Precambrian history of the Zona Transversal of the Borborema Province, NE Brazil: Insights from Sm-Nd and U-Pb geochronology

The Borborema Province has three major subprovinces. The northern subprovince lies north of the Patos shear zone and is comprised of Paleoproterozoic cratonic basement with Archean nuclei, plus overlying Neoproterozoic supracrustal rocks and Brasiliano plutonic rocks. The central subprovince occurs between the Patos and Pernambuco shear zones and is mainly comprised of the Zona Transversal. The southern subprovince occurs between the Pernamabuco shear zone and the Sao Francisco craton and is comprised of a tectonic collage of various blocks, terranes, or domains ranging in age from Archean to Neoproterozoic. This report focuses on the Zona Transversal, especially on Brasiliano rocks for which we have the most new information. Paleoproterozoic gneisses with ages of 2.0-2.2 Ga occur discontinuously throughout the Zona Transversal. The Cariris Velhos suite consists of metavolcanic, metasedimentary, and metaplutonic rocks yielding U-Pb zircon ages of 995-960 Ma. This suite is mainly confined to a 100 km wide belt that extends for more than 700 km within the Alto Pajeu terrane. Sm-Nd model ages in metaigneous rocks cluster about 1.3-1.6 Ga, indicating that older crust was involved in genesis of their magmas. Brasiliano supracrustal rocks dominate the Pianco-Alto Brigida terrane, and they probably also constitute significant parts of the Alto Pajeu and Rio Capibaribe terranes. They are only slightly older than early stages of Brasiliano plutonism, with detrital zircon ages at least as young as 620 Ma; most T(DM) ages range from 1.2 to 1.6 Ga. Brasiliano plutons range from ca. 640 to 540 Ma, and their T(DM) ages range from 1.2 to 2.5 Ga. Previous workers have shown significant correlations among U-Pb ages, Sm-Nd model ages, petrology, and geochemistry, and we are able to reinforce and extend these correlations. Stage I plutons formed 640 -610 Ma and have T(DM) ages less than 1.5 Ga. Stage 11 (610-590 Ma) contains few plutons, but coincides with the peak of compressional deformation, metamorphism, and formation of migmatites. Stage III plutons (590 to ca. 575 Ma) have older T(DM) ages (ca. 1.8-2.0 Ga), as do Stage IV plutons (575 to ca. 550 Ma; T(DM) from 1.9 to 2.4 Ga). Stage III plutons formed during the transition from compressional to transcurrent deformation, while Stage IV plutons are mainly post-tectonic. Stage V plutons (550-530 Ma) are commonly undeformed (except along younger shear zones) and have A-type geochemistry. The five stages have distinct geochemical properties, which suggest that the tectonic settings evolved from early, arc-related magma-genesis (Stage I) to within-plate magma-genesis (Stage V), with perhaps some intermediate phases of extensional environments. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cambrian mafic to felsic magmatism and its connections with transcurrent shear zones of the Borborema Province (NE Brazil): Implications for the late assembly of the West Gondwana

New U-Pb (SHRIMP) and (40)Ar/(39)Ar isotopic data of igneous rocks and mylonites of the Borborema Province (NE Brazil) show that a wide range of tectonothermal events affected the province during the transition from the Precambrian to the Cambrian. Concordant zircon U-Pb data constrained the crystallization age of mafic stocks, mafic to felsic dikes and granite batholiths between 548 and 533 Ma. These bodies were emplaced in a regional strain field combining extension and dextral shearing. The ductile shear deformation overprinted an older basement fabric to develop a low- to medium metamorphic grade vertical mylonite belt that cut the province in the E-W direction. Magnetic fabrics of the Cambrian batholiths determined by anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility are consistent with syntectonic emplacement. The magmatic pulses and shear deformation would have supplied enough heat to reset the synkinematic micas of mylonites to yield (40)Ar/(39)Ar plateau cooling ages between ca. 550 and 510 Ma. These results provide evidence that emplacement of Early Cambrian mafic and felsic magmas were accompanied by regional-scale shear deformations, probably in the consequence of late collisions along the West Gondwana margin. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Relics of eclogite facies assemblages in the Ceara Central Domain, NW Borborema Province, NE Brazil: Implications for the assembly of West Gondwana

