Abstract Tectonic rejuvenation has been widely described in ancient rifting areas of intraplate settings, despite extensive active tectonics being discontinued long ago. Various models have been invoked to justify such tectonic rejuvenation, suggesting that the long-term deformation in intraplate interiors may be more complex than once supposed. Inherited weakness zones, e.g., pre-existing faults are stress concentrators. However, not all weakness zones in plate interiors show tectonic rejuvenation and recognizing intraplate fault reactivation remains puzzling. Bedrock channels play an essential role in tectonically unstable landscapes and therefore they may unveil which pre-existing structures have been rejuvenated. Here we explore the Cinzas Catchment in order to investigate the interactions between tectonic rejuvenation, bedrock inheritance and geomorphic river signatures in an important Brazilian rifting feature, the Ponta Grossa Arch. We perform a geomorphic analysis combined with fieldwork, dating techniques and existing data to evaluate whether the geomorphic responses of the major rivers show perturbations related to the bedrock inheritance and post-rift rejuvenation. We also show that the interactions between river signatures and the bedrock fault zones are responses to post-rifting rejuvenation coupled with bedrock inheritance. This post-rifting rejuvenation is consistent with a mosaic of superimposed mechanisms which have been invoked by previous studies.

Abstract We present a study of the brittle tectonics of Tunas Alkaline Complex focusing on the kinematic and geometric analysis of faults and brittle shear zones deforming the complex. The data acquired and respective interpretations sought to contribute to the post-Cretaceous tectonic structural models of southern Brazil. The ~83 Ma-old alkaline complex is made up of syenites, alkali syenites, plutonic and volcanic breccias, as well as trachyte, microsyenite, and bostonite dykes. Morphostructural analysis using remote sensing combined with right dihedral kinematic analysis of fault-slip data and relations of intersections among structures allowed us to characterize four Cenozoic paleostress fields and their respective tectonic pulses: (I) Eocene-Oligocene NW-SE extension responsible for normal oblique-slip faults striking N60-70E; (II) Oligocene-Miocene NE-SW compression associated with tectonic accommodation of the South American Plate at circa 27-26 Ma, and responsible for WNW-ESE-trending sinistral and NE-SW-trending dextral strike-slip faults; (III) Plio-Pleistocene N-S to NNW-SSE compression related to dextral reactivation of NW-SE-striking faults, sinistral reactivation of NE-SW-trending faults, and generation of NNW-SSE-trending strike-slip faults; and (IV) Pleistocene-Holocene NW-SE to WNW-ESE compression that caused dextral reactivation of ENE-WSW-trending faults and sinistral strike-slip reactivation of NNW-SSE-trending faults.

Abstract The hypothesis that geomorphometric parameters and structural-geological features are diagnostic of reactivation of the Blumenau-Soledade Lineament in central-western Santa Catarina, Brazil was tested by confronting data on asymmetry, elongation, morphological markers, drainage patterns, and river anomalies of the Pelotinhas catchment and structural data for the Serra Geral Group (Paraná Basin). The results indicate reactivation of the lineament as a dextral strike-slip fault, as the cause of an associated morphostructure characterized by an escarpment along the left bank of the river as well as being responsible for catchment asymmetry and morphometric anomalies. Although fault data indicate paleostress correlatable to regional tectonic events described in the literature, we propose that the earliest paleostress pulse possibly was active during the Paleocene-Eocene transition, with σ1 oriented NE-SW and σ3 NW-SE. In the early Paleogene, the stress system evolved as an extensional pulse. During the Paleogene and early Neogene, the paleostress field rotated with reorientation of the σ1 axis between NNW and NNE. The current tectonic regime was established between the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, with compressional stress σ1 oriented approximately WNW-ESE and σ3 NNE-SSW, as it generally occurs in the South American Plate.

ABSTRACT: The Paraná basin is one of the major morphotectures of the South American continent. Although its tectono-sedimentary evolution has been widely studied and fairly well understood, this paper aims to fill a gap in knowledge comprising the tectonic evolution after the end of its last sedimentary cycle, in the Upper Cretaceous. In this context, the Jordan River watershed, situated in the surroundings of Guarapuava municipality, south central region of Paraná State, was selected for structural and morphometric analysis where the Cretaceous volcanic rocks of Serra Geral Formation are exposed. The Jordan River watershed was studied for the influence exerted by Taxaquara Fault Zone on its morphologic evolution, since Taxaquara Fault Zone is associated to the Brazilian cycle and extends eastwards to the Ribeira belt in the state of São Paulo. The morphometric analysis consisted in the interpretation of the Jordan River watershed drainage network and relief elements, considering the distribution of existing knickpoints in the water courses. Structural analysis was based on the calculation of the stress fields responsible for the activation of local fault zones, which were determined by their spatial arrangement and the statistical and mechanical treatments of structural data. During the Oligocene and Miocene, erosional processes developed a planing surface which marks the relief in the central region of the Jordan River watershed and serves as a stratigraphic marker for the associated deformational events. Three events that contributed to the morphological framework of the Jordan River watershed were defined: an oldest one, probably active before the development of the Jordan pediplane in the Paleogene, by a NE-SW maximum horizontal stress (SHmax); and two more recent ones, being one of Plio-Pleistocene age, with a N05W SHmax, and a still active event of transtensive nature showing a N75W SHmax. The paleostress analysis points to a similarity between the Cenozoic evolution of Paraná Basin and the tafrogenic basins of southeast Brazil, revealing the amplitude of the deformation events associated to the studied period and ensuring the importance of further studies on the morphotectonic evolutions of intracratonic regions of the South American plate and their correlation to the Andean tectonic cycle.

