New insights into the Gondwana breakup at the Southern South America by apatite fission-track analyses

Abstract

Apatite fission-track (AFT) analyses, applied to Southern Brazil and Uruguay samples, was employed aiming to understand the low temperature history of the Dom Feliciano Belt Segment. The Dom Feliciano Belt formed during the Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic, linked to the Brasiliano/Pan-African Orogeny. Twenty-four samples were dated, and confined track lengths of twenty samples were measured. The spatial distribution of ages shows three domains with different evolution cut by shear zones and, or suture zones in the Dom Feliciano Belt. The Western Domain exhibits AFT ages > 250 Ma (Permian to Devonian) while the Eastern Domain shows AFT ages < 230 Ma (Paleogene to Triassic). In the Central Domain, the AFT ages range from ∼196 to 130 Ma (Jurassic to Early Cretaceous). The thermal modeling in the domains revealed a complex evolution, with cooling and reheating phases, and a denudation of ∼2600 m. The AFT ages clearly postdate the Gondwanide, Paraná-Etendeka and Rio Grande Cone exhumation history of the Dom Feliciano Belt.