Reappraisal of the Sumé Complex: Geochemistry and geochronology of metaigneous rocks and implications for Paleoproteorozoic subduction-accretion events in the Borborema Province, NE Brazil

Abstract

The Alto Moxoto Terrane represents the largest exposure of Paleoproterozoic rocks in the central Borborema Province. Several medium- to high-grade metamorphic units are described in the terrane, however geochronological data are still scarce, and the main periods of crust buildup and recycling are poorly known. In this study, we investigate the nature and age of metagranitic and metamafic-ultramafic rocks in the type area of the Sume Complex. U-Pb zircon data from a metasyenogranite yields a concordant age of 1.97 Ga, which is in contrast with the previously published age of the complex (c. 640 Ma). In addition, Sm-Nd isotope signature indicates Paleoproterozoic to Mesoarchean sources that coupled with negative ϵNd(t) values suggest reworking of a preexisting crust. Whole-rock geochemical data indicate that metamafic rocks are similar to those already described in the terrane, corresponding to island-arc tholeiites, whereas the metagranitic rocks share similarities with magmas that were generated in an evolved stage of an orogenic setting. The obtained results are coherent with a long-lived Paleoproterozoic accretionary-collisional event (c. 2.1 - 1.9 Ga) described in the Borborema Province, which is correlative with Paleoproterozoic (c. 2.2 - 2.0 Ga) basement inliers/terranes from Pan-African Fold belts.