Trachyte plugs from the Natash volcanic field have been precisely dated using in situ U-Pb geochronology on zircon grains at ~93 Ma. Available zircon ages thus suggest that the overall volcanic history at Natash was probably shorter than previously estimated based on Rb-Sr and K-Ar ages, which are more sensitive to element mobility. Basaltic flows and trachyte plugs were produced by a largely synchronous, Upper Cretaceous volcanic activity that occurred in the Natash area at the onset of the extensional fracturing that preceded and accompanied the doming of the Afro-Arabian Shield. Extraction and eruption of volumetrically dominant basalts from deeper lithospheric levels were ruled by major NW-SE strike-slip faults, whereas both major and subordinate fault systems activated by successive tectonic pulses favoured the ascent of more evolved melts (i.e. trachytes and rhyolites) from shallow-level magma chambers. The study revealed also the presence of zircon xenocrysts in some trachyte plugs associated or not to magmatic zircon. These xenocrysts have pre-Cambrian ages (~681 Ma) matching those of zircons from basement rocks in the area (~700 Ma) and were most probably incorporated during the emplacement of trachyte plugs at shallow depths. The strictly bimodal ages recorded by zircons suggest a very large time gap (> 500 Ma) between the end of the Pan-African Orogeny and the onset of new tectono-magmatic activity in the Natash area.