Abstract Orthogneisses associated with metavolcanosedimentary successions related to the 1000 - 920 Ma Cariris Velhos event occur mainly in a ca. 700 km-long sigmoidal-shaped belt that crosscuts the Transversal Zone of the Borborema Province and extends to the fold belts located in its southern or external zone (part of the Riacho do Pontal and Sergipano orogens). Despite its importance, the tectonic setting and the role of those rocks in the geological evolution of the Borborema Province are contentious and not yet well understood. New zircon U-Pb SHRIMP data on an augen-gneiss sill of the Afeição Suite intruding mica-schists mapped as part of the Santa Filomena Complex yielded a Concordia Age of 974 ± 11 Ma, indicating that at least part of the metasedimentary rocks in the internal zone of the Riacho do Pontal Orogen are Tonian or older and possibly related to the Cariris Velhos event. Hf-in-zircon isotope data are presented for the first time for Cariris Velhos-related ortho-derived rocks of the Afeição Suite. Analyzed samples yielded εHf(t) in a narrow range between -1.51 and +2.41, with associated TDMHf of 1.6-1.4 Ga, similar to previously obtained Nd isotope data with εNd(t) = -1.0 to +3.1 and TDMNd of 1.5-1.2 Ga. A possible scenario to explain both the geochemical features and the moderately juvenile to slightly evolved, near-chondritic Hf and Nd isotope signatures is a continental arc setting, where fractionated melts produced in the supra-subduction zone mantle wedge carrying a Tonian juvenile signature became contaminated with discrete amounts of Archean-Paleoproterozoic continental crust during ascent, producing Mesoproterozoic model ages which represent the mixture of those two end-members.

Abstract One of the main characteristics of the Borborema Province in northeastern Brazil is the abundance of granitic domains. The Lagoa das Pedras plutonic-volcanic Complex record remnants of early to late Neoproterozoic primitive to highly evolved magmas. U-Pb SHRIMP determinations and whole-rock geochemistry on the granitic to granodioritic Riacho do Icó Stock, which is the largest plutonic body of this complex, were conducted. Zircon dating reveals that this body was intruded in the crust at 607 ± 3 Ma, whereas metamorphic overgrowths are coeval within uncertainty (600 ± 8 Ma). Geochemical characteristics of this stock suggest that it corresponds to Cordilleran-type magmas injected in the lithosphere above a subduction zone. Sr and Y contents in addition to MgO and SiO2 values are compatible with high-silica adakite-like magmas, interpreted as the result of slab melting in deep-seated regions. Based on the integration of this study and literature data, we suggest that the Riacho do Icó intrusion might be a dismembered part of a major continental magmatic arc described in the Central Subprovince of the Borborema Province, marking the onset of the accretionary stage of the Brasiliano orogeny.

