GEOCHEMICAL STRATIGRAPHY OF SOUTHERN PARANA’ LAVA PILES

Abstract:

Basaltic lava flows of the Paranà Large Igneous Province exhibit significant regional and stratigraphic geochemical variations. While the most notable difference concerns the dominance of low-Ti (TiO₂ < 2.0 wt.%) and high-Ti types in the southern and northern part of the province, respectively, detailed analyses of lava flow sequences sampled mostly in drill cores allowed definition of six main groups of chemically distinct flow units. The chemical and possible age differences among these units were then used to define the global time-related evolution of Paranà basaltic magmatism and involvement of distinct mantle-source components.

Newly sampled outcropping lava flow sequences from the southern Paranà do however only partially support this picture. Our new major and trace element and Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic data show that high- and low-Ti basaltic flows are interlayered. In particular, Pitanga type high-Ti basalts are interlayered with Gramado and Esmeralda low-Ti basalts (these latter being present both towards the base and the top of the sequence) in Paranà State, while in Santa Caterina State Gramado flows are interlayered with Urubici-type high-Ti basalts. The interlayering of distinct basaltic magma type requires near-synchronous eruption of chemically strongly different magma types generated from clearly heterogeneous mantle sources and erupted through separated magma plumbing systems, without apparent interaction (mixing) among the distinct basalts.

In conclusion, the relative timing of low- and high-Ti magma types seems to be much more complicated than previously thought, as for example Esmeralda or Pitanga basalts, previously considered as quite late and postdating Gramado basalts, are indeed synchronous with them.