The Borborema Province, in the NE of Brazil, is a rather complex piece in the Brazil-Africa puzzle as it represents the junction of the Dahomeyide/Pharusian, Central African, Aracuai and Brasilia fold belts located between the West-African/Sao Luis, Congo/Sao Francisco and Amazonas craton. The correlation between the Dahomeyides from W-Africa (Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Mali) and the Borborema Province involves the Medio Coreau and Central Ceara domains. The inferred continuation of the main oceanic suture zone exposed in the Dahomeyides of W Africa is buried beneath the Phanerozoic Parnaiba Basin in Brazil (northwest of the Medio Coreau domain) where some high density gravity anomalies may represent hidden remnants of an oceanic suture. In addition to this major suture a narrow, nearly continuous strip composed of mainly mafic pods containing relics of eclogite-facies assemblages associated with partially migmatized granulite-facies metapelitic gneisses has been found further east in the NW Borborema Province. These high pressure mafic rocks, interpreted as retrograded eclogites, are located between the Transbrasiliano Lineament and the Santa Quiteria continental arc and comprise primitive to evolved arc-related rocks with either arc- or MORB-type imprints that can indicate either deep subduction of oceanic lithosphere or roots of continental and oceanic magmatic arcs. Average peak P-T conditions under eclogite-facies metamorphism (T=770 degrees C and P = 17.3 kbar) were estimated using garnet-clinopyroxene thermometry and Jd content in clinopyroxene. Transition to granulite-facies conditions, as well as later widespread re-equilibration under amphibolite facies, were registered both in the basic and the metapelitic rocks and suggest a clockwise P-T path characterized by an increase in temperature followed by strong decompression. A phenomenon possibly related to the exhumation of a highly thickened crust associated with the suturing of the Medio Coreau and Central Ceara domains, two distinct crustal blocks separated by the Transbrasiliano Lineament. (C) 2009 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fabrics of pre- and syntectonic granite plutons and chronology of shear zones in the Eastern Borborema Province, NE Brazil

We used the fabrics of two granite plutons and U/Pb (SHRIMP) zircon ages to constrain the tectonic evolution of the E-trending Patos shear zone (Borborema Province, NE Brazil). The pre-tectonic Teixeira batholith consists of an amphibole leucogranite locally with aegirine-augite. Zircons from a syenogranite yielded crystallization ages of 591 +/- 5 Ma. The batholith fabrics were determined by anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and mineral shape preferred orientation. The fabrics support pre-transcurrent batholith emplacement, as evidenced by: (i) magmatic/magnetic fabrics in low susceptibility (<0.35 mSI) leucogranites highly discordant to the regional host rock structure, and (ii) concordant magnetic fabrics restricted to high susceptibility (>1 mSI) corridors connected to shear zones branching off from Patos. One of these satellite shear zones controlled the syntectonic emplacement of the Serra Redonda pluton, which yields a crystallization age of 576 +/- 3 Ma. This late shearing event marks the peak regional deformation that, south of Patos, was coupled to crustal shortening nearly perpendicular to the shear belt. The chronology of the deformational events indicates that the major shear zones of the eastern Borborema are late structures active after the crustal blocks amalgamated. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Relics of eclogite facies assemblages in the Ceara Central Domain, NW Borborema Province, NE Brazil: Implications for the assembly of West Gondwana

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

High-pressure granulites from Carire, Borborema Province, NE Brazil: Tectonic setting, metamorphic conditions and U-Pb, Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd geochronology

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Neoproterozoic tectonic and magmatic episodes in the NW sector of Borborema Province, NE Brazil, during assembly of Western Gondwana

The Medio Coreau domain of NE Brazil is located along the northwest margin of Borborema Province, the western branch of a Brasiliano/Pan-African collisional belt that formed during the assembly of Western Gondwana. The early Paleoproterozoic basement of the Medio Coreau domain is composed of migmatitic gneisses and juvenile granulites, overlain by late Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic rocks intruded by syn- to post-tectonic Brasiliano granitoids. According to integrated structural and geochronological data (U-Pb zircon and monazite ages), the Neoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the Medio Coreau is characterized by low-angle thrusting and transcurrent deformation. U-Pb geochronological data from plutons intruded during this compressional regime indicate the collisional evolution began at approximately 622 Ma and continued until about 591 Ma. The continuation of convergence until approximately 560 Ma resulted in the formation of NE-SW and E-W shear zones within the Borborema Province and adjoining West African provinces. The final stage of the ductile tectonism was characterized by uplift and high-angle fault generation between approximately 560 and 545 Ma. The last tectonic event was an extensional phase, resulting in the formation of the Jaibaras graben and intrusion of post-orogenic granites at around 532 Ma. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

U Pb and Sm Nd geochronologic studies of the eastern Borborema Province, Northeastern Brazil: initial conclusions

The Borborema Province of NE Brasil comprises the central part of a wide Pan-African-Brasiliano orogenetic belt that formed as a consequence of late Neoproterozoic convergence and collision of the São Luis-West Africa craton and the São Francisco-Congo-Kasai cratons. New Sm Nd and U Pb results from the eastern part of this province help to define the basic internal architecture and pre-collisional history of this province, with particular emphasis on delineating older cratonic terranes, their fragmentation during the Mesoproterozoic, and their assembly into West Gondwana during the Pan African-Brasiliano orogeny at ca. 600 Ma. The region can be divided into three major geotectonic domains: a) Rio Piranhas-Caldas Brandão massif, with overlying Paleoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic supracrustal rocks, north of the Patos Lineament; b) the Archean to Paleoproterozoic São Francisco craton (SFC) to the south; and c) a complex domain of Paleoproterozoic to Archean basement blocks with several intervening Mesoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic fold belts in the center (south of Patos Lineament and north of SFC). The northern and central domains comprise the Borborema Province. Archean basement gneiss and Transamazonian granulite of northern SFC are exposed in the southern part of the central domain, underlying southern parts of the Sergipano fold belt. Basement in the Rio Piranhas massif appears to consist mostly of Transamazonian (2.1 to 2.2 Ga) gneissic rocks; Nd model ages (TDM) of ca. 2.6 Ga for 2.15 Ga gneisses indicate a substantial Archean component in the protoliths to these gneisses. The Caldas Brandão massif to the east yields both Transamazonian and Archean U Pb zircon and Nd (TDM) ages, indicating a complex architecture. Metasedimentary rocks of the Jucurutu Formation yield detrital zircons with original crystallization ages as young as 1.8 Ga, indicating that these rocks may be late Paleoproterozoic and correlate with other ca. 1.8 Ga cratonic supracrustal rocks in Brazil such as the Roraima Group and Espinhaço Group. Most metavolcanic and pre-Brasiliano granitic units of the Sergipano (SDS), Pajeú-Paraíba (SPP), Riacho Pontal (SRP), and Piancó-Alto Brígida (SPAB) fold belts in the central domain formed ~ 1.0 ± 0.1 Ga, based on U Pb ages of zircons. Nd model ages (TDM) for these same rocks, as well as Brasiliano granites intruded into them and large parts of the Pernambuco-Alagoas massif, are commonly 1.3-1.7 Ga, indicating that rocks of the fold belts were not wholly derived from either older (> 2.1 Ga) or juvenile (ca. 1.0 Ga) crust, but include mixtures of both components. A simple interpretation of Brasiliano granite genesis and the Nd data implies that there is no Transamazonian or Archean basement underlying large parts of these fold belts or of the Pernambuco-Alagoas massif. An exception is a belt of syenitic Brasiliano plutons (Syenitoid Line) and host gneisses between SPAB and SPP that clearly has a Transamazonian (or older) source. In addition, there are several smaller blocks of Archean to Transamazonian gneiss that can be defined within and among these fold belts. These blocks do not appear to constitute a continuous basement complex, but appear to be isolated older crustal fragments. Our data support a model in which ca. 1.0 Ga rifting was an important tectonic and crust-forming event along the northern edge of the São Francisco craton. Our data also show that significant parts of the Borborema Province are not remobilized Transamazonian to Archean crust, but that Mesoproterozoic crust is a major feature of the Province. There are several small remnants of older crust within the area dominated by Mesoproterozoic crust, suggesting that the rifting event created several small continental fragments that were later incorporated into the Brasiliano collisional orogen. We cannot at present determine if the Rio Piranhas-Caldas Brandão massifs and the older crustal blocks of the central domain were originally part of the São Francisco craton or whether some (or all) of them came from more exotic parts of the Proterozoic Earth. Finally, our data have not yet revealed any juvenile terranes of either Transamazonian or Brasiliano age. © 1995.

