An Early Tonian rifting event affecting the São Francisco-Congo paleocontinent recorded by the Lower Macaúbas Group, Araçuaí Orogen, SE Brazil.

Abstract

After it had been assembled in the very early Orosirian, the western São Francisco–Congo Paleocontinent experienced several rifting events since the Statherian (ca. 1750 Ma) to Cryogenian (ca. 700 Ma). Records of anorogenic magmatism and/or associated sedimentation from those events have been found in the Neoproterozoic Araçuaí–West Congo orogenic system (AWCO), located between the São Francisco (eastern Brazil) and Congo (central Africa) cratons. Based on detailed field studies and data from lithochemistry, zircon and titanite U-Pb dating, whole-rock Nd and Hf-in-zircon isotopic analyses, we characterize a previously poorly described Early Tonian, rift-related, volcano-sedimentary succession in order to decipher the evolution of the AWCO precursor basins. That volcano-sedimentary succession, found in the Capelinha Formation type-area, now assigned to the Lower Macaúbas Group, includes quartzites with lenses of ortho-amphibolite (metabasalt) covered by pelitic schists. Zircon grains from ortho-amphibolite samples yielded ages of 957 ± 14 Ma and 576 ± 13 Ma, constraining their magmatic crystallization and regional metamorphism, respectively. These mafic rock show ƐNd(t) from −3.64 to +0.21 and Nd TDM ages from ca. 1.4 to ca. 1.7 Ga. Positive covariation of FeOtot/MgO + FeOtot, TiO2, P2O5, V and Zr, enrichment in light rare earth elements, slightly positive Eu/Eu* anomaly and depletion of high field-strenght elements, suggest tholeiitic protolith related to a continental rifting setting. The metasedimentary rocks show broad spectra of detrital zircon ages from the Early Tonian (ca. 940 Ma) to Paleoarchean, with wide-ranging ƐHf values from predominantly negative (as low as −10.76) to positive (+9.94), evoking well-known sediment sources in the São Francisco–Congo Paleocontinent. The youngest age peak (949 ± 12 Ma) constrains a maximum sedimentation age coeval with the basaltic volcanism represented by the ortho-amphibolite. The Capelinha volcano-sedimentary succession nearly correlates in age and origin with other anorogenic units (e.g., Ilhéus and Pedro Lessa dike swarms, Salto da Divisa granitic suite, Gangila basaltic and Mayumbian felsic volcanisms) found in a large region covered by the AWCO and neighbouring cratonic region. However, the Capelinha magmatism seems to preceed by some 20–30 m.y. the main peak (930–900 Ma) of this Early Tonian anorogenic magmatism, suggesting a long-lived and complex rift system.