The influence of lithospheric inheritance and Cenozoic magmatism on Phanerozoic rock cooling in the São Francisco Craton and adjacent orogens

Abstract

The South American Platform encompasses the São Francisco Craton (SFC) and the Araçuaí-Ribeira orogenic system (AROS) located in the eastern Brazil. These geologic domains hold records of differential exhumation, sedimentation, volcanic activity, and post-rift reactivation of faults and shear zones. Therefore, these terranes provide outstanding opportunities for studying the dynamics of lithospheric processes, particularly in their interaction zones, characterized by the transition from cratonic to orogenic lithosphere. To investigate the processes involved in the contrasting behavior of the upper crust, we provide 23 new apatite fission track (AFT) ages and thermal histories from the northern segment of the AROS and from the eastern area of the SFC. The AFT ages range from 154.4 ± 20.1 and 37.1 ± 3.0 Ma and the mean track lengths range from 10.9 and 13.2 μm. We compiled thermal information from previous thermochronological analysis from 357 sites and constructed inverse distance weighted maps that depict the spatial distribution of AFT ages and the temperature evolution from 360 to 30 Ma. The results indicate that the SFC experienced its final exhumation within the apatite partial annealing zone (APAZ) at temperatures ranging from 110 °C to 60 °C during the late Paleozoic. In contrast, the AROS went through its last cooling within the APAZ during the Mesozoic or even in the Cenozoic. This suggests that reactivation and reheating, possibly associated with the South Atlantic rift, influenced the orogenic basement of the passive margin. We highlight that the reheating associated to the Abrolhos magmatic province in the northern segment of the AROS caused the youngest AFT ages of the study area. Our work demonstrates the importance of considering contrasting rheology when analyzing regional exhumation patterns, the structural fabric of orogens through reactivation of crustal discontinuities generating heating and exhumation, and how volcanism can disrupt the thermal record, inducing crustal reheating.