Marine Geology, 54 (1983/1984) M1--M8 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

, Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands

M1

Letter Section K-At AGES AND THE OPENING OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN: BASALTIC ROCK FROM THE BRAZILIAN MARGIN

R.V. F O D O R 1 , E.H. McKEE 2 and H.E. ASMUS 3

Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27650 (U.S.A.) 2 U.$. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (U.S.A.) 3 University o f Rio Grande, Rio Grande (Brazil)
(Received April 26, 1983; revised and accepted July 4, 1983)

ABSTRACT Fodor, R.V., McKee, E.H. and Asmus, H.E., 1983. K-Ar ages and the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean: basaltic rock from the Brazilian margin. Mar. Geol., 54: M1-M8. New K-At ages for 13 samples of basalt, gabbro, wehrlite, and trachyandesite drilled from the Brazilian continental shelf and coastline yield information about the timing of the opening of the South Atlantic and the nature of the crust seaward from the Brazil margin. The oldest basalt is 138.1 + 3.5 m.y. old and from offshore at 24.5S; it represents Serra Geral flood basalt on attenuated crust in the Santos basin. Bn_~!ts from the coastline at 19.5S are mixed with terrigenous graben sediments, and their ages confirm that rifting was underway before 130 m.y. Offshore sites in the Campos basin, ~ 2 2 - - 2 3 S , 41W, have basalt ranging from 124 to 112 m.y. in age and mostly continental flood basalt in composition. One 112-m.y. basalt, however, is MORB-like and could therefore represent oceanic lithosphere mixed with continental crust about .50 km from the shoreline at ~22.5S. Other samples reveal compositionally varied intraplate, passive-margin magmatism occurring 75--43 m.y. ago. They correlate with profuse contemporary alkalic magmatism on the southeastern Brazil coast and probably represent reactivation of zones o f "weakness" (i.e., fracture zone-lineaments).

INTRODUCTION

Geological and geophysical studies in the South Atlantic during the 1970's have shown that the South American--African landmass began separating into two discrete plates about 130 m.y. ago (Larson and Ladd, 1973; Rabinowitz and LaBrecque, 1979). The time of this event was initially based on the K-At age dating of continental basaltic rocks in southeastern Brazil (Amaral et al., 1966) and Africa (Siedner and Miller, 1968) and refined by coordinating the K-At data with seafloor magnetic anomalies (e.g., Larson and Pitman, 1972; Larson and Ladd, 1973). Few K-At ages of seafloor rocks, however, are available to improve the accuracy of the times proposed for major South Atlantic tectonic events. The oldest South Atlantic Ocean rock
0025-3227/83/$03.00 1983 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

M2 dated thus far is the 78.1_+9 m.y.-old Brazil basin basalt of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Site 355 (McKee and Fodor, 1977), which represents tholeiitic ocean floor formed one-third of the way through South Atlantic Ocean history. In view of the paucity of radiometrically dated oceanic rock, we present ages (and discussions) for 13 igneous rock samples from 13 holes drilled into "basement" beneath the sedimentary continental shelf within 200 km of the Brazilian coastline and from beneath the coastal plain along the Brazilian eastern shoreline. These rocks were obtained through the drilling program of Petrobr~s, the Brazilian oil company. GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS The samples analyzed include ten basalts that have modal clinopyroxene, plagioclase, titaniferous magnetite, and ilmenite; one olivine--gabbro with clinopyroxene, spinel, and titaniferous magnetite; one wehrlite (olv + cpx) with spinel, ilmenite, titaniferous magnetite, mica, and amphibole; and one trachyandesite with K-feldspar. The rocks vary in amounts of alteration. Those from the continental drill holes are freshest and have Fea+/Fe 2+, K20, and H20 considered close to their original values. Geochemical characteristics and petrologic interpretations are beyond the intent of this report and are planned for another publication (although some data are in Fodor et al., 1982; Vetter and Fodor, 1983; Vetter et al., 1983; Fodor et al., 1983). On the other hand, alteration of some seafloor basalt has produced K-rich areas in groundmasses (as determined by electron microprobe analyses) associated with the original plagioclase laths and original glass. This has resulted in some rocks having exceedingly high K20 (such as >3.0 wt.%), but geochemical examination thus far indicates that those samples highest in K20 originally had substantial K20 (i.e., continental flood basalts). However, because the ages of altered samples are reasonable in terms of the ages expected for their respective geographic positions, we assume that any alteration affecting Na/K ratios in these rocks probably occurred shortly after rock emplacement and any effects did not change the actual age of the rock significantly. Moreover, for any basaltic samples emplaced subaqueously, seawater alteration probably occurred within the first 10 m.y., as oxygen isotope studies (Muehlenbacks, 1980) have suggested. RESULTS The new K-Ar ages are listed in Table I and the sample locations are illustrated in Fig. 1. They define two periods of magmatism:

