Precambrian Research 355 (2021) 106119

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Precambrian Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/precamres

Comparative geological evolution of the Borborema Province and São

Francisco Craton (eastern Brazil): Decratonization and crustal reworking
during West Gondwana assembly and implications for
paleogeographic reconstructions
Sérgio Pacheco Neves
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Rua Acadêmico Hélio Ramos, 50740-530 Recife, Pernambucof, Brasil

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: 70–80% of the continental crust was produced during the 4.0–2.0 Ga time span, but the preserved area of
Crustal evolution Archean/early Paleoproterozoic cratons is smaller than 40%. Part of this deficit can be accounted for by the
Craton presence of reworked old crust in the basement of mid-Paleoproterozoic to Phanerozoic orogenic belts. Here, I
Orogenic belt
compare the crustal evolution of the Brasiliano-Pan-African Borborema Province (BP) with that of the São
Borborema
São Francisco
Francisco Craton (SFC) in eastern Brazil and highlight numerous geological aspects, several of which are un­
West Gondwana common in other cratons/orogenic belts, indicating their shared evolution for most of the Precambrian. These
include: 1. Presence of the oldest rocks (Eo- to Paleoarchean) from the South American Platform. 2. Occurrence
of Siderian (2.5–2.3 Ga) rocks. 3. Generation of juvenile crust and reworking of pre-existing rocks during the
Transamazonian event (2.2–2.0 Ga). 4. Intermittent rifting and intraplate magmatic events between 1.78 and
1.50 Ga. 5. Intrusion of mafic dykes and A-type granites at 1.0–0.85 Ga. 6. Intrusion of mafic rocks, syenites and
granitoids with intraplate signature between ca. 0.71 and 0.64 Ga. 7. The lack of evidence for igneous and
tectonic activity between ca. 1.95 and 1.78 Ga, during most of the Mesoproterozoic, and between 0.85 and 0.73
Ga. The temporal coincidence of Rhyacian orogenic events in the SFC and BP favors the hypothesis that they
were part of a continent formed by the accretion of Archean/early-Paleoproterozoic blocks and of juvenile arc
crust during the Transamazonian Orogeny. In addition, the recording of several intraplate tectonomagmatic
events from the late-Paleoproterozoic to the Neoproterozoic indicates that they remained united until at least the
mid-Neoproterozoic. In this context, BP can be interpreted as a fragment of the SFC re-accreted and reworked
during the Brasiliano-Pan-African Orogeny (ca. 640–550 Ma). Recent studies demonstrate that most of the
basement of the Brasília and Araçuaí belts, which occur to the west and east, respectively, of the SFC, also
resulted from its reworking. Therefore, an area c. two times larger than the current outline of the SFC can be
inferred, indicating an intense process of decratonization during the Brasiliano-Pan-African Orogeny. The
intermittent late Paleoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic extension-related magmatism in this Greater São
Francisco paleocontinent contrasts with the worldwide occurrence of orogenic episodes accompanying the
amalgamation of the Columbia supercontinent, its fragmentation, and the build-up of Rodinia. These differences
suggest that Greater São Francisco was not part of these supercontinental assemblages.

1. Introduction
There is mounting geochemical, geochronologic and isotopic evi­
dence (e.g., Reymer and Schubert, 1986; Tarney and Jones, 1994; Taylor
and McLennan, 1995; Condie, 1998; Belousova et al., 2010; Cawood
et al., 2013; Dhuime et al., 2017), backed by thermal and geodynamical
modelling (e.g., Davies, 1995; Gerya, 2014; Chowdhury et al., 2017),
that at least 70–80% of the continental crust was produced before 2.0
Ga. However, the preserved area of Archean and early Paleoproterozoic
crust is smaller than 40% (Artemieva, 2006). Whilst part of the conti­
nental crust formed during this period of the geological history of Earth
may have been recycled back into the mantle (Spencer et al., 2017;
Cawood and Hawkesworth, 2019), there is also appreciable amounts of
ancient crust that constitute the basement of late Paleoproterozoic- to

E-mail addresses: serpane@hotlink.com.br, sergio.neves@ufpe.com.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106119
Received 19 October 2020; Received in revised form 20 January 2021; Accepted 20 January 2021
Available online 12 February 2021
0301-9268/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
S. Pacheco Neves Precambrian Research 355 (2021) 106119

Phanerozoic-age orogenic belts. Examples include the Paleoproterozoic
Cathaysia Block from South China (Zhang and Zheng, 2013) and the
Capricorn Orogen from West Australia (Johnson et al., 2013); the late
Paleoproterozoic-early Mesoproterozoic Mount Isa Inlier from northern
Australia (Rubenach et al., 2008); the Late Neoproterozoic Nigerian
Shield (Bruguier et al., 1994; Ferré et al., 1996; Okonkwo and Ganev,
2015) and Cameroon belt (Toteu et al., 2001; Njiosseu et al., 2005;
Tchakounté et al., 2017); and the Jurassic Yanshanian Orogen from
northern China (Faure et al., 2012).
Determining whether old crustal rocks in orogenic belts were part of
larger continental blocks or whether they constituted small, indepen­
dent blocks is essential for estimating rates of continental crust pro­
duction and recycling, as well as for paleogeographic reconstructions.
Microcontinents can be reworked during their docking to other conti­
nental and/or oceanic blocks in accretionary orogens (e.g., Wu et al.,
1997). Crustal reworking also occurs during periods of flat-slab
subduction (e.g., English and Johnston, 2004) and in intracontinental
orogens (Raimondo et al., 2014 and references therein). However,
reworking of continental crust is mainly achieved through processes
associated with continental collisions, which occur more frequently
during periods of supercontinent assembly (e.g., Zhao et al., 2004, 2006;
Rino et al., 2008; Meert, 2014). This remobilization may not be strong
enough to completely obliterate the rheological properties of the pre­
viously stable cratonic masses and the term metacraton was introduced
(Abdelsalam et al., 2002; Liégeois et al., 2013) to distinguish these re­
gions from the cases where deformation and metamorphism affect the
whole crust, which are the defining characteristics of orogenic belts. In
these latter cases, removal of significant volumes of lower lithospheric
material can occur, a process termed decratonization (Yang et al., 2008;
Kusky et al., 2014; Spencer et al., 2017).
This paper assesses the importance of the processes of crustal
reworking and metacratonization/decratonization associated with West

Fig. 1. (a) Schematic map of West Gondwana at ca. 500 Ma. Thin blue lines are the present-day contours of South America and Africa. Abbreviations: AM,
Amazonian; KA, Kalahari; RP, Rio de la Plata; SF-C, São Francisco-Congo; SA, Sahara; WA, West Africa. (b) Tectonic provinces of South America (simplified from
Cordani and Sato, 1999). Abbreviations: AM and SF, Amazonian and São Francisco Cratons; B, M and T, Borborema, Mantiqueira and Tocantins provinces. (c, d)
Tomographic (c) and Bouguer (d) anomalies in eastern Brazil (Rocha et al., 2019). Solid blue and dashed red lines are the inferred extensions at depth of the São
Francisco Craton based on Bouguer anomaly and tomographic results, respectively. SD, TD and ND stand for the Southern, Central and Northern subprovinces of
Borborema Province. Bars in (c) represent SKS fast orientations and the red arrow is the absolute plate motion. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this
figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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Gondwana assembly. After the end of the Brasiliano-Pan-African

Orogeny, West Gondwana consisted of several orogenic belts encir­
cling older cratonic nuclei (Fig. 1a). In South America, two main
cratonic masses and three main orogenic provinces are recognized
(Almeida et al., 1981): Amazonian and São Francisco cratons, and
Borborema, Tocantins and Mantiqueira provinces (Fig. 1b). Geophysical
data demonstrate that the São Francisco Craton extends further in depth
than its geological boundaries with neighboring Neoproterozoic belts at
surface (Assumpção et al., 2017; Oliveira and Medeiros, 2018; Rocha
et al., 2019). For instance, tomographic and Bouguer maps (Fig. 1c, d)
show that the northern limit of the craton encompasses much of the
southern portion of the Borborema Province. Also, since the first isotopic
and geochronological surveys were conducted in the Brazilian orogenic
provinces, it became clear that they contain an appreciable amount of
ancient crust, especially of Paleoproterozoic age (Cordani and Sato,
1999). To evaluate whether these orogens shared a common evolution
with the São Francisco Craton or whether they belonged to distinct
plates, it is necessary to compare their geological histories predating the
Brasiliano orogeny with that of the craton. Particularly, correlation of
intraplate extensional and magmatic events (Ernst and Buchan, 2003;
Hou et al., 2008a; Ernst et al., 2013; Pirajno and Santosh, 2015) is an
important tool to carrying off paleogeographic reconstructions and it
will be the approach employed here.
Neves (2015) compiled all U-Pb zircon ages from igneous, metaig­
neous and metasedimentary rocks available for the Borborema Province
at the time of publication. The author showed that metaigneous rocks
display several age peaks between 2.25 and 1.99 Ga and that the age
spectra resemble that of the São Francisco Craton. More recently, Caxito
et al. (2021) compiled 5532 detrital U-Pb zircon data that show a clear
dominance of Rhyacian ages. In this paper, I highlight the numerous
similarities between the geological evolution of the São Francisco Craton
and Borborema Province, especially concerning the timing of exten­
sional phases predating the Brasiliano Orogeny. The results are
compared with data from the Araçuaí (Mantiqueira Province) and Bra­ Fig. 2. Simplified geological map of the São Francisco Craton. Abbreviations:
sília (Tocantins Province) belts, which bound the São Francisco Craton G, J and S, Gavião, Jequié and Serrinha blocks; ISC, Itabuna-Salvador-Curaçá
to the east and west, respectively, and are interpreted as supporting the Belt; M, Mineiro Belt; Q, Quadrilátero Ferrífero. The Paramirim Corridor is a
former existence of a Greater São Francisco paleocontinent. Finally, I fold-thrust belt resulting from deformation related to the Brasiliano Orogeny.
discuss the implications for paleogeographic reconstructions and assess
the general processes of decratonization and crustal reworking during comprises three Archean nuclei (Gavião, Jequié and Serrinha blocks). It
orogenesis. is widely accepted that these blocks were amalgamated during devel­
opment of the Paleoproterozoic Itabuna-Salvador-Curaçá Belt (Barbosa
2. Geological overview and Sabaté, 2004; Barbosa and Barbosa, 2017; Teixeira et al., 2017). In
contrast with the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, the northern São Francisco
Recent overviews of the main geological features of the São Fran­ Craton is characterized by NNE-trending structural grain, attesting the
cisco Craton and Borborema Province are provided, respectively, by variable reworking of Archean fabrics by the Paleoproterozoic event.
Heilbron et al. (2017a) and by Neves (2015) and Caxito et al. (2020a), The consolidation of the basement of the São Francisco Craton was
and only a brief description is provided here. More detailed accounts of followed by several episodes of intraplate basin formation and related
specific points relevant to the aims of this paper are dealt with in section magmatism. The sedimentary cover is divided into two supergroups:
3. Espinhaço and São Francisco (Fig. 2). The Espinhaço Supergroup en­
compasses a thick succession of siliciclastic rocks that records a poly­
2.1. São Francisco Craton cyclic depositional history, with a geological evolution spanning the
Paleoproterozoic to the early Neoproterozoic (Danderfer et al., 2009;
The São Francisco Craton has a horsetail shape. About two thirds of Danderfer Filho et al., 2015; Guadagnin et al., 2015a, 2015b; Costa
the craton is covered by Precambrian sedimentary rocks, with Archean/ et al., 2018a, 2018b). The São Francisco Supergroup comprises a basal
Paleoproterozoic basement exposed in the southern lobe and in the glaciogenic unit and a thick sequence of pelitic and carbonate sedi­
eastern portion (Fig. 2). The southern lobe encompasses the Quad­ mentary rocks of the Bambuí formation, which was deposited in the
rilátero Ferrífero region and the Mineiro Belt. The first comprises latest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian (Paula-Santos et al., 2015; Moreira
gneissic-granitic complexes and greenstone belts with dome-and-keel et al., 2020). The basins were partially inverted during the Brasiliano
architecture typical of Archean cratons (Lana et al., 2013; Teixeira Orogeny, generating an intracontinental orogenic belt (Paramirim
et al., 2017 and references therein; Cutts et al., 2019) and a thick sedi­ Corridor; Fig. 2), with basement-involved deformation (thick-skinned
mentary succession comprising world-class banded iron formations tectonics) and high-grade (amphibole facies) metamorphism in the do­
deposited shortly after late Archean cratonization (Dopico et al., 2017 mains of stronger deformation (Franz et al., 2014; Cruz et al., 2015a,
and references therein). The Quadrilátero Ferrífero is in tectonic contact 2015b; Cruz and Alkmim, 2017 and references therein).
along its southeast side with the Mineiro Belt, an early Paleoproterozoic
orogenic belt with NE-SW tectonic fabric (Teixeira et al., 2015; Barbosa
et al., 2019). The larger eastern portion of the São Francisco Craton

