Multi-dimensional scaling of detrital zircon geochronology constrains basin evolution of the late Mesoproterozoic Paranoá Group, central Brazil
Introduction
Intracontinental basins are known to be long-lasting systems (Bradley, 2008). They have complex subsidence histories, frequently containing significant unconformities, often marked by erosion and reworking of sediments previously deposited or marked by periods of non-deposition (Allen and Allen, 2013). These basins are essential records of long periods of the Earth’s history but establishing a depositional age and life span of such basins is a challenge in the Proterozoic. The intracratonic deposition is characteristic of the western portion of the São Francisco Craton, Brazil, where several Proterozoic basins conceal long temporal records and are key to unveil important aspects of Precambrian basin evolution.
The Mesoproterozoic Paranoá Group was deposited along the western São Francisco Craton and represents a cratonic margin basin exposed in the Neoproterozoic Brasília Fold Belt (Martins-Ferreira et al., 2018b, Seraine et al., 2020). Previous studies address two main unconformities for the Paranoá Group: a lower unconformity that separates the Paranoá from the underlying Group Traíras Group (Calymmian) units, and an upper unconformity that separates them from overlying the Bambuí Group (Ediacaran) units (Faria, 1995, Dardenne, 2000, Alvarenga et al., 2012, Campos et al., 2013). Locally, the Paranoá Group is overlain by a glaciogenic sequence of the Jequitaí Formation of the Bambuí Group (Martins-Ferreira et al., 2013). However, the basin evolution and depositional history of the Paranoá Group is lacking proper characterization and description. The absence of fossils in the rock record and igneous age data hinder the construction of a more detailed history of the depositional systems, sediment sources, and overall basin evolution.
Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology has been widely used to constrain the depositional age of sedimentary sequences worldwide and in the Paranoá Group (e.g., Pimentel, 2016, Matteini et al., 2012, Oliveira, 2016, Martins-Ferreira et al., 2018a, Seraine et al., 2020). The detrital zircon U-Pb age distribution is often required to enable stratigraphic correlations across the basin and highlight variations in the source of detrital material. Besides, it allows identifying changes in the geological setting, such as magmatic events in the source areas and possible characterization of unconformities and paraconformities.
To better constrain basin infill through time and consequently the tectono-sedimentary evolution, we investigated the detrital zircon contribution together with multidimensional scaling investigation the Mesoproterozoic Paranoá Group through newly acquired and compiled databases of zircon U-Pb detrital ages. Geochronological, sedimentological, and sequence stratigraphy studies are thus applied to shed light on the possibility of new depositional hiatus across the sedimentary succession. These data are essential to unravel the original basin framework and unconformities within the basin. In a broader context, the data presented in this paper have implications on the formation of the Goiás-Pharusian passive margin and timing of the breakup of the São Francisco-Congo cratons during the Meso-Neoproterozoic, and later configuration of West Gondwana.
Section snippets
Geological setting
Proterozoic sedimentary strata are widely exposed in the Brasília Belt (Fig. 1), central Brazil, which is one of the most complete and complex Neoproterozoic orogens in western Gondwana (Pimentel, 2016). The Brasília Belt developed in response to the convergence of the Amazonas, São Francisco, and Paranapanema Cratonic blocks. The lithostratigraphic units of the Brasília Belt include the Araí, Traíras, Paranoá, Canastra, Vazante, Ibiá, Araxá, and Bambuí Groups (Pimentel et al., 2001, Valeriano
Stratigraphy of the Paranoá Group
The combined analyses carried out in previous studies indicate that sediment deposition in the Paranoá Group occurred in a shallow marine environment, with persistent fluctuating base level (Campos et al., 2012, Campos et al., 2013). The only exception is the group's basal unit (Ribeirão São Miguel Formation), where deposition occurred as alluvial fans under subaerial conditions.