Late Jurassic--Early Cretaceous

The oldest rock dated from the South Atlantic seafloor is a 138.1 +- 3.5 m.y.

M3 TABLE I K-Ar ages a n d a n a l y t i c a l d a t a for i g n e o u s r o c k s f r o m t h e Brazilian m a r g i n Sample Rock type K 20 A r ~ t a d RadioC a l c u l a t e d age

(wt.%) (mol/g)
SPS-4A IPIES N1ES RJS-92 BD-3 RJS-36 RJS-91 RJS-33 RJS-87 RJS-66 BAS-33 ESS-9 SCS-1 Basalt Basalt Basalt Basalt Basalt Basalt Basalt B__~-~_!t B~lt 01-gabbro Wehrlite Basalt Trachyandesite 1.02 0.167 1.226 3.960 5.030 0.622 2.101 0.753 0.541 0.268 0.302 0.981 9.08 2.10805 3.23578 2.25223 7.30590 8.65926 1.03742 3.26533 8.32158 5.67859 2.60113 2.54381 6.17186 5.58167 X x x x x x x x x X X x

genic At(%)

(in m.y.)
138.1 129.8 123.3 123.8 115.8 112.3 104.9 75.2 71.5 66.2 57.8 43.2 42.2 * * * 3.5 7.0 3.0 3.0 2.8 4.0 2.6 2.2 3.5 4.0 2,2 2.1 1,1

10 -1 10 - ~ 10 -~ 10 -~ 10 -~ 10 -~ 10 -~ 10 - ~ ' 10 - ~ 10 - ~ 10 - ~ 10 - ~ ' 1 0 -~

65.9 21.3 86.0 85.2 96.5 38.1 77.5 46.0 27.6 15.3 39.1 25.9 87.4

~'e + ;~ = 0.581 X 10-13rr-1. ~ = 4,962 X 10-1yr -1 . 4 K/Ktotai = 1.167 X 10 -A mole/mole.

I I ~?~~. _J~ r I

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FLORIANOPOLIS LINEAMENT ~

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Fig. 1. Index map showing sample localities, laI0e]ed as Petzobr~s drill sites. Structure from the map of Asmus and GuazelIi (1981).

