SmNd garnet ages from the Uluguru granulite complex of Eastern Tanzania: further evidence for post-metamorphic slow cooling in the Mozambique belt

Two samples from the Uluguru granulite complex yield garnet SmNd ages of 633 ± 7 and 618 ± 16 Ma, similar to previously published hornblende ⁴⁰Ar³⁹Ar and KAr ages. The similarity of the SmNd to the KAr age suggests that the closure temperature of garnet to Nd diffusion is similar to that of hornblende to Ar diffusion. Assuming that published zircon UPb ages of about 700 Ma date peak granulite-facies metamorphism, a mean post-metamorphic cooling rate of 2-3°C/Ma can be calculated for the time interval 700 to 630 Ma. Such slow cooling rates imply thermal relaxation with a thickness length-scale greater than the thickness of average continental crust. This, in turn, implies that the thermal perturbation responsible for metamorphism was preceded by regional crustal thickening probably in a collisional orogen.