A cryptic Mesoarchaean terrane in the basement to the Central African Copperbelt

In a study of the geochronology of the Katangan Sequence and its basement in the Central African Copperbelt, detrital and xenocrystic zircons from Muva quartzites and Katangan lapilli tuffs, were dated using the Sensitive High-Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP). A detrital population (dated between 3007 and 3031 Ma) and a group of xenocrystic zircons aged between 3169 and 3225 Ma provide the first evidence for the existence of a Mesoarchaean basement beneath the Central African Copperbelt.