Andrea Ritter Jelinek

Apatite fission track dating of fluorite ore veins from Santa Catarina state, Brazil: a complex hydrothermal evolution

Abstract The fluorite of Santa Catarina that occurs in veins cutting Precambrian granitic rocks of coastal Brazil has been difficult to date by Rb/Sr, K/Ar and Sm/Nd methods. New fission track dating of apatite in granites next to the veins yields ages of 144–76 Ma, which are related to the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. Four groups of fission track ages were identified: the ca 145 Ma group is a hydrothermal event that preceded fluorite mineralization; the second group of ages, 131–107 Ma, records the first hydrothermal mineralizing event; the third group, 98–93 Ma, represents the second hydrothermal mineralizing event; and the fourth group, 89–76 Ma, dates the last hydrothermal mineralizing event. As shown by previous studies, the temperatures of these events varied from 170° to 70°C, but the last hydrothermal event occurred during a gradual cooling. The smaller lengths of the confined fission tracks from the fourth event support this interpretation. These results are based on sixteen carefully selected samples from four veins ranging from 1 to 4xa0m in thickness. The ages of these samples were established using the standard methods of fission track dating. Our study clearly demonstrates the value of apatite fission track dating for deposits whose mineralization occurred over a long time span at a wide range of temperatures.

SHRIMP U-Pb zircon dating of Pedras Grandes Suite, southern Santa Catarina State, Brazil

Two major magmatic pulses of the granitic Florianopolis Batholith in Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, occurred between 613 ± 5 Ma and 595 ± 5 Ma, during the Neoproterozoic Brasiliano Cycle. These ages were obtained by U-Pb isotopic determinations with the sensitive high mass-resolution ion microprobe on igneous zircons from Pedras Grandes Suite in Santa Catarina State. Euhedral zircons remained unaltered close to a fluorite vein deposited at 180 ◦ C or more. These ages suggest a northern limit for the Pedras Grandes Suite,

História termotectônica da margem continental brasileira a partir de dados de traços de fissão em apatita

The Brazilian continental margin shows geomorphological structures formed during several episodes of tectonic activity initiated in the Neoproterozoic. In order to establish a thermotectonic history model for the Brazilian continental margin, an integration and reinterpretation of the apatite fission track (AFT) data was performed. AFT ages range from ~385 to 10 Ma. The AFT data reveal that the continental margin was characterized by at least three thermal events post Brasiliano Cycle: Early Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous and Paleogene-Neogene. The events are related to the opening processes of the South Atlantic Ocean and to the rift and post-rift phases, with tectonic reactivations along to the margin. The Mantiqueira Province and the Sao Francisco Craton record the oldest events, from the Ordovician to the Permian, respectively, which affected the various parts in varying ways as evidence of the Famatinian and Gondwanide orogenies.