The Palaeoproterozoic Ubendian Domain in Malawi comprises the SE segments of three distinct crustal blocks, namely (from north to south) the Mbozi, Ufipa and Nyika subdomains, apparently confirming the historic crustal subdivisions. Together, they represent about 30 % of the surface area of the entire Ubendian belt, most of which lies in Tanzania. We describe their geology and present 14 new U-Pb zircon dates of representative samples. The Mbozi Subdomain (SD) is predominantly comprised of mafic gneisses (Mbozi Group) with no Palaeoproterozoic granitoid intrusions. The Ufipa SD comprises several units of high grade supracrustal gneisses (Ufipa Group), with a maximum depositional age of similar to 1990 Ma, deposited upon an interfoliated "cryptic" tonalite-granodiorite orthogneiss basement dated at similar to 2150 Ma and occurring as scattered remnants within the paragneisses. Minor post-Ufipa Group granitoids were emplaced at 1990 Ma. The Nyika SD contains sequences of supracrustal gneiss (Nyika Group) deposited between similar to 2100 and 1990 Ma, probably during at least two phases of sedimentation. There are numerous granitoids of varying compositions with an overlapping continuum of emplacement ages from similar to 2045 to 1946 Ma, some of which are coeval with Nyika Group deposition. The youngest (post-tectonic) granites intrude the Nyika Group, but the status of the older foliated granitoids is less clear due to poor exposure. In all subdomains high grade regional metamorphism, migmatisation and ductile deformation took place soon after deposition of the supracrustal groups and during granitoid magmatism at c. 1980 Ma. It is argued that the Nyika SD continues westwards into the coeval "Bangweulu Block" of Zambia without break and the existence of a larger contiguous Palaeoproterozoic Bangweulu-Nyika (BaNy) cratonic block is proposed. BaNy is a metacratonic crustal entity which evolved separately from the Congo (west) and Tanzania (east) cratons in Neoarchaen to early Palaeoproterozoic times. The Ubendian belt formed in response to Palaeoproterozoic subduction and an active margin SW of the Archaean Tanzania Craton and eventual collision and amalgamation with the BaNy Block. The U-Pb data show weak evidence of similar to 1.1 Ga (Irumide) reworking in the western Nyika SD but extensive and major effects of similar to 550 Ma (Pan-African) intense transcurrent deformation and medium-to low-grade metamorphism. The current geometry of this part of the Ubendian Domain is largely controlled by Pan-African structures, dominated by the NNW-striking low-grade Mugesse Shear Zone and in the south by the conjugate WSW-striking Mwembeshi Shear Zone. These shear zone systems form the inter-subdomain contacts and are largely responsible for the observed regional structural grains.

The results of a major geological mapping project in Malawi have produced a new model of the Precambrian structural architecture of this small country, with major implications for the whole of central-eastern Africa. In the north, the oldest rocks of the Palaeoproterozoic Ubendian Domain (c. 2150-1950 Ma), the traditional division into the Mbozi, Ufipa and Nyika "terranes" (here termed "subdomains - SD") is confirmed, but with one important proviso. Geophysical data indicate that the Nyika SD extends westwards without break into the "Bangweulu Block" in northern Zambia, suggesting that they are one and the same and the name "BangweuluNyika block" (BaNy) is proposed for the combined entity. The extended Nyika SD is considered to be the central zone of the orogen, with the other two being the steeply dipping root zones of nappes that were transported NE over the Tanzanian Craton during the Ubendian collision phase. The Ubendian Domain returns Neoarchaean to Palaeoroterozoic Nd model ages. It is unconformably overlain by the low-grade Mafingi Group metasedimentary rocks, seen as equivalents of parts of the Muva Supergroup in Zambia. The Irumide Domain in central Malawi is separated into the Mzimba, Kasungu and Mchinji subdomains. They are characterized by Nd model ages between 1.5 and 2.7 Ga, no Ubendian magmatism, voluminous collisionrelated granitoid magmatism between 1070 and 1030 Ma and medium to high-grade metamorphism. The South Irumide Domain in southern Malawi is subdivided into the Lilongwe, Unango and Nampula subdomains, characterized by Nd model ages between 1.1 and 1.5 Ga, indicating generation in a juvenile island arc geodynamic setting with little evidence of older crustal involvement. The Irumide orogeny is marked by tectonic stacking at similar to 1070 Ma with polyphase reactivation at the end of the main collision at similar to 1020 Ma and overprinting during the Pan-African event at similar to 560 Ma. Structural younging of the Irumide thrust stack implies subduction of the South Irumide Domain to the north below the Irumide Domain, with the latter constituting an active continental margin SE of the Congo-BaNy craton. The main collision phase and prograde metamorphism between 1050 and 1020 Ma are interpreted as evidence of collision between the Congo-BaNy-Tanzania Craton (upper plate), and the subducting Proto-Kalahari Craton margin. The three fundamental Proterozoic domains of Malawi were intruded by several polyphase Neoproterozoic (Tonian) alkaline igneous plutons (Nyassa Suite) between similar to 850 and 700 Ma, implying that the domains formed a contiguous block of continental crust in Rodinia at c. 1000 Ma. The Nyassa Suite represents a failed continental rift associated with Rodinia break-up between c. 700-640 Ma. To the west of Malawi, this event was manifested in a confined oceanic basin between the Kalahari and Congo cratons and represented by the Zambezi-LufilianDamara belts. This basin closed between 590 and 520 Ma resulting in the re-amalgamation of Congo and Kalahari during the later phases of the Pan-African orogeny and variable tectonic (shear zones), magmatic (Blantyre Suite) and metamorphic effects in Malawi increasing in intensity towards the south.

