New constraints on the Pan-African Orogeny in Central Zambia: A structural and geochronological study of the Hook Batholith and the Mwembeshi Zone Kalin V. Naydenov a, ⁎, Jeremie Lehmann a , Kerstin Saalmann a,1 , Lorenzo Milani a , Judith A. Kinnaird a , Guy Charlesworth a , Dirk Frei b , William Rankin a a School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Pvt Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa b Department of Earth Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Pvt Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa abstract article info Article history: Received 8 April 2014 Received in revised form 20 September 2014 Accepted 26 September 2014 Available online 13 October 2014 Keywords: Pan-African Orogeny Central Zambia Hook Batholith Mwembeshi Zone Orthogonal shortening events Zircon geochronology In Central Zambia, the Mwembeshi Zone (MwZ) separates two branches of the Pan-African Orogen: the Lufilian Arc and the Zambezi Belt. To the north of the MwZ, the Hook Batholith was emplaced within Neoproterozoic Katangan metasedimentary rocks. Field mapping and structural studies, microstructural observations, interpre- tation of airborne geophysical images and U–Pb zircon geochronology constrain a new model for the tectonic evolution of this poorly studied part of the orogen. Two temporarily separated and highly oblique orogenic contraction events are defined. D1 is characterised by a regional low-metamorphic grade E–W shortening that produced strain partitioning between N–S trending pure- shear-dominated and NW trending sinistral simple-shear dominated domains. The emplacement of the batholith between ca. 550 and 533 Ma (U–Pb zircon ages) is syn-tectonic to D1. The D2 N–S shortening event was active after ca. 530, which is indicated by the age of the newly dated, deformed molasse of the Hook Batholith. During D2, the MwZ developed as an E- to ENE-striking zone of pure-shear dominated deformation that localised to the south and within the already exhumed Hook Batholith. At the scale of the Pan-African Orogen in Southern Africa, the D1 is considered to be a far field expression of the E– W collision event in the Mozambique Belt. The following Early Cambrian D2 event corresponds to the high angle collision between the Congo and Kalahari Cratons and the stitching of the Lufilian and Zambezi belts along the MwZ. Therefore, in the Hook area, the MwZ cannot be regarded as a continental-scale wrench structure as widely discussed in the literature. The tectonic events in Central Zambia suggest that the amalgamation of Gondwana was accompanied by suturing along highly oblique orogenic belts during plate reorganization at around 530 Ma. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The Pan-African Damara-Lufilian Orogen is part of a system of Neoproterozoic to Early Palaeozoic mobile belts that formed during the amalgamation of Gondwana (e.g. Frimmel et al., 2011; Gray et al., 2008; Meert, 2003; Porada, 1989). To the west, the Damara Orogen de- veloped at the triple junction between the Congo, Kalahari, and Rio de la Plata Cratons (Prave, 1996) in response to the closure of two oceanic basins: the Adamastor Ocean between the Kalahari/Congo and Rio de la Plata Cratons (e.g. Basei et al., 2008, 2010; Frimmel et al., 2011; Saalmann et al., 2011), and the Khomas Ocean between the Kalahari and Congo Cratons (e.g. Miller, 2008 and references therein). To the east, the Lufilian Arc and the Zambezi Belt developed in response to the collision between the Congo and Kalahari plates (e.g., John et al., 2004a; Porada, 1989). Further east, a prolonged period of subduction and Andean-type orogeny followed by complicated collision between numerous continental fragments formed the approximately N–S trending Mozambique Belt (e.g. Grantham et al., 2003, 2008; Meert, 2003). The Lufilian Arc is a northward-convex belt (Fig. 1) that consists predominantly of metasedimentary rocks of the Neoproterozoic Katanga Supergroup. It is bordered to the N and NW by the Archaean Kasai Shield (ca. 2.54–2.56 Ga, Key et al., 2001) and the Mesoproterozoic Kibaran Belt (ca. 1.38–1.37 Ga and ca. 1.07 Ga, Kokonyangi et al., 2004, 2006; Tack et al., 2010), to the NE by the Palaeoproterozoic Bangweulu Block (ca. 2.0–1.8 Ga, Andersen and Unrug, 1984; De Waele and Fitzsimons, 2007; Hanson, 2003), and to the SE by the Late Mesoproterozoic Irumide Belt (ca. 1.05–0.95 Ma, De Waele et al., 2006, 2009). The Zambezi Belt is a SW- to SSW-vergent fold-and-thrust complex. In Southern Zambia it comprises a thick metasedimentary succession un- conformably overlying or in tectonic contact with late Mesoproterozoic Tectonophysics 637 (2014) 80–105 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 117176551. E-mail address: k.naidenov@gmail.com (K.V. Naydenov). 1 Present address: Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse (NGU), Postboks 6315 Sluppen, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2014.09.010 0040-1951/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tectonophysics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto