Geometria e Evolução Tectônica da Porção Norte do Gráben de Merluza, Bacia de Santos

O Gráben de Merluza é uma estrutura alongada com uma calha profunda, presente na Bacia de Santos, com direção aproximada NNE, que se estende por cerca de 170 km ao largo do litoral do estado de São Paulo. Este trabalho teve como objetivo caracterizar a geometria da sua porção norte, e relacionar os eventos de abertura, preenchimento sedimentar e períodos de reativação das falhas que o delimitam. Além disso, buscou-se uma correlação com outros eventos ocorridos na bacia e na porção continental adjacente. Para isso, foram reprocessadas e interpretadas onze seções sísmicas bidimensionais (2D) migradas em tempo, fornecidas pela Agência Nacional do Petróleo (ANP), das quais três foram detalhadas e utilizadas para a definição dos principais aspectos geométricos e tectônicos do gráben. Nas seções sísmicas 248-0041, 248-0045 e 248-0048 foram identificadas tectonossequências, sendo uma do pré-sal, uma do pacote evaporítico e outras nove do pós-sal. A Porção Norte do Gráben de Merluza caracteriza-se por uma falha de borda principal com mergulho para W e uma falha subordinada mergulhando para E. O limite entre a Porção Norte e a Porção Central se faz pela Zona de Transferência de Merluza, também conhecido como Lineamento Capricórnio. Tal feição possui um caráter regional na bacia e é responsável por uma mudança na direção da falha principal do Gráben de Merluza, que passa a mergulhar para E, enquanto que a falha secundária mergulha para W. Devido à baixa qualidade do dado sísmico nas partes mais profundas, não é possível precisar com segurança uma idade de abertura inicial para o gráben. No entanto, verificou-se que a falha principal pode atingir profundidades superiores às observadas nas linhas sísmicas, ou seja, mais de 1500 milissegundos. Com base na presença de seção sedimentar do pré-sal na calha do gráben afetada pela tectônica do embasamento, estima-se uma idade mínima aptiana. Sobre o horst que acompanha a falha principal na porção norte do gráben desenvolvem-se espessos domos de sal originados pelo escape da sequência evaporítica da calha do gráben e das imediações a leste. Entre o Cenomaniano e o Santoniano ocorre a maior movimentação da falha principal, com um forte rejeito e um expressivo volume de sedimentos oriundos do continente (podendo atingir mais de 4000 metros), devido à erosão da Serra do Mar Cretácea. Durante o Cenozóico foram observadas reativações das falhas de borda do gráben por conta de compactação das camadas superiores e por tectônica salífera. Além disso, progradações em direção ao fundo da bacia parecem indicar que a estrutura do Gráben de Merluza condicionou a Quebra da Plataforma nessa região durante o Neógeno. Tais eventos podem estar relacionados à tectônica ocorrida durante a formação do Sistema de Riftes Continentais do Sudeste Brasileiro.

Caracterização tectonoestratigráfica da porção adjacente ao epicentro do sismo São Vicente na bacia de Santos

Pós-graduação em Geologia Regional - IGCE

Caracterização estrutural da porção central da Bacia de Santos e seu embasamento continental adjacente, através de interpretação de imagens de satélites e geofísicas

The Santos Basin is located in the Brazilian continental margin and includes the coast of Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states. Its northern limit is the Campos Basin through the High of Cabo Frio and the southern one with the Pelotas Basin through the Platform of Florianópolis, totaling an area of approximately 350,000 square kilometers in a water depth of 3,000 m. The Paranapanema Lineament has WNW / ESE direction, and extends from the area filled by the Paraná Basin, on the border between the states of Sao Paulo and Parana, lasting up to near the ocean floor along with the fracture zone of Rio de Janeiro. The Capricorn Lineament is a feature inherited from the separation between the continents of Africa and South America, and is the main structural feature NW / SE of the Santos Basin center-south region. These two structures together with other ones with continental origin may be associated with structural features in the sediments from the Santos Basin. This work aims to characterize the structures operating in the central portion of the Santos Basin based on subsurface data in the offshore area (2D seismic) together with data from the surface of the continental basement in a way to correlate the Santos Basin structures with the continental regional traits. This data interpolation showed that the structural features of the continent operates on the submerged zone, the seismic sections show these structural trends for the Paranapanema Lineament / Fracture Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Capricorn Lineament and two fault zones that exhibit structures typical of a transfer zone

Isolation of microsatellite loci in the Capricorn silvereye, Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus (Aves: Zosteropidae)

The Capricorn silvereye (Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus) is ideally suited to investigating the genetic basis of body size evolution. We have isolated and characterized a set of microsatellite markers for this species. Seven out of 11 loci were polymorphic. The number of alleles detected ranged from two to five and observed heterozygosities between 0.12 and 0.67. One locus, ZL49, was found to be sex-linked. This moderate level of diversity is consistent with that expected in an isolated, island population.

