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Atlantica revisited: new data andthoughts on the formation andevolution of a long-lived continentSérgio Pacheco Neves aa Departamento de Geologia , Universidade Federal dePernambuco , 50740-530, Recife, PE, BrasilPublished online: 08 Feb 2011.

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International Geology ReviewVol. 53, Nos. 11–12, September–October 2011, 1377–1391

Atlantica revisited: new data and thoughts on the formation andevolution of a long-lived continent

Sérgio Pacheco Neves*

Departamento de Geologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50740-530 Recife, PE, Brasil

(Accepted 24 September 2010)

The existence of the continent Atlantica, postulated to encompass the Amazonian, SãoLuís, West African, São Francisco–Congo, and possibly, Rio de la Plata cratons, aswell as the basement of the Neoproterozoic Gurupi, Araguaia, Borborema, Nigeria, andCameroon belts, is evaluated based on an assessment of a large volume of recently pub-lished data. Striking similarities are found in the pre-Brasiliano–Pan-African geologicalevents in these regions, supporting the Palaeoproterozoic formation of Atlantica and itspersistence through the end of the Precambrian, when it was incorporated in westernGondwana. Formation of Atlantica involved the amalgamation of Archaean microconti-nents, 2.4–2.3 thousand million year-old juvenile crust (extremely rare elsewhere), and2.25–2.10 thousand million year-old crust, culminating with a great collisional eventat 2.10–2.05 Ga. Afterwards, Atlantica continued to grow southwestward by accretionof successive magmatic arcs to the Amazonian craton, and eastward by incorporationof the Tanzania craton and the Bangweulu Block to the Congo craton, whereas its corewas subjected to several events involving intraplate continental extension. Major riftingin the early Neoproterozoic led to the formation of a passive margin south of the SãoFrancisco craton, which may be related to separation of the Rio de la Plata craton. Thisevent and successive ones did not produce large ocean basins separating the other com-ponents of Atlantica. Rifting and limited drifting followed by convergence in the lateNeoproterozoic produced the Brasiliano–Pan-African Gurupi, Araguaia, Borborema,Nigeria, and Cameroon belts. Complete splitting of Atlantica only occurred during theMesozoic with opening of the Atlantic Ocean.

Keywords: supercontinents; palaeomagnetism; geochronology; Transamazonian–Eburnian; Brasiliano–Pan-African

Introduction

Continental growth by accretion of juvenile crust and amalgamation of preexisting crustalblocks, and fragmentation through the processes of continental rifting and ocean-basinformation characterizes Earth history. Supercontinents have lifetimes restricted to a fewhundred million years, either as a result of (1) effects related to mantle warming dueto supercontinental heat insulation (e.g. Anderson 1994; Coltice et al. 2007); (2) super-plume events (e.g. Courtillot et al. 1999; Hou et al. 2008a); (3) passive rifting related toglobal plate dynamics (e.g. Hynes 1990; Gutiérrez-Alonso et al. 2008), or a combinationof these. Smaller, but still large, continents with surface areas greater than several millionsquare kilometres can be less susceptible to those processes (particularly the first one) andthus survive much longer times, especially if they include cratons with thick lithosphere.

*Email: serpane@hotlink.com.br

ISSN 0020-6814 print/ISSN 1938-2839 online© 2011 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/00206814.2010.527676http://www.informaworld.com

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A modern example is the Precambrian core of North America (Laurentia), which grewquasi-continuously between about 1.8 and 1.0 Ga, when the Superior, Slave, Nain, andWyoming cratons were amalgamated through intervening mobile belts to constitute whatis now the Canadian shield (Whitmeyer and Karlstrom 2007). Another possible exampleis Atlantica, a Palaeoproterozoic (∼2.0 Ga) continent, postulated by Rogers (1996), whichincluded the West African, Amazonian, São Francisco–Congo, and Rio de la Plata cra-tons (Figure 1). In some supercontinental reconstructions, the configuration of Atlanticahas been preserved in later periods. This is the case of the Palaeo- to MesoproterozoicColumbia supercontinent (Rogers and Santosh 2002, 2009; Zhao et al. 2004; Hou et al.2008b) and the Neoproterozoic Palaeopangea supercontinent (Piper 2000, 2007). Basedon these reconstructions, the longevity of Atlantica is comparable to Laurentia because itscomponent cratons were obviously part of Gondwana.

The ideas that culminated with the proposition of the Atlantica continent can be tracedback at least to the early 1980s. Prior to Atlantic opening, the São Luís and São Franciscocratons on the Brazilian side were continuous, respectively, with the West African andCongo cratons on the African side (Torquato and Cordani 1981), whereas the West Africanand Amazonian cratons were connected according to Onstott et al. (1984). Ledru et al.(1994) were the first to propose that the Amazonian, São Francisco–Congo, and WestAfrican cratons formed a single continent by the end of the Transamazonian–Eburneanorogeny, based on the similarity of ∼2.1 thousand million year-old fluviodeltaic depositsin these three cratonic provinces. Inclusion of the Rio de la Plata craton in this configura-tion gave birth to Atlantica as envisaged by Rogers (1996). Isotopic and geochronologicalwork, reviewed by Neves (2003), showed that the Neoproterozoic provinces of NE Brazil,Nigeria, and Cameroon contain a limited amount of juvenile material, mainly consist-ing of reworked Palaeoproterozoic crust, thus also suggesting their inclusion in Atlantica(Figure 1).

A large amount of geologic and geochronologic information has become available sincethe publication of the above-mentioned papers. In this contribution, I review these data,with particular emphasis on U–Pb dates. My conclusion is that the hypothesized existenceand persistence of Atlantica for most of the Proterozoic is reinforced. However, severalpalaeogeographical reconstructions for this aeon place the constituents of Atlantica asindependent continental masses (e.g. Dalziel et al. 2000; Meert and Torsvik 2003; Pesonenet al. 2003; Tohver et al. 2006; Cordani et al. 2009). Therefore, the palaeomagnetic dataset on which these reconstructions heavily rely is briefly addressed first.

Palaeomagnetic evidence

Using new and previously published palaeomagnetic poles for the Guiana and West AfricanShields, Nomade et al. (2003) showed that the Amazonian and West African cratons werejuxtaposed at 2.02 Ga. With additional data, Théveniaut et al. (2006) inferred that theGuyana Shield moved from near the pole around 2050 Ma to the equator at 1970 Ma. A solePalaeoproterozoic palaeopole is available for the São Francisco craton (D’Agrella-Filhoand Pacca 1998), indicating moderate latitude, but the uncertain age of magnetization (esti-mated between 1.98 and 1.90 Ga) renders comparisons with the Amazonian palaeopolesunreliable. Palaeomagnetic data from 1.79 Ga-old volcanic rocks from the SW portion ofthe Amazonian Craton, together with palaeopoles of the same age for Laurentia, Baltica,and North China, allow a palaeogeographic reconstruction of an elongated continuouslandmass (Columbia) with Amazonia in the southern end, North China, and Baltica in thecentral position, and Laurentia in the north (Bispo-Santos et al. 2008). This configurationplaces no constraints on the other components of Atlantica. However, if West Africa is

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Imataca Complex

Brazilian Shield

Amapá Block

Central

Amazonian

ProvinceGurupi belt

AraguaiaBelt

Belt

BorboremaProvince

BrasíliaBelt

RibeiraBelt

Belt

Belt

Angola

Block Block

Kasai

West Congo

Araçuaí

CameroonProvince

ProvinceNigerian

Dahomeyides

Tanzania

craton

Bangweulu Block

Figure 1. Palaeogeographical reconstruction showing outline of Africa (excluding Arabia) andapproximate limit of the South America Platform highlighting the extent of Transamazonian–Eburnean crust. Cratons: AM, Amazonian; CO, Congo; RP, Rio de la Plata; SF, São Francisco; SL,São Luís; WA, West African. Inset shows palaeogeographical reconstruction for Columbia at 1.79 Ga(Bispo-Santos et al. 2008) with outline of Atlantica as depicted in the main figure.

added, it is interesting to note that (Figure 1) (a) the large gulf between Amazonia, NorthChina, and Baltica is filled; (b) the Archaean crust of the northern West African Craton isjuxtaposed against the Archaean Kola Province of Baltica.

