Depositional ages and provenance of the Neoproterozoic Damara Supergroup (northwest Namibia): Implications for the Angola-Congo and Kalahari cratons connection Débora B. Nascimento a,b, ⁎, Renata S. Schmitt b , André Ribeiro b , Rudolph A.J. Trouw b , Cees W. Passchier c , Miguel A.S. Basei d a Programa de Pós–graduação em Geologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (PPGL/UFRJ), CEP 21941-916 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil b Instituto de Geociências, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IGEO/UFRJ), CEP 21941-916 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil c Institut für Geowissenschaften, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany d Instituto de Geociências, Universidade de São Paulo, CEP 05508-080 São Paulo, Brazil abstract article info Article history: Received 25 November 2016 Received in revised form 4 July 2017 Accepted 24 September 2017 Available online 27 September 2017 Handling Editor: A.S. Collins The Damara Orogen is composed of the Damara, Kaoko and Gariep belts developed during the Neoproterozoic Pan-African Orogeny. The Damara Belt contains Neoproterozoic siliciclastic and carbonate successions of the Damara Supergroup that record rift to proto-ocean depositional phases during the Rodinia supercontinent break up. There are two conflicting interpretations of the geotectonic framework of the Damara Supergroup basin: i) as one major basin, composed of the Outjo and Khomas basins, related to rifting in the Angola-Congo- Kalahari paleocontinent or, ii) as two independent passive margin basins, one related to the Angola-Congo and the other to the Kalahari proto-cratons. Detrital zircon provenance studies linked to field geology were used to solve this controversy. U-Pb zircon age data were analyzed in order to characterize depositional ages and prov- enance of the sediments and evolution of the succession in the northern part of the Outjo Basin. The basal Nabis Formation (Nosib Group) and the base of the Chuos Formation were deposited between ca. 870 Ma and 760 Ma. The upper Chuos, Berg Aukas, Gauss, Auros and lower Brak River formations formed between ca. 760 Ma and 635 Ma. It also includes the time span recorded by the unconformity between the Auros and lower Brak River formations. The Ghaub, upper Brak River, Karibib and Kuiseb formations were deposited be- tween 663 Ma and 590 Ma. The geochronological data indicate that the main source areas are related to: i) the Angola-Congo Craton, ii) rift-related intrabasinal igneous rocks of the Naauwpoort Formation, iii) an intrabasinal basement structural high (Abbabis High), and iv) the Coastal Terrane of the Kaoko Belt. The Kalahari Craton units apparently did not constitute a main source area for the studied succession. This is possibly due to the position of the succession in the northern part of the Outjo Basin, at the southern margin of the Congo Craton. Comparison of the obtained geochronological data with those from the literature shows that the Abbabis High forms part of the Kalahari proto-craton and that Angola-Congo and Kalahari cratons were part of the same paleocontinent in Rodinia times. © 2017 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Neoproterozoic Damara Supergroup U-Pb geochronology Outjo Basin evolution Rodinia 1. Introduction The Damara Supergroup is a thick Neoproterozoic siliciclastic and carbonate succession related to the Angola-Congo and Kalahari cratons (e.g., Porada, 1979, 1989; Miller, 1983, 2008). The succession constitutes the Pan-African Kaoko and Damara belts (Fig. 1A; e.g., Hanson, 2003). In Damaraland, northwest Namibia, the Damara succession encompasses deposits that have been traditionally interpreted as related to rift- (Nosib Group), rift to passive margin (Otavi/Swakop groups) and fore- land basins between the Angola-Congo and Kalahari cratons (Mulden Group; Miller, 1983, 2008; Porada, 1983; Paciullo et al., 2007; Miller et al., 2009a, 2009b; Nascimento et al., 2016). However, the limited number of isotopic data hampers interpretations of depositional ages and provenance of the deposits. It is equally uncertain whether the rift to passive margin succession is related to fragmentation of a single con- tinental block or to two distinct paleocontinents. There are two main hypotheses about location of the Angola-Congo and Kalahari proto- cratons during Rodinia times and, consequently, different propositions for the evolution of the Neoproterozoic basins related to these cratons. The first hypothesis considers the proto-cratons connected during Gondwana Research 52 (2017) 153–171 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Programa de Pós–graduação em Geologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (PPGL/UFRJ), CEP 21941-916 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. E-mail address: debora@geologia.ufrj.br (D.B. Nascimento). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2017.09.006 1342-937X/© 2017 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Gondwana Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gr