Abstract Both the Borborema Province of NE Brazil and the geological provinces of NW Africa (the Trans-Saharan Orogen consisted of the Tuareg and Benino-Nigerian shields and the Central African Orogen of Cameroon, Chad, and Central African Republic) are complex geological regions with superposition of distinct deformational, metamorphic and magmatic events and final structural configuration during the Brasiliano/Pan-African Orogeny (ca. 625-510 Ma). These provinces represent the site of major mountain building processes in the Ediacaran/Cambrian transition that culminated in the amalgamation of West Gondwana after the collision of the West African-São Luís, São Francisco-Congo, and Saharan paleocontinents. In the last years, discovery and characterization of key tectonic units such as ophiolites, eclogites, HP/UHP rocks, and both oceanic and continental magmatic arcs are helping to clarify these processes and propose tectonic models for the geological evolution of NE Brazil-NW Africa. Connections of the marginal belts that frame these provinces, bordering the eastern margin of the West African-São Luís Craton (Médio Coreaú-Dahomeyides-Gourma-West Tuareg Shield) and the northern margin of the São Francisco-Congo Craton (Rio Preto-Riacho do Pontal-Sergipano-Yaoundé-Central African) are progressively better constrained, while correlations within the interior, highly reworked and sectioned portions of both the Borborema Province, the Benino-Nigerian Shield, the Central and East Tuareg Shield, Western Cameroon, and Adamawa-Yadé domains are more complicated and demand further investigation. Some of the questions of prime importance in this context are the continuation or not of the 1000-920 Ma Cariris Velhos Belt of NE Brazil into NW Africa, and if the basement-dominated North Borborema/Benino-Nigerian (NOBO-BENI) and Alto Pajeú-Alto Moxotó-Rio Capibaribe-Pernambuco-Alagoas/Adamawa-Yade (APAMCAPAY) domains could represent major decratonized blocks (such as LATEA in the Central Tuareg Shield), perhaps developed due to hyperextension and detachment of a Greater São Francisco-Congo paleocontinent northern margin. In this case, the Goiás-Pharusian and Transnordestino-Central African oceanic realms along with restricted internal oceans such as the hypothetical Piancó-Alto Brígida/Western Cameroon (PAB-WECA) Seaway probably separated these ancient paleocontinental blocks during the Neoproterozoic. The development of subduction zones and the docking of Neoproterozoic juvenile terranes welded the hyperextended Archean/Paleoproterozoic lithospheric fragments together and they became squeezed and reworked in between the major cratonic landmasses during the Brasiliano/Pan-African Orogeny. The quest for the sites of ancient oceans and continents that once composed NE Brazil and NW Africa goes on and tentative scenarios will surely benefit from novel geological, isotopic, and geochronological data put forward in the near future.

Abstract The Buritirama Formation (BF) occurs at the extreme north of the Carajás Province, close to the contact with the Bacajá domain, in the southeastern portion of the Amazon Craton (Brazil). The BF consists of a 40 km long, ca. 3 km wide NW-SE trending structure arranged in four imbricated thrusts that individualize three main stratigraphic units. The lower unit is composed of orthoquartzite followed by carbonate-silicate rocks. The intermediate unit hosts a supergene manganese ore deposit formed by weathering of kutnohorite-rich marble. Quartzite/mica-quartz schist followed by carbonate-silicate rocks make up the upper unit. The local basement is constituted by orthogneiss-migmatite (Xingu Complex) and the Buritirama metagranite. Mineral chemistry data and metamorphic textures record high consumption of carbonate and quartz to produce clinopyroxenes. The structural assemblage of the BF records mass transport from NE to SW and the following deformational phases: D1 (compressional ductile), D2 (compressional brittle) and D3 (extensional brittle). The BF is interpreted as part of a platformal depositional system positioned at the border of the Carajás domain, which was probably inverted, deformed and metamorphosed during the Transamazonian event (ca. 2.1 Ga), in a deformation belt related to the amalgamation between the Carajás and Bacajá domains.

RESUMO: A Formação Uberaba, de idade campaniana e ocorrência restrita à região da cidade homônima, é composta de arenitos líticos e conglomerados de cor esverdeada, com possível contribuição vulcanoclástica. Nessa unidade ocorrem minerais pesados como ilmenita, granada, perovskita e magnetita, além de clinopiroxênio, plagioclásio, quartzo, calcita e apatita. A Formação Uberaba é marcada geoquimicamente por altos teores em Ba, Ta, La, Nb e Th, com padrões de elementos terras raras normalizados ao condrito fortemente fracionados (LaN/YbN = ca. 128) e planos (sem anomalia de Eu). Análises de química mineral das granadas detríticas da Formação Uberaba indicam predominância de chorlomita com afinidade com granadas crustais (G3). A proveniência sedimentar da Formação Uberaba corresponde a uma mistura de materiais de distritos alcalinos do Alto Paranaíba e derivados da erosão da Formação Serra Geral e dos grupos Canastra e Araxá. Os conglomerados produtores de diamante que ocorrem proximamente, em Romaria, foram considerados por alguns autores como correlatos à Formação Uberaba, porém a composição das granadas retiradas desses conglomerados é bastante diferente, plotando no campo de granadas mantélicas (G9/G10). Descarta-se, dessa forma, correlação entre essas duas unidades, e a Formação Uberaba, portanto, não é uma fonte provável dos diamantes aluvionares encontrados no rio homônimo.