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2.2. Borborema Province
The Borborema Provinces is divided into three subprovinces
(Northern, Central and Southern) by the dextral Patos and Pernambuco
shear zone systems (Fig. 3). These subprovinces are further divided in
several domains: Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará Central and Médio Coreaú
(Northern Subprovince); Rio Capibaribe, Alto Moxotó, Alto Pajeú and
Piancó-Alto Brígida (Central Subprovince); Pernambuco-Alagoas, Ser­
gipano and Riacho do Pontal (Southern Subprovince). The basement of
all these domains comprises essentially Paleoproterozoic (2.5–2.0 Ga)
orthogneisses and migmatites (Neves, 2015 and references therein;
Santos et al., 2015a, 2015b, 2017; Costa et al., 2018a, 2018b; Lima et al.,
2019; Sousa et al., 2019; Brito Neves and Pissarelli, 2020; Ferreira et al.,
2020). Isolated Archean blocks occur in the São José do Campestre,
Tróia and Granjeiro Massifs from the Northern Subprovince (Fetter et al,
2000; Silva et al., 2002a; Dantas et al., 2004, 2013; Ganade et al., 2017;
Pitarello et al., 2019), in the Itabaiana and Simão Dias domes from the
Sergipano Domain (Oliveira, 2008; Rosa et al., 2020), and in the Cris­
talândia do Piauí block in the southwesternmost portion of Borborema
Province (Barros et al., 2020). Smaller Archean remnants occur locally
in the northern portion of the Rio Grande do Norte Domain (Ruiz et al.,
2019; Ferreira et al., 2020; Santos et al., 2020a, 2020b), in the Central
Subprovince (Santos et al., 2017; Pitarello et al., 2019; Brito Neves et al.,
2020), and in the western portion of the Pernambuco-Alagoas Domain
(Cruz et al., 2014). Late Paleoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic
(1.8–1.5 Ga) metaigneous rocks with within-plate geochemical

Fig. 3. Simplified geological map of the Borborema Province (modified from Neves, 2015, and Oliveira and Medeiros, 2018). The province is divided in Northern,
Central and Southern subprovinces by The Patos shear zone (PaSZ) and the West and East Pernambuco shear zones (WPSZ and EPSZ, respectively), which are
internally further subdivided in domains. The Sobral (SSZ) and Senador Pompeu shear zones (SPSZ) separate the Médio-Coreaú (MC), Ceará Central (CC) and Rio
Grande do Norte (RG) domains. The Congo and Coxixola shear zones (CSZ and CoSZ), the Afogados da Ingazeira shear zone (AISZ) and the Serra do Caboclo shear
zone separate the Rio Capibaribe (RC), Alto Moxotó (AM), Alto Pajeú (AP), and Piancó-Alto Brígida (PAB) domains. Additional domains, mainly comprising
orthogneisses, have been proposed in the western portion of the Central Subprovince, but here they are considered to represent the basement of the Piancó-Alto
Brígida Domain. The boundaries of the domains the Southern Subprovince (Pernambuco-Alagoas, PEAL; Riacho do Pontal, RP; and Sergipano, SE) are not defined by
transcurrent shear zones and are shown by dashed lines. Other shear zones: CGSZ, Campina Grande; JSZ, Jaguaribe; JCSZ, João Câmara; PASZ, Portoalegre; RSZ,
Riachão; TSZ, Tauá.

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signature occur in the Rio Grande do Norte Domain (Sá et al., 1995;
Hollanda et al., 2011) and in the eastern sector of the Central Sub­
province (Accioly et al, 2000; Sa et al., 2002; Lages et al., 2019). An
expressive magmatic event, called Cariris Velhos, took place in the
Central and Southern subprovinces at the beginning of the Neo­
proterozoic (Brito Neves et al., 1995; Neves, 2015 and references
therein; Cruz et al., 2015a, 2015b; Caxito et al., 2016, 2020b; Guimarães
et al., 2016; Santos et al., 2019; Neves et al., 2020a). It comprises mainly
coarse-grained augen gneisses of granitic to granodioritic composition
and subordinate metavolcanosedimentary sequences.
Metasedimentary belts, sometimes with a subordinate volcanic
component, cover large areas of the Borborema Province (Fig. 3). Most
of the precursor sedimentary basins were formed in the late Neo­
proterozoic (Neves, 2015 and references therein; Oliveira et al., 2015a;
Neves et al., 2016, 2017; Lima et al., 2018; Basto et al., 2019). Sedi­
mentary successions of Late Paleoproterozoic age (ca. 1.7 Ga) are rep­
resented by the Orós and Jaguaribe belts from the Rio Grande do Norte
Domain (Sá et al., 1995), and is possible that sediments related to the
Cariris Velhos event constitute part of the metasedimentary sequences in
the Alto Pajeú and Sergipano domains (Van Schmus et al., 2011; Caxito
et al., 2014a; Santos et al., 2015a, 2015b; Neves et al., 2019).
The main geological characteristics of the Brasiliano Orogeny are an
intense magmatic activity, represented by numerous plutons and bath­
oliths intruded into the gneissic basement and the metasedimentary
cover, and the development of large transcurrent shear zones. Regional
metamorphism at amphibolite facies conditions prevails in the province,
but greenschist facies rocks dominate in the Piancó-Alto Brígida Domain
and in the southern portion of the Sergipano Belt.

3. Chronologically correlated geological events in the São

Francisco Craton and Borborema Province

The spatial distribution of U-Pb zircon ages of pre-Brasiliano igneous

and metaigneous rocks in the São Francisco Craton and Borborema
Province are shown in Figs. 4 and 5, respectively. The geological events
responsible for their formation constitute the basis for comparing the
crustal evolution of the two provinces.

3.1. Eo- to Paleoarchean (3.7–3.2 Ga)

3.1.1. São Francisco Craton

The oldest rocks of the South American Platform are found in the
Gavião Block of the São Francisco Craton and in the Rio Grande do Norte
Domain of the Borborema Province. The presence of very old continental
crust in the Gavião Block was anticipated by reconnaissance Sm-Nd
isotopic studies, which yielded Nd model ages ranging from 3.3 to 3.7
Ga (Barbosa and Sabaté, 2004 and references therein). Several precise U-
Pb zircon ages confirmed that this block is dominated by 3.4–3.2 Ga-old
grey gneisses of the tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) associa­
tion and by disrupted greenstone belts (Nutman and Cordani, 1993;
Peucat et al., 2002; Santos-Pinto et al., 2012; Zincone et al., 2016; Barros
et al., 2020). Oliveira et al. (2020) recently identified rocks with
Eoarchean ages between 3.64 and 3.60 Ga. Presence of inherited grains
with ages up to 3.69 Ga and zircon Hf model ages ranging from 3.82 to
4.33 Ga indicate the existence of still older crust. Generation of a
primitive Hadean crust is further supported by the presence of a ca. 4.1
Ga-old detrital zircon in a Paleoproterozoic metasedimentary sequence
(Paquette et al., 2015).
3.1.2. Borborema Province
The Archean of the São José do Campestre Massif (Rio Grande do
Norte Domain; Fig. 3) share striking similarities with the Gavião Block.
The dominant lithologies are tonalitic to monzogranitic gneisses with U-
Pb zircon ages ranging from 3.4 to 3.25 Ga and Nd model ages from 3.5
to 4.1 Ga, indicating involvement of still older crust in their genesis
(Dantas et al., 2004, 2013; Souza et al., 2016). Rocks with U-Pb zircon
Fig. 4. Distribution of U-Pb zircon ages from Archean/Paleoproterozoic
igneous/metaigneous rocks in the northern (a) and Southern (b) portions of the
São Francisco Craton. See Supplementary Table 1 for sources of data.
ages older than those dated in the São José do Campestre Massif were
determined for dismembered metamafic-ultramafic units occurring c.
50 km to the west, at the contact of the Neoproterozoic Seridó belt with
the Paleoproterozoic basement. The São Tomé layered intrusion,
composed of ol-websterite and clinopyroxenite, was dated at 3.51 Ga
(Ruiz et al., 2019) and two serpentinite samples yielded ages of 3.75 and
3.53 Ga (Santos et al., 2020a, 2020b). Outside the Rio Grande do Norte
Domain, records of Paleoarchean crust were locally found in the Tróia
Massif (3.27 Ga; Silva et al., 2002a), in the westernmost portion of the
Central Subprovince (3.53 Ga; Pitarello et al., 2019), and in the south­
westernmost portion of the Southern Subprovince (3.2 Ga; Barros et al.,
2020).
3.2. Meso- to Neoarchean (3.2–2.5 Ga)
3.2.1. São Francisco Craton
As in most cratons worldwide, rocks formed during the Mesoarchean
and Neoarchean are predominant within the Archean nuclei of the São
Francisco Craton. In southern São Francisco, although continental crust
generation in the latest Paleoarchean (3.22–3.20 Ga) is documented,
much of the crust was produced between 2.93 and 2.90 Ga, consisting of

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S. Pacheco Neves
Fig. 5. Distribution of U-Pb zircon ages from pre-Brasiliano metaigneous rocks in Borborema Province. The polygon encompasses areas of occurrence of Archean
rocks in the Rio Grande do Norte Domain and Central Subprovince. See Supplementary Table 2 for sources of data.
juvenile TTG gneisses (Lana et al., 2013; Teixeira et al., 2017 and ref­
erences therein). The final stage of TTG magmatism occurred at
2.80–2.77 Ga and was followed by extrusion of komatiites and basaltic
komatiites, of more felsic volcanic rocks associated with sedimentary
rocks, intrusion of potassic granitoids, and acquisition of the typical
dome-and-keel architecture at 2.80–2.72 Ga (Farina et al., 2015; Teix­
eira et al., 2017; Brando Soares et al., 2017, 2020; Cutts et al., 2019). An
extended period of granitoid magmatism with A-type affinity lasted
from 2.72 to 2.63 Ga (Moreno et al., 2018; Brando Soares et al., 2020).
In the eastern portion of the Gavião Block, 3.18–3.04 Ga-old rocks
(Teixeira et al., 2017 and references therein) were intruded by alkaline
granites and syenites dated at 2.70–2.65 Ga (Cruz et al., 2012; Santos-
Pinto et al., 2012; Bersan et al., 2018), and 2.65 Ga syenogranites are
present in its northwestern portion (Barros et al., 2020). The Serrinha
and Jequié blocks are dominated, respectively, by Mesoarchean and
Neoarchean gneisses and granulites. In the Serrinha Block, the main li­
thologies are juvenile TTG gneisses with U-Pb crystallization ages be­
tween 3.17 and 3.06 Ga (Rios et al., 2009; Oliveira et al., 2010a, 2019;
Baldim and Oliveira, 2016). Metamorphism is typically at amphibolite
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Precambrian Research 355 (2021) 106119
facies and a result of Paleoproterozoic tectonism, but a high-pressure
granulitic event was recently dated at 2.82 Ga (Oliveira et al., 2019).
In contrast, the Jequié Block mostly comprises juvenile calc-alkaline
gneisses dated at ca. 2.7 Ga, which were strongly reworked during the
Paleoproterozoic (Silva et al., 2002b; Barbosa and Sabaté, 2004). Neo­
archean rocks are also dominant in the Itabuna-Salvador-Curaçá Belt,
where the most common lithotypes are granulite-facies tonalitic and
trondhjemitic orthogneisses in the southern part (Peucat et al., 2011),
and juvenile orthogneisses and metamafic-ultramafic rocks dated at ca.
2.58 Ga (Caraíba and São José do Jacuípe complexes) in the central and
northern part (Piaia et al., 2017, and references therein).
3.2.2. Borborema Province
In the São José do Campestre Massif, a small Mesoarchean compo­
nent is represented by granitic to granodioritic gneisses and
metagabbro-anorthosites with U-Pb ages of 3.12–3.03 Ga (Dantas et al.,
2004, 2013; Souza et al., 2016), which are similar to the ages of gneissic
rocks in the Gavião and Serrinha blocks. Migmatites with Mesoarchean
paleosome ages (3.0–2.9 Ga) were recently discovered in the northern
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portion of the Rio Grande do Norte Domain, to the west of the Seridó Belt
(Ferreira et al., 2020). In the Tróia Massif, Archean rocks are mostly TTG
gneisses and migmatites with 2.79–2.70 Ga ages (Silva et al., 2002a;
Ganade et al., 2017), which are similar to the ages of the late stage TTG
magmatism in southern São Francisco. In the Sergipano Belt, a SHRIMP
U-Pb zircon age of 2.83 Ga was obtained in a trondhjemitic gneiss from
the Itabaiana dome (Rosa et al., 2020).
The final phase of Archean magmatism in the São José do Campestre
Massif shows the same age range (2.68–2.65 Ga) of granites from the
Gavião Block. The analyzed samples plot in the field of A-type granites
(Dantas et al., 2013), suggesting emplacement of the protolith in an
intraplate setting. A slightly older (2.73 Ga) granitic orthogneiss in
western Pernambuco-Alagoas Domain also has within-plate geochem­
ical signature (Cruz et al., 2014). A younger, smaller Neoarchean unit
with TTG affinity was dated at 2.62 Ga in the Alto Moxotó domain of the
Central Subprovince (Santos et al., 2017). Several occurrences of
orthogneisses with similar ages (2.66–2.60 Ga), for which geochemical
data are still lacking and whose areal extent is unknown, have recently
been reported in this domain (Brito Neves et al., 2020).
3.3. Early Paleoproterozoic (2.5–2.0 Ga)
3.3.1. São Francisco Craton
Along the southern part of the São Francisco Craton, continental
rifting at the Archean/Proterozoic boundary, marked by emplacement
of the Lavras mafic dyke swarm at ca. 2.55 Ga (Caxito et al., 2020c),
evolved into the passive margin Minas Basin (Dopico et al., 2017, and
references therein). Roughly coeval with sedimentation of the Minas
Basin, an extended period of juvenile TTG magmatism (2.47–2.13 Ga)
took place in the Mineiro Belt (Seixas et al., 2012, 2013; Ávila et al.,
2014; Teixeira et al., 2015; Barbosa et al., 2019). This belt is interpreted
as an accretionary orogen whose collision with the Quadrilátero Ferrí­
fero region resulted in inversion of the Minas Basin at ca. 2.12–2.13 Ga
and reworking of the Archean/Siderian crust, accompanied by high-
grade metamorphism, between 2.14 and 2.05 Ga (Ávila et al., 2014;
Teixeira et al., 2015; Moreira et al., 2019).
Generation of juvenile crust and widespread deformation, magma­
tism and metamorphism occurred in the northern São Francisco Craton
in the 2.2–2.0 Ga interval, which is usually referred as the Trans­
amazonian event (e.g., Cordani and Sato, 1999). The Paleoproterozoic
rock record of this period comprises dominantly metavolcanosedi­
mentary assemblages and granitic and syenitic suites. Metamorphism of
Neoarchean units under granulitic facies conditions predominate in the
Jequié Block and Itabuna-Salvador Curaçá Belt, with magmatism mainly
represented by intrusion of syenitic plutons (Peucat et al., 2011; Barbosa
and Barbosa, 2017 and references therein). Juvenile accretion is mainly
represented by granite-greenstone terranes in the Serrinha Block. They
comprise thick sequences of mafic and intermediate metavolcanic rocks
dated at 2.14–2.09 Ga (Oliveira et al., 2010a) and trondhjemitic plutons
of ca. 2.13 Ga (Nascimento et al., 2017). Regional metamorphism,
partial melting and granitoid intrusion also affected the Gavião Block,
but with limited addition of juvenile material to the crust (Santos-Pinto
et al., 2012; Cruz et al., 2016).
Throughout the northern São Francisco Craton, magmatic rocks may
be classified into two groups (Peucat et al., 2011; Santos-Pinto et al.,
2012; Cruz et al., 2016; Nascimento et al., 2017; Bersan et al., 2020).
The older one was mainly emplaced between 2.15 and 2.08 Ga and
comprises plutons (usually interpreted as pre-collisional) largely con­
verted to orthogneisses and granulite. The younger one is represented by
less deformed and undeformed plutons mostly intruded at 2.08–2.04 Ga.
High-grade metamorphism is constrained by the ages of metamorphic
zircons and lower intercept ages mainly to the 2.10–2.07 Ga interval
(Oliveira et al., 2010a; Peucat et al., 2011; Santos-Pinto et al., 2012;
Cruz et al., 2016). The low-grade Contendas-Mirante supracrustal
sequence, which occurs between the Gavião and Jequié blocks, is
interpreted as deposited in a foreland basin during collision of these two
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blocks (Zincone and Oliveira, 2017).
3.3.2. Borborema Province
In the Northern Subprovince, rocks of latest Archean to Siderian age
dominate in the Médio-Coreaú Domain (Santos et al., 2009) and are an
important component in the Granjeiro Complex (Hollanda et al., 2015;
Archanjo et al., 2021). The ages of orthogneisses enclosing iron forma­
tions in the north-westernmost portion of the Central Subprovince range
from 3.53 to 2.38 Ga and were interpreted as related to the Granjeiro
Complex displaced along the Patos shear zone (Pitarello et al., 2019).
Local occurrences of Archean/Siderian rocks are also reported in the
Alto Moxotó Domain (Melo et al., 2002; Santos et al., 2013, 2015a,
2015b, 2017; Brito Neves et al., 2020). In all cases, the rocks are
dominantly juvenile TTG gneisses, akin to the case of the Mineiro Belt.
Overall, the evolution of the Ceará Central Domain during the
Transamazonian event is similar to that of the Serrinha Block, with
greenstone belts and tonalitic orthogneisses dated at 2.20–2.13 Ga and
late granitic gneisses at 2.09–2.02 Ga (Costa et al., 2015, 2018a, 2018b,
2019; Santos et al., 2015a, 2015b). Sm-Nd studies show that the 2.2–2.1
Ga TTG magmatism is dominantly juvenile and represents an important
period of crust generation (Fetter et al., 2000; Souza et al., 2016; Costa
et al., 2018a, 2018b). The Rio Grande do Norte Domain records a
slightly older evolution than the Ceará Central Domain, involving both
crustal accretion and reworking. Metaplutonic rocks mostly have U-Pb
zircon ages ranging from 2.25 to 2.15 Ga and Archean Nd model ages,
belonging to the calc-alkaline (instead of the TTG) series (Fetter et al.,
2000; Hollanda et al., 2011; Souza et al., 2016; Ferreira et al., 2020). In
contrast, calc-alkaline magmatism in the Central and Southern sub­
provinces extends mainly from 2.13 to 2.04 Ga (Neves et al., 2006,
2015a; Brito Neves et al., 2013; Brito Neves and Pissarelli, 2020; Santos
et al., 2017; França et al., 2019; Lima et al., 2019).
3.4. Late Paleoproterozoic-Early Mesoproterozoic (2.0–1.5 Ga)
Local occurrences of 2.02–1.97 Ga rocks mark the waning stages of
the Transamazonian event in the São Francisco Craton (Cruz et al., 2016;
Bersan et al., 2020) and in the Borborema Province (Neves et al., 2006,
Neves et al., 2017; Caxito et al., 2015; Santos et al., 2015a, 2015b). After
this great episode of crust generation and reworking, there was a period
without geological record of about 200 Myr. This period of tectonic and
magmatic quiescence, which can be ascribed to crustal stabilization
related to acquisition of a thick lithospheric root and resulting cratoni­
zation, was followed by several episodes of intraplate extension and
magmatism.
3.4.1. São Francisco Craton
In the São Francisco Craton, the first rifting phase led to deposition of
the Lower Espinhaço Supergroup (Fig. 6), with associated volcanic and
plutonic rocks aged between 1.78 and 1.70 Ga (Danderfer et al., 2009;
Danderfer Filho et al., 2015; Chemale Jr. et al., 2012; Lobato et al., 2015;
Costa et al., 2018a, 2018b). After about 100 Myr without geological
record, renewed rifting led to deposition of the lower sequence of the
Middle Espinhaço (Guadagnin et al., 2015a), with associated volcanic
rocks dated at 1.57–1.58 Ga (Danderfer et al., 2009; Santos et al., 2020a,
2020b). In southern São Francisco, an extensive mafic dike swarm was
emplaced at ca. 1.8 and 1.71 Ga (Caxito et al., 2020c).
3.4.2. Borborema Province
Orthogneisses associated with metasedimentary rocks of the Orós
and Jaguaribe belts in the Rio Grande do Norte Domain fall within the
age range of the first rifting event in the São Francisco Craton (Sá et al.,
1995), and thus sedimentation is regarded as Paleoproterozoic. The
protolith of a large augen gneiss unit further east of these belts also
yielded a Paleoproterozoic protolith age of 1.74 Ga (Hollanda et al.,
2011), and a meta-gabbroanorthositic complex in the Rio Capibaribe
Domain was dated around 1.7 Ga (Accioly et al., 2000). Slightly younger
S. Pacheco Neves
Fig. 6. Chronostratigraphic chart and simplified stratigraphy of the Espinhaço
Supergroup (modified from Martins-Ferreira et al., 2018). The base of the
Upper Espinhaço may be much younger than shown (see text for discussion).
(ca. 1.64 Ga-old) granitic orthogneisses occur in the Alto Moxotó
Domain (Santos et al., 2015a, 2015b; Lages et al., 2019).
Possible supracrustal sequences correlated to the basal units of the
Middle Espinhaço are the Novo Oriente Group from the Ceará Central
Domain, where metabasalts have Nd model ages between 2.45 and 1.56
Ga (Araújo et al., 2010), and the Forquilha eclogitic zone, where garnet
amphibolites (former rift basalts) intercalated with metasedimentary
rocks yielded ages between 1.61 and 1.53 Ga (Amaral et al., 2015;
Ancelmi et al., 2015). Finally, the age of a large orthogneiss unit in the
Rio Capibaribe Domain, with typical A-type granite signature, was dated
at 1.52 Ga (Sa et al., 2002), which is similar to the ages (1.51 Ga) of
mafic dikes and sills that intruded the Archean basement of the São
Francisco Craton and the Middle Espinhaço Supergroup (Silveira et al.,
2013).
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3.5. Mesoproterozoic (1.5–1.0 Ga)
3.5.1. São Francisco Craton
During the Mesoproterozoic, a large gap is observed between depo­
sition of the Middle and Upper Espinhaço sequences (Fig. 6). Tuffacious
rocks indicative of volcanic activity from the upper section of the Middle
Espinhaço were dated at 1.42 Ga (Guadagnin et al., 2015b), which
