The island of Donousa consists of a variegated metasedimentary sequence cut by arc-type granitoid dykes. Detrital zircon U–Pb ages and the presence of volcanic and ultramafic detritus suggest that the protoliths of the metasedimentary rocks were deposited in a Campanian forearc basin later than 76 Ma. D1 stacking of the forearc deposits occurred at upper crustal levels (P max = 0.4 GPa) with staurolite present as a stable phas...

U–Pb ages were determined by split-stream LA-SF/MC-ICPMS in garnets from UHT granulite xenoliths (Star mine, South Africa; 124 Ma). They give a considerable age range of 400 million years with well-defined maximas at 3.09, 3.01 and 2.75 Ga. The oldest peak overlaps with the changeover from tonalites to K-granites at 3.14–3.04 Ga and with zircon ages of the mid-crustal granulites of the Vredefort dome (3.1 Ga) in the wake of th...