dalbana
(plus Wonotobo-Cuchivero) belt, the Coeroeni Belt, and the BGB
(Fig. 1); it represents a convex kink in the plate boundary, commonly
described as an ‘orogenic syntax’. This syntax is the surface expression of
an anticlinorial apex, or flexural bulge in the former northward sub-
ducting oceanic plate. Possibly, the bulge brought about a tear in the
subducting slab, shutting off fluid-fluxed SSZ magmatism and localising
influx of hot and dry asthenosphere, as well as mafic magmas (Klaver
et al., 2015, 2016), resulting in granulite melting producing charnockites
above the slab tear. This would explain why the charnockite intrusions of
the second HT event are restricted to the BGB, contrary to the coeval
Caicara-Dalbana SSZ magmatism decorating the entire former plate
boundary.
Orogenic syntaxes on present day Earth are sometimes related to the
subduction of oceanic aseismic ridges, like the Emperor chain indenting
the Kamchatka-Aleutian plate boundary in the NW Pacific, or to exotic
terranes being dragged into a subduction zone, like the Yakutat terrane at
the eastern, Alaskan side of the Aleutian trench (e.g., Gou et al., 2019,
and references therein). Analogies to the Caicara-Dalbana (-Coeroe-
ni)-BGB configuration exists on central Honshu, Japan, and in the NE
Pacific plate boundary. On Honshu, a 90 syntax of the overlying active
plate margin resulted from the subduction and indentation of the active
Izu-Bonin arc (Spencer et al., 2019). The topographically high and
rapidly exhumed Pleistocene Hida Mountains granitoids on Honshu are
located in front of the kink in the outboard plate margin. The 90 kink in
the NE Pacific plate boundary, where the Aleutian trench connects to the
NW American subduction system, is accompanied on-land by the active
but spatially restricted Wrangell volcanic field. The seismic study by Gou
et al. (2019) identified a prominent gap in the subducting Pacific slab
behind the Wrangell syntax, interpreted as a slab tear feeding volcanism.
Bendick and Ehlers (2014) argued that the spherical geometry of the
planet alone forces subducting plates to fold in the along-strike direction,
forming syntaxial arches that act as rigid, shallowly dipping indentors.
They show that orogenic syntaxes in the overriding plate contain zones of
rapid uplift, in zonal “bull’s-eye” patterns of surface deformation with a
diameter of ~100 km.
Further investigating the drivers of the zonal uplift patterns, Koptev
et al. (2019) performed numerical model studies of the tectonic effects on
the upper plate of a convex-upward shaped bump of the subducting plate,
underlying a syntaxial bend in the overlying plate boundary. Their
models show that rapid exhumation of elliptical or subcircular areas in
the overlying plate of an orogenic syntax occurs preferentially where the
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
upper plate is relatively hot, and only weakly coupled to its lithospheric
mantle by a weak lower crust. That condition likely applied to the Guiana
greenstone belts while being subducted from the south, when the lower
crustal, felsic dominated granulites were heated to produce 1.99 Ga
charnockite magmatism and to reduce crust-mantle coupling. Hence, it
appears that the syntaxial geometry of the 1.99 Ga plate boundary and an
anticlinorial flexural bulge, or a local crustal indentor in the northward
subducting plate had the dual effect of localising charnockite magmatism
and focusing uplift in the BGB.
In the numerical models investigated by Koptev et al. (2019) the
subcircular area of enhanced uplift in the upper plate only occurred in the
absence of advance of the upper plate (Fig. 10), i.e., under subduction
shortening. A stagnant, or retreating upper plate is subject to horizontal
compression, not extension. The effect focusses above the indentor. In
Surinam, differential northward advance of the indentor may have
formed the syntax surrounding the BGB (Fig. 10a). An early compressive
regime does not prevent subsequent extension of the upper plate, and the
doming of a metamorphic core complex under an extensional detach-
ment. For instance, Lamont et al. (2019) identified early compressive
thrust stacking preceding crustal extension since the Miocene for the
Aegean Naxos core complex. Both models of Fig. 10 predict a component
of arc-parallel shear in the upper plates along the 1.99 Ga plate margins
south of the Guiana greenstone belts. A strike-slip component may have
developed on one or on both sides of the syntax, depending on the actual
plate vectors of the time. If present on both sides, they should display
opposing sense of shear. This can be tested by future field work, or
possibly from large scale aeromagnetic maps.
Finally, although the presence of plate tectonics on Palaeoproterzoic
Earth is still debated, the prior demonstration of Eburnean (2.13–2.07
Ga; McFarlane et al., 2019, and references therein) blueschist facies
metamorphism in the Birimian greenstones in the West African craton
(Ganne et al., 2012) supports its applicability to the time-equivalent
Transamazonian orogeny as well.
8. Conclusions
Combining all available evidence, we propose a multi-stage tectono-
thermal development of the BGB and, implicitely, the Guiana Shield:
(1) 2088 Ma: Southward, oblique subduction of the West African
passive margin and sediments derived therefrom beneath the
northern margin of the Guiana granite-greenstone belts.
