Investigating mid-Ediacaran glaciation and final Gondwana amalgamation using coupled sedimentology and 40Ar/ 39Ar detrital muscovite provenance from the Paraguay Belt, Brazil

Abstract

Understanding the evolution of the northern Paraguay Belt, Brazil, is critical in two current controversies: (i) the number, timing and significance of Ediacaran glaciations; and (ii) the timing of amalgamation of South American Gondwana. The Neoproterozoic Alto Paraguay Group forms much of the northern Paraguay Belt. The Serra Azul Formation, within this Group, contains unequivocal evidence for a glacial influence on sedimentation, including multi-directional striations on sandstone clasts and striated, polished and bullet-shaped mudstone clasts. However, the age of the Serra Azul Formation is not well-constrained. The northern Paraguay Belt also formed after the traditionally accepted time for amalgamation of South American Gondwana. If the orogen represents closure of an ocean, then this traditional view is incorrect. A significant number of single grain 40Ar/39Ar detrital muscovite cooling ages (ca 120) from the Alto Paraguay Group are presented. The three youngest grains from the Serra Azul Formation yield a weighted mean age of 640 ± 15 Myr, providing a robust maximum depositional age for this formation.This age, when considered with other data, suggests that the Serra Azul Formation developed in a mid-Ediacaran glaciation consistent with that expressed in the Gaskiers Formation of Newfoundland, Canada. Cryogenian 40Ar/39Ar detrital muscovite ages from the Alto Paraguay Group are hard to reconcile with the known geology of Amazonia and are interpreted as being sourced from the evolving orogen to the east – from an arc terrane, possibly the Goiás–Paranapanema Massif. Detrital muscovites in the upper part of the Alto Paraguay Group are as young as 544 ± 7 Myr, consistent with mounting evidence that indicates a Cambrian age for orogenesis within the Paraguay Belt during the final amalgamation of Gondwana. This article suggests that the data best support a model where ocean closure in the region continued until Ediacaran/Cambrian times, with final ocean closure represented by orogenesis in the Paraguay–Araguaia orogen.