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.