Lithostratigraphy of the Friersdale Charnockite (Keimoes Suite), South Africa

The Friersdale Charnockite is a late-Mesoproterozoic (1078 ± 10 Ma), fine- to medium-grained to porphyritic orthopyroxene-bearing monzogranite intrusion with characteristic opalescent quartz that outcrops in the Keimoes-Upington region of the Northern Cape, South Africa. The weakly to undeformed, northwest-southeast trending granitoid body represents the most extensive member of the Keimoes Suite and intruded across the tectonic boundary between the granulite facies Kakamas and Areachap Terranes of the Namaqua-Natal Metamorphic Province during the final stages of the main Namaqua orogeny. The Friersdale Charnockite is a metaluminous, ferrous and potassic monzogranite with major, trace, REE and isotope chemistries suggesting a mixed crustal source with significant input from both Paleoproterozoic- and Mesoproterozoic-aged source regions.