constitutes the best estimate for its deposition. The age of the youngest
zircon grains from the basal section of the Upper Espinhaço falls within
the interval 1.24–1.08 Ga (Chemale Jr. et al., 2012), which establishes
its maximum deposition age to the latest Mesoproterozoic.
3.5.2. Borborema Province
In the Borborema Province, excepting for a metamafic-ultramafic
unit dated at 1.02 Ga in the Alto Pajeú Domain (Lages and Dantas,
2016), which marks the beginning of the Cariris Velhos event, there is no
record of magmatic activity in the 1.5–1.0 Ga interval.
3.6. Early Tonian (1.0–0.85 Ga)
3.6.1. São Francisco Craton
A hydrothermal event dated at 0.96 Ga that altered 1.75 Ga-old
granitoids was suggested to be related to extension that led to deposition
of the basal units of the São Francisco Supergroup (Lobato et al.; 2015).
However, since these units overlay mafic dikes (preliminarily dated at
0.91 Ga) that cut the Espinhaço Supergroup (Machado et al., 1989),
deposition of the São Francisco Supergroup should post-date the hy­
drothermal activity. Therefore, it is more likely that this event was
contemporaneous with deposition of the uppermost units of the Espin­
haço Supergroup. More recent works confirmed that intrusion of mafic
dikes occurred between 0.94 and 0.91 Ga (Evans et al., 2016; Chaves
et al., 2019), thus placing a maximum age boundary on the beginning of
deposition of the São Francisco Supergroup. Detrital zircon grains dated
at ca. 0.89 Ga in this sequence (Figueiredo et al., 2009; Babinski et al.,
2012; Bitencourt et al., 2019) confirm that the maximum deposition age
post-dates the mafic magmatism. 0.9–0.85 magmatism is represented by
intrusion of A-type granites at 0.87 Ga (Silva et al., 2008) and of a mafic
dike-sill complex at 0.85 Ga (Danderfer et al., 2009) in northern São
Francisco, and of a mafic dike swarm at ca. 0.90 Ga (Caxito et al., 2020c)
in southern São Francisco.
3.6.2. Borborema Province
The beginning of the Neoproterozoic Era in the Borborema Province
corresponds to the Cariris Velhos event. This event was initially
described in the Alto Pajeú Domain of the Central Subprovince and
dominantly comprises bimodal metavolcanic rocks and numerous
granitic plutons (now augen gneisses) dated between 1.0 and 0.92 Ga
(Brito Neves et al., 1995; Santos et al., 2010; Van Schmus et al., 2011;
Guimarães et al., 2012, 2016). Several occurrences of Tonian orthog­
neisses were later reported from the Pernambuco-Alagoas, Sergipano
and Riacho do Pontal domains from the Southern Subprovince
(Guimarães et al., 2016 and references therein; Caxito et al., 2020b;
Neves et al., 2020a). There has been considerable controversy regarding
the tectonic setting of the Cariris Velhos magmatism, whether orogenic-
or rift-related. However, the dominant intraplate geochemical signature
and lack of any evidence for contemporary contractional deformation
and/or orogenic metamorphism favor the second hypothesis (see dis­
cussion in Caxito et al., 2020b).
Metamafic-ultramafic and metavolcanosedimentary complexes in
the Riacho do Pontal Domain with ages of 0.90–0.88 Ga (Caxito et al.,
2016; Salgado et al., 2016) and small orthogneiss bodies in the Rio
Capibaribe Domain and in the eastern portion of the Pernambuco-
Alagoas Domain dated at 0.87–0.85 Ga (Neves et al., 2015b, 2021) are
attributed to another rifting event that post-dates the Cariris Velhos one.
The São Caetano supracrustal sequence of the Alto Pajeú Domain is also
interpreted as deposited in a post-Cariris Velhos extensional setting after
S. Pacheco Neves
ca. 806 Ma (Guimarães et al., 2012) or at ca. 858 Ma (Santos et al.,
2019).
3.7. Late Tonian-Cryogenian (0.85–0.65 Ga)
3.7.1. São Francisco Craton
A long period without recorded magmatic activity, lasting from ca
0.85 to 0.73 Ga, was followed by intrusion of syenitic batholiths and
stocks that constitute the alkaline province of southern Bahia, which
were dated between 0.73 and 0.70 Ga (Rosa et al., 2007).
3.7.2. Borborema Province
In the Riacho do Pontal Domain, basic metavolcanic rocks with
transitional mid-oceanic ridge basalt geochemistry suggest that exten­
sion proceeded to the oceanic stage (Caxito et al., 2014b). They yielded a
rather imprecise whole-rock Sm-Nd isochron age of 819 ± 120 Ma,
corresponding to ocean floor formation roughly bracketed between 940
and 700 Ma, but until more robust geochronological data are acquired
the age of this event remains an open question. In the Sergipano Domain,
a bimodal association of A-type granite (0.71 Ga) and continental met­
amafic volcanic rocks, a continental-type layered gabbroic complex (ca.
0.70 Ga), magma-mingled gabbro/quartz–monzodiorite (0.69 Ga), and
rapakivi granites (0.68 Ga and 0.64 Ga) have geochemical affinities with
intraplate magmas (Oliveira and Tarney, 1990; Oliveira et al., 2006,
2010b). In the eastern Pernambuco-Alagoas Domain, a large orthogneiss
unit date at 0.65 Ga has also been proposed to be extension-related
(Neves et al., 2015b, 2020b). These results indicate that contractional
deformation related to the beginning of the Brasiliano Orogeny in
southern Borborema Province started after ca. 0.65 Ma.
Fig. 7. Cumulative probability density distribution diagram of U-Pb zircon ages from igneous and metaigneous rocks from the São Francisco Craton and Borborema
Province. See Supplementary Tables 1 and 2 for sources of data.
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4. Discussion
4.1. Evidence for shared crustal evolution of the São Francisco Craton
and Borborema Province
Tectonomagmatic events of similar ages occurring in different
provinces may be coincidental, without any genetic relationships.
However, when the number of chronologically equivalent events in­
creases, it turns out to be unlikely they are all unrelated. In combination,
the data reviewed in the last section indicate that the São Francisco
Craton and the Borborema Province (from now on denoted by the ac­
ronyms SFC and BP, respectively) shared a common geological history
extending at least from ca. 2.0 Ga to the mid-Neoproterozoic, and
possibly back to the Paleo-Mesoarchean for individual domains.
Numerous common aspects can be listed supporting these inferences,
which are synthesized below. Relative probability diagrams and a
graphic summary of the age correlations between magmatic events in
the SFC and BP are shown in Figs. 7 and 8, respectively. Fig. 9 outlines a
possible configuration of the then joined two geological domains in the
mid-Neoproterozoic.
4.1.1. Archean
The similar timing of TTG magmatism in the Gavião Block (SFC) and
São José do Campestre Massif (BP) suggests derivation from an initial
protocrust extracted from the mantle during Eo- to Paleoarchean times.
Rocks of these ages are very rare in the geological record and have been
reported from only a few Archean cratons (Greenland, e.g., Appel et al.,
2003; Pilbara, e.g., Van Kranendonk et al., 2004, 2007; Kaapvaal, e.g.,
Wang et al., 2019; East Antarctica, e.g., Kusiak et al., 2013), which lend
support to the hypothesis that these units were part of an initial cratonic
core whose formation possibly initiated in the late Hadean-early
Eoarchean, as suggested by Nd model ages and inherited zircons (Dan­
tas et al., 2004, 2013; Oliveira et al., 2020) (Fig. 10a). Around this early
Archean nucleus, juvenile accretion led to substantial growth during the
S. Pacheco Neves
Fig. 8. Correlation chart for magmatic events in the São Francisco Craton and Borborema Province.
remainder of the Archean. Although a direct comparison between the
Gavião Block and the southern SFC is hampered by the extensive cratonic
cover, similarities between their late Paleoarchean to Mesoarchean evo­
lution suggest that by the Mesoarchean/Neoarchean transition they were
already linked (Fig. 10b). Likewise, similarities between the Meso­
archean/Neoarchean evolution of the southern SFC and Tróia Massif (BP)
(Ganade et al., 2017), and recent discoveries of Archean rocks in the Rio
Grande do Norte Domain (BP) outside the São José do Campestre Massif
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(Ferreira et al., 2020), together with Archean Nd model ages of the
dominant Paleoproterozoic crust (Fetter et al., 2000; Hollanda et al.,
2011; Souza et al., 2016; Ferreira et al., 2020), suggest crustal growth and
accretion to the composed Gavião-Campestre nucleus (Fig. 10b). In all
these domains, the final magmatic activity is marked by intrusion of
potassic granitoids with A-type affinity (see section 3.2), thus supporting
the existence of a continuous landmass extending from what is now the
southern SFC to the northern portion of BP.
S. Pacheco Neves
4.1.2. Early Paleoproterozoic
Worldwide, the Siderian rock record is as scarce as the Eo- to Pale­
oarchean one, which has led to the proposition for a lull in the magmatic
activity during this Period (Condie et al., 2009). Although subsequent
work (Pehrsson et al., 2014) has demonstrated that magmatic rocks
continued to be produced in the early Paleoproterozoic, they are much
less abundant than those formed at later times. It is thus noteworthy the
occurrence of 2.5–2.3 Ga-old rocks in both the Mineiro Belt (southern
SFC) and northern BP. The juvenile TTG geochemical signature of the
rocks (Santos et al., 2009; Ávila et al., 2014; Hollanda et al., 2015;
Teixeira et al., 2015) suggests generation in oceanic island arcs, fol­
lowed by accretion of the arc complexes to the Archean core (Fig. 10c).
Another element of correlation between the SFC and BP is the occur­
rence of banded iron formations in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero region
(southern SFC), in the southern portion of northern SFC, and in the Rio
Grande do Norte Domain (BP) (Teixeira et al., 2007; 2017). These oc­
currences were interpreted as the remnants of a large Neoarchean/early
Paleoproterozoic basin, although one cannot discard the hypothesis that
the Archean blocks could represent smaller paleocontinents that were
fringed by similar platformal and volcanic settings where conditions for
deposition of banded iron formations were optimal.
The most important accretionary/collisional processes in the SFC
and BP are related to the 2.25–2.0 Ga Transamazonian event (Fig. 10d).
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Fig. 9. Tentative reconstruction of Borborema/São
Francisco block at mid-Neoproterozoic (ca.
0.80–0.70 Ga). São Francisco Craton shown in its
present configuration. To minimize the effect of the
unknown displacement along the Borborema shear
zone system, restauration was accomplished by
assuming that shear zones resulted from NW-SE
contraction and NE-SW extension and imposing
133% stretching and 75% shortening in these di­
rections, respectively. This distortion aligns the
Archean-dominated area of the Borborema Province
(Fig. 6) with the Gavião Block (Ga) and southeast
Borborema with the Itabuna-Salvador-Curaçá belt
(ISC), respectively. It also brings the Orós-Jaguaribe
belt (OJ) to the same orientation of the Espinhaço rift
(Es), and it allows correlating the 1.6–1.5 Ga anoro­
genic plutons from eastern Borborema with the
Curaçá dikes (C). The Serrinha Block (Se) was
enlarged to encompass the Archean domes from
southern Sergipano belt.
Generation of crustal rocks in this age interval is more common in the
geological record than in the previous 250 Myr (Condie et al., 2009;
Belousova et al., 2010; Condie and Aster, 2010; Dhuime et al., 2017),
but these rocks are mainly restricted to West Africa and South America
(Boher et al., 1992; Sato and Siga, 2002; Delor et al., 2003; De Waele
et al., 2008; Macambira et al., 2009; Baratoux et al., 2011; Sakyia et al.,
2014; Block et al., 2016). Models for the assembly of northern SFC call
for collision of the Gavião and Jequié blocks following westward sub­
duction of the Jequié Paleoplate (Barbosa and Sabaté, 2004), with
production of syncollisional granites and development of a fold-thrust
belt resulting from deformation of a foreland basin (Contendas-Mir­
ante supracrustal sequence) at 2.10–2.05 Ga (Cruz et al., 2016; Zincone
and Oliveira, 2017). A more complicated evolution is envisaged for the
assembly of the composed Gavião/Jequié block with the Itabuna-Sal­
vador-Curaçá belt and of the latter with the Serrinha Block. In one view,
the Itabuna-Salvador-Curaçá Belt constituted an isolated Neoarchean
magmatic arc. This block would have been thrusted over the Jequié
Block in the southern part, thus implying the existence of an eastward-
dipping subduction zone (Sampaio et al., 2017), whereas in the north
the Gavião Block would constitute the upper plate, thus implying
westward subduction (Barbosa and Barbosa, 2017). In this scheme,
another eastward-dipping subduction zone would have produced arc
magmatism in the Serrinha Block, with its greenstone belts interpreted
S. Pacheco Neves Precambrian Research 355 (2021) 106119

