Magmatic-petrogenetic & structural relationships of the peninsula granite of the Cape Granite Suite (CGS) with the Malmesbury group, sea point contact, Saldania belt, South Africa
>Magister Scientiae - MScThe Sea Point contact, Cape Town, South Africa, exposes the contact between the
Neoproterozoic Malmesbury Group metasedimentary rocks of the Pan-African Saldania belt
and the intrusive S-type Peninsula Granite of the Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic Cape Granite
Suite (CGS). The exposure outcrops over an area of approximately 170 m × 60 m with the
northern end of the exposure being characterized by the country rock–microgranite intrusive
contact. Heading further south, the outcrop transitions to the main contact zone, which is a
predominantly gradational zone marked by sheets of compositionally variable granitic
injections (collectively referred to as hybrid granite phases) concordant to the country rock
structure, before reaching the main pluton area comprising the voluminous coarse-grained
porphyritic granite. Using a combined study incorporating field, structural, geochemical,
isotopic and U-Pb geochronological data, the intrusive contact is investigated to determine
the construction history of the pluton and delineate possible emplacement mechanisms