Carlos Maurício Noce

The Araçuaı́-West-Congo Orogen in Brazil: an overview of a confined orogen formed during Gondwanaland assembly

Abstract The Neoproterozoic Adamastor-Brazilide Ocean was generated during the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent, and remnants of its oceanic lithosphere have been found in the Brasiliano-Pan African orogenic system that includes the Aracuai, West-Congo, Brasilia, Ribeira, Kaoko, Dom Feliciano, Damara and Gariep belts. The Aracuai and the West-Congo belts are counterparts of the same Neoproterozoic orogen. The first belt comprises two thirds of the Aracuai-West-Congo Orogen. This orogen is rather unique owing to its confined nature within the embayment outlined by the Sao Francisco and Congo cratons. In spite of this, the presence of ophiolitic remnants, and a calc-alkaline magmatic arc, indicate that the basin/orogen evolution comprise both oceanic spreading and consumption. It is assumed that coeval Paramirim and Sangha aulacogens played a key role by making room for the Aracuai-West-Congo Basin. Sedimentary successions record all major stages of a basin that evolved from continental rift, when glaciation-related sedimentation was very significant, to passive margin. Rifting started around 1.0–0.9 Ga. The oceanic stage is constrained by an ophiolitic remnant dated at 0.8 Ga. If the cratonic bridge that once linked the Sao Francisco and Congo palaeocontinental regions did not hinder the opening of an ocean basin, it certainly limited its width. As a consequence, only a narrow oceanic lithosphere was generated, and it was subducted afterwards. This is also suggested by orogenic calc-alkaline granitoids occuping a small area of the orogen. Geochronological data for pre-, syn- and late-collisional granitoids indicate that the orogenic stage lasted from 625 Ma to 570 Ma. A period of magmatic quiescence was followed by intrusion of postcollisional plutons at 535–500 Ma. The features of the Aracuai-West-Congo Orogen suggest the development of a complete Wilson Cycle in a branch of the Adamastor Ocean, which can be interpreted as a gulf with limited generation of oceanic lithosphere.

U-Pb Geochronology of Archean magmatism and Proterozoic metamorphism in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, southern São Francisco craton, Brazil

The Quadrilatero Ferrifero is a metallogenic district (Au, Fe, Mn) located in the southernmost Sao Francisco craton in eastern Brazil. It is composed of Archean granitoids, gneisses, and a greenstone belt sequence (Rio das Velhas Supergroup), overlain by a Proterozoic clastic-chemical sedimentary sequence hosting a thick Lake Superior-type banded iron formation (Minas Supergroup). A U-Pb study of the main units leads to the following conclusions: granitoid emplacement was dated at 2776 +7/-6 Ma and 2721 ± 3 Ma; two felsic volcanic rocks from the Rio das Velhas Supergroup yielded ages of 2776 +23/-10 Ma and 2772 ± 6 Ma. These data indicate that greenstone-belt volcanism was coeval with granitoid emplacement, a common feature of greenstone-belt terrains, but so far undocumented in the southern Sao Francisco shield. The younger granitoid intrusion marks the stabilization of the shield in Late Archean time. Zircon cores older than 2776 Ma, together with other data, indicate the presence of continental crust 2.88-3.1 Ga old in the Quadrilatero Ferrifero. A detrital zircon from the uppermost formation in the Minas Supergroup (Sabara Formation) is concordant at 2125 ± 4 Ma and provides the first age constraint on the deposition of the Supergroup. Monazite from two pegmatites and titanite from an amphibolite enclave in gneisses from the Bacao Complex, in central Quadrilatero Ferrifero, yielded ages between 2060 Ma and 2030 Ma. These data may constrain the minimum age for the deposition of the Minas Supergroup. In addition, they indicate that the Early Proterozoic Transamazomian orogeny is represented by amphibolite-facies metamorphism and partial melting of Archean crust.

Late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian granitic magmatism in the Araçuaí orogen (Brazil), the eastern brazilian pegmatite province and related mineral resources.