Fig. 10. Schematic model for the formation and evolution of São Francisco/Borborema. The elongate shape of the Archean protocontinent (a, b) suggests crustal
growth through plate tectonics-like processes (e.g., Lana et al., 2013; Barbosa et al., 2020).

as having been formed in a back-arc basin. In another view, the Caraíba
and São José do Jacuípe complexes in the central and northern portion
of the Itabuna-Salvador-Curaçá Belt would have already been accreted
to the Gavião Block at the beginning of the Paleoproterozoic and the
Serrinha Block would be part of a plate undergoing double-sided sub­
duction: westward beneath the Caraíba Complex and eastward beneath
an island arc that would become the Rio Itapicuru greenstone belt after
closing of the eastern oceanic domain (Oliveira et al., 2010a). Whatever
the case, it is noteworthy that high-grade metamorphism, interpreted as
collision-related, is synchronous throughout the SFC, with an age peak
at 2.08 Ga (Oliveira et al., 2010a; Peucat et al., 2011; Cutts et al., 2019),
and that magmatism was much reduced after 2.05–2.03 Ga (Cruz et al.,
2016).
Isotopic data suggest diachronic evolution for the different domains
of the BP during the Paleoproterozoic (Fig. 10d). In the Rio Grande do
Norte Domain, much of the magmatic activity occurred in the interval
2.25–2.15 Ga and the dominant negative εNd values of granitoids
indicate that crust production occurred in a continental magmatic arc
(Fetter et al., 2000; Souza et al., 2007, 2016). The dominantly juvenile
character of TTG and calc-alkaline rocks in the Ceará Central Domain