The Paranoá Group probably represents a long-lived basin with a complex subsidence history (Martins-Ferreira, 2017)
Material and methods
We present new U-Pb data of detrital zircon grains from three samples of the Córrego do Barreiro Formation (1612_Brazlândia samples) and Ribeirão Piçarrão Formation (MS34 sample). Compiled U-Pb data from previous studies including Paranoá Group samples (Pimentel et al., 2011, Martins-Ferreira, 2017, Matteini et al., 2012, Oliveira. 2017, Martins-Ferreira et al., 2018a, Seraine et al., 2020) were used to compose a comprehensive age database. U-Pb samples and standard data can be found in
Results
In total, this study includes 1076 detrital zircon grains from the Paranoá Group (Matteini et al., 2012, Oliveira. 2017, Martins-Ferreira et al., 2018a, Seraine et al., 2020; this study). New detrital zircon analyses were obtained in the Ribeirão do Piçarrão (55 concordant grains), and Córrego do Barreiro formations (52 grains) by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The Córrego do Barreiro Formation detrital zircon is legacy data and the results of reference
Discussions
In this study, we suggest three primary sequences and stages (Lower, Intermediate and Upper), evidenced by the presence of three distinct detrital zircon populations (1.5 Ga, 1.4–1.3 Ga, and 1.1 Ga), stratigraphic interpretation and multidimensional scaling data (Table 1).
The Lower sequence comprises four stratigraphic parasequences and it is composed of Ribeirão Miguel, Córrego do Cordovil, Serra da Boa vista, Serra Almécegas and Serra do Paranã formations, showing a maximum depositional age
Conclusions
The tectonic and depositional histories of the Paranoá Basin are much more complex than previously considered and the combination of U-Pb detrital zircon ages with multi-dimensional scaling have shown to be essential to clarify basin evolution. Considering the stratigraphic framework and maximum depositional ages, the Paranoá Group can be divided into three main sections. Each sequence marks three distinct evolution stages of the Paranoá Basin: Initial, Expansion, and Final. The Initial Stage
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Marina Seraine: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. José Eloi Guimarães Campos: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Marco Antonio Caçador Martins-Ferreira: Conceptualization,
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to the Geosciences Institute of the University of Brasília (UnB), Brazil for providing fieldwork financial and logistic support and the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq) for the master's scholarship granted to the first author. Process number: 170906/2017-5.
References (47)
- et al.
Discovery of Precambrian deep-water turbidites and submarine volcanism in the Brasília Belt, Central Brazil: The Quilombo Formation
J. S. Am. Earth Sci.
(2021) - et al.
Unravelling a Proterozoic basin history through detrital zircon geochronology: The case of the Espinhaço Supergroup, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Gondwana Res.
(2012) - et al.
The application of laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry to in situ U-Pb zircon geochronology
Chem. Geol.
(2004) - et al.
Towards an integrated tectonic model for the interaction between the Bambuí basin and the adjoining orogenic belts: Evidences from the detrital zircon record of syn-orogenic units
J. S. Am. Earth Sci.
(2020) Multi-sample comparison of detrital age distributions
Chemical Geology
(2013)- et al.
Multi-stage crustal accretion by magmatic flare-up and quiescence intervals in the western margin of the São Francisco Craton: U-Pb-Hf and geochemical constraints from the Almas Terrane
Gondwana Res.
(2020) - et al.
U-Pb and Hf isotope study on detrital zircons from the Paranoá group, Brasília Belt Brazil: constraints on depositional age at Mesoproterozoic-Neoproterozoic transition and tectono-magmatic events in the São Francisco Craton
Precambr. Res.
(2012) - et al.
U-Pb zircon geochronology of Precambrian tin-bearing continental-type acid magmatism in central Brazil
Precambr. Res.
(1991) - et al.
Nd isotopes and the provenance of detrital sediments of the Neoproterozoic Brasília Belt, Central Brazil
J. S. Am. Earth Sci.
(2001) - et al.
The tectonic evolution of the Neoproterozoic Brasília Belt, central Brazil, based on SHRIMP and LA-ICPMS U-Pb sedimentary provenance data: a review.