Abstract The Araçuaí orogen extends from the eastern edge of the São Francisco craton to the Atlantic margin, in southeastern Brazil. Orogenic igneous rocks, formed from c. 630 to c. 480 Ma, cover one third of this huge area, building up the Eastern Brazilian Pegmatite Province and the most important dimension stone province of Brazil. G1 supersuite (630–585 Ma) mainly consists of tonalite to granodiorite, with mafic to dioritic facies and enclaves, representing a continental calc-alkaline magmatic arc. G2 supersuite mostly includes S-type granites formed during the syn-collisional stage (585–560 Ma), from relatively shallow two-mica granites and related gem-rich pegmatites to deep garnet-biotite granites that are the site of yellow dimension stone deposits. The typical G3 rocks (545–525 Ma) are non-foliated garnet-cordierite leucogranites, making up autochthonous patches and veins. At the post-collisional stage (530–480 Ma), G4 and G5 supersuites were generated. The S-type G4 supersuite mostly consists of garnet-bearing two-mica leucogranites that are the source of many pegmatites mined for tourmalines and many other gems, lithium (spodumene) ore and industrial feldspar. G5 supersuite, consisting of high-K–Fe calc-alkaline to alkaline granitic and/or charnockitic to dioritic/noritic intrusions, is the source of aquamarine-topaz-rich pegmatites but mainly of a large dimension stone production.

Similarities and differences between the Brazilian and African counterparts of the Neoproterozoic Araçuaí-West Congo orogen

Abstract The Araçuaí–West Congo orogen encompasses orogenic domains located to the SE of the São Francisco Craton in Brazil, and to the SW of the Congo Craton in Africa. From the opening of the precursor basin to the last orogenic processes, the evolution of the orogen lasted from the very beginning of the Neoproterozoic up to the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary. After the spreading of the South Atlantic Ocean in Cretaceous time, the Araçuaí–West Congo orogen was split into two quite different but complementary counterparts. The Brazilian side (Araçuaí orogen) inherited two thirds of the whole orogenic edifice, including all the Neoproterozoic ophiolite slivers, the entire magmatic arc and syn-collisional to post-collisional magmatism, and the suture zone. The African counterpart (West Congo Belt), a fold–thrust belt free of Neoproterozoic ophiolite and Pan-African orogenic magmatism, inherited the thick pile of bimodal volcanic rocks of the Early Tonian rift stage, implying that the precursor basin was an asymmetrical rift with the thermal–magmatic axis located in the West Congo Belt. Both counterparts of the Araçuaí–West Congo orogen include Neoproterozoic glaciogenic deposits, allowing tentative lithostratigraphic correlations, but identification of the ice ages remains uncertain because the lack of sufficient well-constrained geochronological data.

Pb, Sr and Nd isotope constraints on the Archaean evolution of gneissic-granitoid complexes in the southern São Francisco Craton, Brazil

Abstract Three Archaean gneissic complexes (Bonfim, Belo Horizonte and Campo Belo) in the southern part of the Sao Francisco craton were studied by means of UPb (zircon and titanite, monazite) and SmNd, RbSr and PbPb (whole rock) methods. In the Bonfim metamorphic complex the period 2780-2700 Ma is marked by in situ anatexis of gneisses, intrusion of tonalites, mafic dikes and late granites, and deposition of the Rio das Velhas greenstone belt. SmNd T DM model ages on its gneisses, amphibolites and granites range from 2800 to 3000 Ma, indicating involvement of older sialic crust in the 2780-2700 Ma event. In the Belo Horizonte metamorphic complex UPb zircon geochronology has yielded ages of 2860, 2776 and 2712 Ma and RbSr whole rock isochrons on its gneisses and migmatites yielded ages in the range 2800-2750 Ma (with large uncertainties) and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr initial ratios of 0.700-0.710. The highest initial ratio (0.710) obtained for the migmatites suggests that ensialic episodes participated in the tectonomagmatic evolution. Existence of older crust is suggested by UPb zircon ages of ∼ 3030, 2920 and 2880 Ma from inherited grains in metavolcanics and orthogneisses. RbSr ages of 2250-2130 Ma on granitoids and UPb (titanite, monazite) ages from 2320 to 2030 Ma on granitoids, felsic veins and amphibolite enclaves indicate reworking of this complex in the Palaeoproterozoic. In the Campo Belo metamorphic complex granite and greenstone lithologies have yielded ages of ∼ 3380-3000, 2900 and 2650 Ma by UPb zircon and RbSr and PbPb whole rock methods. T DM ages on its granites, gneisses and granulites have yielded ages from 3070 to 2780 Ma indicating involvement of older sialic material during the 2650 Ma event. These complexes indicate major events during the period 2860-2700 Ma, including reworking of established sialic crust with components up to 3380 Ma old. Late granites were injected between 2700-2600 Ma, preceding final assembly and stabilization of the Archaean crust.

