The lower Main Zone (LMZ) in the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Complex as intersected by the 1563·02 m deep Moordkopje (MO-1) drill hole shows very little large-scale differentiation as exemplified by parameters such as the An% of plagioclase, the Mg# of pyroxene and the modified differentiation index over a vertical interval in excess of 1·3 km. These features, coupled with the late entry of pigeonite (now inverted to orthopyroxene), are suggestive of the repeated intrusion of magma into the magma chamber of the Northern Limb during the early stages of the development of the Main Zone. Importantly, the lower Main Zone (LMZ) exhibits significant Sr isotopic disequilibrium between coexisting plagioclase (Sr_i ∼0·708) and orthopyroxene (Sr_i up to ∼0·711) in certain samples, a feature that has not previously been described for the Main Zone. Many of the features of the lower Main Zone (e.g. bulk compositions of LMZ cumulates unsuitable for the crystallization of plagioclase + two pyroxenes; poorly developed layering; non-cotectic proportions of plagioclase and pyroxene; decoupling of the differentiation trends of plagioclase and pyroxene over short vertical intervals) in the Northern Limb may be explained if it was intruded not as repeated influxes of aphyric magma, but instead by the repeated intrusion of crystal mushes from a deeper, sub-compartmentalized, crustal staging chamber. The model proposed is an alternative to previous models suggesting the loss of extrusive components from the Bushveld Complex, which were developed to explain compositional paradoxes within the Bushveld Complex.

We have analysed 18 samples of komatiite from five consecutive lava flows of the Komati Formation at Spinifex Creek, Barberton Mountain Land. Our samples include massive komatiite, various types of spinifex-textured komatiite, and flow-top breccias. The rocks have low platinum-group element (PGE) contents and Pd/Ir ratios relative to komatiites from elsewhere, at 0·45–2 ppb Os, 1–1·4 ppb Ir, <1–5 ppb Ru, 0·33–0·79 ppb Rh, 1·7–6 ppb Pt, 1·6–6·1 ppb Pd, and Pd/Ir 3·3. Pt/Pd ratios are c. 1·1. Platinum-group elements are depleted relative to Cu (Cu/Pd = 15 300). They display a tendency to increase in the less magnesian samples, suggesting that the magmas were S-undersaturated upon eruption and that all PGE were incompatible with respect to crystallizing olivine. Komatiites from the Westonaria Formation of the Ventersdorp Supergroup and the Roodekrans Complex near Johannesburg have broadly similar PGE patterns and concentrations to the Komati rocks, suggesting that the PGE contents of South African ultrabasic magmas are controlled by similar processes during partial mantle melting and low-P magmatic crystallization. Most workers believe that the Barberton komatiites formed by relatively moderate-degree batch melting of the mantle at high pressure. Based on the concentration of Zr in the Komati samples, we estimate that the degree of partial melting was between 26 and 33%. We suggest that the low PGE contents and Pd/Ir ratios of all analysed South African komatiites are the result of sulphides having been retained in the mantle source during partial melting. The difference in Pd/Ir between our samples and Al-undepleted komatiites from elsewhere further suggests that the PGE are fractionated during progressive partial melting of the mantle. Thus, our data are in agreement with other recent studies showing that the PGE are hosted by different phases in the mantle, with Pd being concentrated by interstitial Cu-rich sulphide, and the IPGE (Os, Ir, Ru) and Rh resting in monosulphide solid solution included within silicates. Pt is possibly controlled by a discrete refractory phase, as Pt/Pd ratios of most komatiites worldwide are sub-chondritic.

A small, meta-granitic clast with a crosscutting microcrystalline vein was found enclosed within the Vredefort Granophyre. Semi-quantitative chemical analyses of the granophyre, granitic clast, and the vein were obtained in situ, demonstrating affinity to granitic composition for the vein. Microstructural and geochemical evidence is consistent with the vein representing pseudotachylite derived from granite. Within the granitic clast, evidence of high-grade metamorphism with preferential melting of biotite was observed. Brittle, ductile and shock deformation microstructures were found in quartz grains in the granite ground mass, including mosaicism, undulatory extinction, non-planar and curviplanar fractures and planar deformation features (PDFs) with crystallographic orientations {1121} and {2241} Similar deformation features were observed in quartz clasts within the vein. Pods of in situ pseudotachylitic material have been documented in foliated granite around the vein. The vein suggests that a generation of pseudotachylite was evolved and already solidified when the granophyre dyke intruded. Therefore, a minimum age of pseudotachylite emplacement is suggested by the presence of the pseudotachylite vein within the granophyre.