U-Pb LA-ICP-MS detrital zircon ages from the Cambrian of Al Qarqaf Arch, central-western Libya: Provenance of the West Gondwanan sand sea at the dawn of the early Palaeozoic

► Neoproterozoic zircon ages dominate the Cambrian Hasawnah Fm., Al Qarqaf Arch, Libya. ► Main source region of the clastic sediments was the Trans-Saharan Belt. ► Cambrian sedimentation in Libya started in the late Terreneuvian or slightly younger. ► There is no evidence of massive Mesoproterozoic crust in the Saharan Metacraton area. ► Some relation to the West African Craton has existed.