Abstract The Congo (CC) and the São Francisco (SFC) cratons were joined at about 2.05 Ga; northern parts of Palaeoproterozoic basement subsequently underwent extension at about 1 Ga, forming intracratonic basins. Neoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks in these basins yield detrital zircons as young as 630 Ma. The Brasiliano and Pan-African ( c. 620–580 Ma) assembly of West Gondwana extensively altered this system. The Sergipano domain occurs north of the SFC, and the comparable Yaoundé domain occurs north of the CC. Crust north of the Sergipano domain comprises the Pernambuco–Alagoas (PEAL) domain. The NE–SW-striking Tcholliré–Banyo fault in Cameroon may extend southwestwards between the PEAL and Sergipano domains, defining northern limits of abundant SFC/CC basement. The Adamawa–Yadé domain in Africa does not appear to extend into Brazil. The Transverse domain of Brazil is a collage of Palaeoproterozoic crustal blocks, the 1.0 Ga Cariris Velhos orogen (CVO), late Neoproterozoic basins, and Brasiliano granites. The CVO extends ENE for more than 700 km in Brazil, but eastern continuation into Africa has not been identified. North of the Transverse domain contiguous c. 2.15 Ga gneisses comprise basement of Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará domains, which continue eastwards into western Nigeria and western Sahara.

Abstract A 530–490 Ma tectono-metamorphic event, the Búzios orogeny, is recognized within the Ribeira Belt, along the coast of SE Brazil. Tectonic evolution started with a Late Neoproterozoic marine basin and volcanic activity at c . 610 Ma. The rocks in this basin were affected by high-grade metamorphism at c . 530 Ma, coeval with deformational phases D 1 –D 2 , which generated compressive low-angle tectonic structures with top-to-NW tectonic transport. Large recumbent folds with NW–SE axes parallel to the main stretching lineation formed during D 3 as the Cabo Frio tectonic domain, the focus of this study, collided with the Oriental terrane to the NW. D 4 sub-vertical shear zones are limited in extent. A new U–Pb age of 501±6 Ma is reported for zircon from an amphibolite-facies shear zone related to either D 3 or D 4 . Post-tectonic 440 Ma pegmatites mark the final stage of tectono-magmatic activity. The Cabo Frio tectonic domain has African affinities and is exotic to the Ribeira Belt. Middle Cambrian deformational and metamorphic ages are also reported from the ‘Angolan’ Pan-African belt, the southern Kaoko and Damara belts in Namibia, and the Cuchilla Dionisio–Punta Del Este terrane in Uruguay. The occurrence of Cambrian metamorphic rocks along the present African and South American coastlines shows that Mesozoic rifting closely follows Palaeozoic sutures of West Gondwana.

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Abstract Precambrian rocks in the Lake Superior region underlie all or parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, an area along the southern margin of the Superior province of the Canadian Shield (Fig. 1). Except on the north, adjacent to Canada, the Precambrian rocks are overlapped by sedimentary strata of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age, which constitute a thin platform cover of relatively undisturbed rocks that thicken to the west, south, and east. Inliers of Precambrian rocks are exposed locally in southern Minnesota and Wisconsin, mainly in the flat valleys of major rivers, where erosion has cut below the Phanerozoic strata. The present landscape is subdued, and is inherited largely from Pleistocene continental glaciations, which produced a variety of erosional and depositional landforms. The glacier ice scoured the bedrock in the northern parts of the region, in much the same way as throughout most of Canada, and deposited materials of diverse lithology and provenance, as much as 200 m thick, over much of the remainder of the region. The Precambrian rocks in the region record an extended interval of crustal development and evolution that spans nearly 3 b.y. of earth history. This interval of geologic time is not continuously recorded in layered and intrusive units, but instead is punctuated by specific rock-forming and tectonic events that can be deduced from geologic relations and placed in a chronometric framework by isotopic dating. (Fig. 2, also see correlation chart for Precambrian rocks of the Lake Superior region, Morey and Van Schmus, 1986; and Bergstrom and Morey, 1985.)

Archean gneisses and Early Proterozoic metasedimentary rocks of the Wyoming Province are separated from Proterozoic eugeoclinal metamorphic rocks by a major east-west–trending shear zone called the Cheyenne belt. U-Pb zircon ages of Archean tonalites north of the Cheyenne belt denote an intrusive event at 2,700 Ma. Detrital zircons from Proterozoic metasedimentary rocks north of the Cheyenne belt define an apparent age of 2,450 Ma for the source rock, similar to an age of 2,430 Ma obtained for a local granite. A metagabbro plug, which intruded the metasedimentary rocks about 2,100 Ma, constrains their deposition within this 350 m.y. period. Ages for key units just south of the Cheyenne belt in Wyoming delineate at least three magmatic events at 1,780; 1,750; and 1,625 Ma. Ages for large plutons in the northern Colorado area define pulses of granodioritic to granitic intrusions at approximately 1,720 and 1,670 Ma. A U-Pb zircon age of 1,792 ± 15 Ma for a Proterozoic metavolcanic rock in the Sierra Madre is greater than ages reported for other Proterozoic metavolcanic rocks in the U.S. Rockies. However, ages for Proterozoic plutons in southeastern Wyoming are similar to other ages for plutonism and volcanism for rocks exposed in the central Colorado Rockies and are coeval with suturing of Proterozoic crust with the Archean Wyoming Province along the Cheyenne belt. Although at present the accretionary history for these Early Proterozoic rocks is not well understood, it is evident that there exists a progressive decrease in age for volcanism as well as plutonism from north to south.

The Wet Mountains–southern Front Range region is underlain by high-grade granitic gneiss, amphibolite, and schist of Early Proterozoic age. These rocks were intruded by granitic to granodioritic plutons during four episodes: one in the Early Proterozoic (1,660 to 1,700 Ma) and three in the Middle Proterozoic (1,485 to 1,440 Ma, 1,370 to 1,360 Ma, and about 1,060 Ma). We also report here a zircon age determination (536 ± 4 Ma) for syenite of the Cambrian McClure Mountain alkaline-mafic complex. The granitic gneiss was clearly formed before 1,700 Ma. Its protolith was probably pelitic to psammitic sedimentary rocks, in contrast to the volcanogenic rocks of this age farther west in the Gunnison and Salida areas of Colorado. The early Proterozoic plutons emplaced within the granitic gneiss are mostly somewhat younger than those emplaced within volcanogenic rocks to the west, although some are coeval. The middle Proterozoic rocks are representatives of the widespread “anorogenic granite-rhyolite suite” which is known in the St. Francois Mountains of Missouri and the subsurface of the midcontinent.