Decoding Calymmian juvenile mafic magmatism in the Ribeira Belt, Brazil: Evidence for a long-lived arc system along the margin of Columbia

Abstract

The combined São Francisco-Congo Craton, now preserved in South America and Africa, existed from 2050 Ma to 130 Ma, is an important Archean-Paleoproterozoic block for reconstructions of the Proterozoic supercontinents Columbia (Nuna) and Rodinia. Both counterparts contain Calymmian-Stenian rock assemblages along their western margins and as inliers in Neoproterozoic-Cambrian marginal belts. New U–Pb–Hf–Nd isotopic and geochemical data of Calymmian metamafic rocks from the southern Ribeira Belt (Brazil) are integrated with data from the Brasília, Dom Feliciano and Kaoko Belts (Brazil, Uruguay and Namibia) and Angola Shield (Angola and Namibia) to unravel the Mesoproterozoic evolution of the cratonic block. Metamafic rocks from South America present variable geochemical and Hf–Nd isotopic signatures, suggesting contrasting tectonic settings. Rocks with crystallization ages of 1570–1540 Ma and 1500–1450 Ma show signatures of juvenile magmas derived from supra-subduction zone metasomatized mantle sources. Rocks formed at 1310–1280 Ma are dominated by signatures of intracontinental mafic magmatism. The Angola Shield presents voluminous granitoid rocks with crustal and juvenile signatures emplaced within 1530–1360 Ma, recently inferred as related with a convergent margin setting. There are also records of regional high-grade metamorphism and deformation involving a prograde stage at 1530–1510 Ma, peak conditions of 950–1000 °C and 9–10 kbar at ca. 1490 Ma, and a late stage at ca. 1450 Ma, suggesting a protracted orogenic metamorphic event. In a regional context, the available data supports a long-lived convergent margin setting along the present-day western margin of the São Francisco-Congo Craton. In a global perspective, this belt requires an extensive and long-lived (120–210 million years) Calymmian-Stenian ocean subducting beneath an active margin comprising stages of oceanic island arc–back-arc environments between 1570–1450 Ma that evolved to a continental arc on the margin of Columbia between 1450 and 1360 Ma. Regional metamorphism and deformation at 1340–1320 Ma support the existence of a collisional event related with ocean closure, while metamafic rocks of 1310–1280 Ma record lithospheric extension in a continental rifting setting.