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

doi:10.1016/S1342-937X(05)70975-8

Gondwana Research

Volume 6, Issue 2, April 2003, Pages 265-273

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1342-937X(05)70975-8 Get rights and content

Abstract

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.

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Sm-Nd and Sr isotope compositions of 24 samples of fine-grained clastic rocks from eastern Parnaíba basin, NE-Brazil, are presented along with major and trace element compositions of 19 of these samples. Samples were collected from outcrops of the Paleozoic Canindé (Pimenteiras, Longá and Poti) and Balsas (Piaui Formation) groups, and from the Jurassic Pastos Bons Formation. Discrimination diagrams based on Th, Sc, La and Zr indicate sedimentary provenance from felsic dominant sources and high degrees of crustal recycling. PAAS-normalized REE diagrams show that the Pimenteiras and Longá Formations display flat patterns with slight REE enrichment, and initial ε_Nd and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr around the average composition of the upper continental crust, respectively between −8.9 and −14.6 and between 0.711 and 0.760, indicating provenance from old Precambrian basement. The Nd T_DM model ages of the Pimenteiras between 1.32 Ga and 2.00 Ga indicate heterogeneity of source areas during the Devonian, and T_DM ages around 1.6 Ga in the Longá Formation samples suggest intense recycling of older sediments. The Poti formation samples yield T_DM ages of 2.30 Ga and 2.32 Ga, respectively, suggesting tectonic reactivation and new input from Archean-Paleoproterozoic basement complexes. The Pastos Bons Formation samples show lower Th-Sc ratios, light-REE depletion, and less negative initial ε_Nd, indicating contribution from mafic rocks, probably from the underlying Mosquito Formation intraplate tholeiitic basalts and dolerites.
Heterogeneous Archean oceanic protoliths in Neoproterozoic retrogressed eclogites from Northeast Brazil: Petrological, geochemical and Sr–Nd–Pb–Hf isotopic constraints
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Eclogites are reliable indicators of high to ultrahigh-pressure (HP-UHP) conditions for oceanic and continental crust and are essential rocks to understand the lithospheric convergence from subduction to post-collisional setting. Furthermore, the origin and nature of eclogite precursors may reveal crucial constraints on the crustal history before HP-UHP metamorphism. Here, we provide petrological, geochemical and Pb-Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic constraints from the Campo Grande retrogressed eclogites, Northeast Brazil, to determine the source and evolution of their Archean protoliths. Eclogites were formed under HP conditions (18 ± 1.0 kbar and 680 ± 20 °C) followed by retrogression in the amphibolite facies, which is characterized by Mg-rich garnet porphyroblasts surrounded by clinopyroxene + plagioclase + amphibole + orthopyroxene symplectites (stable at <6.0 kbar). These retrogressed eclogites have chemical compositions corresponding to enriched-type tholeiites such as E-MORB protoliths (G1 eclogitic group). A second group of retrogressed eclogites with higher amphibole content (G2 eclogitic group) shows similar chemical patterns to G1, however with higher enrichment in LILE, REE and incompatible elements. The G1 eclogite is characterized by higher modal concentration of garnet and clinopyroxene, positive ε_Nd(t) (+2.1 to +5.8) with low ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(i) ratios (0.7024 to 0.7131), whereas G2 displays dominant coarse-grained amphibole, positive and negative ε_Nd(t) (−7.5 to +8.5) with high radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(i) ratios (0.7109 to 0.7255). The chemical and isotopic G1 values show typical E-MORB signatures, whereas G2 indicate an E-MORB enriched by crustal components in a supra-subduction zone setting. A LuHf isochron provided the age of 2667.9 ± 30.7 Ma, which is close to the published ∼2.65 Ga crystallization age for the G1 and G2 oceanic protoliths. Therefore, Hf isotopes in whole rock and cogenetic minerals were useful for constraining the crystallization time of metamafic protoliths. In contrast, SmNd isochron age of 606.9 ± 24.8 Ma falls within the range of 623 to 590 Ma HP metamorphism recorded in the G1 and G2 rocks. Lastly, a third type of eclogite group (G3 eclogitic group) is represented by a banded Mn-rich-garnet (spessartite) and Al-rich clinopyroxene with detrital zircon cores from 3.42 to 2.15 Ga and recrystallized rims at 607.7 ± 5.4 Ma. Mineral texture and composition, geochemistry, strongly negative ε_Nd(t) (−4.3 to −1.5) and higher radiogenic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(i) ratios (0.7434–0.7501) suggest a different Mn-rich protolith for the G3 eclogites. Integrated data reveal that retrogressed eclogites retain the memory of the original chemical and isotopic patterns of Archean oceanic protoliths and its diachronous reworking processes at deep crustal levels.
