Testing the Amazônia-West Africa connection and true polar wander in the Neoproterozoic

• Grant number: 17/18840-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2018
• End date: August 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geophysics
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Ivan Ferreira da Trindade
• Grantee: Paul Yves Jean Antonio
• Host Institution: Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas (IAG). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/06114-6 - The Neoproterozoic Earth System and the rise of biological complexity, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 18/23755-0 - Testing the Amazônia-West Africa connection: new paleomagnetic poles for West Africa, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

The Neoproterozoic is a period marked by extreme climatic variations with the possibility of events of snowball earth but also by the Ediacaran biotic revolution. This period (1000 - 541 Ma) corresponds to the transition between the supercontinent Rodinia and the amalgamation of Gondwana. Due to a poor paleomagnetic database for the different cratons, the paleogeography during this period is controversial. The large Amazonian craton stands as one of the units for which few Neoproterozoic key poles are available. On the basis of geological correlations and few paleomagnetic data, this craton is always associated to the West African craton since the Paleoproterozoic (~2000 Ma) in the paleogeographic reconstructions. The two cratons seem to have a related history but with scattered paleomagnetic data during the Neoproterozoic it is impossible to test this association. This relation is still enigmatic and suggested by Zhao et al. (2002): "Did South America and West Africa marry and divorce or was it a long-lasting relationship?". The aim of this project is to obtain new robust paleomagnetic data for the Amazonian and West African cratons during the Neoproterozoic. Three Neoproterozoic targets were selected in this project for sampling, the Tampok suite (~809 Ma, French Guiana), the Piranhas dike swarms (~535 Ma, Tapajós, Brazil) and the Manso dike swarms (~800 Ma) in West Africa. These new data will allow one to test whether a long-connection is paleomagnetically viable between the Amazonian and West African cratons. Furthermore, new paleomagnetic data for the West Africa craton suggest very rapid True Polar Wander (TPW) episodes in Neoproterozoic (Robert et al., 2017). With the Camaquã Basin sequence (Rio de la Plata craton), which is the only complete sequence of the Neoproterozoic, we will test the existence of TPW episodes. (AU)

Scientific publications

(7)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ANTONIO, PAUL YVES JEAN; BARATOUX, LENKA; TRINDADE, RICARDO IVAN FERREIRA; ROUSSE, SONIA; AYITE, ANANI; LANA, CRISTIANO; MACOUIN, MELINA; ADU, EMMANUEL WILLIAMS KOBBY; SANCHEZ, CAROLINE; SILVA, MARCO ANTONIO LEANDRO; et al. West Africa in Rodinia: High quality paleomagnetic pole from the similar to 860 Ma Manso dyke swarm (Ghana). GONDWANA RESEARCH, v. 94, p. 28-43, JUN 2021. (16/06114-6, 17/18840-6, 18/23755-0)

DOPICO, CARMEN I. MARTINEZ; ANTONIO, PAUL Y. J.; RAPALINI, AUGUSTO E.; DE LUCHI, MONICA G. LOPEZ; VIDAL, CAROLINA GRILLO. Reconciling Patagonia with Gondwana in early Paleozoic? Paleomagnetism of the Valcheta granites, NE North Patagonian Massif. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, v. 106, MAR 2021. (17/18840-6)

ROSSIGNOL, CAMILLE; ANTONIO, PAUL YVES JEAN; NARDUZZI, FRANCESCO; REGO, ERIC SICILIANO; TEIXEIRA, LIVIA; SOUZA, ROMARIO ALMEIDA DE; SILVA, MARCO A. L.; LANA, CRISTIANO; TRINDADE, RICARDO I. F.; PHILIPPOT, PASCAL; et al. Unraveling one billion years of geological evolution of the southeastern Amazonia Craton from detrital zircon analyses. GEOSCIENCE FRONTIERS, v. 13, n. 5, p. 24-pg., 2022-08-26. (15/16235-2, 18/05892-0, 19/16066-7, 18/02645-2, 18/14617-3, 19/17732-0, 19/12132-5, 17/18840-6)

ANTONIO, P. Y. J.; D'AGRELLA-FILHO, M. S.; NEDELEC, A.; POUJOL, M.; SANCHEZ, C.; DANTAS, E. L.; DALL'AGNOL, R.; TEIXEIRA, M. F. B.; PROIETTI, A.; MARTINEZ DOPICO, I, C.; et al. New constraints for paleogeographic reconstructions at ca. 1.88 Ga from geochronology and paleomagnetism of the Carajas dyke swarm (eastern Amazonia). Precambrian Research, v. 353, FEB 2021. (16/13689-5, 12/20335-4, 17/18840-6)

FABRE, SEBASTIEN; JEAN ANTONIO, PAUL YVES; LE HIR, GUILLAUME. Harsh or balmy weathering conditions onto the first continent surface?. Precambrian Research, v. 353, FEB 2021. (18/23755-0, 17/18840-6)

JEAN ANTONIO, PAUL YVES; FERREIRA TRINDADE, RICARDO IVAN; GIACOMINI, BRUNO; BRANDT, DANIELE; TOHVER, ERIC. New high-quality paleomagnetic data from the Borborema Province (NE Brazil): Refinement of the APW path of Gondwana in the Early Cambrian. Precambrian Research, v. 360, JUL 15 2021. (18/23755-0, 16/06114-6, 17/18840-6)

ANTONIO, P. Y. J.; ROSSIGNOL, C.; GALLO, L.; TRINDADE, R. I. F.; DE SOUZA ALMEIDA, R.; LANA, C.; MARTINEZ DOPICO, C.; BARROS, C. E. M.; RODRIGUEZ PINTO, J. P.; PAULA, F.; et al. Amazonia in Cambrian times: reconciling discordant palaeomagnetic dataset with a geocentric axial dipole?. JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, v. 182, n. 6, p. 18-pg., 2025-11-03. (18/23755-0, 16/06114-6, 19/16066-7, 17/18840-6, 18/02645-2)