Magmatic epidote in Archean granitoids of the Carajás Province, Amazonian craton, and its stability during magma rise and emplacement

Abstract

In the Rio Maria and Sapucaia Domains of the Carajás Province, during the Mesoarchean, tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) series (2.98–2.92 Ga; Colorado Trondhjemite) and sanukitoid rocks (∼2.87 Ga; Rio Maria Suite of Ourilândia do Norte) were formed. They were followed, in the Neoarchean (2.75–2.73 Ga), by numerous stocks of granitoids similar to A-type granites (Vila Jussara Suite). Despite the compositional differences between these granitoids, epidote is a mineral phase common to all of them, with pistacite contents of 26–29 mol% in TTGs, 22–33 mol% in sanukitoids and 25–30 mol% in Neoarchean granitoids. The study of the dissolution kinetics of Archean epidotes of the Carajás Province reveals that the partial dissolution time of their crystals was ∼4–10 years, with corresponding magma ascent rates of 4–8 km/year. Magma viscosities at liquidus temperature were estimated at 105.3 Pa s for TTG magma and 102.5 Pa s for sanukitoid magma, whereas monzogranitic magmas of the Vila Jussara Suite exhibited a viscosity of 104.4 Pa s. In contrast, the viscosity of tonalitic magma of the Vila Jussara Suite was 103.5 Pa s. The preservation of magmatic epidote in Archean granitoids requires that the plutons grew in an incremental way, similar to their Phanerozoic counterparts, with the stacking of small sill-dykes of about 100 m thickness each intruded in a rather cold crust, allowing fast cooling rates so as to prevent complete dissolution of epidote at the final emplacement level.