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Mozambique Belt

geological region, Africa

Quick Summary

The Mozambique Belt is a geological region in eastern Africa, primarily in Mozambique, that formed between 1 billion and 500 million years ago. It is part of the Pan-African orogenic belts, which are characterized by significant tectonic activity and mountain-building processes.1

This belt consists largely of highly metamorphosed gneisses, which are rocks that have been transformed by heat and pressure deep within the Earth's crust. These rocks were deformed by thrust faults, similar to those found in the Himalayas, indicating immense compressional forces. The Mozambique Belt extends from Ethiopia down through Kenya and Tanzania. In Madagascar, similar-aged gneisses were brought to the surface due to the extensional collapse of the orogenic belt.1

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