Magnetic fabric patterns of the Mesozoic Rio Ceara-Mirim dyke swarm (Northeast Brazil) as revealed by anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and texture analysis

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and petrofabric studies of the Early Cretaceous Rio Ceará-Mirim dike swarm reveal that shape-preferred orientation of opaque grains controls the magnetic fabric. The 350-km-long swarm is characterized by relatively thick dikes, of the order of 20 m up to 150 m in width. The strong magnetic susceptibility of these rocks, around 5 Â 10 À2 SI, is attributed to magnetite with low Ti content. The magnetite usually forms euhedral to subhedral, equant to skeletal grains. The resulting AMS has a large proportion of abnormal fabric types, as observed in 58% of the 50 dikes studied. The remaining 42% of the dikes show a ''normal'' fabric regionally characterized by steep magnetic foliations and subhorizontal lineations. In the central eastern part of the swarm, however, the lineation plunges downdip, suggesting a magmatic feeder zone. The shape alignment of the plagioclase supports the inferred regional flow pattern, indicating a primary origin for the normal AMS. Inverse to highly imbricate magnetic fabrics have lineations perpendicular to, or at a high angle to, the dike wall. A shape lineation of opaque grains lies generally close to the magnetic lineation, while the foliation is provided by the oblate-shaped plagioclase fabric. Petrofabric studies indicate that the abnormal magnetic fabric is unrelated to flow. Competition of interstitial magnetite grains crystallizing either along, as well as perpendicular to the magma stretching direction seems to account for the weak magnetic anisotropy and the irregular distribution of the AMS types on the swarm

U-Pb Ages and Hf Isotopes in Zircons from Parautochthonous Mesozoic Terranes in the Western Margin of Pangea: Implications for the Terrane Configurations in the Northern Andes

U-Pb laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ages and Hf isotopes in zircons were used to constrain the nature of two geological units representative of the basement of the Central Cordillera of Colombia. Graphite-quartz-muscovite schists from the Cajamarca Complex show inherited detrital zircons supplied mostly from Late Jurassic (ca. 167 Ma), Ediacaran (ca. 638 Ma), and Tonian (Grenvillian; ca. 1000 Ma) sources. These marine volcanosedimentary deposits form an N-trending metamorphic belt in fault contact to the east with orthogneisses and amphibolites of the Tierradentro unit. Zircon U-Pb determinations of the Tierradentro rockspreviously interpreted as Grenvillian basement slicesyielded crystallization ages between 271 and 234 Ma. Initial Hf data reveal that the Tierradentro unit shares isotopic characteristics similar to other Permo-Triassic rocks of the Central Cordillera. In contrast, inherited detrital zircons from the Jurassic metasedimentary rocks suggest that their sources are distinct from the plutonic rocks that crop out in the Central Cordillera with Jurassic crystallization ages. Large xenoliths of the Tierradentro unit within the Ibague batholith indicate that the granodioritic magma mostly intruded a Permo-Triassic basement possibly by exploiting the Otu-Pericos fault. The Jurassic metasedimentary belt is correlated further south with a similar sequence in the Ecuadorian Andes named Salado terrane

The granite pluton of Pombal: magnetic fabric and place within the Brasiliano strike-slip tectonics of NE-Brazil

International audienc

Scattering of magnetic fabrics in the Cambrian alkaline granite of Meruaca (Ceara state, northeastern Brazil)

International audienc