12
S. Pacheco Neves
and eastern portion of Central Subprovince requires existence of large
oceanic domains where development of intra-oceanic arcs was possible
(Fig. 10d). The terminus of magmatism in the Rio Grande do Norte
Domain may relate to arc accretion whereas subduction was still
occurring westward in the Ceará Central Domain and in the Central
Subprovince (Fig. 10e). Final amalgamation of the Ceará Central
Domain with the Rio Grande do Norte Domain occurred at ca. 2.10–2.04
Ga (Costa et al., 2015) and of the Northern Subprovince with the Central
and Southern Subprovinces, and possibly of these latter with the São
Francisco Craton, at ca. 2.04–2.0 Ga (Neves et al., 2015a).
The above synthesis implies that the assembly of the SFC and BP
different components was essentially completed by the end of the
Rhyacian, marking the beginning of the cratonization process.
4.1.3. Late Paleoproterozoic-Neoproterozoic
The Transamazonian event was followed by a period of crustal sta­
bility and, afterwards, by several episodes of intraplate extension and
magmatism interspersed with periods without geological record lasting
ca. 80–300 Myr each (Figs. 7 and 8). This stage marks the completion of
the cratonization process, with acquisition of a thick lithospheric
mantle. The temporal coincidence of intraplate events in the SFC and BP
supports their connection from the Late Paleoproterozoic to the mid-
Neoproterozoic. Particularly striking is the lack of magmatism in the
ca. 1.97–1.77 Ga time interval since global compilations of igneous and
detrital zircon U-Pb ages show a large peak at 1.95–1.85 Ga, interpreted
to reflect a major episode of juvenile crust formation (Condie, 1998;
Condie et al., 2009; Condie and Aster, 2010) followed by the final as­
sembly of the Columbia supercontinent by 1.8–1.7 Ga (Rogers and
Santosh, 2002; Hou et al., 2008b; Meert, 2012; Furlanetto et al., 2013;
Pehrsson et al., 2015).
The first episode of post-Transamazonian intraplate extensional
deformation, at 1.78–1.70 Ga, produced the Espinhaço and Orós/Jag­
uaribe rifts in the SFC and BP, respectively; emplacement of mafic dikes
in southern SFC; and intrusion of gabbro-anorthosites and A-type
granitoids in eastern BP (section 3.4; Fig. 9). A possible reason why
localized rifting is recorded in the Rio Grande do Norte Domain but not
in the other domains of the BP can relate to the development of a thicker
and stiffer continental lithosphere there, which was able to support and
localize extensional stresses, whereas extension was more diffuse in
domains dominated by juvenile and hotter Paleoproterozoic crust.
About 100 Myr after the first extensional event, volcanic rocks dated
at 1.57–1.58 Ga document the deposition of the lower sequence of the
Middle Espinhaço in the SFC (Danderfer et al., 2009; Santos et al.,
2020a, 2020b), which is overlapped by the ages of mafic dikes and
granitoids intruded at 1.64–1.55 in the Rio Capibaribe, Alto Moxotó and
Ceará Central Domains of the BP (Santos et al., 2015a, 2015b; Lages
et al., 2019; Amaral et al., 2015; Ancelmi et al., 2015) (Fig. 9). Some­
what later, at 1.52–1.51 Ga, mafic dikes were intruded in the Curaçá
region of the Itabuna-Salvador-Curaçá Belt of the SFC (Silveira et al.,
2013) as well as a large granitoid batholith in the Rio Capibaribe
Domain of the BP (Sa et al., 2002).
An age interval of 80–90 Ma separates deposition of the lower and
upper sequences of the Middle Espinhaço (SFC), where a sample of a
crystal-tuff layer was dated at 1.43 Ga (Guadagnin et al., 2015b).
Sedimentation and volcanism of this age are documented only in the
northern part of the Espinhaço Basin and have no equivalents in the BP,
suggesting this event was of local rather than regional extent.
A long period of up to 300 Myr separates deposition of the Middle
Espinhaço from that of the Upper Espinhaço. The youngest detrital
zircon population in the Upper Espinhaço yielded an age peak of 1.19
Ga, but individual ages as young as 1.08 Ga were recognized (Chemale
Jr. et al., 2012), indicating that most of the deposition probably
occurred in the latest Mesoproterozoic. The end of sedimentation is not
well constrained but was probably at least in part coeval with the
1.0–0.92 Ga-old Cariris Velhos event in the BP. Marginally overlapping
in age with this latter event, there was intrusion of 0.94–0.91 Ga mafic
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dikes in the SFC that cut both the Archean/Paleoproterozoic basement
and the Espinhaço Supergroup (Evans et al., 2016; Chaves et al., 2019;
Caxito et al., 2020c).
Intrusion of A-type granites at 0.87 Ga (Silva et al., 2008) and of a
mafic dike-sill complex at 0.85 Ga (Danderfer et al., 2009) are the last
records of Tonian magmatism in the SFC. Chronologically correlated
mafic and felsic magmatism are documented, respectively, in the Riacho
do Pontal (Caxito et al., 2016; Salgado et al., 2016) and Rio Capibaribe
(Neves et al., 2015b, 2021) domains of the BP, which post-date the
Cariris Velhos event by 20–50 Myr (Fig. 9). The lack of evidence for
Tonian extension in the Northern Subprovince may either reflect the
increased stiffness of its lithosphere with time, such that extensional
stresses were not strong enough to overcome its strength, or that
extensional forces decreased northward.
A protracted period separates the deposition of the Upper Espinhaço
from the lower units of the São Francisco Supergroup (SFC). The
maximum deposition age of the latter is 0.89 Ga, as constrained by the
ages of detrital zircon grains (Figueiredo et al., 2009; Babinski et al.,
2012; Bitencourt et al., 2019). However, they comprise diamictites
interpreted as correlated to the global Cryogenian glaciations, such that
they must have been deposited after ca. 720 Ma. Similarly, most
supracrustal sequences in the BP contain detrital zircon populations
younger than ca. 700 Ma (Neves, 2015 and references therein; Caxito
et al., 2021), indicating deposition in the late Neoproterozoic. Sediment
deposition was coeval with emplacement of igneous rocks with intra­
plate affinity in the northern SFC and in the Southern and Central sub­
provinces of the BP between 0.73 and 0.6 Ga (Rosa et al., 2007; Oliveira
et al., 2010b; Neves et al., 2015b, 2020b). So, if continental rifting
evolved to oceanic basin formation in those areas, this occurred only
after ca. 700 Ma. Alternatively, Caxito et al. (2021) interpreted various
pulses of felsic volcanism in the Piancó-Alto Brígida Domain during the
Cryogenian as related to a magmatic arc. This inference is hard to
reconcile with the small volumes of magma produced, which are now
represented by 0.1–1 m thick layers of metavolcanic and metavolcani­
clastic rocks. In the Northern Subprovince of the BP, amphibolites and
metarhyolites that constitute a small fraction of the dominantly meta­
sedimentary sequences from the Ceará Central and Médio Coreaú do­
mains have U-Pb ages of 0.78–0.75 Ga (Fetter et al., 2003; Arthaud et al.,
2015). The bimodal nature of the metavolcanic rocks and their high Nb
values point to intrusion in an intraplate setting, and the metasedi­
mentary rocks are interpreted as a passive margin sequence deposited on
thinned continental crust (Arthaud et al., 2008, 2015).
4.2. Correlations with orogenic provinces bordering the São Francisco
Craton
Recent studies show that a large part of the basement of the Brasília
and Araçuaí belts consists of reworked São Francisco crust. The base­
ment of the Araçuaí Belt is exposed in its eastern, northern and, locally,
central portions. It comprises Archean rocks and 2.2–2.1 Ga-old
orthogneisses with continental arc and island arc signature that are
widely regarded as an extension of the SFC substratum (Alkmim et al.,
2017 and references therein). A protracted succession of intraplate
events follows the same geochronological pattern observed in the SFC
and BP, starting at 1.78–1.71 Ga with the southward extension of the
Espinhaço rift. Amphibolite and metasedimentary rocks of the oldest
basal unit of the precursor basin of the Araçuaí Belt were recently dated
and yielded, respectively, crystallization age of 0.96 Ga and maximum
deposition age of 0.95 Ga (De Castro et al., 2019). This succession thus
correlates in age with the Cariris Velhos event and marks the base of a
pre-glacial unit older than diamictites whose maximum deposition age is
900 Ma (Babinski et al., 2012), but that were probably deposited either
during the Sturtian (Babinski et al., 2012) or Marinoan event, or both
(Caxito et al., 2012). A long-lasting paucity in the geological record was
followed in the Ediacaran by renewed extension that eventually led to
formation of oceanic crust at 0.64 Ga, as indicated by the age of a
S. Pacheco Neves
plagiogranite vein intercalated with amphibolites and metaultramafic
rocks that are interpreted as ophiolite remnants (Amaral et al., 2020).
The 0.64 Ga-old age of this sequence is overlapped by the ages of sedi­
mentation and metamorphism of supracrustal sequences from the high-
grade central portion of the Araçuaí Belt, which are constrained between
ca. 0.67–0.65 Ga (the age of the youngest cluster of detrital zircon
grains) and ca 0.63 Ga (the ages of the oldest metamorphic zircon
grains) (Novo et al., 2018; Schannor et al., 2019). The dominant ages of
detrital zircon grains are in the interval 900–700 Ma, a situation rather
common in most metasedimentary sequences from the BP (Section
4.1.3). The isotopic signature of this dominant zircon population and the
scarcity of Paleoproterozoic detrital zircon grains led Schannor et al.
(2019) to propose deposition in an intraoceanic arc setting. However,
this setting seems to be at odds with the small timespan between sedi­
mentation and metamorphism. Furthermore, one of the samples
analyzed by Novo et al. (2018) yielded abundant Paleoproterozoic
zircon grains, such that the relative abundance of zircon grains from a
given sample may simply reflect changes in provenance. There is a hot
debate in the literature concerning the nature of the early stages of the
Brasiliano Orogeny in the Araçuaí Belt. Most researchers favor a pre-
collisional setting for the 630–590 Ma interval, with metamorphic and
igneous zircons of this age related to intra-arc metamorphism and
magmatism (for a review, see Pedrosa Soares et al., 2020). This view is
questioned by Cavalcante et al. (2019) and Fossen et al. (2020), which
attribute the 630–590 Ma period to the initial development of an
orogenic plateau in an intracontinental setting. Whatever the case, the
main point is that most of the Araçuaí Belt represents reworked SFC
crust.
The basement of the Brasília Belt outcrops in its southern, western,
and northern portions. The southern portion comprises Mesoarchean
(3.00–2.96 Ga) juvenile TTG suites and Neoarchean (ca. 2.76 Ga) met­
agranitoids (Cioffi et al., 2016), which can be related to similar units in
southern SFC. The western portion, the Goiás Massif, comprises Archean
TTG-greenstone complexes with U-Pb ages ranging mostly from 2.84 to
2.71 Ga (Fuck et al., 2017 and references therein) and 2.19–2.07 Ga
metavolcanosedimentary sequences (Cordeiro et al., 2014). The north­
ern portion comprises dominantly juvenile TTG and calc-alkaline rocks
exhibiting a protracted history of emplacement, with several magmatic
events dated at ca. 2.47 Ga, 2.4–2.28 Ga, 2.23–2.20 Ga and 2.18–2.04
Ga, the latter associated with 2.23–2.16 Ga-old metasedimentary rocks
(Fuck et al., 2014; Sousa et al., 2016; Cordeiro and Oliveira, 2017;
Cuadros et al., 2017; Martins-Ferreira et al., 2020; Saboia et al., 2020a).
Overall, the Archean/early Paleoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the
Brasília Belt is reminiscent of that of southern SFC and Médio Coreaú
and Ceará Central domains of BP, being worth of note the presence of
Siderian crust in its northernmost portion (Saboia et al., 2020b)
The Goiás Massif is usually interpreted as an exotic continental
fragment that was accreted to the SFC during the Brasiliano Orogeny
(Fuck et al., 2017). However, other studies propose that the whole