M4 old tholeiitic basalt recovered from Petrobr~s hole SPS-4A. This drill site is in the Santos basin and about 200 km due east of the shoreline at 24.5S. The age of the basalt falls within the continuum of the lower Cretaceous and upper Jurassic ages of 120 to 147 m.y. determined for the nearby Serra Geral (Paraha basin) continental flood basalts (Amaral et al., 1966; McDougall and Ruegg, 1966; Melfi, 1967). The age is, however, somewhat older than the 130 m.y. that Larson and Ladd (1973) proposed for the initial separation of the South American--African landmass. Hole IP1ES drilled in the Espirito Santo basin on land near the coastline at 19.5S recovered basalt from the following depth intervals: 3292--3295 m, 3366--3370 m, 3623--3637 m, 3702--3706 m, and 4056--4058 m. We determined the uppermost basaltic flow to be tholeiitic and 129.8 7.0 m.y. old. Particularly significant a t this drill site are intercalated terrigenous sediments; those examined from 3370--3376 m are composed mainly of well-sorted and winnowed quartz, feldspar, and biotite. A few tens of kilometers southeast of IP1ES, Petrobr~s drilled hole NIES and recovered tholeiitic basalt at 3189 m that yields an age of 123.3 3.0 m.y. old. Like nearby IP1ES, this hole has terrigenous sediments. The dated N1ES basalt forms an igneous horizon within about 600 m of micaceous and argillaceous sandstones comprising a formation that is stratigraphically Bahian (Lower Cretaceous; Brito and Campos, 1982) in age (Leyden et al., 1971, fig. 6; Asmus and Ponte, 1973, fig. 11). Ponte and Asmus (1976) present petrographic descriptions and identify this material as "graben" sediments. The basalt is about 350 m below the top of this terrigenous formation. Contemporaneous with N1ES is a horizon of tholeiitic basalt located at sites between 2220'--2250'S along 4050W (from 50 to 100 km from the present-day shoreline), in the Campos basin. Unlike holes IP1ES and N1ES, these sites are not associated with continental sediments, but are in a marine environment. The oldest of three samples dated is from hole RJS-92, 123.8 3.0 m.y. Neighboring holes BD-3 and RJS-36 have basalt with ages of 115.8 2.8 and 112.3 4.0 m.y., respectively. In addition, Petrobr~s laboratories have provided a date of about 113 m.y. for a basalt from another site in the Campos basin, RJS-13, and we have an age 104.9 2.6 m.y. for a highly altered (spflitized?) basalt from nearby hole RJS-91 at 2320'S, 4130'W.

Late Cretaceous--Early Tertiary

Offshore magmatism in Late Cretaceous time is documented by tholeiitic basalt samples from holes RJS-33 at 2250'S, 4250T/(Santos basin) and RJS-87 at 2150'S, 41W (Campos basin). The respective ages are 75.2 2.2 and 71.5 3.5 m.y. Both holes are near the Brazilian coastline, but the ages of the basalt indicate that magma emplacements occurred when the South American margin was about 800 km west of the mid-Atlantic ridge

M5 (see maps of Rabinowitz and LaBrecque, 1979). Other drilling in the Campos basin, at site RJS-66, 2220'S, 4010'W, encountered olivine gabbro that we dated at 66.2 4.0 m.y. Northward, on the Abrolhos platform (Espirito Santo basin) at 1720'S, 3850'W and 60 km offshore, Petrobr~s recovered wehrlite as basement rock in site BAS-33. Dating yielded 57.8 2.2 m.y. for this amphibole and mica bearing cumulate rock. The mica is present in about I vol.% and it appears to be an alteration product formed by early-stage hydrothermal conditions and n o t from extensive seawater alteration. The presence of secondary mica, therefore, can probably be discounted in the interpretation of the KoAr age. The same assumption can apply to the amphibole (~ 1%) which appears to have formed from clinopyroxene. Substantially younger seafloor magmatism occurred in the Espirito Santo basin to form part of the Abrolhos platform as revealed by basalt (transitional to alkalic) from site ESS-9 which is 43.2 2.1 m.y. old. Finally, an altered feldspar-phyric trachyandesite recovered 120 km east of Florianopolis, 2820'S, 47.5W (southern margin of Santos basin), was dated at 42.2 2.1 m.y. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS The 138 3.5 m.y. age for seafloor basalt SPS-4A is older than the time proposed for the opening of the South Atlantic, ~ 1 3 0 m.y., but does n o t necessarily mean that true ocean crust had developed before the proposed time. Major and trace element data (Fodor et al., 1982) and mineral data, namely the presence of groundmass pigeonite, and isotopic data (Fodor et al., 1983) are compatible with the characteristics of continental flood basalt (CFB), such as those of the Serra Geral flood basalts of southern Brazil (e.g., Ruegg, 1976a,b). Accordingly, site SPS-4A lies on a block of attenuated Brazilian crust capped by subaerially emplaced basalt flows. Recognizing this site as having CFB basement confirms the tectonic model that Almeida (1976) proposed for the Santos basin and the interpretations of Kowsmann et al. (1977) for sonobuoy data offshore southeastern Brazil. Basalt SPS-4A is therefore not in disagreement with the 130 m.y. opening of the South Atlantic, for it is n o t part of oceanic lithosphere. Our dates help define the timing of tectonic events in the region 19S eastern Brazil. Basalt from IP1ES and NIES, which either intruded or buried terrigenous sediment (sill versus lava flow), confirm that abundant graben sediments had collected along the Brazil margin (i.e., in the rift zone) prior to the period 123 to 130 m.y. ago, as suggested in other studies (e.g. Martin, 1976; Herz, 1977). Site IPIES, in particular, is informative about t h e time of initial rifting. Whether sill or lava flow, i t indicates a minimum age of about 130 m.y. for the time when enough rifting had already occurred to account for the accumulation of thick (100's of meters) sequences of graben sediments. Rifting at 19S, therefore, greatly preceeded the proposed