Toward a new tectonic model for the Late Proterozoic Araçuaí (SE Brazil)-West Congolian (SW Africa) Belt

Abstract The Aracuai Belt is a Late Proterozoic (Brasiliano Cycle) geotectonic unit which was developed along the southeastern margin of the Sao Francisco Craton (SE Brazil) and was formerly considered as being an ensialic orogen. It is correlated with the Pan-African West Congolian Belt (SW Africa) in many reports. In the western domain of the belt, the Macaubas Group—the most important supracrustal sequence related to the evolution of the Aracuai Belt —comprises the Terra Branca and Carbonita Formations, which consist of littoral glacial sediments to shelf turbidites. These formations grade upward and eastward to the Salinas Formation, consisting of distal turbidites related to submarine fans, pelagic sediments, and a rock association (the Ribeirao da Folha Facies) typical of an ocean-floor environment. Banded iron formations, metacherts, diopsidites, massive sulfides, graphite schists, hyperaluminous schists, and ortho-amphibolites, intercalated with quartz-mica schists and impure quartzites, characterize the most distinctive and restricted volcano-sedimentary facies yet found within the Salinas Formation. Ultramafic slabs were tectonically emplaced within the Ribeirao da Folha Facies. Eight whole rock samples of meta-ultramafic rocks and ortho-amphibolites yielded a SmNd isochronic age of 793 ± 90 Ma ( ϵ Nd(T) = +4.1 ± 0.6 . MSWD = 1.76 ). The structures of the northern Aracuai Belt are marked by a doen-dip stretching lineation (western domain) related to frontal thrusts which controlled tectonic transport from east to west; stretching lineation rakes decrease in the eastern tectonic domain, indicating dominant oblique to transcurrent motion; the northern arch of the belt is characterized by major high-dip transcurrent shear zones. Our tectonic model starts with marked fracturing, followed by rifting that took place in the Sao Francisco-Congo Craton around 1000 ± 100 Ma (ages of basic intrusions and alkaline anorogenic granites). A sinistral transfer zone was established at the north rn boundary of the belt, controlling the ellargement of the Aracuai-West Congolian rift, with the neighbouring northern cratonic region remaining essentially unaffected by compressional stresses. A period of ocean-floor spreading took place at about 800 Ma. Rift closure started at about 750 Ma and led to the reversal of motion along former extensional structures. The main Brasiliano-Pan-African orogenic period took place between 700 and 550 Ma and was marked by regional metamorphism and deformation related to both thrusting and transcurrent movements, and emplacement of syntectonic grranites derived from anatectic melts trigered by collisional crustal thickening. In this period, ultramafic slabs were emmlaced within the Ribeirao da Folha Facies, and both may represent an ophiolite-type suite. Late- to post-tectonic (500 to 550 Ma) intrusive granites were generated and emplaced in the Brazilian side along a major zone of crustal thickening in response to the last stages of collision.