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Neoproterozoic breakup of Rodinia resulted in the formation of several oceanic realms between dispersing cratons, which were later consumed during the assembly of Gondwana. In its western portion, the interior orogenic belts of Gondwana formed during the Brasiliano-Pan African Orogeny in the late Neoproterozoic-early Cambrian. Available geophysical, structural and petrological data suggest that the complex network of shear zones that once connected the Borborema province (NE Brazil), Tuareg shield (Hoggar) and Central African domain (NW Africa) likely represent ancient sutures that mark collisional episodes between Archean-Paleoproterozoic paleocontinents such as Amazonian-West African and São Francisco-Congo. Mafic, ultramafic and sedimentary sequences associated with this set of structures respresent dismembered ophiolite slices interpreted as oceanic remnants (sensu lato) that were emplaced during the late stages of the Gondwana assembly. For instance, the composite Transbrasiliano-Khandi-In-Tedeini-Silet shear system crosscuts rock assemblages preserving a complex history of oceanic-crust-transition development (Novo Oriente complex) in association with primitive to evolved magmatic arcs and UHP rocks both in the Borborema province and NW Africa. In the central Borborema province, preserved ophiolitic slices are strongly overprinted by ductile and brittle deformation events, but partially preserved MORB-like amphibolites are akin to subduction-related-types that crystallized in early- and late Neoproterozoic times docked via terrane accretion and dispersed by strike-slip shear zones. In the southern Borborema province, an example of a Neoproterozoic ophiolitic assemblage is the Monte Orebe complex, that encompasses T-MORB mafic rocks, ultramafic lenses, and exhalative sedimentary rocks akin to early to late stages of oceanic basin spreading, emplaced during convergent plate motions between the Pernambuco-Alagoas superterrane and the São Francisco craton. Correlative units are found in Cameroon, including the strongly hydrotermalized ultramafic rocks of the Lomié and Boumnyebel complexes, that are structurally controlled by top-to-the-south verging nappes found in the N-NW margin of the Congo craton. In all scenarios, the ophiolitic complexes are related to intra-oceanic and continental magmatic arcs as well as to geophysical signatures comparable to Phanerozoic suture zones. Although strongly dismembered, scrapped off Neoproterozoic oceanic crust partially preserved within the major belts of western Gondwana demonstrate the role of accretion-collisional orogenesis during its assembly.
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This review summarizes the results of nearly 50 years of application of geophysical data to study tectonic problems in Borborema Province (BP), Northeastern Brazil. Much information has been obtained from the interpretation of magnetic, gamma-ray spectrometry, gravity, seismological, magnetotelluric, deep seismic and heat flow data. The resulting picture is that, in comparison with other Brazilian geological domains, BP has a thin crust, a lithosphere with small effective elastic thickness, the presence of predominantly positive free-air gravity anomalies, besides the most expressive geoid anomaly, in addition to relatively high heat flow and intraplate seismicity. These facts reinforce the hypothesis that the BP lithosphere suffered a strong impact in Gondwana fragmentation. Predominantly positive free-air gravity anomalies reveal that part of the province has not yet reached isostatic equilibrium. Gravity data established the boundaries of the BP crustal block with neighboring blocks; in particular, the crustal boundary with the São Francisco Craton is located in the innermost regions of the marginal fold belt, tens of kilometers at the north of the conventional limit. Magnetic data allowed to infer the continuity of basement structures beneath sedimentary basins, in particular that BP continues to the Transbrasiliano Lineament, underneath the sedimentary of the Parnaíba Basin. In addition, enhanced magnetic maps made it possible assessing the amount of deformation associated with the major shear zones and identified a continental-scale Cretaceous dike system crossing the BP. Gamma-ray spectrometry data allowed extensive geological mapping of metasedimentary sequences, granitic intrusions and basement complexes. Seismological data allowed to recognize that major shear zones in BP have lithospheric significance. Deep seismic data evidenced a well-defined contrast between the upper and lower crust in BP (Conrad discontinuity). Magnetotelluric data revealed several deep geoelectrical anomalies in BP, some of them interpreted as relics of subduction zones. Intraplate seismicity studies allowed inferring that the current stress state in the BP upper crust is predominantly transcurrent. The list of open problems in BP is also expressive. Notable examples are: a) it has not yet been possible to define which type of orogeny (accretionary or intracontinental?) was dominant in the Neoproterozoic; b) the cause of the expressive geoid anomaly is unknown; c) the tectonic significance of the Transbrasiliano Lineament (collisional suture? Just an intracontinental shear zone?) is also unknown. Regarding economic applications, the use of geophysical data to prospect new ore deposits is still relatively poor. We hope that this review can contribute to increase the familiarity and acceptance of geophysical results by the geological community.

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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

Abstract

Lithos

Precamb. Res.

Tectonophys.

J. South Amer. Earth Sci.

Precamb. Res.

J. South Amer. Earth Sci.

J. South Amer. Earth Sci.

As seqüências metasedimentares do Ceará Central

Brazilian structural provinces: an introduction

Earth Sci. Rev.

Crust-mantle interaction in continental arcs: inferences from the Mesozoic arc in the southwestern United States

Contrib. Mineral. Petrol.

The Pan-African event in the geological framework of Africa

Pangea

Evidence for late Precambrain plate tectonics in West Africa

Nature

Tectonic evolution of South America during the Late Proterozoic

The Pan African Belt of West Africa from the Sahara desert to the Gulf of Benin