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For the late Mesoproterozoic, reliable palaeomagnetic data include three palaeomag-netic poles for the Amazonian craton between 1.20 and 1.15 Ga (Tohver et al. 2002;D’Agrella-Filho et al. 2008) and four for the São Francisco craton between 1.08 and1.00 Ga (D’Agrella-Filho et al. 1990, 2004). The interpretation favoured by Tohver et al.(2002) and D’Agrella-Filho et al. (2008) for the Amazonian craton involves net sinistralstrike–slip motion of its western margin against the eastern margin of Laurentia; alterna-tively, matching the APW paths for both continents places Amazonia 5000 km away fromLaurentia (D’Agrella-Filho et al. 2008). Tohver et al. (2006) included a palaeopole fromthe Congo craton (Meert et al. 1994) to construct a 1.2–1.0 Ma APW path for the SãoFrancisco–Congo craton, but the age of magnetization is uncertain and the pole is of lowquality (Pisarevsky 2005). Therefore, inferences concerning the relative positions of theAmazonian and São Francisco cratons in the time interval 1.2–1.0 Ga cannot be done dueto the age difference between the youngest pole from Amazonia and the oldest one fromSão Francisco, because large latitudinal drifts can occur in a few tens of millions of years.

Similar to the Palaeoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic, very few palaeomagneticrecords are available for the Neoproterozic. A low palaeolatitude (22 +6/–5◦) of theAmazonian craton following the end of the Marinoan glaciation was determined fromsamples at the base of the Puga cap carbonates that cover its SE margin (Trindade et al.2003). Other palaeopole from the Puga carbonates (Trindade et al. 2003) and palaeo-magnetic poles obtained in cap carbonates of the Bambuí Group in the São Franciscocraton (D’Agrella-Filho et al. 2000) are interpreted as reflecting Cambrian remagnetiza-tion (Trindade et al. 2006), and thus cannot constrain the relative position of the Amazonianand São Francisco cratons in the Neoproterozoic. It is, however, relevant that a recent U–Pb detrital zircon study showed that the maximum deposition age of the Bambuí Group is610 Ma (Rodrigues and Pimentel 2008). Its deposition, therefore, post-dates the Marinoanevent, not the Sturtian, as previously thought (Babinski et al. 2007), indicating a similarpalaeolatitude for the São Francisco and Amazonian cratons in the late Neoproterozoic.

In synthesis, the available palaeomagnetic data are very limited in time and areal cover-age (e.g. no palaeopole younger than 2 thousand million years for West Africa, no poles atall for Rio de la Plata) and are far from giving firm constrains that could either substantiateor refute the existence of Atlantica.

Geological and geochronological correlations

Birth of Atlantica

The core of the Atlantica hypothesis is that Archaean cratons/microcontinents were amal-gamated during accretionary/collisional processes associated with the 2.1 ± 0.1 GaTransamazonian–Eburnean event. The main exposures of Archaean crust (Figure 1) are(a) the western portion of the Reguibat Shield (Potrel et al. 1998; Schofield and Gillespie2007) and the Kénéma-Man domain of the Man Shield (Thiéblemont et al. 2004) in theWest African craton; (b) the Central Amazonian Province (Tassinari and Macambira 1999),the Imataca Complex (Tassinari et al. 2004), and the Amapá Block (Rosa-Costa et al.2006) in the Amazonian craton; (c) the Gavião, Serrinha, and Jequié blocks (Barbosa andSabaté 2004) and the Quadrilátero Ferrrífero (Noce et al. 2005) in the northern and south-ern portions, respectively, of the São Francisco craton; and (d) the Angola-Kasai Block inthe Congo craton (De Waele et al. 2008). Additionally, exposures of Archaean crust arealso found in the Borborema (Fetter et al. 2000; Silva et al. 2002; Dantas et al. 2004) andNigerian (Bruguier et al. 1994) provinces and in the northern portion of the Araguaia Belt(Moura and Gaudette 1999).

