Permo-Triassic Palaeogeographic and Paleotectonic Maps of Africa
Draft 2 Feb 22
An ongoing project using the plate model of Colin Reeves (www.reeves.nl)
Comments welcomed
Kungurian 275Ma
Key Events/Points
•1. ‘European’ Hercynian tectonics are dying
out but Morocco still in ‘Tardi-Variscan’
phase (Hoepffner at
al, 2006) characterised by strike slip movements on faults and mild folding
•2. Mauritanides
remain active till later in the Permian (Villeneuve, 2005) with radiometric
dates from 360-250Ma. Consistent with tectonic activity in
USA
•3. Reeh (2007) proposes a model by which North
Africa is dominated at this time by WNW-ESE directed dextral shear fauts
related to ‘Tardi-Variscan’
Activity. This could be used to explain the Djeffara Rift and the thick deep marine
succession observed at this time in Sicily (Basilone et al 2016). Others (Guiraud et bal
2005, Stampfli eat
al 2001) have suggested these rifts and this deep marine succession are
indicative of a Permian ocean or area of highly extended crust related to the
onset of the Neotethyan
Ocean in the Middle East
•4. A NE-SW orientated shear system seems
to divided the Gondwana
plate (‘STASS’=Southern Trans African Shear System) , commencing in the Artinskian.
Several pulses of ‘Karroo’ graben tectonics are documented,including one
at this time (Macgregor 2018). Granath
(2020) documents both dextral and sinistral movements, although the latter is
dominant. This system appears to be part of wider
shear tectonics affecting much of Gondwana at this time (Visser and Praekelt,,
1996). The trend likely continues between Somalia and Madagascar to the
splitting of Iranian terranes from south of Oman. The extension to South
America is less clear though a shear system affects the Parana Basin up until
this time
•5. The Cape Fold Belt became active in
latest Carboniferous though radiometric peaks are considerably younger than
this (Linol and
De Wit, 2016) . Model shown is related
to compression of a backarc
basin in northern Patagonia (Visser and Praekelt,
1996) . Activity in the CFB appears to have been contemporaneous with the Karoo
transtensional
phases along the STASS, commencing with the subsidence of the Karoo foredeep in
the late Ghzelian (Catuneanu et
al, 2005)
•6. The climate was cold at this time with
the South Pole located close to the Falklands, following regional glaciation
from 300-289 Ma
(Catuneanu et
al, 2005).
Climate change was rapid during the Permian with all glaciers lost by the Sakmarian
•7. A widespread belt of coals occurs in
the Artinskian and
early Kungurian,
peaking at paleolatitudes
around 30-40 deg S