High‐silica Ediacaran volcanism in the Dom Feliciano Belt, southernmost Brazil

Abstract

The Cerro Chato region is located in southernmost Brazil and is characterized by associations of acid volcanic and subvolcanic rocks. The region is affected by NW and NE‐ trending faults and is grouped into 2 geomorphologically distinct features: Cerro Chato and Cerro Partido. Cerro Chato is represented by ignimbrites that occur in 2 main facies: lithic‐rich ignimbrites and crystal‐rich ignimbrites. They are poorly sorted and consist of lapilli‐sized pyroclasts in a tuffaceous matrix with eutaxitic texture. Hemi‐crystalline rhyolitic flows represent effusive events, with porphyritic texture, flow structures, and spherulites. Cerro Partido is characterized by a subvolcanic rhyolitic body, with porphyritic texture, elongated in the NE–SW direction. Through geochemical data, the lithologies were characterized as high‐silica type rhyolites, correlated to the alkaline series, close to the subalkaline series limit; display metaluminous to peraluminous character and high contents of alkalis, FeOt/FeOt + MgO and agpaitic index. The Cerro Partido rhyolites were classified as high‐Ti with higher CaO, P2O5, FeOt, MgO, and K2O contents than the Cerro Chato low‐Ti rhyolites. The REE pattern is slightly enriched in LREE in relation to the HREE and has a strong negative Eu anomaly. U–Pb zircon dating indicates an age of 561 ± 2 Ma for Cerro Partido, suggesting contemporaneity with the granitoids of Dom Feliciano Suite. Additionally, Cerro Chato rhyolites indicate an age of 630.4 ± 2.8 Ma. These ages are in agreement with those obtained in the syn‐sedimentary volcanism at the base of the Maricá Formation, Camaquã Basin.