(2) 2088–2031 Ma: UHTM in the BGB at 1000  C and 0.95 GPa
(~34 km depth), due to asthenospheric heat advection after
oceanic slab tearing and/or break-off.
(3) Rebound and isothermal decompression to ca. 0.75 GPa (~27 km
depth) due to partial back-slip of the subducted African margin.
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Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 677–692
Fig. 10. Schematic map of development of an
orogenic syntax in an active plate margin in which the
upper plate retreats (a) or advances (b, lower plate
rollback) with time, with variable rate along the plate
boundary. Black shark teeth on upper plate. Open
triangles: Supra-subduction zone magmatic arc (Cai-
cara-Dalbana/Wonotobo-Cuchivero, Fig. 1). Open ar-
rows in lower left are indentors: a subducting aseismic
ridge or plateau, or northeastward plunging anti-
clinorial flexural bulge of the incoming oceanic plate.
Dashed arrows show displacement of plate boundary
with time. Ellipse with small shark teeth indicates
emplacement of the BGB as a migmatite dome under
an extensional detachment. Both configurations (a)
and (b) may force the subducting slab to tear behind
the syntax and result in focussed charnockite mag-
matism above the tear.
Transtensional shearing with small scale isoclinal recumbent and
sheath folding (D1), as well as coeval upright folding of sediments
within the subduction channel (D2).
(4) Switch to northward subduction under the southern margin of the
greenstone belt; formation of the ~1800 km long Caicara-Dalbana
belt of metavolcanics and associated subvolcanic granites
(1.99–1.95 Ga) along the southern margin of the greenstones.
(5) Isobaric cooling to ~700–750  C at 0.75 GPa before 1993 Ma.
(6) CO2-isochoric cooling and decompression: slow uplift to 0.49 GPa
(~17.3 km depth) and 400  C at ca. 1.99 Ga, likely due to
extensional collapse of the upper and middle crust, and erosion.
(7) Northeastward differential advance of the subducting plate forms
an orogenic syntax, expressed by a northward pointing indenta-
tion in the overlying plate margin. Tearing in an anticlinorial
flexural bulge of the subducting plate below and behind the syntax
induces a second >900  C event, at 1993–1984 Ma: charnockites,
(ultra)mafic intrusions, and layered anorthosite, crystallize in the
mid-crust, at ~0.49 GPa. The charnockites overplate their gran-
ulite source rocks.
(8) Extension of the upper plate initiates doming (D4) under an
extensional detachment fault to the SW of the belt (D3), steep-
ening and decompressing the BGB. The flexural bulge of the
northward subducting plate focusses exhumation at the location
of the BGB. The dome likely had a circular or elliptical shape,
considerably wider than the present BGB.
(9) Final shaping of the elongate, relatively narrow BGB by ~1200 Ma
‘Nickerie’ transpressional pop-up along straight NE–SW mylonite
zones (D5a), as a remote intraplate effect of EW-directed Gren-
villian compression under the Andes, and amalgamation of the
supercontinent Rodinia. The parallel, 1200 Ma faults truncated a
wider dome resulting from the previous phase 8. Parts of the
original dome outside the presently exposed BGB are therefore
inferred to underlie the country rocks to its west and east. The BGB
was not an extensional horst at this time. Low-temperature
deformation fabrics overprint the entire belt. Horizontal trans-
pression across the BGB may have contributed to vertical axis
rotations of UHT structures. Subsequently, extensional D5b shears
threw down the southwestern end of the BGB, exposing the
overplated charnockites at the present surface. The NE–SW
mylonite zones belong to a family of conjugate Grenvillian line-
aments throughout the Amazon craton.
(10) ~950 Ma faulting, marked by pseudotachylites, overprints the
bordering mylonite zones and, locally, the BGB itself (D6). Fault-
ing possibly reflects an early extensional phase heralding break-up
of Rodinia.
(11) Mesozoic and Cenozoic faulting and uplift of the BGB, reactivating
the Meso- and Neoproterozoic discontinuities.
F.F. Beunk, E.W.F. de Roever, K. Yi et al.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
FFB and EWFdR are indebted to the Dutch Dr. Schürmann Foundation
(SF) for Precambrian research (www.dr-schuermannfonds.nl) for
generous support for all field work since 2005, in particular grant
numbers 86/2012 and 100/2014 for the present study. The SF also
funded SHRIMP analyses by Keewook Yi (KBSI, Korea) and LA-ICP-MS
analyses at Utrecht University and Münster University (Germany), for
zircon U–Th–Pb geochronology. Dr. Sergei Matveev carried out the
amphibole electron-microprobe analyses at VU Amsterdam. The Molen-
graaff Foundation and VU Amsterdam contributed travel subsidies to
MSc-students participating in the field work. We specifically thank
former VUA-students Fienke Nanne, Heleen Vos and Wouter van de Steeg
for their contributions. The director of the Geological and Mining Service
of Suriname (GMD) is thanked for support. We acknowledge an informal
review of an early version of the manuscript by Dr. Wout Nijman, as well
as journal reviews by Dr. Xiaofang He and an anonymous reviewer, all of
which particularly helped us in structuring the paper.
Appendix A, A-1, A-2. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.gsf.2020.05.021.
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