Geological mapping of the Mayombe Chain and Niari Basin of Congo Brazzaville allows for the first time defining the structural architecture and metamorphism of the West Congo Belt. Four different tectono-metamorphic domains, separated by crustal-scale shear zones, are now distinguished (Niari Basin (NB), Eastern (EMC), Central (CMC) and Western (WMC) Mayombe Chain).The NB is marked by only weak regional deformation under middle to upper diagenetic conditions. It is delimited in the west from the EMC by the Mount Belo Shear Zone forming the terminal thrust system of the West Congo orogen.The tectonic style in the EMC is characterized by discrete, widely-spaced low-angle thrusts, reverse faults and strike-slip faults resulting in the formation of duplex and/or positive flower structures. Off these high-strain zones, the rocks are folded into gentle syn- and anticlines. Penetrative schistosity starts in shales in the western part. The metamorphism increases from eastern anchizonal conditions to lower greenschist facies in the west. The EMC is juxtaposed along the Moukondo thrust/back-thrust system with the CMC.The CMC is typified by open to closed upright to NE-verging folds, S1 schistosity with moderate to steep SW dips, onset of regional crenulation cleavage (S2), frequent reverse thrusts and numerous faults. Metamorphic conditions remain in the greenschist facies. The Loukenéné-Mandji Thrust marks the CMC-WMC contact and coincides with a jump in metamorphic grade marked by biotite-in.The WMC consists of Palaeoproterozoic basement stacked with Neoproterozoic rocks. Autochthonous Palaeoproterozoic gneiss and schist record Late Eburnean sedimentation, magmatism and metamorphism between 2110 and 1970 Ma, which are compared with the Eburnean history in Gabon and the Transamazonian orogeny in Brazil. The allochthonous Bikossi Group was thrust during the Pan-African event from the west over Tonian metavolcaniclastic and plutonic rocks before further folding and stacking of both units. The intensity of Pan-African deformation increases from open to closed folds with spaced cleavage in the southeast of the WMC to thrust-dominated tectonics in the northwest, where the Palaeo- and Neoproterozoic rocks are transposed into parallelism with the pronounced schistosity.Geochronology of illite and muscovite documents two Pan-African events at 590-570 Ma (M1) and at 520-500 Ma (M2) that are related to the main collisional and late thermal events in the Araçuai-Ribeira Belt in Brazil. Metamorphic isogrades shifted from M1 to M2 for more than 30 km to the west. Detrital mica and metamorphic illite of the Mpioka Group record M1 and M2, respectively constraining sedimentary deposition between 570 and520 Ma, which implies the interpretation of the group as molasse of the West Congo Belt.

Heritage and culture tourism involve features that commemorate a valued past. Mining heritage tourism allows visitors to experience the past, guided by former mining landscapes and engaging interactively with material artifacts. This paper introduces the CoalHeritage European project, focusing on the promotion of coal mining heritage through the production and design of the European Visual Map Journal (EVMJ). The EVMJ is a user-friendly, web-based, interactive storytelling platform that supports the transfer of industrial and geoheritage from former coal mining areas. It aims to collect and disseminate heritage assets from post-mining coal areas, informing stakeholders and promoting these sites as tourist destinations. To further enhance public awareness, several ESRI StoryMaps web apps are being created to highlight specific features of each case study across Europe. The aim of this work is to introduce coal mining heritage as a new term, present the coal heritage platform and its importance for disseminating coal heritage aspects to the public, describe the methodology used for its design, and provide a brief overview of its evolving content.

