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The Punta del Este Terrane (eastern Uruguay) lies in a complex Neoproterozoic (Brasiliano/Pan-African) orogenic zone considered to contain a suture between South American terranes to the west of Major Gercino-Sierra Ballena Suture Zone and eastern African affinities terranes. Zircon cores from Punta del Este Terrane basement orthogneisses have U-Pb ages of ca. 1,000 Ma, which indicate an lineage with the Namaqua Belt in Southwestern Africa. U-Pb zircon ages also provide the following information on the Punta del Este terrane: the orthogneisses containing the ca. 1,000 Ma inheritance formed at ca. 750 Ma; in contrast to the related terranes now in Africa, reworking of the Punta del Este Terrane during Brasiliano/Pan-African orogenesis was very intense, reaching granulite facies at ca. 640 Ma. The termination of the Brasiliano/Pan-African orogeny is marked by formation of acid volcanic and volcanoclastic rocks at ca. 570 Ma (Sierra de Aguirre Formation), formation of late sedimentary basins (San Carlos Formation) and then intrusion at ca. 535 Ma of post-tectonic granitoids (Santa Teresa and José Ignacio batholiths). The Punta del Este Terrane and unrelated western terranes represented by the Dom Feliciano Belt and the Río de La Plata Craton were in their present positions by ca. 535 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

comprehensive review of the geological, geochronological, and isotopic features of the Mesoproterozoic Grenvillian terranes attached to the southwest of the Río de la Plata craton in Early Paleozoic times is presented in this paper. They are grouped into the northern (sierras de Umango, Maz and del Espinal and surroundings), central (Sierra de Pie de Palo, southern Precordillera and Frontal Cordillera), and southern (San Rafael and Las Matras Blocks) segments. The Mesoproterozoic basement consists mainly of arc related, intermediate to acidic and mafic-ultramafic rocks of 1,244-1,027 Ma, with juvenile, Laurentian affinity. Exception to it is the Maz Group, with a protracted history and reworked character. They are affected by 846-570 Ma, extensional magmatism in the northern and central segments, which represents the Neoproterozoic breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent. Successive passive margin sedimentation is registered in Late Neoproterozoic (~640-580 Ma) and Cambro-Ordovician (~550-470 Ma) times. The southern segment is noted for the younger sedimentation alone, and for showing the exclusive primary unconformable relationship between the Mesoproterozoic basement and Early Ordovician cover. The effects of Early Paleozoic Famatinian orogeny, associated with the collisions of Cuyania and Chilenia terranes, are recorded as main phase (480-450 Ma), late phase (440-420 Ma), and Chanic phase (400-360 Ma). Among them, the tectonothermal climax is the Ordovician main phase, to which klippe and nappe structures typical of collisional orogens are related in the northern and central segments. Preliminary data allow us to suggest a set of paired metamorphic belts, with an outboard high-P/T belt, and an inboard Barrowian P/T belt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a study integrating 13 new U-Pb LA-MC-ICP-MS zircon ages and Hf-isotope data from dated magmatic zircons together with complete petrological and whole-rock geochemistry data for the dated granitic rocks. Sample selection was strongly based on knowledge reported in previous investigations. Latest Devonian-Early Carboniferous granite samples were collected along a transect of ~ 900 km, from the inner continental region (present-day Eastern Sierras Pampeanas) to the magmatic arc (now Western Sierras Pampeanas and Frontal Cordillera). Based on these data together with ca. 100 published whole-rock geochemical analyses we conclude that Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous magmatism at this latitude represents continuous activity (ranging from 322 to 379 Ma) on the pre-Andean margin of SW Gondwana, although important whole-rock and isotopic compositional variations occurred through time and space. Combined whole-rock chemistry and isotope data reveal that peraluminous A-type magmatism started in the intracontinental region during the Late Devonian, with subsequent development of synchronous Carboniferous peraluminous and metaluminous A-type magmatism in the retro-arc region and calc-alkaline magmatism in the western paleomargin. We envisage that magmatic evolution was mainly controlled by episodic fluctuations in the angle of subduction of the oceanic plate (between flat-slab and normal subduction), supporting a geodynamic switching model. Subduction fluctuations were relatively fast (ca. 7 Ma) during the Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous, and the complete magmatic switch-off and switch-on process lasted for ~ 57 Ma. Hf TDM values of zircon (igneous and inherited) from some Carboniferous peraluminous A-type granites in the retro-arc suggest that Gondwana continental lithosphere formed during previous orogenies was partly the source of the Devonian-Carboniferous granitic magmas, thus precluding the generation of the parental magmas from exotic terranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New whole-rock geochemical and detrital zircon U–Pb and Lu–Hf data of metasedimentary sequences of the Silvretta Nappe, Orobic Alps, Strona-Ceneri Zone, Gotthard Massif and Venediger Nappe are presented. These units seem to share a common early to middle Paleozoic geological record, which has alternatively been interpreted as the result of intraplate or orogenic processes. Detrital zircon data mainly indicate late Ediacaran to early Ordovician