S U M M A R YIntraplate seismicity has generally poor correlation with surface geological patterns. Except for major extensional features, such as aborted continental rifts, which may act as weak zones, it is usually difficult to find simple geology based models to explain differences in seismic activity in stable continental regions. Seismicity in Brazil is clearly not uniform and a few areas of higher activity have been identified. However, the seismic areas show almost no correlation with the main geological provinces, which is typical of other intraplate settings. A recent uppermantle tomography study in SE and central Brazil, using approximately 8500 P-wave and 2000 PKP-wave arrivals recorded in 59 sites since 1992, has mapped P-wave velocity anomalies from lithospheric depths down to 1300 km. In this region, higher seismic activity occurs preferentially in areas with low P-wave velocities at 150-250 km depth. The low P-wave velocities are interpreted as shallower asthenosphere. In such areas, a hotter geotherm will reduce the strength of the lithospheric upper mantle causing most of the intraplate forces to be concentrated in the brittle upper crust. The low-velocity anomalies coincide with Late Cretaceous provinces of alkaline intrusions. The proposed ponding of the Trindade plume head beneath lithospheric thin spots is consistent with our tomography results, suggesting that plume effects may have helped to preserve lithosphere/asthenosphere topography. Although other factors are also important, the present data show that stress concentrations resulting from lithosphere/asthenosphere topography should play an important role in explaining the intraplate seismicity in the Brazilian platform.

S U M M A R YWe present models for the upper-mantle velocity structure beneath SE and Central Brazil using independent tomographic inversions of P-and S-wave relative arrival-time residuals (including core phases) from teleseismic earthquakes. The events were recorded by a total of 92 stations deployed through different projects, institutions and time periods during the years 1992-2004. Our results show correlations with the main tectonic structures and reveal new anomalies not yet observed in previous works. All interpretations are based on robust anomalies, which appear in the different inversions for P-and S-waves. The resolution is variable through our study volume and has been analyzed through different theoretical test inversions. High-velocity anomalies are observed in the western portion of the São Francisco Craton, supporting the hypothesis that this Craton was part of a major Neoproterozoic plate (San Franciscan Plate). Low-velocity anomalies beneath the Tocantins Province (mainly fold belts between the Amazon and São Francisco Cratons) are interpreted as due to lithospheric thinning, which is consistent with the good correlation between intraplate seismicity and lowvelocity anomalies in this region. Our results show that the basement of the Paraná Basin is formed by several blocks, separated by suture zones, according to model of Milani & Ramos. The slab of the Nazca Plate can be observed as a high-velocity anomaly beneath the Paraná Basin, between the depths of 700 and 1200 km. Further, we confirm the low-velocity anomaly in the NE area of the Paraná Basin which has been interpreted by VanDecar et al. as a fossil conduct of the Tristan da Cunha Plume related to the Paraná flood basalt eruptions during the opening of the South Atlantic.

Nazca subduction beneath South America is one of our best modern examples of long‐lived ocean‐continent subduction on the planet, serving as a foundation for our understanding of subduction processes. Within that framework, persistent heterogeneities at a range of scales in both the South America and Nazca plates is difficult to reconcile without detailed knowledge of the subducted Nazca slab structure. Here we use teleseismic travel time residuals from >1,000 broadband and short‐period seismic stations across South America in a single tomographic inversion to produce the highest‐resolution contiguous P wave tomography model of the subducting slab and surrounding mantle beneath South America to date. Our model reveals a continuous trench‐parallel fast seismic velocity anomaly across the majority of South America that is consistent with the subducting Nazca slab. The imaged anomaly indicates a number of robust features of the subducted slab, including variable slab dip, extensive lower mantle penetration, slab stagnation in the lower mantle, and variable slab amplitude, that are incorporated into a new, comprehensive model of the geometry of the Nazca slab surface to ~1,100 km depth. Lower mantle slab penetration along the entire margin suggests that lower mantle slab anchoring is insufficient to explain along strike upper plate variability while slab stagnation in the lower mantle indicates that the 1,000 km discontinuity is dominant beneath South America.

