Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item

    Wind-pattern circulation as a palaeogeographic indicator: Case study of the 1.5–1.6 Ga Mangabeira Formation, São Francisco Craton, Northeast Brazil

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Bállico, M.
    Scherer, C.
    Mountney, N.
    Souza, E.
    Chemale, F.
    Pisarevskiy, Sergei
    Reis, A.
    Date
    2017
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Bállico, M. and Scherer, C. and Mountney, N. and Souza, E. and Chemale, F. and Pisarevskiy, S. and Reis, A. 2017. Wind-pattern circulation as a palaeogeographic indicator: Case study of the 1.5–1.6 Ga Mangabeira Formation, São Francisco Craton, Northeast Brazil. Precambrian Research. 298: pp. 1-15.
    Source Title
    Precambrian Research
    DOI
    10.1016/j.precamres.2017.05.005
    ISSN
    0301-9268
    School
    Department of Applied Geology
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/54730
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    The preserved deposits of dune-scale aeolian bedforms provide valuable palaeoenvironmental indicators of atmospheric circulation patterns and the latitudinal position and distribution of land masses. However, no attempts to use palaeowind directions and palaeogeographic reconstructions of ancient land mass distribution have been published to model Precambrian atmospheric circulation. The Mangabeira Formation is a large Mesoproterozoic aeolian erg succession (1.6–1.5 Ga) composed of two aeolian units that accumulated in the São Francisco Craton, Brazil. The Lower Unit records multiple drying-upward depositional cycles, each of which represents an episode of erg expansion and contraction driven by climate changes. The Upper Unit is composed dominantly of stacked aeolian dune strata that lack intervening interdune deposits and which record extreme aridity. Palaeowind directions recorded from cross-strata of transverse, crescentic aeolian dunes of the Lower and Upper Units record dune migration under the influence of two dominant winds that blew to the southeast and northwest. Analysis of these palaeowind data in relation to assessment of regional palaeogeographic reconstructions for the period 1.6–1.5 Ga reveals a correlation between atmospheric circulation and land mass distribution. At this time the São Francisco Craton was located between the mid-latitudes and the equatorial zone. The wind regime determined from analysis of dip azimuths of cross-strata of the Lower Unit (1.6–1.54 Ga) are consistent with a palaeogeographic position between 25° and 35° S. Analysis of cross-strata dip azimuths of the Upper Unit indicate northwest-directed palaeowinds and a dominant monsoonal wind pattern from 1.54 to 1.5 Ga. During this time the large land mass of the São-Francisco-Congo and Siberian cratons drifted northwards through the equatorial zone from palaeolatitude 30° S to 30° N.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Mesoproterozoic intraplate magmatic ‘barcode’ record of the Angola portion of the Congo Craton: Newly dated magmatic events at 1505 and 1110 Ma and implications for Nuna (Columbia) supercontinent reconstructions
      Pisarevsky, Sergei; Ernst, R.; Pereira, E.; Hamilton, M.; Rodriques, J.; Tassinari, C.; Teixeira, W.; Van-Dunem, V. (2013)
      In the Angola portion of the Congo Craton, the only Proterozoic large igneous province (LIP) dated prior to this study was the 1380–1370 Ma (Kunene Intrusive Complex and related units). U–Pb TIMS ages on baddeleyite from ...
    • The role of biological and non-biological factors in the formation of gold anomalies in calcrete
      Lintern, Melvyn John (2011)
      Calcrete has been shown to contain significant Au, derived from nearby mineralisation, and this has led to its current use as an exploration sampling medium. Calcretes are secondary carbonates, principally consisting of ...
    • Quantification of an Archaean to Recent Earth Expansion Process Using Global Geological and Geophysical Data Sets
      Maxlow, James (2001)
      Global geological and geophysical data, while routinely used in conventional plate tectonic studies, has not been applied to models of an expanding Earth. Crustal reconstructions on Archaean to Recent models of an expanding ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.