ABSTRACT: The campanian Uberaba Formation, which crops out around the homonymous town, is composed of greenish lithic sandstones and conglomerates with possible volcanoclastic contribution. In this unit, heavy minerals such as ilmenite, garnet, perovskite and magnetite, besides clinopyroxene, plagioclase, quartz, calcite and apatite, are found. The Uberaba Formation geochemistry is marked by high grades of Ba, Ta, La, Nb and Th, with flat (no Eu anomaly) and highly fractionated (LaN/YbN = ca. 128) chondrite-normalized rare earth elements. Mineral chemistry analyses of detrital garnets from the Uberaba Formation indicate the predominance of chorlomite with an affinity to crustal garnets (G3). The sedimentary provenance of the Uberaba Formation corresponds to a mixing of materials from the alkaline districts of the Alto Paranaíba and from the erosion of the Serra Geral Formation and the Canastra and Araxá groups. Diamond-producing conglomerates which crop out nearby, in Romaria, were considered by some authors as correlated to the Uberaba Formation. However, the composition of garnets recovered from those conglomerates is different, plotting in the field of mantle garnets (G9/G10). We consider, then, that those units are not correlated, and that the Uberaba Formation is not a possible source for the alluvial diamonds found in the homonymous river.

RESUMO: Duas importantes sequências metassedimentares proterozoicas ocorrem ao longo da margem noroeste do Cráton do São Francisco e a porção setentrional do Corredor do Paramirim, os grupos Rio Preto e Santo Onofre, respectivamente. O Grupo Rio Preto, que constitui a faixa homônima situada no limite noroeste cratônico, é composto pelas formações Formosa (xisto granatífero, quartzo-mica xisto, quartzito, clorita-sericita xisto e quartzo xisto ferrífero) e Canabravinha (quartzito, quartzito micáceo, metaritmito, filito, xisto e metaturbidito). O Grupo Santo Onofre ocorre exclusivamente na região do Corredor do Paramirim, e é composto por quartzitos e subordinadamente filitos sericíticos, carbonosos ou manganesíferos. As duas unidades estratigráficas registram a sedimentação associada a um ambiente marinho raso a profundo, e são interpretadas como bacias rift invertidas e metamorfisadas na fácies xisto verde durante a orogênese brasiliana. Neste artigo apresentamos 427 idades U-Pb em zircões detríticos para essas unidades. Os novos dados apresentaram idades máximas de deposição de 912 Ma para Formação Canabravinha, 965 Ma para a Formação Formosa e 971 Ma para o Grupo Santo Onofre. Portanto, é sugerida a existência de duas bacias rift neoproterozoicas formadas pelos Grupos Rio Preto e Santo Onofre. O Grupo Santo Onofre, predominantemente psamítico, representaria um ambiente marinho raso plataformal relativamente estável. O Grupo Rio Preto, com diamictito, quartzito, pelito e ritmito, representaria um ambiente marinho raso a profundo associado a fluxos gravitacionais. Ambos os grupos teriam sido depositados no Toniano tardio, e são possivelmente correlacionados com as unidades inferiores (pré-glaciais) do Grupo Macaúbas, localizado na Faixa Araçuaí.