Northwestern overthrusting and related lateral escape during the Brasiliano orogeny north of the Patos lineament, Borborema province, northeast Brazil

The Borborema province (BP) of northeastern Brazil, located between the São Luís and São Francisco cratons, represents a branching system of Precambrian orogens of the South American platform. It is composed of segments of Archean and Proterozoic crust that were deformed by the convergence of the West African and São Francisco-Congo cratons during assembly of the Brasiliano collage (650 to 500 Ma), a period of intense orogenic activity considered to be the strongest and most pervasive tectonic event that affected the Precambrian of the South American platform. The tectonic and kinematic history of the Brasiliano/Panafrican orogeny is fundamental for reconstructing South American and African Precambrian geology. The correlation between Neoproterozoic tectonic processes occurring in both continents should use structural elements, of regional or local character, with identical kinematic and metamorphic conditions manifested in both basement and supracrustal units. North of the Patos shear zone, subhorizontal Brasiliano thrusts (0.65 to 0.58 Ga) affected the basement and the supracrustal Seridó belt with such related regional D1/D2 structures as foliation, lineation, isoclinal folds, and related metamorphism. Overprinting the previous structures, regional folding with a vertical S3 foliation and an associated strike-slip shear zone were developed (0.58 to 0.52 Ga). The metamorphism is similar for all deformation phases, ranging from upper-greenschist to amphibolite facies with mineral assemblages including biolite and garnet throughout the Seridó fold belt. We propose, on the basis of deformational and kinematic reconstructions, that the structural evolution of the Seridó fold belt was characterized by transition from a syn-collisional to a strike-slip regime. The transition between regimes occurred, progressively or instantaneously, by the switching of the maximum and intermediary strain axes of the strain ellipsoid. The entire tectonic history can be related to a frontal or oblique collision and lateral escape tectonics, with local, syn-collisional transpression and transtension. The Patos shear zone represents a final vertical shearing, juxtaposing different terranes of the northern and southern Borborema province.

Evidence for Neoproterozoic continental arc magmatism in the Santa Quitéria Batholith of Ceará State, NW Borborema Province, NE Brazil: Implications for the assembly of West Gondwana

Recent field investigations and geochronological studies of Neoproterozoic rocks in the northwestern part of the Borborema Province, Ceará State, NE Brazil provide important clues pertaining to the nature of convergence between the Borborema Province and the West African-São Luis craton during the assembly of West Gondwana. U-Pb zircon data indicate that the earliest evidence of convergent magmatism along the northwest margin of the Borborema Province occurred around 777 Ma, and was followed by the development of a large continental arc batholith (Santa Quitéria batholith) between ca. 665 and 591 Ma within the central part of Ceará State. These findings, along with supporting geophysical data, suggest that convergence between the Borborema Province and the West African-São Luis craton involved closure of an oceanic realm with subduction polarity to the southeast beneath the northwestern part of the province. Consequently, it seems likely that the Pharusian Ocean was continuous from the Hoggar Province in West Africa into South America during the late Neoproterozoic and additional data suggests that it may have even been connected with the Goianides Ocean of the Brasília Belt farther to the southwest.

