LAUSR

Abstract 70–80% of the continental crust was produced during the 4.0–2.0 Ga time span, but the preserved area of Archean/early Paleoproterozoic cratons is smaller than 40%. Part of this deficit can be accounted for by the presence of reworked old crust in the basement of mid-Paleoproterozoic to Phanerozoic orogenic belts. Here, I compare the crustal evolution of the Brasiliano-Pan-African Borborema Province (BP) with that of the Sao Francisco Craton (SFC) in eastern Brazil and highlight numerous geological aspects, several of which are uncommon in other cratons/orogenic belts, indicating their shared evolution for most of the Precambrian. These include: 1. Presence of the oldest rocks (Eo- to Paleoarchean) from the South American Platform. 2. Occurrence of Siderian (2.5–2.3 Ga) rocks. 3. Generation of juvenile crust and reworking of pre-existing rocks during the Transamazonian event (2.2–2.0 Ga). 4. Intermittent rifting and intraplate magmatic events between 1.78 and 1.50 Ga. 5. Intrusion of mafic dykes and A-type granites at 1.0–0.85 Ga. 6. Intrusion of mafic rocks, syenites and granitoids with intraplate signature between ca. 0.71 and 0.64 Ga. 7. The lack of evidence for igneous and tectonic activity between ca. 1.95 and 1.78 Ga, during most of the Mesoproterozoic, and between 0.85 and 0.73 Ga. The temporal coincidence of Rhyacian orogenic events in the SFC and BP favors the hypothesis that they were part of a continent formed by the accretion of Archean/early-Paleoproterozoic blocks and of juvenile arc crust during the Transamazonian Orogeny. In addition, the recording of several intraplate tectonomagmatic events from the late-Paleoproterozoic to the Neoproterozoic indicates that they remained united until at least the mid-Neoproterozoic. In this context, BP can be interpreted as a fragment of the SFC re-accreted and reworked during the Brasiliano-Pan-African Orogeny (ca. 640–550 Ma). Recent studies demonstrate that most of the basement of the Brasilia and Aracuai belts, which occur to the west and east, respectively, of the SFC, also resulted from its reworking. Therefore, an area c. two times larger than the current outline of the SFC can be inferred, indicating an intense process of decratonization during the Brasiliano-Pan-African Orogeny. The intermittent late Paleoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic extension-related magmatism in this Greater Sao Francisco paleocontinent contrasts with the worldwide occurrence of orogenic episodes accompanying the amalgamation of the Columbia supercontinent, its fragmentation, and the build-up of Rodinia. These differences suggest that Greater Sao Francisco was not part of these supercontinental assemblages.