New U–Pb Geochronology for the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, Critical Reevaluation of High-Precision Ages and Their Impact on the End-Triassic Extinction Event

The end-Triassic extinction (ETE) event represents one of the ‘big five’ episodes of mass extinction. The leading hypothesis for the cause of the ETE is the intrusion of voluminous magmas of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) into carbon-rich sediments of two South American sedimentary basins, around 201.5 Ma. The timing of dikes and sills emplacement, however, must be considered in light of age models from CAMP rocks occurring in North America. In this work, we present new high-precision ages for critical samples in NE Brazil (201.579 ± 0.057 Ma) and Canada (201.464 ± 0.017 Ma), in order to evaluate how the South and North American magmatic events compare at the 100-ka level, and to the ETE timing. We also discuss inter-laboratory reproducibility of high-precision CAMP ages, including the 230Th disequilibrium corrections that are made to zircon U–Pb dates. Our findings in this newly discovered extension of the CAMP large igneous province in NE Brazil support the hypothesis that the CAMP may be responsible for the ETE through the triggering of greenhouse gas release from magma-evaporite interactions (contact metamorphism) in the South American basins

Shrimp U-Pb age and Sr-Nd isotopes of the Morro do Baú mafic intrusion: implications for the evolution of the Arenópolis volcano-sedimentary sequence, Goiás Magmatic Arc

The Arenópolis volcano-sedimentary sequence is located in the southern part of the Goiás Magmatic Arc and includes a ca. 900 Ma calc-alkaline arc sequence made of volcanic rocks ranging in composition from basalts to rhyolites, metamorphosed under greenschist to amphibolite facies. Small calc-alkaline gabbro to granite sub-volcanic bodies are also recognized. The Morro do Baú intrusion is the largest of these intrusions, and is made of gabbros and diorites. Zircon grains separated from one gabbro sample and analyzed by SHRIMP I yielded the mean 206Pb/238U age of 890 +/- 8 Ma, indicating that the intrusion is roughly coeval or only slightly younger than the Arenópolis volcanics. Contrary to the metavolcanics, which are juvenile, the Nd isotopic composition of the Morro do Baú gabbro indicates strong contamination with archean sialic material (T DM of 2.8 Ga and EpsilonNd(T) of -9.7), represented in the area by an allochthonous sliver of archean/paleoproterozoic gneisses (Ribeirão gneiss) which are the country-rocks for the gabbro/dioritic intrusion. The emplacement age of ca. 890 Ma represents a minimum age limit for the tectonic accretion of the gneiss sliver to the younger rocks of the Arenópolis sequence. The data suggest that this happened early in the evolution of the Goiás Magmatic Arc, between ca. 920 and 890 Ma

Microfabrics and zircon U-Pb (SHRIMP) chronology of mylonites from the Patos shear zone (Borborema Province, NE Brazil)

International audienceMicrostructures, U-Pb SHRIMP zircon ages and temperature estimates were used to constrain the fabric evolution and timing of mylonitisation in the Patos shear zone (NE Brazil). Melt-bearing HT-mylonitic orthogneiss displays solid-state fabrics with coarse quartz ribbons and sutured grain boundaries. K-feldspar is often fractured and shows peripheral myrmekite. The textures typically become magmatic at the contacts with the Espinho Branco anatexite. Zircon crystals from two samples of the leucosome show Paleoproterozoic (ca. 2.2 Ga) inherited cores that are enveloped by recrystallised Neoproterozoic rims. These zircon grains define a discordia with lower intercept ages of 558 and 562 Ma but with large analytical errors. A leucogranite with transitional contacts with host diatexites provides a well-constrained zircon mean age of 566 ± 6 Ma (n = 15, 95% conf.), which is considered the best estimate for the peak metamorphic conditions. The transition from HT-mylonites to fine-grained mylonites and ultramylonites is marked by a progressive grain size reduction assisted by recrystallisation. Quartz crystallographic fabrics display [0 0 0 1] concentrations between Z and Y. K-feldspar and plagioclase fabrics record the activity of the (0 1 0)[0 0 1] and (0 1 0)[1 0 0] slip systems and, in the lower-temperature tectonites, the (1 0 0)[0 1 0] slip system. These results suggest a diachronic evolution in which an initial HT northern domain was deformed by intracrystalline slip and melt-assisted granular flow, followed by medium- to low-temperature solid-state creep in the southern shear zone domain. The mylonites therefore record the rheological heterogeneities responsible for the formation of a late continental shear zone that nucleated under partially molten conditions and was later reactivated through melt-absent strain localization following exhumation

