Petrology and isotope geology of mafic to ultramafic metavolcanic rocks of the Brusque Metamorphic Complex, southern Brazil

The Brusque Metamorphic Complex (BMC) is one of the main units of the Tijucas Terrain within the Dom Feliciano Belt, located in the state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. In the Itapema region, the BMC is composed chiefly of metasediments, including subordinate metabasalts, meta-ultramafic rocks, and clinoamphibole schists. The metavolcanic rocks form 4 m-thick lenses interlayered with metapelites and calc-silicate schists. Based on the observed textures and the associated structural, bulk-rock geochemical, and mineral chemical data, these metamafites and ultramafites were ancient lava flows of tholeiitic basalts and ultramafic cumulates. The mineral parageneses of the metabasalts are albite + actinolite + chlorite + epidote + titanite + magnetite and oligoclase + hornblende + epidote + titanite + magnetite, indicating progressive transformations produced under greenschist to amphibolite facies conditions. Volcanogenic metasediments show the same geochemical patterns as the metabasalts, whereas the metamorphosed ultramafic rocks consist of cumulates generated by crystal fractionation and flow segregation. The studied rocks show similar rare-earth element (REE) patterns, characterized by clearly higher normalized contents of light REEs compared with heavy REEs, without Eu anomalies in the metabasalts and positive Eu anomalies in meta-ultramafic rocks and volcanogenic metasediments. In accordance with the trace element contents that indicate a within-plate nature, the corresponding mafic melts apparently formed in the mantle by partial fusion and were subsequently enriched with crustal components during ascent into the sialic crust. The analysed Nd-143/Nd-144 and Sr-87/Sr-86 ratios lie between 0.5123 and 0.5126 and 0.7067 and 0.7086, respectively, and are thus typical of tholeiitic basalts of the continental plateau type. Initial epsilon Nd-(936) values and derived model ages (T-DM) between 1028 and 1762 million years support a mantle source or sources, with extraction and emplacement in the Neoproterozoic. Field relations and geochemical data (including isotopic data) indicate the generation of the studied mafic and ultramafic rocks in a continental rift. In the regional geologic context, the formation of the BMC volcanic and metasedimentary units marks a period of fragmentation of the Palaeoproterozoic continental crust. This extensional event is preserved regionally in gneisses from the Santa Catarina Granulitic Complex and the Cambori Complex.