P-T-D evolution of the southeast Passo Feio Complex and the meaning of the Caçapava Lineament, Dom Feliciano Belt, southernmost Brazil

Abstract

Metamorphic–deformation paths and interpretations of regional structures are essential for the understanding of how orogens evolve. While in active orogens, structures can be easily mapped for hundreds of kilometres, regional structures in ancient mountain belts may appear only as subsurface geophysical data. In this paper, we constrain the metamorphic–deformation history of the southeastern part of the Passo Feio Complex located in the Neoproterozoic Dom Feliciano Belt in southernmost Brazil. The complex is crosscut by a block-limiting structure defined by magnetometric data, the Caçapava Lineament. Our petrographic interpretations and thermodynamic modelling of pelitic schists of the Passo Feio Complex indicate the beginning of garnet growth at ca. 530–550 °C and 3–4.3 kbar during D1, and metamorphic peak at ca. 560–570 °C and 5–5.5 kbar (M1), during progression to D2. After M1 (~17–19 km depth), the complex was exhumed to at least 14 km (~4 kbar) depth, as the contact metamorphism by the Caçapava Granite (ca. 562 Ma) produced andalusite. The correlation of D3 structures of the Passo Feio Complex (S3 and L3), magmatic structures in the Caçapava Granite, orientation of geophysical anomalies in the region and kinematics of S3 corroborate the interpretation of the Caçapava Lineament as a dextral shear zone. Due to the location of anomalies and previous three-dimensional modelling of the granitic body, we interpret that a curved ENE to NS branch of the NE-striking Caçapava Shear Zone is responsible for the accommodation of the Caçapava Granite. Lastly, we discuss the regional implications of such interpretation, which brings up the question of block-limiting character of the Caçapava Shear Zone and the geotectonic position of the Passo Feio Complex