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Correlations amongst these Archaean segments are permissible in some cases butprecluded in others. For instance, a link between the Archaean in Nigeria and north-easternmost Borborema Province with the Gavião Block can be envisaged, based onsimilar geological histories extending from the Palaeo- to the Neoarchaean (Dantaset al. 2004), and the same holds true for Archaean basement rocks of the AraguaiaBelt and the Central Amazonian craton (Moura and Gaudette 1999). In contrast,despite their proximity, the Amapá Block and the Central Amazonian Province prob-ably had independent evolution before the Palaeoproterozoic due to great differencesin geodynamic history. For instance, at 2.75–2.60 Ga, the first one is characterized bywidespread orogenic magmatism, whereas the latter was the locus of rift-related mag-matism (Rosa-Costa et al. 2006). The Archaean domains were variably affected by theTransamazonian-Eburnean event and, in the Neoproterozoic provinces, by the Brasilianoevent. Localized reactivation of older structures (Central Amazonian Province; Pinheiroand Holdsworth 1997) and complete obliteration of the previous fabric (São Franciscocraton, Amapá Block; Barbosa and Sabaté 2004; Rosa-Costa et al. 2006) occurredextensively.

Support for establishment of the Atlantica continent is provided by similarities in geol-ogy and ages of Palaeoproterozoic tectonothermal events in the cratons and in the basementof the Neoproterozoic Araguaia and Gurupi belts (which border the eastern and south-ern margins of the Amazonian and São Luís cratons, respectively), and the Borborema,Nigeria, and Cameroon provinces. The birth of the continent may have started in an intrao-ceanic realm long before the 2.2–2.0 Ga period classically considered as correspondingto the Transamazonian–Eburnean event. Rocks with ages comprising 2.36 and 2.29 Gaare present in the central part of the Man Shield (Gasquet et al. 2003), in the northeast-ern portion of the Amazonian craton (Bacajá domain; Vasquez et al. 2008; Macambiraet al. 2009), and in northwestern Borborema Province (Médio Coreaú domain; Fetter et al.2000; Santos et al. 2008) (Figure 1). These rocks consist of mafic to intermediate metavol-canics and TTG-like orthogneisses with slightly negative to positive εNd(t) values, and areinterpreted as formed in an island arc setting. Given the rarity of ∼2.3 Ga-old rocks world-wide (Condie et al. 2009), it is very likely that these occurrences have common origin.Therefore, a former continuity between the isolated crustal segments is likely. An origi-nally greater extension of 2.4–2.3 Ga crust is also suggested by minor exposures of rocksof this age in the Amapá Block (Rosa-Costa et al. 2006), and by the presence of earlyPalaeoproterozoic detrital zircons in supracrustal sequences of the Araguaia (Moura et al.2008), Borborema (Van Schmus et al. 2003; Neves et al., 2009), and Cameroon (Ganwaet al. 2008) belts.

