Iron-rich duricrust of Serra da Espinhaço Meridional, Minas Gerais State, Brazil and their relations with landscape evolution

Author(s)

Danilo de Lima Camêlo

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Piracicaba.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC)
• Defense date: 2017-02-22

Examining board members

Pablo Vidal Torrado; Antonio Carlos de Azevedo; Tiago Osorio Ferreira; Francisco Sérgio Bernardes Ladeira; Alexandre Christófaro Silva

• Advisor: Pablo Vidal Torrado

Abstract

Some morphological indications suggest that the tropical landscape surfaces where the iron-rich duricrust are present may have ages varying from the Quaternary to the Cretaceous, and that the laterization on these surfaces may have been initiated simultaneously or not, establishing a sequence chronological formation according to the elevation, according to the geomorphological evolution of the surfaces. Three geomorphological levels correlated to the South American platform planing cycles are known on the Diamantina Plateau, for this the objective of this work was to study the mineralogical, geochemical and morphological variations of the iron-rich duricrust of the SdEM, trying to understand the genetic processes involved and the implications of this on the distribution and evolution of the regional landscape and its relations with the planning cycles of the South American continent. In order to reach these objectives, X-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility, scanning electron microscopy with dispersive energy system coupled and elemental analysis carried out from the total dissolution of the constituent minerals. The results showed that in the Diamantina Plateau at the SdEM, coexist levels of ferricretes and laterites on the surface corresponding to the Post-Gondwanic erosive cycle. The laterite surfaces are probably the oldest surviving formations of the regional landscape, originated during the denudation processes that occurred along the Post-Gondwanic erosive cycle. Partial erosion of its lateritic profile was source material of Fe and Al for the genesis of ferricretes distributed on high surfaces (> 1200 m), especially those on surfaces at 1400 m of altitude. The paleoclimatic variations of the Post-Gondwanic cycle also provided alternating erosive cycles that resulted in sub-scaling of this surface, creating geomorphological conditions favorable for genesis of earlier ferricretes (1200 - 1400 m). In addition, the ferricretes of the Diamantina Plateau (SdEM) under influence of the Quartzite massif of the Espinhaço Supergroup and located in elevated erosive surfaces (> 1200 m), besides polycyclics, may also present polygenetic characteristics. (AU)