Zircon Fission Track Thermochronology applied in the evolution study of southern portion of the Araçuaí Belt

• Grant number: 15/23707-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2016
• End date: January 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geophysics
• Principal Investigator: Airton Natanael Coelho Dias
• Grantee: Thais Pereira Rosinha de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias para a Sustentabilidade (CCTS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Sorocaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Zircon is a common accessory mineral in igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. It is physically and chemically resistant and can "survive" for many geological periods, and in many cases, provides a record of each geological event which was submitted in these periods. Incorporates in its structure trace elements such as U, Th and Pb, which is crucial for geochronological analyzes. Its ability to retain information about the thermal history of a source area is of invaluable value to elucidate the geological processes arising from a variety of geodynamic settings. Consequently, Zircon Fission Track Thermochronology (ZFTT) has been extensively used in combination with other methods of radiometric dating, such as U-Pb and U-Th/He to understand the geo and thermochronology of rocks in a variety geological environment: orogenic basement rocks, thermochronology using detrital grains in sedimentary rocks for analysis of provenance and thermal history analysis. Based on this, the aim of this project is apply ZTTF to unravel more broadly the geologic history of the southern portion of the Araçuaí belt, east of São Francisco Craton. The low temperature thermocronological analysis will complement studies of stratigraphy, sedimentology and determination of ages of deposition and deformation, with emphasis on the Phanerozoic evolution in this portion of South American Platform. In addition, it should be noted that by means of these studies an important scientific advance on the methodological and application FTT in zircon, which will allow the Brazilian scientific community amplify the use of this technique for the reconstruction of the thermal history in other portions of the South American Platform.