Structural and geochronological studies of the Médio Coreaú domain, NE Brazil: Constraints on Brasiliano/Pan-African tectonic evolution in the NW part of the Borborema Province

Recent structural investigations and geochronological studies of rocks from the Médio Coreaú domain in the NW part of northeast Brazil's Borborema Province provide important constraints on the tectonic evolution of the region both preceeding and during the assembly of West Gondwana. Field observations of structural features and fabrics have revealed the presence of four distinct deformational phases in the MCD: D1, D2, D3 and D4. Only the early Paleoproterozoic gneisses record the D1 tectonic event and its preservation is cryptic owing to strong overprinting by the subsequent tectonic phases. The D2, D3 and D4 events affected younger supracrustal rocks and Neoproterzoic magmatic units, and U-Pb geochronological constraints show that all of these tectonic phases represent deformational events that occurred during Brasiliano collision between the West African craton and the NW part of the Borborema Province. The D2 phase, lasting between ca. 622 and 591 Ma, represents a frontal collision stage, which generated NW verging thrust-nappe systems, low-angle foliation, high-grade metamorphism and crustal anatexis. Transition to a strike-slip regime (D3) occurred at around 591 Ma when the region entered a phase of escape tectonics. During this time, the motion of crustal blocks towards NE and E was accommodated along numerous anastomosing shear zones. Syntectonic emplacement of granitoid plutons took place in transtensional domains of the shear zone system. The intrusion of late tectonic granitoids and rapid uplift and cooling of the orogen around 560 Ma as a result of D4 transpressional movements marked the end of the D3 transcurrent regime. These findings show that only the early Paleoproterozoic gneisses in the Médio Coreaú domain are polycyclic in nature. Rather than representing distinct orogenic events, the D2, D3 and D4 tectonic phases are a manifestation of progressive deformational events that developed in response to changes in the regional stress field during convergence and collision between the Borborema Province and its surrounding cratons.

Evidence for 2.35 to 2.30 Ga juvenile crustal growth in the northwest Borborema Province, NE Brazil

The c. 600 Ma Brasiliano Borborema Province of NE Brazil comprises a complex collage of Precambrian crustal blocks cut by a series of continental-scale shear zones. The predominant basement rocks in the province are 2.1-2.0 Ga Transamazonian gneisses of both juvenile and reworked nature. U-Pb zircon and Sm-Nd whole-rock studies of tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite basement gneisses in the NW Ceará or Médio Coreaú domain in the northwestern part of the Borborema Province indicate that this represents a continental fragment formed by 2.35-2.30 Ga juvenile crust. This block has no apparent genetic affinity with any other basement gneisses in the Borborema Province, and it does not represent the tectonized margin of the c. 2.1-2.0 Ga São Luis Craton to the NW. The petrological and geochemical characteristics, as well as the Nd-isotopic signatures of these gneisses, are consistent with their genesis in an island arc setting. This finding documents a period of crustal growth during a period of the Earth's history which is known for its tectonic quiescence and paucity of crust formation. © Geological Society of London 2009.

