Evolution study of Brazilian sedimentary basins by zircon fission track thermochronology

Abstract

Zircon is a common accessory mineral in igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. It is physically and chemically resistant and can "survive" for many geological periods, and in many cases, provides a record of each geological event which was submitted in these periods. Incorporates in its structure trace elements such as U, Th and Pb, which is crucial for geochronological analyzes. Its ability to retain information about the thermal history of a source area is of invaluable value to elucidate the geological processes arising from a variety of geodynamic settings. Consequently, Zircon Fission Track Thermochronology has been extensively used in combination with other methods of radiometric dating, such as U-Pb and U-Th/He to understand the geo and thermochronology of rocks in a variety geological environments: orogenic basement rocks, thermochronology using detrital grains in sedimentary rocks for analysis of provenance and thermal history analysis. Based on this, the aim of this project apply ZTTF (integrated with other methodologies) to unravel more broadly the geologic history of two important areas of Brazil: Paraná Basin (Triângulo Mineiro area) and the southern portion of the San Francisco Craton along to Brasilia (west) and Araçuaí (east) mobile belts. The published thermochronological data are very few on both areas. The majority of works present stratigraphic and geomorphological characteristics only. The idea is to obtain as much information about each area, integrating multiple methods geochronological and thermochronological. Moreover, further advancement within the ZTTF can be achieved if the scientific community can amplify its use with the thermal history reconstruction of an area of geological interest. (AU)