UHT granulites of the Highland Complex, Sri Lanka II: Geochronological constraints and implications for Gondwana correlation

Abstract

The regional ultrahigh–temperature (UHT) metamorphism of the Highland Complex, Sri Lanka is well established and has an important role in our understanding of the tectonic history of the Gondwana supercontinent. U–Pb zircon dating of sapphirine–bearing Mg–Al granulites yielded two major metamorphic age populations at approximately 620–590 and 563–525 Ma with no evidence of older zircon cores. Pelitic granulite samples with a Grt–Sil–Spl–Crd assemblage have similar metamorphic ages with concordant data clusters at ~ 602, 563, and 526 Ma and inherited zircon cores aged from 2040 to 1600 Ma. The pelitic granulites also underwent two stages of metamorphism (565–520 and 622–580 Ma). Some of these pelitic granulite samples have inherited zircon cores ranging from 3060 to 760 Ma. Zircons in mafic granulite samples have age ranges of 566–533 and 620–578 Ma. A calc–silicate granulite sample also has similar age populations at 591, 541, and 524 Ma. Combining these new results with previously published ages from Sri Lanka and formerly adjacent continental fragments of Gondwana, we propose that the terranes in southern Madagascar (south of Ranotsara Shear Zone), Northern and Southern Madurai and the Trivandrum Blocks of southern India, the Highland Complex of Sri Lanka, and the Skallen Group in the Lützow–Holm Complex of East Antarctica represent a unique metamorphic belt that regionally experienced the Ediacaran–Cambrian UHT event during the amalgamation of the Gondwana supercontinent.