Structural geology and tectonic setting of the Sutherland Greenstone Belt, Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa

This paper presents the results of recent mapping in selected parts of the Sutherland Greenstone Belt at the northern edge of the Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa. Structural studies in the northern and central parts of the belt have defined a tectonic regime dominated by north-dipping ductile shear zones with an oblique to reverse sense of movement. The fabric pattern related to this thrusting can be recognised in both the supracrustal rocks and the adjacent granitoid gneisses but is absent from the 2.65 Ga granites bordering the southern margin of the belt. This implies a minimum age for deformation in the Sutherland Belt coeval with that recognised in the immediately adjacent high-grade Limpopo Belt. The structures in the granitoid-greenstone terrane are interpreted as a mechanical response on the Kaapvaal Craton to collision tectonics in the Limpopo Belt.