The Ubendian belt extends from eastern Congo through SW Tanzania and NW Zambia across northern Malawi and into Mozambique. It results from the Palaeoproterozoic accretion of a number of crustal blocks followed by the collision of the Tanzanian and Congo cratons. The Ubendian belt has been classically divided into eight "terranes", (termed "subdomains" in this work), based on rock assemblage, magmatic and metamorphic history. This paper is concerned with the geological evolution of the southernmost of these, the Nyika Subdomain. We present an extensive dataset to decipher the geological history of the northern part of the Nyika Subdomain, including field observation, LA-ICP-MS U/Pb geochronology on zircon and monazite and a metamorphic petrological study of the extensive characteristic migmatitic cordierite-bearing gneisses. The U/Pb zircon data records four magmatic pulses. The first is represented by xenocrysts dated between 2200 and 2150 Ma. The second, major pulse is dated at ca. 2030 Ma, followed by minor magmatic activity at ca. 1980 Ma. This event is coeval with regional granulite facies metamorphism (ca. 780 degrees C and 0.6 Gpa), constrained in age U/Pb monazite and xenotime dated at 1977 +/- 14 Ma and 1984 +/- 13 Ma, respectively and also probably dates the collision between the Congo and Tanzania cratons. A fourth event represented by the intrusion of the Nyika Suite granites at 1944 +/- 7 Ma terminates the Palaeoproterozoic history. There follows a long time interval with no recorded orogenic history before the tectonic activity during the Neoproterozoic Pan African orogeny. The regional significance of the evolution of the Nyika Subdomain with respect to the adjacent Ufipa Subdomain and the "Bangweulu Block" to the west are discussed within the framework of the Ubendian orogeny and the wider Palaeoproterozoic history of the region.

Two Mesoproterozoic anorogenic igneous events are recorded in the Palaeoproterozoic Ubendian Domain in northern Malawi. The oldest is represented by the Mwakikome orthogneiss, a small peraluminous, sub-alkaline and ferroan syenogranite that has a U-Pb zircon emplacement age of 1411 +/- 3 Ma, an initial epsilon Nd of-4.5 and a Nd TDM2 model age of 2.27 Ga. These data are interpreted to suggest that the Mwakikome intrusion was derived mainly from the melting of the adjacent Palaeoproterozoic country rocks during Kibaran-aged extension. The second anorogenic igneous event is defined by the more widespread Mwenga Suite, a series of small (<100 km2) NW-SE oriented and elongated plutons that occur in a narrow belt in the north of the Ubendian Domain. Seven samples from different intrusions gave U-Pb zircon emplacement ages between-1150 and 1110 Ma. The Mwenga Suite is comprised of rocks that are also ferroan, potassic and sub-alkaline in composition and shows a range of major element compositions from monzogranite to alkali-feldspar granite. Nd isotopic data from one sample yielded an initial epsilon Nd of-2.2 and a Nd TDM2 model age of 1.88 Ga, suggesting that the suite was also largely derived from melting of the Ubendian host rocks, but with some additions from an enriched mantle source. Both the Mwakikome and Mwenga rocks are characterised by high concentrations of Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta, Y and REE and high Ga/Al, imparting a within-plate, A-type, trace element signature. The rocks have no direct tem-poral correlatives beyond northern Malawi and SW Tanzania and appear unique to this region. They do, how-ever, build on a theme of long-lived Mesoproterozoic (-1400-1100 Ma) intra-plate extension, basin formation, and bimodal A-type magmatism that is better established in areas of central Africa located over 500 km NW of the study area.