The Transamazonian–Eburnean event can be divided into an earlier phase from 2.25 to2.17 Ga, a main period of crust generation and tectonothermal activity lasting from about2.17 to 2.10 Ga, followed by a later phase from 2.10 to 2.04 Ga (extending up to 1.98 Gain some places). Rocks of the first phase are locally found close to the Archaean CentralAmazonian Province and Amapá Block (Rosa-Costa et al. 2006), in the São Luís craton(Klein et al. 2005a), and in the northern domain of Borborema Province (Hackspacheret al. 1990; Fetter et al. 2000; Martins et al. 2009). Their geochemical and isotopic char-acteristics point to formation in a variety of settings, including oceanic plateaus, juvenilearcs and continental arcs. The main phase is widespread and produced a large volumeof juvenile crust, comprising metavolcano-sedimentary belts, TTG-like orthogneisses andcalc-alkaline granitoids. This important period of crust formation is documented in (a) thecentral-eastern portion of the West African craton (Abouchami et al. 1990; Doumbia et al.1998; Egal et al. 2002; Gasquet et al. 2003); (b) the northern portion of the Amazonian

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craton (Maroni-Itacaiunas Province; Tassinari and Macambira 1999; Delor et al. 2003;Rosa-Costa et al. 2006; Théveniaut et al. 2006); (c) the São Luís craton (Klein et al.2005a; Klein and Moura 2008); (d) the Rio de la Plata craton (Hartmann 2002; Santoset al. 2003; Rapela et al. 2007; Gaucher et al. 2008); and (e) the basement of the Gurupi(Klein et al. 2005b), southern Araguaia (Arcanjo and Moura 2000), Borborema (VanSchmus et al. 1995; Fetter et al. 2000; Brito Neves et al. 2001; Neves et al. 2004, 2006;Hollanda et al. 2008), Cameroon (Toteu et al. 2001; Njiosseu et al. 2005; Ganwa et al.2008), and Nigerian (Ferré et al. 1996; Dada 2008) belts. In contrast with these cases, theTransamazonian–Eburnean event in the São Francisco–Congo craton is mainly marked byhigh-grade metamorphism and crustal reworking, with accretion of juvenile crust limitedto the Salvador-Itabuna and Mineiro belts (Silva et al. 2002; De Waele et al. 2008; Rioset al. 2009). Terminal subduction under continental arcs and intracontinental deformationmark the last phase of the Transamazonian–Eburnean event, as registered in intrusion ofmeta- to peraluminous granitoids with continental affinities, high-grade metamorphism,and widespread strike–slip shearing.

Post-Transamazonian–Eburnean evolution

After the Transamazonian–Eburnean event, Atlantica continued to grow southwest-ward (Figure 1) by the accretion of successive magmatic arcs (Venturi-Tapajós, RioNegro-Juruena, and Sunsás provinces) to the Central Amazonian Province (Tassinariand Macambira 1999; Santos et al. 2004), and eastward (Figure 1) by incorpora-tion of the Tanzania craton and Bangweulu Block to the Congo craton (De Waeleet al. 2008). In contrast, the core of Atlantica remained stable, becoming the locus ofintraplate extensional deformation and magmatism. At 1.89–1.88 Ga, widespread inter-mediate to felsic, post-collisional, or within-plate, volcanism and plutonism occurredin the Guyana Shield (Costi et al. 2000; Ferron et al. 2010; Valério et al. 2009) andTapajós Province (Lamarão et al. 2002), whereas intrusion of A-type granites took placein the Central Amazonian Province (Dall’Agnol et al. 1999; Teixeira et al. 2002). At1.8–1.7 Ga, crustal thinning and rifting followed by regional subsidence is recorded inthe São Francisco–Congo craton by continental felsic volcanics, conglomerates, sand-stones, shales, and dolomites (Espinhaço Basin; Martins-Neto et al. 2001; Pedreira andDe Waele 2008; Danderfer et al. 2009). Contemporaneous, rift-related sequences arefound in the Borborema Province (Orós and Jaguaribe belts; Sá et al. 1995, 1997), laterdeformed and metamorphosed during the Brasiliano event. Magmatic activity between1.7 and 1.5 Ga is recorded by intrusion of rapakivi granites in the Guyana Shield(Dall’Agnol et al. 1999), trachytic volcanics in the Espinhaço basin (Danderfer et al. 2009),and anorthosites and A-type granites in the central domain of the Borborema Province(Accioly et al. 2000; Sá et al. 2002). There is no evidence that these Palaeoproterozoicextensional episodes led to the formation of large oceanic domains floored by oceaniclithosphere.

