Lithostratigraphy of the Vuurdood Subsuite, an early mafic-ultramafic phase of the Palaeoproterozoic Vioolsdrif Intrusive Suite, Richtersveld Magmatic Arc, Northern Cape Province

Abstract

Mafic-ultramafic plutonic intrusions form an early phase in the emplacement of the predominantly granitic Vioolsdrif Suite, which together with its extrusive carapace, the Orange River Group, form the Richtersveld Magmatic Arc, a Palaeoproterozoic crustal segment formed between 1910 and 1865 Ma. Their lithologic character and distinctive dark weathering features in the mountain desert landscape of the Richtersveld, neighbouring regions of the Northern Cape Province and southern Namibia, make them a separate mappable unit in what is a predominantly granitic terrain. The name of the subsuite is taken from a spectacular twin peak massif near Goodhouse (Vuurdoodberg), while the type locality is one of the best preserved central-type intrusive bodies at Swartkop, situated 2 km off the N7 highway about 20 km south of the border town of Vioolsdrif, where the rock types present include gabbro, metagabbro, quartz-metagabbro, peridotite and troctolite.