Curie surface of Borborema Province, Brazil

Abstract

The Curie surface interpreted from magnetic data through spatial frequency domain techniques is used to provide information on the thermal structure of Borborema Province. The Borborema Province is part of the neoproterozoic collision of an orogenic system situated between the Sao Francisco-Congo and Sao Luis-West Africa cratons, which formed the Gondwana Supercontinent. The Curie surface of Borborema Province varies from 18 to 59 km, which reveals the complexity in the crustal composition of the study area. The thermal structure shows different crustal blocks separated by the main shear zones, which corroborates the evolution model of allochthonous terranes. The Curie surface signature for the west portion of Pernambuco Shear Zone may indicate processes of mantle serpentinization, once the Curie isotherm is deeper than Mohorovic discontinuity. In this region, the amplitude of Bouguer anomaly decreases, which corroborates long wavelength anomaly observed in the magnetic anomaly. We interpreted this pattern as evidence of the Brasiliano-Pan-Africano's subduction/collision event. Earthquakes in the region are concentrated mainly in shallow Curie surface regions (less resistant crust) and in transition zones between warm and cold blocks. We calculated the horizontal gradient of the Curie depth to emphasize the signature of contact between the thermal blocks. These regions mark possible crustal discontinuities, and have high correlation with orogenic gold occurrence in the study area. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.