No Mesoproterozoic event is recorded in the West African and São Francisco cratons,except for local intrusion of mafic dikes at ∼1.08 and 1.01 Ga in the latter (Renne et al.1990). It is unlikely that major episodes remain undetected, in spite of the limited geo-logical knowledge. Therefore, fragmentation of Atlantica probably did not occur in theMesoproterozoic. In contrast, evidence for pervasive extensional conditions is recorded inthe early Neoproterozoic (1000–850 Ma). As a result, thick rift-related sedimentary basinswere formed along the eastern margin of the West African craton (Black et al. 1979)and in West Congo (Tack et al. 2001), a passive margin developed around the western

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and southern margins of the São Francisco craton (Valeriano et al. 2004; Azmy et al.2008), and mafic dikes and A-type granites intruded the São Francisco craton (Silva et al.2008; Danderfer et al. 2009). The existence of a large oceanic domain to the south ofthe São Francisco craton is required to explain the consumption of oceanic lithosphereand formation of magmatic arcs in the Brasília (Pimentel et al. 1999; Laux et al. 2005)and Ribeira (Heilbron and Machado 2003) belts, which suggests that separation of theRio de la Plata craton from Atlantica occurred at this time. In the central domain of theBorborema Province, extensional conditions are recorded by a belt of orthogneisses andmetavolcanic rocks (Figure 1) with protolith ages between 980 and 930 Ma (Van Schmuset al. 1995; Kozuch 2003; Medeiros 2004). Some authors interpret these rocks as orogenic(Brito Neves et al. 1995; Santos et al. 2010), but the geochemical composition is typicalof within-plate magmas (Neves 2003; Guimarães and Brito Neves 2004), and there is noevidence for early Neoproterozoic metamorphism. In the Araguaia Belt, a nepheline syen-ite dated at ∼1 Ga (Arcanjo and Moura 2000) was interpreted as testimony of the initialdevelopment of a continental rift, and disrupted serpentinized peridotite and metabasaltslices associated with metacherts as indicating formation of oceanic crust (Alvarenga etal. 2000). However, the absence of sheeted dikes and gabbroic complexes indicates thata fully oceanic stage was not reached; more likely, a proto-oceanic basin similar to theRed Sea was formed (Kotschoubey et al. 2005). Given the temporal coincidence of earlyNeoproterozoic events in the Araguaia Belt and Borborema Province with those recordedin the São Francisco–Congo craton, they are considered as failed attempts to break up thecentral part of Atlantica.

In the middle to upper Neoproterozoic, the presence of oceanic basins separatingdifferent domains of Atlantica were inferred or postulated by a number of authors. High-pressure mafic/ultramafic rocks between the West African craton and the Nigeria Province(Dahomeyides Belt; Figure 1) were interpreted as components of a suture zone (Attohet al. 1997, 2007). This suture has been extrapolated to the Brazilian side below the sedi-ments of the Parnaíba basin (e.g. Brito Neves et al. 1999; Cordani et al. 2003; Fetter et al.2003), but there is no convincing geological/geophysical evidence supporting this assump-tion. In contrast, the existence of essentially continuous continental crust across Atlanticais provided by geochronological studies of Neoproterozoic metasedimentary sequences.First, it has been demonstrated that the age difference between deposition and metamor-phism was short (a few tens of millions of years at most) in several places: (a) northern(Seridó Group; Van Schmus et al. 2003) and central (Surubim Complex and CachoeirinhaGroup; Medeiros 2004; Neves et al. 2006) domains of the Borborema Province; (b) south-ern Cameroon (Yaoundé Group; Toteu et al. 2006); and (c) eastern Nigeria (Obudu Plateau;Ekwueme and Kröner 2006). This suggests that the basins where the sediments weredeposited did not have enough time to evolve to large oceanic basins. Second, detritalzircons with Mesoproterozoic ages are common: (a) in the central and southern domainsof the Borborema Province (Surubim and Rio Una complexes, respectively; Neves et al.2006, 2009); (b) in sediments of the passive margin of the São Francisco craton, deformedand metamorphosed during the Brasiliano orogeny (Valeriano et al. 2004); and (c) in thesouthern Araguaia Belt (Moura et al. 2008). The SW Amazonian craton is the only plausi-ble source for these zircons. Finally, detrital zircons with ages between 1.8 and 1.7 thousandmillion years in Nigeria (Ekwueme and Kröner 2006) and Cameroon (Ganwa et al. 2008)probably were derived from sources in the Orós, Jaguaribe, or Espinhaço rifts, whereas zir-cons with ages around 1.6 thousand million years in central Cameroon (Tchakounté et al.2007) may have been sourced from central Borborema Province.

