Journal of Petrology Advance Access originally published online on October 9, 2007
Journal of Petrology 2007 48(11):2149-2185; doi:10.1093/petrology/egm055
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Calc-Alkaline Magmatism at the Archean–Proterozoic Transition: the Caicó Complex Basement (NE Brazil)
1Pós-GraduaÇão Em Geodinâmica E Geofísica And Departamento De Geologia, Ccet-Ufrn, Caixa Postal 1502, Cep 59078-970, Natal/Rn, Brazil
2Laboratoire Magmas Et Volcans, Opgc, Cnrs, Ird, Université Blaise Pascal, 5, Rue Kessler, 63038, Clermont-Ferrand Cedex, France
3Géosciences Rennes, Cnrs, Université De Rennes 1, 35042, Rennes Cedex, France
RECEIVED JULY 26, 2006; ACCEPTED AUGUST 15, 2007
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The Paleoproterozoic metaplutonic rocks of the Caicó Complex Basement (Seridó region, NE Brazil) provide important and crucial insights into the petrogenetic processes governing crustal growth and may potentially be a proxy for understanding the Archean–Proterozoic transition. These rocks consist of high-K calc-alkaline diorite to granite, with Rb–Sr, U–Pb, Pb–Pb and Sm–Nd ages of c. 2·25–2·15 Ga. They are metaluminous, with high YbN, K2O/Na2O and Rb/Sr, low ISr ratios, and are large ion lithophile elements (LILE) enriched. Petrographic and geochemical data demonstrate that they belong to differentiated series that evolved by low-pressure fractionation, thus resulting in granodioritic liquids. We propose a model in which the petrogenesis of the Caicó Complex orthogneisses begins with partial melting of a metasomatically enriched spinel- to garnet-bearing lherzolite (with high-silica adakite melt as the metasomatic agent), generating a basic magma that subsequently evolved at depth through fractional crystallization of olivine, followed by low-pressure intracrustal fractionation. A subduction zone setting is proposed for this magmatism, to account for both negative anomalies in high field strength elements (HFSE) and LILE enrichment. Mantle-derived juvenile magmatism with the same age is also known in the São Francisco and West Africa cratons, as well as in French Guyana, and thus the Archean–Proterozoic transition marks a very important continental accretion event. It also represents a transition from slab-dominated (in the Archean) to wedge-dominated post-Archean magmatism.
KEY WORDS: calc-alkaline; magmatism; NE Brazil; Paleoproterozoic; petrogenesis
*Corresponding author. Telephone: 55-84-32153831. Fax: 55-84- 32153831. E-mail: zorano{at}geologia.ufrn.br