maximum sedimentation ages for the studied sequences, suggesting that they were intimately related to Cadomian and Cenerian orogenic processes along the northwestern Gondwana margin. The common presence of late Ediacaran to Cambrian Cadomian ages associated with variable subchondritic to suprachondritic Lu–Hf compositions points to recycling processes of Cadomian sequences, further supported by geochemical data indicating a relatively low to moderate maturity of sedimentary protoliths. The occurrence of Cenerian arc-related intrusions in Austroalpine and South Alpine basement unit points to an arc/back-arc position in the early Paleozoic Cenerian orogen, except for the Strona-Ceneri Zone, which was likely located closer to the forearc region, as indicated by the presence of high-pressure metamorphism. Younger sequences, such as the Landeck Quartz-phyllite, document post-Cenerian sedimentation, whereas those of the Venediger Nappe more likely record the early stages of Variscan subduction, as indicated by Devonian maximum deposition ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic measurements were performed on sedimentary and volcanic rocks from the Itajaí basin. Rock magnetism analyses reveal that magnetite and hematite and paramagnetic minerals show different contributions to magnetic susceptibility. Magnetic fabrics were determined in 19 sites by applying both anisotropy of low-field magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and anisotropy of anhysteretic remanence magnetization (AARM). The analysis at the individual-site scale defines three AMS fabric types. The first type shows Kmin perpendicular to the bedding plane, while Kmax and Kint are scattered within the bedding plane itself. This fabric is usually interpreted as primary. The second type (77% of the sites) shows the three well-clustered AMS axes with Kmin still perpendicular to the bedding plane. The third type is characterized by well-clustered Kmax in the bedding plane, while Kmin and Kint are distributed along a girdle perpendicular to Kmax. The second and third fabric types are interpreted as combinations of sedimentary-compactional and tectonic contributions at the earliest, and at a slightly later stage of deformation, respectively. AMS represents the contribution of all the rock-forming minerals, while AARM isolates the contribution of remanence-bearing minerals with coercivity < 100 mT. For some sites, the AMS and AARM fabrics are non-coaxial, mainly with respect to the lineation orientations. The comparison of magnetic lineations and the regional structural data indicates that the rocks, with no mesoscopic or macroscopic deformation, were affected by the two deformation phases that occurred in the region. One of them results from compressional tectonics related to the collisional orogen (D1), and the other is extensional related to post-collisional orogen (D2). After the former tectonic event the volcanic rocks were emplaced at the top of the stratigraphic sequence and, after that the Itajaí basin as a whole was deformed by the extensional tectonic (D2) that occurred after 560 Ma which is the age of the intrusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work reports on the first identification of sapphirine‐bearing ultrahigh‐temperature (UHT) metamorphic rocks within the Borborema Province, in NE Brazil. The investigated UHT diatexites outcrop in the Arapiraca Complex, a high‐grade Palaeoproterozoic block embedded within the Neoproterozoic metavolcano‐sedimentary sequence of the Sergipano fold‐and‐thrust belt. A sapphirine‐bearing diatexite sample preserves two distinct residual mineral associations as inclusions in cordierite poikiloblasts: a volumetrically dominant silica‐saturated, garnet–sillimanite–orthopyroxene–quartz domain, and a restricted silica‐undersaturated, sapphirine–magnetite–spinel–corundum domain. Phase equilibrium modelling for the whole‐rock bulk composition constrains the reactions preserved in the silica‐saturated domain, which, coupled with reintegrated ternary feldspar thermometry and Al‐in‐orthopyroxene thermobarometry, indicates peak UHT metamorphism occurring at ~970°C/8.5 kbar followed by a clockwise near isobaric cooling stage crossing the H2O‐undersaturated solidus at ~910°C/7.7 kbar. The T–MSiO2 and P–T phase equilibrium models reveal that the stabilization of magnetite‐spinel in the silica‐undersaturated domain can be a product of domanial SiO2‐depletion ascribed to inherited compositional banding and progressive melt‐loss episodes. The appearance of sapphirine as thin coronae around previously formed magnetite‐spinel cores requires an increase in the bulk silica content during retrograde metamorphism. This was driven by variable degrees of chemical interaction between the silica‐undersaturated domain and trapped silica‐rich leucosomes. U–Pb dating of zircon coupled with trace element behaviour records the timing of melt crystallization between ca. 2.03 and 1.96 Ga, after peak UHT metamorphism and supporting a protracted, ca. 70 My period of melt presence in the crust. The UHT metamorphism in the Arapiraca Complex is related to a contemporaneous UHT event recorded within the São Francisco Craton and more broadly coincides with high geothermal gradients at ca. 2.0 Ga linked to the formation of the Columbia supercontinent. The integration of new petrological and geochronological data indicates that the Arapiraca Complex is a continental ribbon pulled away from the São Francisco–Congo palaeocontinent possibly during the early Neoproterozoic intermittent rifting events and opening of the Sergipano oceanic basin between ca. 0.98–0.74 Ga. During the late Neoproterozoic at ca. 0.63–0.57 Ga, the Arapiraca Complex continental