In situ U-Pb rutile dating and provenance analysis by LA-ICP-MS of early paleozoic sequences of Borborema province: Parnaíba, Araripe and Tucano-Jatobá basins

• Grant number: 21/12621-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Effective date (Start): May 22, 2022
• Effective date (End): December 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Principal Investigator: Lucas Verissimo Warren
• Grantee: Rodrigo Irineu Cerri
• Supervisor: Christopher Spencer
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Queen's University, Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/10739-7 - Geochronology and provenance of the Parnaíba, Araripe, Jatobá and Tucano Norte Basins lower successions: implications on the origin of Western Gondwana intracratonic basins, BP.PD

Abstract

The Cariri and Tacaratu formations are part of the Early Paleozoic basal units of the Araripe and Jatobá/Tucano Norte, and are historically interpreted as distant correlates of the Ipu Formation sediments (Parnaíba Basin). The Paleozoic lower units of the Brazilian cratonic basins are key units to understand and interpret initial sedimentation ages, paleogeography and depositional styles during initial cratonic basin subsidence that occurred after the Western Gondwana assembly. Historically, some works addresses stratigraphic, faciological and paleocurrents similarities between Ipu, Cariri and Tacaratu formations. However, the putative correlation between these three units were made without quantitative provenance and geochronological data. Recently, provenance studies carried out in the Ipu Formation suggested a Cambrian/Ordovician paleogeographical scenario where the sedimentary dispersion was associated with huge fluvial system. This continental-scale fluvial system was sourced by the mountainous regions related to the Brasiliano Orogeny located at the south/southeastern part of Borborema Province, and flowed towards the NW marine environments of Gondwana, in a ramp-like tilted basin. In the last decade, a large number of new dating techniques are being used for provenance studies, including Lu-Hf and U-Pb ages of detrital rutile. Since rutile is one of the most stable minerals during weathering and a common accessory mineral, he is being used in a wide range of techniques for sedimentary provenance studies, including trace elements analysis and U-Pb dating. The main objective of this BEPE-PD project is to perform LA-ICP-MS U-Pb analyses in detrital rutile from the Parnaíba, Araripe and Tucano-Jatobá basins, in order to refine the age spectrum and provenance of the Early Paleozoic basal units of these basins. In the literature, a wide range of studies compare detrital rutile to zircon U-Pb ages, demonstrating that rutile analyses can reveal sources that zircon often do not show. This internship will be developed at the Queen's University (Canada), supervised by Prof. Dr. Christopher Spencer, specialist in geochronology, isotope geochemistry and provenance analysis. (AU)