Holocene “turn-on” and evolution of the Southern Great Barrier Reef: Revisiting reef cores from the Capricorn Bunker Group

Extensive drilling of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in the 70s and 80s illuminated the main factors controlling reef growth during the Holocene. However, questions remain about: (1) the precise nature and timing of reef "turnon" or initiation, (2) whether consistent spatio-temporal patterns occur in the bio-sedimentologic response of the reef to Holocene sea-level rise then stability, and (3) how these factors are expressed in the context of the different evolutionary states (juvenile-mature-senile reefs). Combining 21 new C14-AMS and 146 existing recalibrated radiocarbon and U/Th ages, we investigated the detailed spatial and temporal variations in sedimentary facies and coralgal assemblages in fifteen cores across four reefs (Wreck, Fairfax, One Tree and Fitzroy) from the Southern GBR. Our newly defined facies and assemblages record distinct chronostratigraphic patterns in the cores, displaying both lateral zonation across the different reefs and shallowing upwards sequences, characterised by a transition from deep (Porites/faviids) to shallow (Acropora/Isopora) coral types. The revised reef accretion curves show a significant lag period, ranging from 0.7-2 ka, between flooding of the antecedent Pleistocene substrate and Holocene reef turn-on. This lag period and dominance of more environmentally tolerant early colonizers (e.g., domal Porites and faviids), suggests initial conditions that were unfavourable for coral growth. We contend that higher input of fine siliciclastic material from regional terrigenous sources, exposure to hydrodynamic forces and colonisation in deeper waters are the main factors influencing initially reduced growth and development. All four reefs record a time lag and we argue that the size and shape of the antecedent platform is most important in determining the duration between flooding and recolonisation of the Holocene reef. Finally, our study of Capricorn Bunker Group Holocene reefs suggests that the size and shape of the antecedent substrate has a greater impact on reef evolution and final evolutionary state (mature vs. senile), than substrate depth alone. 

Intraplate earthquake swarm in Belo Jardim, NE Brazil: reactivation of a major Neoproterozoic shear zone (Pernambuco Lineament)

Intraplate earthquakes in stable continental areas have been explained basically by reactivation of pre-existing zones of weakness, stress concentration, or both. Zones of weakness are usually identified as sites of the last major orogeny, provinces of recent alkaline intrusions, or stretched crust in ancient rifts. However, it is difficult to identify specific zones of weakness and intraplate fault zones are not always easily correlated with known geological features. Although Northeastern Brazil is one of the most seismically active areas in the country (magnitudes 5 roughly every 5 yr), with hypocentral depths shallower than similar to 10 km and seismic zones as long as 30-40 km, no clear relationship with the known surface geology can be usually established with confidence, and a clear identification of zones of weakness has not yet been possible. Here we present the first clear case of seismic activity occurring as reactivation of an old structure in Brazil: the Pernambuco Lineament, a major Neoproterozoic shear zone. The 2004 earthquake swarm of Belo Jardim (magnitudes up to 3.1) and the recurrent activities in the nearby towns of Sao Caetano and Caruaru (magnitudes up to 4.0 and 3.8), show that the Pernambuco Lineament is a weak zone. A local seismic network showed that the Belo Jardim swarm of 2004 November occurred by normal faulting on a North dipping, E-W oriented fault plane in close agreement with the E-W trending structures within the Pernambuco Lineament. The Belo Jardim activity was concentrated in a 1.5 km (E-W) by 2 km (downdip) fault area, and average depth of 4.5 km. The nearby Caruaru activity occurs as both strike-slip and normal faulting, also consistent with local structures of the Pernambuco Lineament. The focal mechanisms of Belo Jardim, Caruaru and S. Caetano, indicate E-W compressional and N-S extensional principal stresses. The NS extension of this stress field is larger than that predicted by numerical models such as those of Coblentz & Richardson and we propose that additional factors such as flexural stresses from the nearby Sergipe-Alagoas marginal basin could also affect the current stress field in the Pernambuco Lineament.

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.

The seasonal and ovarian status effects on in vitro production of domestic cat embryos between Equator and Tropic of Capricorn

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