M6 130 m.y. opening of the Atlantic in the region of 45S (Larson and Ladd, 1973) and probably coincided with earliest Serra Geral volcanism about 147 m.y. ago (Amaral et al., 1966). Campos basin Early Cretaceous basalts provide information on the time of formation of earliest oceanic lithosphere. Compositional data for basalt from RJS-92 and BD-3 (spanning 116--124 m.y.) compare best with Serra Geral CFB, indicating that, as in the Santos basin, continental crust lies tens of kilometers offshore. (These rocks have, for example, enriched light rareearth element abundances; La/Yb(n)=4.5.) Using seismic, magmatic, and gravity data, Kowsmann et al. (1982) also propose continental crust for the basement of this region. The ages of these basalts (including RJS-13, for which Petrobr~s has a 113 m.y. age) are on the young end of the age range of 147--120 m.y. known for Serra Geral CFB (e.g., Amaral et al., 1966) or even younger. This suggests that basalt at some of these sites, although magmatically "continental", was emplaced on a rifted, attenuated, possibly submerged crust. In compositional contrast, the 112 m.y.-old basalt from site RJS-36, about 50 km offshore, is MORB-like (for example, La/Sm(n)=0.8 where Ce(n)=16.5). Its association with CFB in the Campos basin indicates that it, too, is part of attenuated continental crust. If the site RJS-36 basalt is truly oceanic lithosphere representing a MORB-source, its age and location enable hypothesizing that landmass separation 112 m.y. ago was not advanced enough to have removed all continental crust from beyond the zone of magmatism representing incipient mid-Atlantic ridge. To summarize the Late Jurassic--Early Cretaceous basaltic rocks: (1) some Serra Geral CFB, originally aubaerial, became submerged as a result of crustal stretching; (2) the magmatism that produced the Serra Geral CFB persisted throughout the c o n t i n e n ~ rifting and attenuation; and (3) RJS-36 basalt (MORB-like and young w i t h respect to the period of rifting) may represent an area of transitional crust on the shelf. The ages of the remaining samples studied confirm the Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary intraplate volcanism along the Brazil margin (Ponte and Asmus, 1976; Herz, 1977). The. volcanism 71--75 m.y. ago represented at holes RJS-33 and RJS-87 is compatible with Herz's (1977) Trindade hotspot model for mid-plate volcanism along southeastern Brazil. Equally viable, however, is the o r i ~ for this intraplate magmatism within reactivated fracture zones. As shown for example by Asmus (1978) and Asmus and Guazelli (1981), east--west-trending lineament and fracture zone combinations are present in aud offshore Brazil. For example, sample RJS-33 conforms well with the Rio. de Janeiro fracture zone and may have had its origin there. Drilling at hole RJS-66 may have encountered a fracture (or fault) zone where lower crustal gabbroic rock became accessible to continental shelf drilling. The K-Ar date of the gabbro, however, is n o t easy to interpret. The gabbro could represent early MAR magma that cooled at least 100 m.y. ago