Crustal growth in the 3.4-2.7Ga São José de Campestre Massif, Borborema Province, NE Brazil

The Archean (3.45-2.70Ga) rocks of the São José do Campestre Massif (SJCM) in the Borborema Province (NE Brazil) make up a small area (~6000km2) and are composed of granitoids and metasupracrustal rocks that define a complex magmatic and deformational history. The massif provides the opportunity to study mantle- and crustal-derived magmas generated since the Palaeoarchean. The orthogneisses of the SJCM are composed of: (1) tonalite to granodiorite with diorite enclaves (Bom Jesus gneiss, 3412±8Ma; TDM Nd model ages from 4.1 to 3.5Ga and negative epsilon Nd values); (2) biotite and ferroan-diopside monzogranite (Presidente Juscelino complex, 3356±21Ma and 3251±44Ma; TDM model ages range from 4.1 to 3.4Ga and epsilon Nd values that are slightly positive to negative); (3) hornblende tonalite to granodiorite (Brejinho complex, 3333±77Ma and 3187±8Ma; dominantly positive epsilon Nd values and TDM ages from 3.6 to 3.2Ga); (4) biotite monzogranite (São Pedro do Potengi gneiss, 3120±22Ma; TDM =3.5Ga; negative epsilon Nd value); (5) ferroan-diopside-grossular anorthosite and metagabbro (Senador Elói de Souza complex, 3033±3Ma); and (6) quartz diorite to syenogranite (São José do Campestre complex; 2685±9Ma and 2655±4Ma; negative epsilon Nd values and TDM ages from 3.9 to 3.3Ga). The orthogneisses are subalkaline to faintly alkaline, magnesian to ferroan, M- and I-type granitoids that follow either the K-enrichment or the trondhjemite trends. Each group has a subset with REE characteristics similar to Archean TTG and another that is analogous to Phanerozoic granitoids. They have negative Ta-Nb and Ti anomalies and have trace element contents of granitoids from subduction zones. Geochemical and Nd isotope data suggest that subducted oceanic crust and a depleted and metasomatised mantle wedge both acted as the magma sources. We propose a convergent tectonic model in which hybridisation of the upper mantle occurs through interactions with adakitic or trondhjemitic melts and recycling of earlier crust. The results imply that both the subducted oceanic crust and the mantle wedge played major roles in continent formation throughout successive episodes of arc accretion in Palaeo- and Mesoarchean times. The Archean rocks of the SJCM shares some similarities with the Pilbara, Kaapvaal, West African, and São Francisco cratons. However, the most reliable comparisons with the SJCM are with the neighbouring basement of the Nigeria and Cameroon shields. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Strain rates estimated by geodetic observations in the Borborema Province, Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Ordovician A-type granitoid magmatism on the Ceara Central Domain, Borborema Province, NE-Brazil

We present field relationships, major and trace element geochemistry and U-Pb SHRIMP and ID-TIMS geochronology of the A-type Ordovician Quintas pluton located in the Ceara Central Domain of the Borborema Province, in northeastern Brazil. This pluton presents a concentric geometry and is composed mainly of syenogranite, monzogranite, quartz syenite to quartz monzodiorite, monzogabbro and diorite. Its geochemical characteristics [SiO2 (52-70%), Na2O/K2O (1.55-0.65), Fe2O3/MgO (2.2-7.3), metaluminous to sligthly alkaline affinity, post-collisional type in (Y + Nb) x Rb diagram, and A-type affinity (Ga > 22 ppm, Nb > 20 ppm, Zn > 60 ppm), REE fractioned pattern with negative Eu anomaly] are coherent with post-collisional A(2)-type granitoids. However, the emplacement of this pluton is to some extent temporally associated with the deposition of the first strata of the Parnaiba intracratonic basin, attesting also to a purely anorogenic character (A(1)-type granitoid). The emplacement of this pluton is preceded by one of the largest known orogenesis of the planet (Neoproterozoic Pan-African/Brasiliano) and, if it is classified as an A(2)-type granitoid, it provides interesting constraints about how long can last A(2)-type magmatic activity after a major collisional episode, arguably triggered by disturbance of the underlying mantle, a topic extensively debated in the geoscience community. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.