The sustainability of mineral resources and, in particular, their abundance is a topic of growing interest. Nevertheless, the abundance of mineral raw materials is an extremely complex notion as it not only encompasses geological considerations but also environmental, technical, economic, and social constraints. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, no tools are currently available to allow a comprehensive evaluation of mineral raw material abundance. This research paper, therefore, aims to present an innovative and unique methodology to evaluate the abundance of non-energy mineral resources and determine a mineral abundance index (MAI). Based on a multicriteria analysis, MAI considers the natural abundance of a mineral raw material in the Earth’s crust and its availability on the market and integrates the influence of factors that could constrain or promote future market changes. This new index ranging from 0 (very scarce) to 100 (very abundant) aims to qualify the abundance of mineral resources in a simple and rapid manner based on published and reliable data. This new methodology could be a powerful decision-making support tool for any downstream industrials and end-users making use of mineral raw materials.

The low-grade Mafingi Group form a restricted sequence of Proterozoic arenaceous and pelitic metasedimentary rocks which locally lie unconformably on the Palaeoproterozoic Ubendian Domain basement gneisses in northern Malawi. Four samples were taken from different parts of the sequence, in order to obtain detrital zircons for U-Pb geochronology to constrain their maximum age of deposition, provenance and thereby to suggest correlations with other sequences in the wider SE African region. Three samples, including one from the Type Area (Mafingi Hills), and two from different tectonic slivers within the Ubendian gneisses, gave maximum deposition ages of around 1800 Ma. A third sample, also from a tectonic sliver gave a much younger maximum depositional age of similar to 1500 Ma. Apart from this, all samples show similar zircon age spectra, with a major composite age-peak at similar to 1900 +/- 100 Ma from zircon detritus most probably derived from the local Ubendian Domain basement. Three samples show a very small Archaean age component probably derived from the Tanzania Craton which lies to the NE. The most NE sample of strongly recrystallised "Virauli Quartzite", apparently interlayered with Ubendian gneisses of the Ufipa Subdomain, contained metamorphic zircon grains dated at similar to 560 Ma, reflective of a PanAfrican overprint within the local western margin of the wider East African Orogen. Significantly, no evidence of similar to 1 Ga (Irumide) metamorphism was detected in any of the samples. The three older samples gave maximum depositional ages confirming previous proposed correlations of the Mafingi Group with the Manshya River Group of the Muva Supergroup in Zambia. Despite having a similar detrital age spectrum to the other samples, and an identical field appearance, one contains a population of five much younger detrital grains, suggesting a maximum deposition age of similar to 1500 Ma. This is well outside the age-range of the Manshya River Group and might suggest correlation with the youngest sequence of the Muva Supergroup; the Mesoproterozoic Kasama Formation. This inference should, however be treated with extreme caution as dating of that formation itself rests on the age of a single detrital zircon.

Les Eléments de Terres Rares sont distribués à faibles teneurs dans grand nombre de roches. Pour en augmenter les concentrations et en faire une ressource exploitable, de multiples processus géologiques sont à l’œuvre. Charles et al. font l’inventaire exhaustif des domaines européens où des concentrations intéressantes en Eléments de Terres Rares sont reconnues.

•W and Sn mineralization in the Nanling Range formed during a fluid event at 160 Ma.•Deposits formed during four hydrothermal events over 30 m.y. (160–130 Ma).•Hydrothermal fluid circulations result in partial to complete isotopic resetting.

The Early Cretaceous (ca. 130 Ma) Nb-rich and Ta-poor Huangshan suite, South China, includes a series of medium-grained granites that contain Nb-rich mica and very low columbite contents, which are indicative of a potential Nb resource. In addition, the Huangshan suite contains fine-grained granites and aplo-pegmatites in which disseminated Nb–Ta columbite is an ore. Two types of fine-grained microcline-bearing and albite-rich leucogranite sills and dikes were identified. Sills and dikes of leucogranites and aplo-pegmatites intrude the medium-grained granites and surrounding hornfels. The aplo-pegmatites consist of large microcline and quartz crystals that are typically broken and embedded within a foliated albite-rich matrix. Niobium-rich and Mn-poor columbite with Ta# [Ta/(Ta + Nb)] ≤ 0.5 and Mn# [Mn/(Mn + Fe)] < 0.2, which is characterized by complex zonation, is the major accessory mineral in the fine-grained granites and aplo-pegmatites. The Huangshan columbites display an unusual pattern of Ta# variation at nearly constant Mn#. Fractional crystallization along cannot explain the observed trends, but they can be accounted for by recurrent mixing between two distinct and independently evolving magmas. One end-member is deemed to be an evolved Nb-rich magma, and the other is a Ta-enriched magma of the peraluminous rare-metal granite series (i.e., Yichun trend). Major and trace element features also support this model of recurrent magma mixing.