Journal of South American Earth Sciences
(2011)
First precise U-Pb baddeleyite ages of 1500 Ma mafic dykes from the São Francisco Craton, Brazil, and tectonic implications
Lithos
Anatomy of a basin-controlled foreland fold-thrust belt curve: The Três Marias salient, São Francisco basin, Brazil
Marine and Petroleum Geology
Age, provenance and tectonic setting of the Canastra and Ibiá groups (Brasília belt, Brazil): implications for the age of a Neoproterozoic glacial event in central Brazil
Journal of South American Earth Sciences
Tectonic significance of abrupt immature sedimentation in a shallow cratonic margin basin: The Arkose Level, Mesoproterozoic Paranoá Group
J. S. Am. Earth Sci.
The São Francisco Palaeocontinent
Developments in Precambrian Geology
Strategies towards statistically robust interpretations of in situ U-Pb zircon geochronology
Geosci. Front.
Stratigraphy, tectonics and detrital zircon U-Pb (LA-ICP-MS) geochronology of the Rio Preto Belt and northern Paramirim corridor, NE, Brazil
Braz. J. Geol.
Basin Analysis: Principles and Application to Petroleum Play Assessment
Estratigrafia da borda ocidental da Bacia do São Francisco
Boletim de Geociências da Petrobras
Passive margins through earth history
Earth-Science Reviews
High spatial resolution analysis of Pb and U isotopes for geochronology by laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS)
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências
Sedimentology of the Psammo-pelitic-carbonate Unit, Paranoá Group, and Sete Lagoas Formation, Bambuí Group: examples of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sedimentation in the Proterozoic of the Brasília Fold Belt
Revista Brasileira de Geociências
Geologia do Grupo Paranoá na porção externa da Faixa Brasília
Braz. J. Geol.
Cited by (5)
Unravelling the protracted U-Pb zircon geochronological record of high to ultrahigh temperature metamorphic rocks: Implications for provenance investigations
2023, Geoscience FrontiersCitation Excerpt :Finally, we discuss the effect of the protracted record in detrital zircon investigations of high-grade metamorphic rocks and their unfolding to non-metamorphosed sedimentary rocks and propose a flowchart with a workflow to guide the identification and an approach to mitigate HT-UHT metamorphism induced bias. Zircon has been a fundamental mineral to resolve many geological problems given its ability to precisely date a diverse range of geological processes that shed light into sedimentary provenance (Paula-Santos et al., 2015; Moreira et al., 2016; Kuchenbecker et al., 2020; Seraine et al., 2021), igneous (Araujo et al., 2020; Ribeiro et al., 2020) and metamorphic events (Rubatto, 2002; Ganade de Araujo et al., 2014). However, zircon U-Pb systematic can be affected, among several reasons, by HT-UHT metamorphism hampering the analysis of geological evolution.
A Laurentian affinity for the Embu Terrane, Ribeira Belt (SE Brazil), revealed by zircon provenance statistical analysis
2023, Geoscience FrontiersCitation Excerpt :Detrital mineral U–Pb ages have been traditionally visually compared to assess relationships with other basins or crystalline sources (using kernel or probability density plots). Recently, a range of statistical tests have been deployed to highlight the differences (dissimilarity) between different detrital populations, reducing intrinsic biases and permitting effective evaluation of large datasets (Kirkland et al., 2008; Saylor et al., 2012, 2019; Satkoski et al., 2013; Vermeesch, 2013, 2018a, 2018b; Andersen et al., 2016; Saylor and Sundell, 2016; Spencer and Kirkland, 2016; Barham et al., 2019; Campanha et al., 2019; Martin et al., 2020; Ribeiro et al., 2021; Seraine et al., 2021). The detrital zircon U–Pb record of the Neoproterozoic–Cambrian Ribeira Belt (SE Brazil) have been explored in several studies (Basei et al., 2008; Faleiros et al., 2011; Campanha et al., 2015, 2019; Henrique-Pinto et al., 2015; Meira et al., 2015; Heilbron et al., 2020; Ricardo et al., 2020; Cabrita et al., 2021).
Bias in detrital zircon geochronology: a review of sampling and non-sampling errors
2024, International Geology ReviewSystematic investigation of keywords selection and processing strategy on search engine forecasting: a case of tourist volume in Beijing
2022, Information Technology and Tourism