Chapter 7.2 The Evolution and Tectonic Setting of the Luis Alves Microplate of Southeastern Brazil: An Exotic Terrane during the Assembly of Western Gondwana

The Rio de la Plata craton and the adjoining Pan-African/brasiliano terranes: Their origins and incorporation into south-west Gondwana

“…The possibility that the basement inliers of the Dom Feliciano belt, such as the Punta del Este terrane and the Encantadas complex (Leite et al, 2000;Saalmann et al, 2010 and references therein), as well as the exotic Luis Alves microplate ( Fig. 2; Basei et al, 2009) and the Betara region in southwestern Brazil (Siga et al, 2011) were all part of the same collage is a hypothesis well worth testing in future studies.…”

Neoproterozoic geodynamic evolution of SW-Gondwana: a southern African perspective

“…From its current location it may be speculated that it is related to the Luís Alves microplate on the opposite side of the South Atlantic. That microplate is floored by Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic migmatitic gneisses with two high-grade metamorphic events at approximately 2.35 and 2.18 Ga, respectively (Basei et al 2009). Thus, it differs from the RPC, which led Basei et al (2009) to consider it an exotic terrane from a South American point of view.…”

“…That microplate is floored by Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic migmatitic gneisses with two high-grade metamorphic events at approximately 2.35 and 2.18 Ga, respectively (Basei et al 2009). Thus, it differs from the RPC, which led Basei et al (2009) to consider it an exotic terrane from a South American point of view. Alternatively, it may be speculated that this cratonic fragment was contiguous with a postulated but so far unrecognized basement of the highgrade metamorphic Neoproterozoic successions in the Cabo Frío Terrane prior to opening of the South Atlantic.…”

The Itajaí foreland basin: a tectono-sedimentary record of the Ediacaran period, Southern Brazil

“…The Santa Catarina Granulitic Complex (Hartmann et al 1979;Kaul 1980;Basei et al 2009) is a crustal segment consisting of high-grade metamorphic rocks, predominantly charno-enderbites and migmatitic gneisses with occasional mafic-ultramafic bodies and paragneiss remnants. The Campo Alegre Basin (*600 Ma) represents the main cover recognized in the Luis Alves Microplate central region.…”

“…It occupies an area of ca. 700 km 2 and extends for more than 80 km from the coast of Santa Catarina to its Basei et al 2009) southeastern extremity, covered by the Paraná Basin sediments. The northern and southern limits of the Itajaí Basin are well defined in the field and distinct from one to another.…”