THE HISTORY OF TETHYS IN THE LATE PALEOZOIC-EARLY MESOZOIC AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF PANGEA |
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| Abstract: | The Terra Nova ultrapotassic igneous rocks of northeastern Brazil consist of two dike swarms (alkali-feldspar syenites to quartz syenites and alkali-feldspar granites) and one elongated E-W syenitic body (the Serra do Livramento pluton), which intruded metasediments of the Cachoeirinha-Salgueiro fold belt from 580 to 514 Ma. Mafic ultrapotassic syenite enclaves are recorded in the Serra do Livramento and Terra Nova shoshonitic plutons, both of which are cut by the dike swarms. Mineralogically, Terra Nova ultrapotassic hypabyssal rocks resemble shoshonitic lamprophyres. Pyroxene is present in all facies; the clinopyroxenes are zoned, SiO2 saturated, and Al2O3 poor (0.12 to 1.15%), and range from earlier diopside to late acmite. Amphiboles are characterized by high SiO2 and low Al2O3 (0.20 to 2.00%) and TiO2 (0.0 to 1.76%) contents; their compositions range from calcic to alkaline. The late amphiboles are riebeckite-arfvedsonites instead of K-richterites, as expected in ultrapotassic rocks, reflecting the early crystallization of K-feldspar. The syenitic-facies rocks are mostly peralkaline, whereas the granites are metaluminous. The syenites have high concentrations of incompatible elements (Ba, Sr, and Rb) and light-rare-earth-element (LREE) concentrations lower than for typical ultrapotassic rocks, with chondrite-normalized Ce/Yb ratios of 10 to 20 and wide variation in the La/Ta ratios (40 to 250). The granites have lower incompatible-element contents and La/Ta ratios (20 to 60) than do the syenites. Syenites from the dike swarm exhibit high initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7106), whereas εNd, values for the ultrapotassic mafic enclaves range from -1.1 to -3.7, suggesting that the enclaves and the syenites have different sources. Field evidence, combined with geochemical data, shows that the granites and the syenites alternate in space and time, suggesting that syenites and granites cannot be associated by either fractional crystallization or partial melting of the same source. The syenites probably represent partial melting of a metasomatized lithospheric mantle, modified by subduction-zone fluids and crustal metasediments during the early stages of a Brasiliano (Pan-African) collisional event. Low-degree partial melting of a metasomatized lower crust appears to be the source of the granites. |
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