Calc-Alkaline Magmatism at the Archean Proterozoic Transition: the Caico Complex Basement (NE Brazil)

The Paleoproterozoic metaplutonic rocks of the CaicóComplex Basement (Seridó region, NE Brazil) provide importantand crucial insights into the petrogenetic processes governingcrustal growth and may potentially be a proxy for understandingthe Archean–Proterozoic transition. These rocks consistof high-K calc-alkaline diorite to granite, with Rb–Sr,U–Pb, Pb–Pb and Sm–Nd ages of c. 2·25–2·15Ga. They are metaluminous, with high Yb_N, K₂O/Na₂O and Rb/Sr,low I_Sr ratios, and are large ion lithophile elements (LILE)enriched. Petrographic and geochemical data demonstrate thatthey belong to differentiated series that evolved by low-pressurefractionation, thus resulting in granodioritic liquids. We proposea model in which the petrogenesis of the Caicó Complexorthogneisses begins with partial melting of a metasomaticallyenriched spinel- to garnet-bearing lherzolite (with high-silicaadakite melt as the metasomatic agent), generating a basic magmathat subsequently evolved at depth through fractional crystallizationof olivine, followed by low-pressure intracrustal fractionation.A subduction zone setting is proposed for this magmatism, toaccount for both negative anomalies in high field strength elements(HFSE) and LILE enrichment. Mantle-derived juvenile magmatismwith the same age is also known in the São Franciscoand West Africa cratons, as well as in French Guyana, and thusthe Archean–Proterozoic transition marks a very importantcontinental accretion event. It also represents a transitionfrom slab-dominated (in the Archean) to wedge-dominated post-Archeanmagmatism. KEY WORDS: calc-alkaline; magmatism; NE Brazil; Paleoproterozoic; petrogenesis     

A new framework to determine general multimodal soil water characteristic curves

Acta Geotechnica - A soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) model named as discrete-continuous multimodal van Genuchten model with a convenient parameter calibration method is developed to describe...