U-Pb-Hf isotopes and shape parameters of zircon from the Mozaan Group (South Africa) with implications for depositional ages, provenance and Witwatersrand-Pongola Supergroup correlations

The Mozaan Group represents the youngest unit of the c. 2.9 Ga Pongola Supergroup located along the southeastern margin of the Kaapvaal Craton. It comprises a ca. 4800 m thick succession of clastic sedimentary rocks intercalated by minor chemical and volcano-sedimentary rocks deposited in shallow marine to fluvial environments, and is stratigraphically correlated with the auriferous Witwatersrand Supergroup. This correlation, however, is speculative, in particular as systematic information about depositional ages and sediment provenances are absent. To address these problems, we present new combined sets of U-Pb ages, Hf isotopes, and shape parameters (width, length, aspect ratios and roundness) of > 700 detrital zircon grains from seven samples of the Mozaan type profile in the Hartland area. These data reveal a switch in provenance between the lower and upper Mozaan Group. Zircons in sandstones of the lower Mozaan Group (Sinqeni to Ntombe formations) were supplied from surrounding proto-Kaapvaal Craton, and those in upper Mozaan Group rocks (Delfkom to Ntanyana formations) predominately from a juvenile hinterland, comprising sources as far as the Pietersburg and/or Kimberley blocks, which became amalgamated to the proto-Kaapvaal Craton at 2.97-2.87 Ga. Significant overlap of zircon age spectra, Hf isotope data, and maximum depositional ages (2908 +/- 8 Ma to 2866 +/- 7 Ma) suggest similar sources for upper Mozaan Group and Central Rand Group sediments of the Witwatersrand Basin. In contrast, sedimentary rocks of the West Rand Group have no counterparts in the Pongola Basin, except for the Orange Grove Formation, which shows good agreement with the Sinqeni Formation. The provenance switch indicated by the age-Hf isotope data is not identified by zircon shape parameters. These rather reflect differences in depositional environment (littoral, fluvial, volcanogenic), related to the duration and energy of sediment transport and reworking, as indicated by specific patterns in grain size vs. roundness diagrams.

Automated summary

The study reveals a switch in sediment provenance between the lower and upper Mozaan Group. The lower Mozaan Group sediments originated from the surrounding proto-Kaapvaal Craton, while the upper Mozaan Group sediments were mainly derived from a juvenile hinterland, which is similar to the sources for the Central Rand Group sediments. Differences in zircon shape parameters reflect differences in depositional environments.