Petrogenesis of mafic-ultramafic rocks from the precambrian Curaca Terrane, Brazil.

The Caraiba copper-rich hypersthenite-norite complex in the Early Proterozoic Curaca terrane of northern Bahia, Brazil, is not a tholeiitic layered sill as has been previously suggested. It is re-interpreted as a series of multiple dyke-like intrusions, possibly derived through partial melting of an incompatible element enriched harzburgitic to orthopyroxenitic lithospheric mantle source region. It contains peridotitic and gabbroic xenoliths. Copper-rich gabbroic xenoliths may represent volcanic rocks taken to upper mantle depths by a process of subduction. The chemistry of some of the regional mafic rocks and of three granitoid generations suggest for the Curaca terrane a tectonic evolution similar to Phanerozoic continent-continent collision belts, which was possibly initiated at an Andean-type margin. A Middle Proterozoic mafic dyke swarm that post-dates the main period of crustal growth is interpreted as having originated from a heterogeneous garnet-bearing source in the asthenospheric mantle, and is likely to be related to a mantle plume or hotspot during the development of the coeval Espinhaco aulacogen. The parental magma of these dykes is thought to have resided in small zoned magma chambers. Comparison with other mafic dykes from the Brazilian shield suggests derivation of the Early Proterozoic dykes from more depleted, more refractory, lithospheric mantle sources than those of the younger dykes, which are believed to have had a significant asthenospheric contribution in their petrogenesis. The chemistry of these dykes reflects the evolution of the sub-continental mantle with time.