| Summary: | Our two-person “flood basalt task force” (authors Arto Luttinen and Jussi Heinonen) of the Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS) spent three weeks in Mozambican countryside collecting samples of the little-studied flood basalt formations of the Jurassic ~180 Ma Karoo large igneous province. The expedition was related to the recently launched MARZ (Magmatism in the Africa- Antarctica Rift Zone) project that is funded by the Academy of Finland. Fieldwork was carried out within three provinces, Tete, Sofala, and Manica in cooperation with Professor Daud Jamal, Dr. Estêvão Sumburane, Mr. Teofilo Gove (all from the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo), and Dr. António Alface (Direcção Nacional de Geologia, Tete). During the field campaign, we took lodging in towns and villages and also camped on the forest savannah, and were greatly impressed by the friendliness and helpfulness of the local people. Despite the tropical conditions, the quality of the bedrock outcrops was surprisingly good and we were able to collect ~150 rock samples, well above our initial expectations. The samples will be analysed for major and trace elements, Sr and Nd isotopes, and selected samples will be used for Ar- Ar plagioclase and U-Pb zircon dating. Our samples are from areas that have not been previously studied in detail and the results hopefully will shed light on the mysteries related to the origin of Karoo and other flood basalt provinces. More information about the MARZ project: www.luomus.fi/english/geology/research/ marzENG.htm
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