Resumo: A Bacia do Amazonas compreende uma área de aproximadamente 500.000 km2 abrangendo parte dos estados do Pará e Amazonas. A região estudada localiza-se na porção sudoeste da bacia, próximo à cidade de Itaituba (PA), e contém rochas da cobertura sedimentar fanerozóica e do embasamento aflorante na Província Amazônia-Central. A análise estrutural multiescala consistiu da integração da análise de imagens (interpretação de lineamentos em imagens SRTM, com auxílio de dados aeromagnetométricos) e dados de campo para determinação do arcabouço estrutural e caracterização das fases de deformação pós-paleozóicas locais. A partir dos dados das falhas e sistemas de juntas, zonas de cisalhamento, estrias e steps descritos foram realizadas análises estruturais descritivas e cinemáticas. A aplicação de métodos para determinação de paleotensão permitiu estabelecer diferentes direções de esforços compressivos e distensivos. Os resultados indicam pelo menos três fases de deformação atuantes a partir do fnal do Paleozóico. A primeira fase (F1) apresenta cinemática destral e posição das principais estruturas N60-70E. A tensão máxima (σ1) é compatível com sua deformação compressiva, embora ainda em contexto transcorrente e pode ser relacionada às orogenias responsáveis pela formação do Pangea ao fnal do Permiano. A fase F2 caracterizada pela presença de falhas normais de direção NE coincide com a direção geral dos diques cartografados na região e, provavelmente, tem ligação com o magmatismo Penatecaua de idade Jurássica. A fase F3 está relacionada a um sistema conjugado composto pelas estruturas N50-70W (sinistral) e N60-70E (destral) com direção de σ1 E-W. Somente esta fase parece ter afetado rochas cenozóicas e, possivelmente, corresponde à propagação de tensões da subducção na região dos Andes.

Abstract: The Amazon Basin has an area of approximately 500.000 km2 covering part of the states of Pará and Amazonas. The region studied is located in the southwest portion of the basin (near of Itaituba - PA city) and contains sedimentary rocks of the Fanerozoic cover and the basement in the Amazon Central Province. Structural analysis consisted of multiscale analysis and integration of images analysis (recognition of morphotectonics features in images SRTM, using data from aeromagnetometria) and using data from the feld to determine structural framework and defne the stages of post-paleozoic strain that hit the area. From the data of failures and systems of joints, shear zones, slickenside and steps found in outcrops, were developed the structural and kinematic analysis. The application of the method to determin the paleostress could to set the position of stress. The results indicate at least 3 stages of strain active at the end of the Paleozoic. The frst phase (F1) has dextral kinematic and structure frontal position N60-70E, for maximum stress (σ1), allows the compressive stresses, although in a transcurrent context, correlated to the orogeny responsible for the formation of Pangea at the end of the Permian. The second phase (F2) is characterized by the presence of normal faults of NE direction coincident with the positioned dikes in the region, may be related to magmatism Penatecaua. The third phase (F3) would be related to a system composed of the combined structures N50-70W (sinistral) and N60-70E (dextral) with direction of σ1 E-W. Only this phase appears to have affected the cenozoic rocks, and probably is related to the spread of strains of Andean subduction.

No noroeste do estado do Paraná os arenitos eólicos do Grupo Caiuá (Bacia Bauru - Cretáceo Superior) estão dispostos sobre basaltos da Formação Serra Geral (Grupo São Bento - Cretáceo Inferior da Bacia do Paraná). Ambos constituem importantes sistemas aqüíferos. Apesar da permo-porosidade dos basaltos ser do tipo fissural, diferente dos arenitos onde é granular, a porção superior do Sistema Aqüífero Serra Geral (SASG) apresenta-se livre, em conjunto com o Sistema Aqüífero Caiuá (SAC). O contraste de susceptibilidade magnética entre os basaltos e os arenitos possibilitou o emprego de dados aeromagnéticos para delinear as estruturas mais proeminentes do embasamento dos arenitos. A análise de superfície dos arenitos consistiu na interpretação morfoestrutural a partir da rede de drenagem, modelo digital de elevação (MDE) e imagens Landsat 7/ETM+. A comparação entre os dois níveis de investigação revelou a coincidência de algumas estruturas mapeadas, resultando em um arcabouço estrutural comum ao SAC e ao SASG. Mapas de sólidos totais dissolvidos (STD) e do conteúdo catiônico das águas de poços produtores completados no SAC, indicaram zonas com características hidroquímicas do SASG em seu interior, denotando a conectividade hidráulica dos dois sistemas aqüíferos. A superposição do arcabouço estrutural integrado aos mapas hidrogeológicos (vazão, capacidade específica e hidroquímicos), revelou que grandes estruturas, freqüentemente, exercem influência na compartimentação hidrogeológica da região.

The aeolian sandstones of Caiuá Group (Bauru Basin - Upper Cretaceous - Paraná, northwest of Brazil) are lying on basalts of Serra Geral Formation (São Bento Group - Mesozoic of Paraná Basin) and both form significant aquifers. Although permo-porosity of sandstone is granular, unlike basalts that is crystalline, upper slice of Serra Geral Aquifer System - SGAS - is classified as free, close as Caiuá Aquifer System - CAS. Magnetic susceptibility contrast between rocks allows applying aeromagnetic data to model most prominent structures that form the basement of sandstones. Analysis of sandstones surface was based in morphological/structural interpretation from drainage net, digital elevation model (DEM) and Landsat 7/ETM+ image. Comparison between two levels of investigation reveal coexistence of some mapped structures and results in a common structural framework. Maps of water discharge, specific capacity, total dissolved solids and cation of water pumped from CAS wells indicate zones with characteristic water from SGAS into CAS, indicate hydraulic connection of refer aquifer systems. Superimpose of hydrogeological maps by common structural framework indicate that presence of larger mapped structures often act on hydrogeological compartments.