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Spinel-group minerals as a record of magmatic and metamorphic processes: evidence from the highly altered Morro do Onça ultramafic suite, São Francisco Craton (Brazil)

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Abstract

The Morro do Onça suite is a package of ultramafic rocks in the southern São Francisco Craton, Brazil. Owing to the complete alteration of primary silicate minerals, the Morro do Onça suite has been the subject of diverging interpretations, including: part of a retrogressed eclogite-facies Paleoproterozoic ophiolite/accretionary wedge or an Archean komatiite flow(s). In this paper, we utilize spinel-group mineral chemistry—alongside field mapping, petrography, silicate mineral chemistry and bulk-rock geochemistry—to decipher the magmatic and metamorphic evolution of the Morro do Onça suite. A komatiite origin is supported by the identification of spinifex-textured layers, as well as primary spinel-group mineral compositions (mean Cr-number = 79; mean TiO2 = 0.3 wt%) and chondrite-normalized bulk-rock rare-earth element values ([Sm–Lu]N = 1.2–5.1). Metamorphism reached mid/upper amphibolite-facies and was likely responsible for Al mobility on mineral and bulk-rock scales, demonstrating that the bulk-rock Al/Ti proxy commonly used to classify komatiites is susceptible to alteration. Thus, the Morro do Onça komatiites record variable bulk-rock Al/Ti values (17–47) that overlap with both Munro- (Al/Ti = 22) and Weltevreden-type (Al/Ti = 30) komatiites. Based on immobile trace-element ratios ([Gd/Lu]N = 0.6–2.0) and primary spinel-group mineral compositions, we classify the Morro do Onça komatiites as Weltevreden-type. Mesoarchean komatiites related to mantle plume-magmatism are now recognized throughout the southern São Francisco Craton, potentially suggesting that its precursor lithosphere was continuous during this Era.

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Modified from Silva et al. (2020)

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Availability of data

All raw data are included in the supplementary material. In due course, samples will be catalogued and stored in the National Rock and Ore Collection, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

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Acknowledgements

GLG would like to thank: Rob Wardell and Tim Gooding for tutelage and assistance with a variety of sample preparation and laboratory-related tasks; Tim Rose for remote microprobe assistance; Robert Holder, Daniel Viete and Freya George for assistance with LA-ICP-MS analyses and trace-element data; Dionysis Foustoukos for access to the XRF facilities; and Leonardo de Laurentis for invaluable fieldwork and Portuguese assistance. GLG, JRM, MAPP, and RCRF would like to express our gratitude to Luís Goulart for the Morro do Onça coordinates and field discussions. JRM, MAPP, and RCRF thank the Geological Survey of Brazil for support. VTM acknowledges that this research was financially supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) grant #404767. We would also like to thank reviewers Stephen Barnes and Pedro Waterton, who provided extremely constructive reviews that greatly helped to improve our manuscript, as well as Associate Editor Dante Canil, who provided helpful comments and suggestions.

Funding

GLG’s research was funded by a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellowship, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. VTM acknowledges that this research was financially supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) grant #404767/2016-8 and FAPESP Process #2021/00967-5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20560, USA

    George L. Guice & Michael R. Ackerson

  2. Geological Survey of Brazil-CPRM, Av Brazil 1731, Belo Horizonte, 30140-002, Brazil

    Joana Reis Magalhães, Marco Aurélio Piacentini Pinheiro & Raianny Carolini Ramos Ferreira

  3. Department of Geology and Natural Resources, Institute of Geosciences, UNICAMP, Campinas, 13083-855, Brazil

    Vinícius Tieppo Meira

  4. Institute of Geosciences, University of São Paulo, Rua do Lago, 562, Butantã, ,São Paulo, 05508-080, Brazil

    Paola Melo-Silva

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Guice, G.L., Magalhães, J.R., Pinheiro, M.A.P. et al. Spinel-group minerals as a record of magmatic and metamorphic processes: evidence from the highly altered Morro do Onça ultramafic suite, São Francisco Craton (Brazil). Contrib Mineral Petrol 177, 34 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-022-01901-0

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