M7

and was later uplifted and exposed to seawater alteration. The alteration may then be responsible for the relatively young age of about 66 m.y. Or, alteration may have had little effect on the K-Ar date and the gabbro is indeed associated with the Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary shelf magmatism referred to above, The same interpretation applies to the cumulate wehrlite, dated at about 58 m.y. and located on the Abrolhos platform. The access that enables sampling a cumulate crustal igneous rock may be a fracture zone (see Fainstein and Summerhayes, 1982). The BAS-33 wehrlite is probably related to the continental shelf magmatism that persisted on the Abrolhos platform through the period 37--65 m.y. ago (Cordani and Blazekovic, 1970). Geophysical data suggest that ample ultramafic material underlies sediments offshore eastern Brazil (Fainstein and Summerhayes, 1982). Our age determinations further corroborate Eocene mid-plate magmatism by the 43 m.y. age of basalt ESS-9, but the 42 rn.y. age for trachyandesite SCS-1 is questionable. Aside from substantial groundmass alteration making the age suspect, there is disagreement with the 58 re.y, age that Petrobr~ laboratories report for this tmchyandesite. The sample may represent another portion of stretched Cretaceous crust lying offshore from Florianopolis, as indicated by sonobuoy data of Kowsmann et al. (1977).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful to personnel at Petrobr~s for providing the samples for study. The work is supported by the National Science Foundation grant OCE-8109835 (R.V. Fodor).

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Martin, H., 1976. A geodynamic model for the evolution of the continental margin of southwestern Africa. An. Acad. Bras. Cienc., 48: 169--177. McDougall, I. and Ruagg, N.R., 1966. Potassium--argon dates on the Serra Geral formation of South America. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 30: 191--195. McKee, E.H. and Fodor, R.V., 1977. K-At age of deep-sea b-~_!t, Brazil basin, Leg 39. Deep Sea Drilling Project. In: P. Supko, K. Perch-Nielson et al., Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 39. U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, D.C., pp. 545--546. Melfi, A.J., 1967. Potaseium--argon ages for core samples of basaltic rocks from southern Brazil. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta,31: 1079--1089. Muehlenbacks, K., 1980. The alteration and aging of the basaltic layer of the sea floor: oxygen isotope evidence from DSDP/IPOP Legs 51, 52, and 53. Initial Rep. DSDP, 51, 52, 53: 1159--1167. Ponte, F.C. and Asmus, H.E., 1976. The Brazilian marginal basins: current state of knowledge. An. Acad. Bras. Cienc., 48. Rabinowitz, P.O. and LaBrecque, T., 1979. The Mesozoic South Atlantic Ocean and evolution of its continental mmlli~. J. Geophys. Res., 84: 593--6002. Ruegg, N.R., 1976a. Caracteristic~m de distrihuicao e teor de elementos principals em roch~ b~alticas da bacla do Parana. Bolestim IG, Instituto de Geociancias, Univ. Sao Paulo, 7: 81--106. Ruegg, N.R., 1976b. Caracteristicas de distribuicao e teor de elementos tracos dosadas em rochos basalticas da bacia do Parana. NatuMna, 2: 23--45. Siedner, G. and Miller, J.A., 1978. K-Ar determinations on basaltic rocks from southwest Africa and their bearing on continental drift. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 4: 451--458. Vetter, S.K. and Fodor, R.V., 1983. Petrology of Early-Cretaceous South Atlantic basaltic crust, offshore southeastern Brazil. Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. with Programs, 15: p. 63. Vetter, S.K., Fodor, R.V. and Hawkesworth, C.J., 1983. Varied basalt types in the continental-oceanic transition zone, Brazil margin. EOS, 64: 332.