basement of the Brasília Belt was amalgamated with the other compo­
nents of the SFC during the Transamazonian event (Cordeiro et al.,
2014; Sousa et al., 2016; Cordeiro and Oliveira, 2017). Late to post-
Transamazonian features supporting this connection include: (a) a
metamorphic peak at 2.11–2.08 Ga (Fuck et al., 2014; Cordeiro and
Oliveira, 2017); (b) abundant 1.8–1.5 Ga-old detrital zircon grains in
metasedimentary rocks (Pimentel, 2016 and references therein), which
can be related to erosion of sources formed during crustal extension and
intraplate magmatism associated with development of the Espinhaço
rift; (c) presence of ca. 1.77 and 1.58 Ga-old A-type granites (Pimentel
and Botelho, 2001); (d) the similar ages of deposition of the basal
metasedimentary units of the Brasília Belt (Pimentel et al., 2011;
Pimentel, 2016; Westin et al., 2019) and of the lower sequences of the
São Francisco Supergroup. Unlike the SFC, mafic–ultramafic magmatism
with MORB affinity is recorded at ca. 1.25 Ga, which is attributed to
opening of a small oceanic basin (Pimentel et al., 2004; Moraes et al.,
2006; Ferreira Filho et al., 2010) that failed to separate the Goiás Massif
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Precambrian Research 355 (2021) 106119
from the SFC (Cordeiro and Oliveira, 2017). Repeated mafic–ultramafic
magmatism at 0.79 Ga is attributed to back-arc magmatism, which was
followed by granulite metamorphism and deformation related to island
arc-continent collision (Giustina et al., 2011; Cordeiro and Oliveira,
2017).
4.3. The case for the Greater São Francisco paleocontinent and its place
in Atlantica, Columbia and Rodinia
Several geological/geochronological lines of evidence, as reviewed
in the preceding sections, together with the results of geophysical
studies (Assumpção et al., 2017; Oliveira and Medeiros, 2018; Rocha
et al., 2019) (Fig. 1c, d), strongly suggest the former existence of a large
continental mass encompassing the SFC and the basement of the BP and
of the Araçuaí and Brasília belts (Fig. 11a). Previous studies had already
proposed a greater extension of the São Francisco Craton before the
Brasiliano Orogeny (the so-called São Francisco paleocontinent), but
without i
ncluding the Borborema Province on it (e.g., Cordeiro and Oliveira,
2017; Heilbron et al., 2017b; Martins-Ferreira et al., 2018). Neves
(2003), Neves (2011) was the first to explicitly propose that the base­
ment of Borborema Province mostly consisted of reworked São Fran­
cisco Craton, although Fetter et al. (2000) had previously suggested that
the Northern Subprovince was an integral part of the Atlantica continent
(see below). Caxito et al. (2020a) referred to this large continental mass
as the Greater São Francisco-Congo paleocontinent (Fig. 11b) to include
the African counterparts of the São Francisco Craton (Congo Craton) and
of the Borborema Province (Benino-Nigerian Shield, Tuareg Shield, and
Cameroon belt). Cordani et al. (2013) and D’Agrella-Filho and Cordani
(2017) incorporated the Greater São Francisco-Congo paleocontinent in
the Central African Block (Fig. 11c), which would also encompass the
Rio de la Plata and Kalahari cratons. Caxito et al. (2020c) proposed to
use the concept of the Central African Block in paleocontinental re­
constructions such as Columbia instead of a single São Francisco-Congo
paleocontinent.
The early evolution of the Greater São Francisco paleocontinent can
be traced back to late Hadean-Eoarchean. Similar U-Pb zircon crystal­
lization ages and Sm-Nd model ages of orthogneisses from the Gavião
Block (SFC) and São José do Campestre Massif (BP) indicate they have a
shared geological evolution, and I propose that they formed the original
craton core (Fig. 11). Long-lived tectonic activity strongly modified the
original configuration and may have caused rifting and separation, but
not necessarily drifting, of these units. Subsequent craton-margin mag­
matism led to crustal growth during the remainder of the Archean, with
accretion of terranes that now constitute the southern SFC and the
Archean basement of the BP. Accretion of outboard island arcs led to
further crustal growth during the Siderian. However, the greatest period
of amalgamation took place during the 2.2–2.0 Transamazonian
Orogeny, with collision of Archean microcontinents (Serrinha and
Jequié blocks and Itabuna-Salvador-Curaçá belt) and collage of intra­
oceanic arcs to the Archean nucleus (Fig. 10).
Persistence of the Greater São Francisco paleocontinent for most of
the Proterozoic, from its final amalgamation at 2.05–2.00 Ga onwards, is
supported by the several intraplate extensional and magmatic episodes
recorded in all its domains. This evidence points to intermittent attempts
of continental break-up, but there is no firm evidence for creation of
oceanic lithosphere before ca. 700 Ma in the BP and Araçuaí Belt.
Ophiolitic remnants that could be linked to oceanic lithosphere forma­
tion in the Riacho do Pontal Belt (BP) were proposed to have developed
as early as 850–800 Ma (Caxito et al., 2014b). However, this proposition
is based on a rather imprecise whole-rock Sm-Nd age of 820 ± 120 Ma of
a metabasalt. Furthermore, the field characteristics of the Monte Orobe
Complex (basalts directly overlain serpentinized peridotites, without
any sheeted dikes) and the geochemical signature of the metaigneous
rocks (e.g., low variability of MgO and TiO2 contents; Caxito et al.,
2014b) are typical of passive margin-type ophiolites (Dilek and Furnes,
S. Pacheco Neves
2011), which do not require the existence of a wide oceanic domain
(Mohn et al. 2014). Therefore, if a full Wilson cycle operated in southern
Borborema Province (Caxito et al., 2014b; Oliveira et al., 2010b), it was
of short duration, with reassembly of the separated pieces soon after
formation of oceanic lithosphere. Likewise, in the Araçuaí Belt, onset of
arc magmatism probably only occurred at the beginning of the Edia­
caran (Pacheco et al., 2020 and references therein). An entirely intra­
continental evolution for the Araçuaí Belt has been recently proposed
(Cavalcante et al., 2019; Fossen et al., 2020), but given the arc-signature
of the oldest magmatic products, the original proposition of Pedrosa-
Soares et al (2001) for closing of a narrow oceanic domain is more likely.
In a global context, correlations of the SFC with the Congo,
Amazonian, West Africa and Rio de la Plata cratonic masses were pro­
posed by Ledru et al (1994) and the assemblage was named Atlantica by
Rogers (1996). This continent would have been formed in consequence
of time-correlated orogenic processes (2.2–2.0 Ga) during the Trans­
amazonian (in South America) and Eburnean/Birimian (in Africa)
events. Geological and geochronological lines of evidence arguing in
favor of this configuration were presented in several subsequent papers,
some of which also included the basement of neighboring Brasiliano-
Pan-African belts (Fetter et al., 2000; Hartmann, 2002; Zhao et al.,
2002; Rogers and Santosh, 2002, 2009; Neves, 2003, 2011; Teixeira
et al., 2007; Hou et al., 2008b). Recently, Costa et al. (2018a), Costa
et al. (2018b), Costa et al. (2019) called attention for the similar age of
granite-greenstone sequences and of gold mineralization in the Central
Ceará Domain (BP), West African Craton (and its Brazilian counterpart,
the São Luís Craton) and Serrinha Block (SFC), supporting the connec­
tion of the Greater São Francisco paleocontinent with the West African
Craton.
Fig. 12a shows an updated and conservative reconstruction of
Atlantica, which could have been greater than shown. The Rio de la
Plata Craton was not included in this configuration because paleomag­
netic results show that its place in Atlantica is only compatible with a
position between the Congo Craton and Amazonia/West Africa (Fran­
ceschinis et al., 2019). Were this the case, connection of Amazonia/West
Africa with northern SFC/BP would be impossible. Recognition of
2.2–2.1 Ga orogenic events in the Volga-Donn province of SW Russia has
also led to recent propositions that the southern part of Laurentia
(Sarmatia/Volgo Uralia) could be part of Atlantica (Wane et al., 2018;
15
Precambrian Research 355 (2021) 106119
Fig. 11. (a) The Greater São Francisco paleo­
continent as proposed in this paper. Current limits
between the São Francisco Craton, Borborema Prov­
ince and Parnaíba Basin are shown by dashed lines
and the present coastline by the blue line. Colored
symbols denote outstanding elements of correlation
between the craton and the basement of the orogenic
belts. (b) The Greater São Francisco-Congo paleo­
continent according to Caxito et al. (2020a). (c) The
Central African Block according to D’Agrella-Filho
and Cordani (2017), comprising the Congo-São
Francisco (CSF), Kalahari (KAL) and Rio de la Plata
(RP) cratons, and the Borborema-Trans-Sahara belt
(BTS).
Terentiev and Santosh, 2020).
In the context of the Atlantica continent, Danderfer Filho et al.
(2015) interpreted the 1.78–1.73 Ga and 1.60–1.53 Ga rifting and
magmatic events in the SFC as resulting from far-field extensional
stresses related to subduction events occurring in SW Amazonia around
the same time. Such a model can be extended to explain the late Pale­
oproterozoic/early Mesoproterozoic intraplate events in the orogenic
provinces encircling the SFC.
The place of the Greater São Francisco paleocontinent in Columbia
and Rodinia is uncertain (Fig. 12b-d). It is shown, based on scarce
paleomagnetic data, as peripheral to these two supercontinents in some
paleogeographic reconstructions (e.g., Zhao et al., 2004; Hou et al.,
2008b; Li et al., 2008; Merdith et al., 2017; Caxito et al., 2020c) or as a
separate entity in others (e.g., D’Agrella-Filho and Cordani, 2017).
Whereas the Greater São Francisco paleocontinent is characterized by
2.0–0.9 Ga intraplate episodes interspersed with periods of tectonic
quiescence the Columbia and Rodinia supercontinents record several
orogenic episodes. Also noteworthy is the paucity of extensional mag­
matism between 0.85 and 0.73 Ga in the Greater São Francisco paleo­
continent, which contrasts with evidence for the first stage of Rodinia
break-up at 0.80–0.75 Ga (Li et al., 2008).
4.4. Implications for craton destabilization and crustal reworking during
the Brasiliano Orogeny
The long-term stability of the Greater São Francisco paleocontinent,
from ca. 2.00 to 0.65 Ga, implies that it must have developed a thick
lithospheric root, and thus it can be considered a Paleoproterozoic
craton that was partially destabilized during the Brasiliano Orogeny.
Due to its thick, refractory and chemically buoyant mantle keel, cratons
are generally considered to be intrinsically stable, protecting the over­
lying crust from subduction and recycling, and thus significantly
contributing to its long-term preservation (O’Reilly et al., 2001; Lee
et al., 2012). Therefore, crustal reworking requires alteration of the
rheological properties of the cratonic mantle. Destruction of mantle
lithosphere is usually attributed to extensional processes induced by slab
roll-back, as in Wyoming and eastern North China Craton (Kusky et al.,
2014; Wang et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2018), or caused by the arrival of
mantle plumes at the base of cratonic lithosphere, as in the North
S. Pacheco Neves
Atlantic and Tanzania cratons (Foley, 2008; Wang et al., 2016). These
mechanisms may cause widespread mantle and crustal melting, devel­
opment of extensional structures, and formation of metamorphic core
complexes and of sedimentary basins. However, they are unable to
profoundly rework and provoke large-scale overprint of crustal struc­
tures formed during previous orogenic events.
Continental subduction of cratons belonging to the lower plate
during continental collision can transform the previous passive margin
into an orogenic belt, which characterizes the process of metacratoni­
zation (Liégeois et al., 2013). The acting of this process could explain the
occurrence of high-pressure metamorphism in the NW portion of the BP.
However, it is unlikely that it affected the whole province. In the BP, a
