High-grade metamorphism, anatexis and deformation of metasedimentary rocks from the Kamiesberg Group near Kliprand, Southern Bushmanland Domain, Namaqua Metamorphic Province

Abstract

Migmatitic metapelites of the Kamiesberg Group are distributed throughout the central Bushmanland Domain (Namaqua Metamorphic Province) which is otherwise dominated by felsic gneisses. This study focusses on an outcrop of migmatitic metapelites situated a few kilometres south-west of the hamlet of Kliprand (Western Cape). The migmatites in this outcrop display the leucosomes and melanosomes as alternating domains that show a fairly regular distribution at the hand specimen scale, without clear evidence for a larger melt accumulation or channels along which melt would have been extracted. This allows the study to investigate the precise genetic relationship between the melt and the associated melanosome, which is often difficult to do due to the mobility of the melt, and the difficulty in tracking the extent of melt extraction at the site of anatexis, and potentially associated melt differentiation.