THE FINAL COLLISION ZONE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST GONDWANA - WHERE IS IT

The final collisional suture between East and West Gondwana is identif ied as the Nabitah Zone in Arabia. It can be traced through north cent ral Kenya just east of the Baragoi ophiolite klippe, thence to the Cob ue and Manica Belts, cutting across the eastern end of the Zambezi Bel t, and finally to west Dronning Maud Land. There are misfits across th e whole length of the suture. The collisional suturing, from 680 Ma to 550 Ma, involved compression and rotation about a hinge in the south. The rotation was less than the similar to 270 degrees or more interpr eted from palaeomagnetic data. It is suggested that part of the rotati on perhaps took place east of India and western East Antarctica. Copyr ight (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.