[1] The deep crustal structure of the Paraná Basin of southern Brazil is investigated by analyzing P-and PP-wave receiver functions at 17 Brazilian Lithosphere Seismic Project stations within the basin. The study area can be described as a typical Paleozoic intracratonic basin that hosts one of the largest Large Igneous Province of the world and makes a unique setting for investigating models of basin subsidence and their interaction with mantle plumes. Our study consists of (1) an analysis of the Moho interaction phases in the receiver functions to obtain the thickness and bulk Vp/Vs ratio of the basin's underlying crust and (2) a joint inversion with Rayleigh-wave dispersion velocities from an independent tomographic study to delineate the detailed S-wave velocity variation with depth. The results of our analysis reveal that Moho depths and bulk Vp/Vs ratios (including sediments) vary between 41 and 48 km and between 1.70 and 1.76, respectively, with the largest values roughly coinciding with the basin's axis, and that S-wave velocities in the lower crust are generally below 3.8 km/s. Select sites within the basin, however, show lower crustal S-wave velocities slightly above 3.9 km/s suggestive of underplated mafic material. We show that these observations are consistent with a fragmented cratonic root under the Paraná basin that defined a zone of weakness for the initial Paleozoic subsidence of the basin and which allowed localized mafic underplating of the crust along the suture zones by Cenozoic magmatism.Citation: Julià, J., M. Assumpção, and M. P. Rocha (2008), Deep crustal structure of the Paraná Basin from receiver functions and Rayleigh-wave dispersion: Evidence for a fragmented cratonic root,

Este trabalho foi conduzido com o objetivo de avaliar o desempenho produtivo de vacas de corte. Foram utilizadas 30 vacas da raça Aberdeen Angus e 32 da raça Charolês primíparas, prenhes no início do experimento, com bezerros puros ou mestiços Nelore. As vacas foram submetidas a diferentes tratamentos alimentares durante o inverno e a primavera: T1 - pastagem natural, T2 - pastagem cultivada por 60 dias (24 horas/dia), do início de setembro ao início de novembro, T3 - acesso à pastagem cultivada por duas horas diárias, por um período de 60 dias (de início de julho ao início de setembro), T4 - acesso à pastagem cultivada por duas horas diárias, por um período de 60 dias (de início de julho ao início de setembro), e mais 60 dias (24 horas/dia) de pastagem cultivada do início de setembro ao início de novembro. As medidas de eficiência produtiva foram: EPPARTO = (P205/PVP)*100; EPDESMAME = (P205/PVD)*100; EPMBPARTO = (P205/PVP0,75); EPMBDESMAME = (P205/PVD0,75); e EPNDT = NDTTOTAL/P205, em que P205 é o peso ao desmame dos bezerros; PVP e PVD, os pesos das vacas ao parto e ao desmame, respectivamente; e NDTTOTAL, a exigência em energia para manutenção e produção de leite das vacas. As vacas Aberdeen Angus, com bezerros machos e aquelas com bezerros mestiços, foram mais eficientes. Vacas que utilizaram a pastagem cultivada por um período de tempo maior (T4) tiveram melhor desempenho do que aquelas que permaneceram apenas em pastagem natural(T1); as vacas dos outros tratamentos tiveram desempenhos intermediários.

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Summary The Andean Subduction Zone is one of the longest continuous subduction zones on Earth. The relative simplicity of the two-plate system has makes it an ideal natural laboratory to study the dynamics in subduction zones. We measure teleseismic S and SKS travel-time residuals at > 1,000 seismic stations that have been deployed across South America over the last 30 years to produce a finite-frequency teleseismic S-wave tomography model of the mantle beneath the Andean Subduction Zone related to the Nazca Plate, spanning from ∼5° N to 45° S and from depths of ∼130 km to 1,200 km. Within our model, the subducted Nazca slab is imaged as a fast velocity seismic anomaly. The geometry and amplitude of the Nazca slab anomaly varies along the margin while the slab anomaly continues into the lower mantle along the entirety of the subduction margin. Beneath northern Brazil, the Nazca slab appears to stagnate at ∼1,000 km depth and extend eastward sub-horizontally for > 2,000 km. South of 25° S the slab anomaly in the lower mantle extends offshore of eastern Argentina, hence we do not image if a similar stagnation occurs. We image several distinct features surrounding the slab including two vertically-oriented slow seismic velocity anomalies: one beneath the Peruvian flat slab and the other beneath the Paraná Basin of Brazil. The presence of the latter anomaly directly adjacent to the stagnant Nazca slab suggests that the plume, known as the Paraná Plume, may be a focused upwelling formed in response to slab stagnation in the lower mantle. Additionally, we image a high amplitude fast seismic velocity anomaly beneath the Chile trench at the latitude of the Sierras Pampeanas which extends from ∼400 km to ∼1000 km depth. This anomaly may be the remnants of an older, detached slab, however its relationship with the Nazca-South America subduction zone remains enigmatic.