Abstract

Important diamond mineralized alluvium/colluvium occurs in western Minas Gerais (WMG) in the Brasilia Orogenic Belt (700-450 my). Diamonds are geographically related to glacial and periglacial sediments (Upper Proterozoic and Permo-Carboniferous), wadi and debris flow conglomerates (Lower Cretaceous and Upper Cretaceous), and ultramafic alkaline rocks (intrusive and extrusive, including “kimberlites”, leucitites, kamafugites, carbonatites, etc.) of Cretaceous age. Petrological data indicate that the rocks originally petrographically classified as kimberlites present mineralogical, chemical, and isotopical differences with Group I and II kimberlites and more closely resemble kamafugites. The Brasilia Orogenic Belt presents features of a Wilson Cycle implying that WMG does not fulfil the geotectonic and geothermometric requisites to host primary diamond sources. An analysis of field relations and sedimentology in WMG shows that the majority of the diamonds have been transported by glacial events from the Sao Francisco Craton further east.

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