period of extension preceded collision and the early-orogenic magma­
tism is associated with crustal thickening and high-temperature meta­
morphism, features not expected in metacratonized regions (Liégeois
et al., 2013). Other than metacratonization, extensive crustal reworking
16
Precambrian Research 355 (2021) 106119
Fig. 12. (a) A conservative schematic map of
Atlantica (modified from Neves, 2011) only
including areas of Archean and early Paleoproter­
ozoic (2.5–2.0 Ga) crust. Partial contour of South
America is shown by the blue line for reference. (b,
c) Columbia reconstructions according to Zhao et al.
(2004; simplified by Meert, 2012) (b) and to D’Ag­
rella-Filho and Cordani (2017) (c). (d, e) Rodinia
reconstructions according to Li et al. (2008) (d) and
to D’Agrella-Filho and Cordani (2017) (e). In (b)
and (d), São Francisco-Congo is shown as connected
to Amazonia and West Africa, and in (c) and (e) as
part of the African Block.
requires deformation under the action of compressive stresses, which
promote crustal thickening, high-grade metamorphism, and develop­
ment of newly formed foliations and lineations, folds, thrusts and
transcurrent shear zones. Therefore, a model involving large-scale
extension followed by contractional deformation is better suited to
explain the geological evolution of the BP in the late Neoproterozoic and
is more consistent with the available data, as discussed below.
A key factor controlling the stability of the lithospheric keel of cra­
tons is the anhydrous nature of the mantle rocks (Peslier et al., 2010).
Therefore, cratons are more prone to remobilization if portions of their
mantle lithosphere are hydrated. In the case of the Greater São Francisco
paleocontinent, it is likely that the lithospheric mantle was partially
metasomatized in consequence of several Early Paleoproterozoic sub­
duction events. Since introduction of volatiles via metasomatism
weaken the lithospheric mantle (e.g., Snyder et al., 2017), portions more
strongly affected by this mechanism become more fertile and weaker. It
S. Pacheco Neves
is expected that the mantle lithosphere of the BP was more hydrated
than that of the SFC because juvenile crustal addition was more
important there. Hence, it was more susceptible to tectonic deformation
during the Brasiliano Orogeny as compared with the latter, where a
thicker and stiffer Archean cratonic mantle may have protected the
overlying crust. In addition of introducing volatiles, metasomatism also
increases the concentration of incompatible elements, including the
heat-producing elements K, Th and U, into the lithospheric mantle. Since
lithosphere rheology is strongly dependent on its thermal state, a local
increase in heat production also contributes to weakening, facilitating
crustal deformation (Neves et al., 2008). Previous studies have shown
that most 590–580 Ma-old dioritic and syenitic rocks in the Central
Subprovince of the BP have a strong lithospheric mantle signature
(Ferreira et al., 1997, 2015; Guimarães and Da Silva Filho, 1998;
Mariano et al., 2001; Hollanda et al., 2003; Neves and Mariano, 2004).
These rocks have Archean to Paleoproterozoic Nd model ages, indicating
that the destabilizing effect of metasomatism was mainly related to old
subduction events, not Neoproterozoic ones.
Recent analog models show that when the lithosphere contains
lateral strength variations, extensional deformation localizes in the
weaker compartment, with development of wide rifts (Beniest et al.,
2018). In consequence, further weakening of the Borborema mantle
lithosphere certainly resulted from distributed late Neoproterozoic
extension, since extension produces an elevation of the geothermal
gradient. The presence of a weaker mantle lithosphere and a high
thermal gradient made the Borborema portion of the Greater São
Francisco paleocontinent prone to widespread reworking when subject
to compressional stresses during the Brasiliano Orogeny.
Hyperextension can explain deposition of vast sequences of supra­
crustal rocks with similar ages and platformal characteristics (the QPC –
quartzite-pelite-carbonate – association; Dickinson, 1971) throughout
most sectors of the BP (Arthaud et al., 2015; Neves, 2015 and references
therein). To which extent this hyperextension led to formation of
oceanic lithosphere and its subsequent subduction is uncertain. Evi­
dence of (ultra)high-pressure metamorphism in the Ceará Central
Domain (Santos et al., 2015a, 2015b) implies subduction of crustal
materials to mantle, and the Tamboril-Santa Quitéria Complex has been
proposed to represent a magmatic arc built-up above an east-dipping
subduction zone (Araújo et al., 2012, 2014). On the other hand, the
geochemical and isotopic characteristics of the younger, 640–610 Ma-
old granitoids suggest that most of the Tamboril-Santa Quitéria Complex
evolved in a collisional setting coeval with high-temperature meta­
morphism (Costa et al., 2013), This inference is supported, for instance,
by the high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic affinity and negative εHf and
εNd values of the rocks (Costa et al., 2013; Araújo et al., 2014), indi­
cating participation of Paleoproterozoic-aged sources in the genesis of
the magmas.
In the Riacho do Pontal Belt, evidence for creation of oceanic litho­
sphere is provided by mafic/ultramafic rocks interpreted as ophiolitic
remnants (Caxito et al., 2014b), but high-pressure rocks have not been
reported neither in this belt nor in the Sergipano Belt. Local occurrences
of retroeclogites in the west portion of the Central Subprovince are
consistent with subduction (Beurlen et al., 1992; Lages and Dantas,
2016), but inference for subduction in the Southern and Central sub­
provinces are mostly based on the geochemistry of 640–610 Ma-old
plutons, which show trace element arc-like signature and thus could
represent pre-collisional magmatism (Da Silva Filho et al., 2013; Oli­
veira et al., 2015b; Silva et al., 2015; Sial and Ferreira, 2016; Pereira
et al., 2020). These plutons have dominantly Mesoproterozoic Nd model
ages (1.6–1.2 Ga) (Guimarães et al., 2011; Van Schmus et al., 2011; Da
Silva Filho et al., 2013; Oliveira et al., 2015b; Silva et al., 2019; Pereira
et al., 2020), requiring involvement of a juvenile component in their
genesis that could be related to Neoproterozoic subduction. However,
none of these plutons has the typical calc-alkaline signature of Andean-
type continental magmatic arcs. They mainly comprise high-K calc-
alkalic, shoshonitic and even ultrapotassic rocks, which also occur but
17
Precambrian Research 355 (2021) 106119
usually are a small component in continental arcs. Moreover, the
640–610 Ma-old plutons are partly gneissified and bear shallow dipping
magmatic/solid-state foliation, features more consistent with emplace­
ment during syn-collisional contractional deformation. Finally, these
plutons are widely distributed and not concentrated in the linear belts
expected for arc-related plutons (see also Guimarães et al., 2011; Van
Schmus et al., 2011; Neves, 2018).
In synthesis, the available evidence is permissible with the occur­
rence of subduction, but, if this was the case, a complex subduction
system needs to be envisaged to explain the structural, geochemical, and
isotopic characteristics of plutons emplaced at the onset of the Brasiliano
Orogeny. Shallow subduction of young, warm tracts of oceanic litho­
sphere and/or underthrusting of thinned continental lithosphere may
explain why there is no systematic spatial and temporal variation of
deformation and magmatism in the Northern, Central and Southern
subprovinces of the BP. The synchronous, 640–610 Ma deformation and
regional metamorphism in most domains of the BP is constrained by U-
Pb ages of metamorphic zircon grains, of leucosomes in migmatized
paragneiss, and of syn-orogenic plutons bearing flat-lying foliation in
the: Riacho do Pontal Belt (Brito Neves et al., 2015; Caxito et al., 2016);
Sergipano Belt (Oliveira et al., 2015a; Neves et al., 2016); Pernambuco-
Alagoas Domain (Da Silva Filho et al., 2014; Neves et al., 2020b); Rio
Capibaribe and Alto Moxotó domains (Neves et al., 2006, 2009, 2017;
Guimarães et al., 2011); Alto Pajeú and Piancó-Alto Brígida domains
(Leite et al., 2000; Medeiros, 2004; Sial and Ferreira, 2016); and Ceará
Central Domain (Araújo et al., 2014; Garcia et al., 2014; Santos et al.,
2015a, 2015b). The exception is the Seridó region of the Rio Grande do
Norte Domain, where these events are delayed by ca. 30 Myr, which can
be justified by the dominance of Archean, and possibly stronger, litho­
sphere there. This situation is analogous to that of the Tarim Basin in the
Tibetan Plateau, whose stronger lithosphere protected it from major
deformation related to the India-Asia collision. In consequence, defor­
mation in the Seridó region only started when the remainder of the BP
had already entered the post-collisional stage. The role that lateral
strength variations may play in the distribution of continental defor­
mation is also attested by the Brasiliano Orogeny imprint in the SFC.
There, deformation is mostly restricted to the Paramirim Corridor
(Fig. 2), which developed by inversion of the late Paleoproterozoic-early
Neoproterozoic Espinhaço Basin (Cruz et al., 2015a, 2015b; Cruz and
Alkmim, 2017).
5. Conclusions
The present architecture of the Borborema Province resulted from
tectonomagmatic events related to the Brasiliano/Pan-African Orogeny.
Despite the strong overprint of preexisting structures, these events were
unable to obscure the pre-Brasiliano history, and several lines of evi­
dence indicate that its previous crustal evolution was shared with that of
the São Francisco Craton. The oldest rocks from South America are
found in the Gavião Block of the São Francisco Craton and in northern
Borborema Province, suggesting that they were part of the original nu­
cleus around which crustal growth by subsequent amalgamation of
continental and oceanic pieces occurred. It is noteworthy the presence of
Siderian rocks in the Borborema Province and southern São Francisco
Craton, which are rare at global scale. The conclusion that the main
crustal components of both provinces were assembled as parts of a single
continental mass (the Greater São Francisco paleocontinent) by ca. 2.0
Ga is supported by similar ages of (a) tectonothermal events related to
accretion and collision during the Transamazonian Orogeny (ca.
2.2–2.0 Ga), and (b) subsequent several extensional events that took
place during the late Paleoproterozoic to the mid/late Neoproterozoic
(at ca. 1.78–1.72 Ga, 1.60–1.52 Ga, 1.00–0.92 Ga, 0.90–0.85 Ga and
0.73–0.65 Ga).
The intermittent late Paleoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic
extension-related magmatism in the Greater São Francisco paleo­
continent contrasts with the worldwide occurrence of orogenic episodes
S. Pacheco Neves
accompanying the amalgamation of the Columbia supercontinent. Also,
while most of the Mesoproterozoic is characterized by tectonic quies­
cence in the Greater São Francisco paleocontinent, this Era witnessed
the fragmentation of Columbia and the build-up of Rodinia.
Strong remobilization of the Borborema portion of the Greater São
Francisco paleocontinent during the Brasiliano Orogeny probably re­
lates to the dominance on it of metasomatized, and thus weak, Paleo­
proterozoic lithospheric mantle. Since Wilson Cycle plate tectonics
probably became more prevalent during the Paleoproterozoic, leading
to production of more fertile mantle lithosphere, cratons of this age are
more susceptible to undergo decratonization during orogenic events
than Archean ones.
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.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported through funding from the Brazilian agency
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq;
grant 472582/2011-9). I thank F. Caxito and J.-P. Liégeois for their
constructive comments that helped to improve the manuscript.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106119.
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