The Hf and O isotope record of long-lasting accretionary orogens: The example of the Proterozoic and Paleozoic-Triassic central South America

Abstract

The southwestern margin of Amazonia hosted accretionary orogens for most of the past 2 Ga. A succession of accretionary mountain belts evolved from 2 Ga to 1 Ga, they are here informally grouped in the Terra Amazonica Orogen. It occupies large tracts of the Amazonian Shield, is poorly exposed and often inaccessible. Its evolution ended when Amazonia collided with Laurentia at 1 Ga in Rodinia. After the dispersal of Rodinia, an accretionary margin was re-established by 0.65 Ga, starting the proto-Andean accretionary Terra Australis Orogen.

Large volumes of polycyclic detritus derived ultimately from the Terra Amazonica Orogen was trapped in the sedimentary basins of the Terra Australis Orogen. Using this detritus we assess the crustal evolution of both orogens with new zircon U-Pb age (n = 12,752), Hf isotope (n = 5502) and O isotope (igneous n = 855, detrital n = 957) databases for zircons including our own new analyses and literature data.

For the Terra Amazonica Orogen three subcycles of zircon εHf(t) values define a cumulative trend from strongly unradiogenic to radiogenic values. In accretionary orogens, such trends indicate the progressive removal of lower crust and lithospheric mantle of the upper plate during subduction and their replacement by new radiogenic crust.

Early Neoproterozoic rifting of Rodinia registered a drop in mean εHf(t) values by eleven units from +4 to −7. This is superseded by a two-step increase to values between 0 and + 5 after the inception of the active margin of the Terra Australis Orogen, registering one large cycle with two subcycles from negative to positive values typical of accretionary orogens.

Zircon δ¹⁸O data show a flat mean trend at slightly elevated values of 6.3 ‰ over the first 800 Myr of the Terra Amazonica Orogen, increasing to ca. 7.3 ‰ towards collision with Laurentia. Encompassing the Terra Amazonica Orogen and Neoproterozoic rifting, mean δ¹⁸O from detrital zircons is consistently lower than the igneous mean, indicating a wider distribution of mantle-like rocks than previously considered. δ¹⁸O of the Terra Australis Orogen trends from supracrustal 8 ‰ to more mantle-like values around 6.5 ‰, paralleling the accretionary orogen trend from unradiogenic to radiogenic εHf(t) values.

Global zircon δ¹⁸O data suggest a gradual increase of δ¹⁸O after 2.5 Ga connected to the progressive hydration and intra-crustal reworking of the continental crust. Our data register the sudden appearance of elevated δ¹⁸O values up to 10 ‰ at 2.5 Ga. Amazonia has been an independently drifting entity with an active margin at least from the late Archean to the collision with Laurentia. δ¹⁸O values up to 10 ‰ at 2.5 Ga may have appeared because the upper crust of Amazonia had already experienced alteration and crustal recycling at an accretionary margin since long before 2.5 Ga.

The Amazonian and proto-Andean detrital zircon age record is statistically similar to the global record. We argue that large scale continent-wide sedimentary reworking of detritus results in efficient mixing of the detrital zircon age records of accretionary and collisional orogens. We conclude that the global detrital zircon age record represents the averaged record of the successive supercontinent cycles.