São Luís Craton and Gurupi Belt (Brazil): possible links with the West African Craton and surrounding Pan-African belts

Abstract

The São Luís Craton and the Palaeoproterozoic basement rocks of the Neoproterozoic Gurupi Belt in northern Brazil are part of an orogen having an early accretionary phase at 2240-2150 Ma and a late collisional phase at 2080 + 20 Ma. Geological, geochronological and isotopic evidence, along with palaeogeographic reconstructions, strongly suggest that these Brazilian terrains were contiguous with the West African Craton in Palaeoproterozoic times, and that this landmass apparently survived subsequent continental break-up until its incorporation in Rodinia.The Gurupi Belt is an orogen developed in the southern margin of the West African-São Luís Craton at c. 750-550 Ma, after the break up of Rodinia. Factors such as present-day and possible past geographical positions, the timing of a few well-characterized events, the structural polarity and internal structure of the belt, in addition to other indirect evidence, all favour correlation between the Gurupi Belt and other Brasiliano/Pan-African belts, especially the Médio Coreaú domain of the Borborema Province and the Trans-Saharan Belt of Africa, despite the lack of proven physical links between them. These Neoproterozoic belts are part of the branched system of orogens associated with amalgamation of the Amazonian, West Africa-São Luís, São Francisco and other cratons and minor continental blocks into the West Gondwana supercontinent.

U-Pb Geochronology of the Jebba Granitic Gneiss and Its Implications for the Paleoproterozoic Evolution of Jebba Area, Southwestern Nigeria

“…The Paleoproterozoic was a very important crust- forming period of time marked by long-lived granitic magmatism in Africa and South America [29,30] as similar ages on orthogneisses and granitoids have been documented from the Nigerian basement complex, parts of the West African craton, the Zenaga inlier, Morrocco [31], the Borborema Province [32], Gurupi Belt, Brazil [33], Sao Luis craton, Brazil [34], and the Sao Francisco craton, Brazil [35], among others. It has been suggested on the basis of geological and geochronological data that the Amazonian, West African, Sao Francisco, Congo cratons as well as the basements of the Araguaia, Borborema, Nigerian and Cameroon provinces were part of the Atlantica Supercontinent established at the end of the Trans-Amazonian/Eburnean orogenic cycle at ca 2000 Ma [35].…”

Paleogeographic and structural evolution of northwestern Africa and its Atlantic margins since the early Mesozoic

“…This is due to the early propagation of a Guinea-Liberia rift system into South America (Fig. 15A) and to the presence of the Sao Luis craton (Klein and Moura, 2008) that acted as a rheological lithospheric heterogeneity (Fig. 15B).…”

Evolução tectônica da margem ativa Neoproterozóica do Orógeno Gondwana Oeste na Província Borborema (NE-Brasil)

“…(1984). The shape of this cratonic fragment is based on the geophysical interpretation of and is taken from Klein and Moura (2008). Villeneuve (2008) extensively reviewed the orogenic belts on the western side of the West African Craton.…”

“…At the southeastern part of the belt, the medium-grade metasedimentary rocks of the Marajupema Formation were found, thrust over the basement rocks. Klein and Moura (2008) suggested that the Neoproterozoic tectonic event was due to a collision between the São Luis…”

“…In this work they will be considered as members of a few activated Ma from the Marajupema Formation (Klein and Moura, 2008) was taken to indicate the presence of source rocks from the south because provinces from the Mesoproterozoic age were not found on the São Luis Craton, within the southern part of the West African Craton, or from the eastern part of the Amazonian Craton.…”