Late-Neoproterozoic ferroan granitoids of the Transversal subprovince, Borborema Province, NE Brazil: petrogenesis and geodynamic implications

Abstract

Ferroan granites (585–530 Ma) have been described in the Transversal subprovince of the Borborema Province (BP) and in Pan-African counterparts. They comprise two groups: Group 1 – slightly peraluminous to metaluminous, alkali-calcic rocks, with low Fe# mica and crystallized under intermediate fO2 (Aroeiras Complex and Serra Branca – Coxixola dike swarms); Group 2 metaluminous to slightly peraluminous, alkalic to alkali-calcic rocks, with high Fe# mica and crystallized under low fO2 (Queimadas and Prata intrusions). Group 1 marks transition from collision to transcurrence (ca. 585 Ma), or from transcurrence to uplift and transtension (ca.545 Ma). Group 2 – represents granitoids intruded during extensional tectonics in transcurrent setting (ca. 550 Ma), or coeval with deposition of transtensional intracratonic basins (ca. 530 Ma). Hf and Nd model ages are older than 2.0 Ga, suggesting that the ferroan granitoids involved partial melting of Paleoproterozoic rocks. The data presented in this paper show that the ferroan magmatism was widespread in the BP and its counterparts in Africa in pre-drift reconstructions.