Emplacement of dike swarms from the island of Ilhabela (SE Brazil) and its relationship with the South Atlantic Ocean opening revealed by magnetic fabrics

Abstract

Magnetic fabric and rock-magnetism studies were performed on 153 dikes from diabase, lamprophyre and alkaline dike swarms that outcrop on the island of Ilhabela, NE São Paulo State. The dikes crosscut Archean and Proterozoic polymetamorphic rocks. Their thicknesses range from a few centimeters to 4 or 5 m. They trend predominantly N30-60E with a very steep (~60°) to vertical dip. Magnetic fabrics were determined using anisotropy of low-field magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and anisotropy of anhysteretic remanent magnetization (AARM). Rock-magnetism measurements reveal that the magnetic mineral of the three swarms is magnetite mainly with grains in the range of 2–5 μm. For a few dikes, these grains are the carriers of bulk magnetic susceptibility but are not responsible for the AMS, which is due to Fe-bearing minerals, as shown by AARM. The main AMS fabric recognized in the swarms is due to magma flow, in which the Kmax–Kint plane is parallel to the dike's plane, and the magnetic foliation pole (Kmin) is perpendicular to it. The analysis of the Kmax inclination showed that the dikes were fed by horizontal to vertical flows. However, for the minority of the dikes, the AMS and AARM tensors are not coaxial. The AARMmax is oriented N30–60 W, approximately perpendicular to the Kmax. The AARMmax orientation is similar to the direction of a fault system located mainly in the Santos marginal basin which, was formed in the Cretaceous rifting during the South Atlantic opening. The AARM fabric is tectonic in origin, and is parallel with the extensional paleostress responsible for the Gondwana break-up. The comparison of AMS and AARM fabrics suggests that diabase and lamprophyre dikes were emplaced in three distinct events in the earliest stages of the South Atlantic opening. Later, the alkaline dikes were emplaced in the final stages of the Atlantic opening.