U-Pb and Sm-Nd dating of high-pressure granulites from Tchollire, and Banyo regions: Evidence for a Pan-African granulite facies metamorphism in north-central Cameroon

U-Pb (TIMS-ID and SIMS) and Sm-Nd analyses of zircons and garnet-whole rock pairs were applied on high-pressure granulite facies metapelites and metagranodiorite from Tchollire and Banyo regions, respectively in the Adamawa-Yade and Western Domains of the Central-African Fold Belt (CAFB) of Cameroon. Cathodoluminescence (CL) images of zircons reveal that they are made up of ubiquitous magmatitic xenocrystic cores, surrounded and/or overprinted by light unzoned recrystallized domains. U-Pb data on cores yield ages ranging from Paleoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic, which we consider as dating inheritances. Data on overgrowths and recrystallized domains give ages ranging between 594 and 604 Ma, interpreted as the time of HP granulite-facies metamorphism in the Tchollire and Banyo regions. This is also supported by ages derived from Sm-Nd gamet-whole rock pairs. Sediments of the Tchollire region were deposited after ca. 620 Ma from Paleoproterozoic, Mesoproteroszoic and Neoproterozoic protoliths, while those from the Banyo region were deposited after 617.6 +/- 7.1 Ma essentially from Neoproterozoic protoliths. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.