Many modern plate boundaries involve convergence between the tectonic plates at highly oblique angles. These obliquely convergent systems produce transpressional orogenic belts where faulting and rock deformation occurs by a combination of shortening perpendicular to the plate boundary and shear parallel to the boundary. In transpressional orogens, rock packages typically show highly variable pressure-temperature-time paths adjacent to a central strike-slip fault zone. This project is focused on the determining the deformation and exhumation histories of deep crustal rocks in the Kaoko zone, which is the northern branch of the ca. 500 million year old Damera Orogen in Nambia. The Kaoko zone is a classic transpressional orogen that is deeply eroded so that the rock deformation processes and thermal histories of the lower and middle crust can be assessed at the surface. The kinematic and thermal history of the Kaoko zone gives insights into the tectonic processes occurring at depth along modern transpressional systems like the San Andreas Fault, California and the Alpine Fault in New Zealand.