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As suggested by Castaing et al. (1994), the wide oceanic domain documented inHoggar/Adrar des Iforas (Black et al. 1979; Caby 2003) probably narrowed to a smallocean basin/continental rift to the south. This scenario is similar to that envisaged forthe Araçuaí-West Congo Orogen, interpreted as resulting from closing of a gulf betweenthe São Francisco and Congo cratons (Pedrosa Soares et al. 2001; Alkmim et al. 2006),and consistent with the absence of a magmatic arc in the Nigerian side of the suture.In this context, the large Santa Quitéria magmatic complex in NW Borborema Province,which yielded in part juvenile isotopic signatures and was thus interpreted as a continen-tal arc related to subduction (Fetter et al. 2003), is here reinterpreted as resulting frompartial melting of metabasalts during closing of either a continental rift floored by maficrocks or a restricted oceanic basin. The margins of this complex are decorated by smallmafic/ultramafic bodies with eclogitic relicts (Santos et al. 2009), unlike the situationobserved in modern continental arcs. This can be explained by imbrication and exhumationof the lower and middle crusts during contractional tectonics subsequent to oceanic closure.Other small occurrences of retroeclogites found in the central domain of the BorboremaProvince (Beurlen et al. 1992) may have a similar explanation.

Discussion and conclusion

A wide (∼1000 km) and long (>4000 km) belt of largely juvenile crust extended alongthe present equatorial coasts of Africa and South America, formed as a consequence of the2.2–2.0 Ga Transamazonian–Eburnean event (Figure 1). As in many accretionary orogenicbelts, amalgamation of oceanic and continental arcs, oceanic plateaux and/or seamounts,and older crustal fragments occurred through successive episodes of terrane accretion, end-ing up with continental collision of preexisting crustal blocks. Following stabilization ofthe now formed Atlantica continent, the timing of extensional events indicates that thebasement of the Neoproterozoic Araguaia, Gurupi, Borborema, Nigerian, and Cameroonprovinces remained joined with the São Francisco–Congo craton. Evidence is lacking fora major ocean separating these provinces from the Amazonian–West Africa craton in theNeoproterozoic, and the near absence of juvenile rocks, ophiolites, and eclogites suggestthat the Brasiliano–Pan-African orogeny in them was mainly intracontinental. The evi-dence reviewed here makes Atlantica one of the longest-lived continents in Earth history,because its components stayed linked from the middle Palaeoproterozoic until the openingof the Atlantic Ocean.

Acknowledgements

I thank John Rogers for inviting me to contribute to this special issue. I also acknowl-edge Jean-Paul Liégeois and Léo A. Hartmann for constructive comments on an earlierversion of the manuscript. This article is the contribution number 1 of the BrazilianInstitute of Amazonia Geosciences (INCT programme – CNPq/MCT/FAPESPA – Processno 573733/2008-2).

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