The geodynamic evolution of the Famatinian orogen from the paleomagnetic record of El Hongo trondhjemite (Early Paleozoic, Sierras Pampeanas de Córdoba, Argentina)

The Pampia cratonic block is juxtaposed to the Paleoproterozoic Río de la Plata craton through the Córdoba fault, an extension of the Transbrasiliano lineament. As a fragment of hyperextended crust, it was the locus of several magmatic belts during the Paleozoic. The Ordovician Famatinian orogen, for example, developed on its western margin as a consequence of subduction, which would lead to the accretion of Cuyania at ~460 Ma. The El Hongo trondhjemite is a small Famatinian pluton emplaced at ~ 500 Ma, close to the eastern margin of Pampia, controlled by shear belts in the foreland setting. New Ar–Ar ages verified that the cooling lasted at least until 430 Ma. Protracted cooling of this intrusion recorded magnetic remanence comprising several magnetic components, all of them carried mainly by hematite, and subordinately by magnetite. Hematite is present as a product either of exsolution from ilmeno-hematitess, or of low-temperature oxidation of magnetite (martite). The remanence is interpreted to have been acquired thermochemically during repeated pulses of fluid migration and deuteric oxidation. The A and B directions are predominant and have an arcuate distribution identifying clockwise rotation during acquisition. Other two directional groups, C and D are less represented, restricted to narrow patches; they seem to be acquired later, and coincide roughly with the ill-defined Silurian-Devonian Gondwana apparent polar wander path for the Early Paleozoic, implying that rotations had finished by then. An emplacement along dextral strike-slip fault systems is envisaged for El Hongo trondhjemite, where faulting occurred through shear belts in the weakened back-arc and foreland of the Famatinian belt, in response to the oblique subduction that would have accompanied the clockwise rotation of Laurentia around Gondwana during the Early Paleozoic. Strike-slip and rotations would have finished at ~460 Ma, coinciding with the final docking of Cuyania.Fil: Geuna, Silvana Evangelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales. Museo de Ciencias Naturales. Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA; ArgentinaFil: Escosteguy, Leonardo Darío. Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Díaz Appella, Belena Lucia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Pinotti, Lucio Pedro. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicoquimicas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente.; ArgentinaFil: D'eramo, Fernando Javier. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicoquimicas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente.; ArgentinaFil: Hollanda, Maria Helena B. M.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasi

Reconstruction of the provenance and distribution of terrigenous sediments off NE South America over the last 30ka

We investigate the redistribution of terrigenous materials in the northeastern (NE) South American continental margin during slowdown events of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The compilation of stratigraphic data from 108 marine sediment cores collected across the western tropical Atlantic shows an extreme rise in sedimentation rates off the Parnaíba River mouth (about 2°S) during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1, 18-15 ka). Sediment core GeoB16206-1, raised offshore the Parnaíba River mouth, documents relatively constant 143Nd/144Nd values (expressed as epsilonNd(0)) throughout the last 30 ka. Whereas the homogeneous epsilonNd(0) data support the input of fluvial sediments by the Parnaíba River from the same source area directly onshore, the increases in Fe/Ca, Al/Si and Rb/Sr during HS1 indicate a marked intensification of fluvial erosion in the Parnaíba River drainage basin. In contrast, the epsilonNd(0) values from sediment core GeoB16224-1 collected off French Guiana (about 7°N) suggest Amazon-sourced materials within the last 30 ka. We attribute the extremely high volume of terrigenous sediments deposited offshore the Parnaíba River mouth during HS1 to (i) an enhanced precipitation in the catchment region and (ii) a reduced North Brazil Current, which are both associated with a weakened AMOC