ABSTRACT: Two important Proterozoic metasedimentary sequences, the Rio Preto and Santo Onofre Groups, crop out along the northwestern margin of the São Francisco craton and in northern Paramirim corridor, respectively. The Rio Preto Group, involved in the eponymous fold-thrust belt along the northwestern cratonic boundary, comprises the Formosa (garnet schist, quartz-mica schist, quartzite, chlorite-sericite schist and ferriferous quartz schist) and Canabravinha (quartzite, micaceous quartzite, metarhytmite, phylite, schist and metaturbidite) formations. The Santo Onofre Group occurs exclusively in the Paramirim corridor, and is composed of quartzite and minor carbonaceous or Mn-rich phylite. These units record sedimentation in shallow to deep-water marine settings related to rift basins, and were deformed and metamorphosed under greenschist facies conditions during the Brasiliano orogeny. Here we present 427 new detrital zircon U-Pb ages, which constrain the maximum depositional ages of ca. 971 Ma for the Santo Onofre Group, ca. 912 Ma for the Canabravinha Formation, and ca. 965 Ma for the Formosa Formation of the Rio Preto Group. Our data suggests that the Santo Onofre and the Rio Preto Groups accumulated in two distinct basin settings. The latter, composed mostly of sandy rocks, would represent a relatively stable, shallow-marine shelf environment. The Rio Preto Group, with metadiamictite, quartzite, pelitic and rhythmitic rocks, represents a shallow to deep marine environment influenced by gravity flows. Both groups were probably deposited in the Late Tonian, and are potential correlatives of the lower (pre-glacial) units of the Macaúbas Group of the Araçuaí belt.

RESUMO: O Complexo Jequitinhonha é uma unidade sedimentar extensa da porção nordeste do orógeno Araçuaí, metamorfizada na transição entre as fácies anfibolito-granulito há cerca de 580-540 Ma. A unidade é composta por paragnaisses kinzigíticos com intercalações de grafita-gnaisse, quartzito e rochas calcissilicáticas. Dados U-Pb de zircão detrítico de uma amostra de quartzito e novos dados geoquímicos (nove amostras) e isotópicos (Sm-Nd) (dez amostras) são aqui apresentados. De maneira concomitante a dados previamente publicados, esses dados mostram que: (1) a geoquímica dos paragnaisses sugere uma afiliação do tipo margem passiva para as rochas metassedimentares; (2) zircões detríticos apresentam populações de idade U-Pb entre 0,9 e 2,5 Ga; e (3) dados isotópicos de Nd apresentam idades modelo T DM entre 1,6 e 1,8 Ga e εNd (575 Ma) ao redor de -7,5. Esses dados revelam uma mistura de fontes, envolvendo magmatismo de rift Criogeniano a Mesoproterozoico e o embasamento Paleoproterozoico-Arqueano do paleocontinente São Francisco-Congo, e sugerem uma forte correlação entre o Complexo Jequitinhonha e o Grupo Macaúbas, compondo a mais importante bacia precursora do orógeno Araçuaí. Além da natureza exclusivamente sedimentar do complexo, fatias ofiolíticas não foram encontradas na área, reforçando a interpretação da terminação ensiálica de um golfo e que o paleocontinente São Francisco-Congo não foi separado ao norte da região, agindo como uma única peça durante o Neoproterozoico.

ABSTRACT: The Jequitinhonha Complex of the northeastern Araçuaí orogen is an extensive sedimentary unit metamorphosed in the amphibolite-granulite facies transition around 580-545 Ma. The unit consists of Al-rich (kinzigitic) paragneisses with decametric intercalations of graphite gneisses and quartzites, and centimetric to metric lenses of calcsilicate rocks. A new detrital zircon U-Pb age spectrum is reported for a sample of quartzite, and whole-rock geochemical (major and trace elements, 9 samples) and Sm-Nd isotope data (10 samples) for Jequitinhonha Complex paragneiss. Together with published data these show that: (1) the geochemistry of paragneiss samples of the Jequitinhonha Complex are similar to those of passive margin sedimentary protoliths; (2) detrital zircon data yield U-Pb age populations between ca. 0.9 and 2.5 Ga; and (3) Sm-Nd TDM model ages range from 1.6 to 1.8 Ga and εNd(575 Ma) around -7.5. The data reveal a mixture of Cryogenian to Mesoproterozoic rift-related igneous rocks with the Palaeoproterozoic-Archaean basement rocks of the São Francisco-Congo palaeocontinent as the main source areas, and also support the correlation between the Jequitinhonha Complex and the passive margin units of the upper Macaúbas Group, constituting the precursor basin of the orogen. Our results, with the absence of ophiolites in the Jequitinhonha Complex, reinforce the interpretation that the São Francisco-Congo palaeocontinent was not divided to the north of the focused region, suggesting an ensialic termination of a gulf during the Neoproterozoic.