Isotopic signatures of Paleoproterozoic granitoids from the southern Sao Francisco Craton and implications for the evolution of the Transamazonian Orogeny

Abstract The southern Sao Francisco Craton, northeastern Brazil, consists of an Archean block surrounded by a Paleoproterozoic belt related to the Transamazonian Orogeny (ca. 2.0 Ga). A calc-alkaline plutonic arc developed within the belt and the granitoid plutons comprise two distinct groups. One group displays Archean T DM ages (3.07–2.62 Ga), e Nd( t ) values between −11.0 and −3.8 and high initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values, and it consists mainly of peraluminous granites. T DM ages for the other group are Paleoproterozoic (2.43–2.27 Ga), and e Nd( t ) values range between −2.8 and +1.3; the plutons are metaluminous tonalites (trondhjemites) to granodiorites. The Transamazonian granitoids can be related to contrasting source-regions, from mantle- to crust-derived ones. A number of them are probably derived from mixing of Paleoproterozoic juvenile material and variable proportions of Archean crust material. Magmatism related to deep faulting, during the compressional stages of the Transamazonian Orogeny, is a plausible model for granitoid generation. The contribution of mantle-derived material to the granitoid sources supports the idea that a significant episode of new crust formation occurred during the Transamazonian Orogeny.

Sr and Nd Characteristics of Brasiliano/Pan-African Granitoid Plutons of the Araçuaí Orogen, Southeastern Brazil: Tectonic Implications

Nd and Sr isotope data were obtained for three plutonic suites (595–505 Ma) and distinct young granitoid intrusions (503 Ma), from the southern part of the Neoproterozoic Aracuai Orogen. The Sr and Nd isotopes (87Sr/86Sr, eNd) and TDM values from the plutons and distinct basement rocks are used to constrain the magma genesis of the granitoid plutons. These isotopic parameters, with eNd values ranging from −4 to −24 and TDM ages from 1.3 to 2.8 Ga, for the granitoid suites, and −5 to −40 and 3.5 to 1.5 Ga, for the distinct Archean and Proterozoic basement complexes, suggest that the Jequitinhonha Complex metasediments are the main crustal source for most of these plutons, except for the youngest granitoid intrusions, which may have a protolith similar to the Mantiqueira and Guanhaes complexes. Furthermore, the isotope data indicate a minor, but important, participation of Neoproterozoic oceanic lithosphere in the granite genesis, which corroborates with a confined orogenic model and a narrow oceanic consumption (B-subduction) for the Aracuai Orogen.

Chapter 49 The Neoproterozoic Macaúbas Group, Araçuaí orogen, SE Brazil

Abstract The Neoproterozoic Macaúbas Group records accumulation in the precursor basin of the Araçuaí orogen, located on the eastern margin of the São Francisco craton (SE Brazil). The Macaúbas basin evolved from a late Tonian continental rift to a passive margin that lasted at least until c. 660 Ma. It was orogenically inverted during the late Neoproterozoic Brasiliano event. The Macaúbas Group includes the pre-glacial Matão, Duas Barras and Rio Peixe Bravo formations, the glaciogenic Serra do Catuni, Nova Aurora and Lower Chapada Acauã formations, and the post-glacial Upper Chapada Acauã and Ribeirão da Folha formations. In the central sector of the Araçuaí orogen, the oldest glaciogenic unit of the group, the Serra do Catuni Formation, overlies the sandstone-conglomerate package of the Duas Barras Formation. The Serra do Catuni Formation consists of massive diamictite with minor sandstone and rare pelite, deposited mostly in a proximal glaciomarine environment. This unit passes upward and eastward into the Lower Chapada Acauã Formation, a thick succession of stratified diamictite, graded sandstone, pelite, transitional basalt and rare carbonate. This distal glaciomarine unit is covered by the diamictite-free Upper Chapada Acauã Formation, which passes eastward into the Ribeirão da Folha Formation, which includes fine-grained turbidite, pelite and ocean-floor rocks. In the northern sector of the Araçuaí orogen, the sandstone-pelite succession of the pre-glacial Rio Peixe Bravo Formation is covered by the Nova Aurora Formation, the glaciomarine unit rich in diamictite and Fe-rich diamictite, with minor graded sandstone and rare pelite. The Nova Aurora Formation is covered by the sandstone-pelite package of the Upper Chapada Acauã Formation. The pre-glacial and glaciogenic successions record the continental rift to transitional stages of the Macaúbas basin. The post-glacial succession represents proximal and distal passive margin to ocean floor environments. The Serra do Catuni Formation seems to be a proximal glaciomarine equivalent of the Jequitaí glacio-terrestrial deposits located on the São Francisco craton.