Genesis of ferruginous duricrusts and its linkage to paleoclimates and long-term landscape evolution of the Alto Paranaíba region, Minas Gerais, Brazil

• Grant number: 19/10708-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: October 06, 2019
• End date: October 05, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Pablo Vidal Torrado
• Grantee: Karina Patrícia Prazeres Marques
• Supervisor: Thierry Allard
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris 4), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/22292-4 - Geology-Geomorphology-Pedology relationship associated with oxisols genesis of the West of Minas Gerais, BP.DR

Abstract

Ferruginous duricrusts are ubiquitous in relict paleosurfaces along humid/semi-humid tropical and subtropical zone, such as in South America, India, Africa and Australia. They are often very old and may have been formed since the Late Cretaceous (~ 65 Ma), which characterizes them as a potential marker of paleoclimates and long-term landscape evolution. However, the processes and events related to their formation, transformation and distribution are still obscure. During weathering secondary supergene minerals precipitate in ferruginous duricrusts. They mainly consist in iron oxides (hematite), oxyhydroxides (goethite), kaolinite and gibbsite, often in a polycrystalline arrangement. Thus, a detailed characterization of their micromorphology, mineralogy and geochemistry combined to their age will may be helpful to elucidate their formation processes as well as their relation to paleoclimates and long-term landscape evolution. Our main objective is to identify and characterize different generations of goethite and hematite grains from ferruginous duricrusts that occur in relict paleosurfaces, supposedly of the Lester King's Sulamericana Surface, occurring in a representative catchment of the Alto Paranaíba region (Minas Gerais state, Brazil). Ferruginous duricrusts were described and samples were collected in different layers. Some samples will be selected for micromorphological, mineralogical and geochemical analyses to identify and characterize different generations of goethite and hematite grains that will reveal ancient weathering episodes. These analyses will be carried out at the Institute of Mineralogy, Materials Physics and Cosmochemistry (IMPMC) at the Sorbonne Université in partnership with GEOPS research laboratory (Paris Sud université, France) under the supervision of Dr. Thierry Allard, Dr. Cécile Gautheron and Dr. Cécile Quantin. (AU)

Scientific publications

(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)

DE CAMPOS, DANIELA SCHIEVANO; DOS SANTOS, MARCILENE; MARQUES, KARINA P. P.; SILVA, ALEXANDRE CHRISTOFARO; VIDAL-TORRADO, PABLO. Impact of tectonic topographic rejuvenation in landscapes with high bedrock/duricrust strength: Insights from geomorphic evidence in a post-rifted region (SE Brazil). Geomorphology, v. 435, p. 23-pg., 2023-05-30. (14/09202-8, 17/22292-4, 19/10708-7)

MARQUES, KARINA P. P.; DOS SANTOS, MARCILENE; PEIFER, DANIEL; DA SILVA, CLAUZIONOR LIMA; VIDAL-TORRADO, PABLO. Transient and relict landforms in a lithologically heterogeneous post-orogenic landscape in the intertropical belt (Alto Paranaiba region, Brazil). Geomorphology, v. 391, OCT 15 2021. (19/10708-7, 17/22292-4, 17/20788-2)

MARQUES, KARINA P. P.; ALLARD, THIERRY; GAUTHERON, CECILE; BAPTISTE, BENOIT; PINNA-JAMME, ROSELLA; MORIN, GUILLAUME; DELBES, LUDOVIC; VIDAL-TORRADO, PABLO. Supergene phases from ferruginous duricrusts: non-destructive microsamplingand mineralogy prior to (U-Th)/He geochronological analysis. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MINERALOGY, v. 35, n. 3, p. 13-pg., 2023-06-14. (17/20788-2, 17/22292-4, 19/10708-7)