ribbon was thrusted back onto the northern margin of the São Francisco Craton as an inlier of the Sergipano fold‐and‐thrust belt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temporal and spatial relationships between polyphase folding and faulting, regional metamorphism, and granitoids intrusions are discussed for the low-grade basement rocks of the El Jagüelito Formation from the eastern North Patagonian Massif, Argentina, at the inferred western Gondwana margin. As a result of the tectonometamorphic and magmatic events, a late Cambrian-early Ordovician orogenic belt is revealed in northern Patagonia and shall be named the Transpatagonian orogen. It is an NW–SE-trending belt traced from the extra-Andean North Patagonian Cordillera region via the eastern North Patagonian Massif up to the Atlantic coast in the east. The early Paleozoic Transpatagonian orogen is the result of compressional tectonics, also showing a significant dextral shearing, and regional metamorphism leading to the development of a fold-and-thrust belt with an anticlockwise P–T–D-time path. The double-sided orogen is divided into three tectonometamorphic zones bounded by NW–SE trending major faults. Regional comparisons of our results in the present contribution together with available geological data, allow characterizing the orogen as part of a paired metamorphic belt system, with an outboard low-P/high-T belt (northern Patagonia terrane) and a parallel, inboard medium-P/T belt of Barrowian type (Famatinian Orogen on Gondwana margin), respectively. They are juxtaposed tectonically along with the contact of the suture Huincul Fault Zone. The Transpatagonian orogen was implanted along the southernmost Gondwana margin during the final stages of the supercontinent assembly in the early Paleozoic. The tectonism of the Permian Gondwanide orogeny reworked the Transpatagonian orogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lower Cretaceous Botucatu Formation records the development of widespread dry–aeolian desert sedimentation throughout the Paraná Basin in south‐west Gondwana. To reconstruct the provenance of the aeolian sediment, petrography, granulometric analysis, U‐Pb detrital zircon ages have been determined from along the southern basin margin in Rio Grande do Sul state (southern Brazil) and Uruguay (Tacuarembó region). The dataset reveals a mean composition Qt89F8L3, comprising very fine to medium‐grained quartozose and feldspatho‐quartzose framework. Heavy mineral analysis reveals an overall dominance of zircon, tourmaline and rutile grains (mean ZTR0.84) with sporadic garnet, epidote and pyrolusite occurrences. The detrital zircon U‐Pb ages are dominated by Cambrian to Neoproterozoic (515 to 650 Ma), Tonian to Stenian (900 to 1250 Ma) and Orosirian to Rhyacian (1.8 to 2.2 Ga) material. The detrital zircon dataset demonstrates a significant lateral variation in sediment provenance: Cambrian to Neoproterozoic detrital zircons dominate in the east, while Tonian to Stenian and Orosirian to Rhyacian ages predominate in the west of the study area. Sandstones are quartz‐rich with dominantly durable zircon, tourmaline and rutile heavy mineral suite, with subtle but statistically significant along‐strike differences in heavy mineral populations and detrital mineralogy which are thought to record local sediment input points into the aeolian system. The similar age spectra of Botucatu desert with proximal Paraná Basin units, the predominance of quartzose, and zircon, tourmaline and rutile components, suggests that recycling is the mechanism responsible for the erg feeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ceará Central Domain of the Borborema Province is a key tectonic domain within the 5000 km-long West Gondwana Orogen, which extends from Algeria in Africa to Central Brazil. Igneous rocks of the Tamboril-Santa Quitéria Complex, investigated in this study, record a long-lived history of convergent magmatism and crustal anatexis. SHRIMP U-Pb dating and Hf-O isotope analyses of zircons from granitoids and migmatites, coupled with whole-rock Sr-Nd isotopes were used to constrain the evolution of this long-lived continental margin. Magmatism can be divided into three main periods: i) an early period comprising essentially juvenile arc magmatism at ca. 880-800 Ma and continuing to 650 Ma as evidenced indirectly by detrital zircons from syn-orogenic deposits, ii) a more mature arc period at ca. 660-630 Ma characterized by hybrid mantle-crustal magmatic rocks, and iii) crustal anatexis at 625-618 Ma continuing until ca. 600 Ma. Detrital zircons with mantle values of δO18 (< 5.7‰) in the range of 950 to 650 Ma retrieved from fore-arc deposits indicate that juvenile input persisted throughout the evolution of the convergent magmatism. Juvenile and mature arc igneous rocks underwent anatexis that gave rise to extensive areas of diatexites within the complex. Anatexis overlap in time with the ages of (ultra)-high pressure (U)HP eclogitic metamorphism dated at 625-615 Ma. In accordance with other continental collision zones, age of UHP/HP metamorphism is interpreted to mark the timing of continental collision and therefore indicate that the anatexis of arc rocks took place during continental subduction in a continent-continent collisional setting. Extensive migmatization continued until ca. 600 Ma and are in part synchronous to the exhumation of the rocks to shallower crustal levels. Thus, the 350 m.y. of magmatic activity in the Ceará Central Domain records the evolution of the West Gondwana margin of the Borborema Province from a juvenile arc setting through a mature arc and continental collision at around 625-600 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]