TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE LATE ARCHEAN PONGOLA-MOZAAN BASIN, SOUTH-AFRICA

The Pongola-Mozaan basin in the eastern part of southern Africa was su bjected to at least one extensional and two regional compressional tec tonic events during the Late Archaean. Early NNW-directed thrust and n ormal faulting events were followed by a major northwest-southeast sho rtening event. The style and geometry of the deformational structures in the basin were strongly influenced by the pre-existing structure an d, in particular, a fault-bounded basement salient along the northwest ern margin of the basin.