French Guiana margin evolution: From Gondwana break‐up to Atlantic opening

Derycke, Alexis; Gautheron, Cécile; Bourbon, P; Aertgeerts, Geoffrey; Simon‐Labric, Thibaud; Pinna-Jamme, Rosella; Boukari, C.; Haurine, Fréderic

doi:10.1111/ter.12526

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(60 reference statements)

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“…6). Supporting this assumption, AFT results from Derycke et al (2021) on four samples from the Guiana Shield align well with the first cluster from Harman et al (1998) as well as our own findings. These samples yield comparable AFT results, i.e., Jurassic to early Cretaceous central ages and medium to long MTL values (ca.…”

Section: Comparative Analysis Across West Gondwana Cratonic Segmentssupporting

confidence: 86%

“…6). The AFT data obtained from both the southern and northern borders of the craton along the current Atlantic coast closely resemble the AFT results published by Derycke et al (2021) for samples from the Guiana Shield. The AFT data exhibit early Cretaceous to Jurassic central ages and MTL values of ca.…”

Section: Comparative Analysis Across West Gondwana Cratonic Segmentssupporting

confidence: 82%

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Extensional exhumation of cratons: insights from the Early Cretaceous Rio Negro-Juruena belt (Amazonian Craton, Colombia)

Fonseca,

Nachtergaele,

Bonilla

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. This study presents results from apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology to investigate the thermal history and exhumation dynamics of the Rio Negro-Juruena basement, situated within the western Guiana Shield of the Amazonian Craton. AFT dating and associated thermal history modelling in South America has largely been restricted to the plate’s margins (e.g. Andean active margin, Brazilian passive margin and others). Our paper reports on low-temperature thermochronological data from the internal part of the western Guiana Shield for the first time. This area is part of a vast cratonic lithosphere that is generally thought to be stable and little influenced by Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonics. Our data however show AFT central ages ranging from 79.1 ± 3.2 Ma to 177.1 ± 14.8 Ma with mean confined track lengths of ca. 12 µm. Contrary to what might be expected of stable cratonic shields, inverse thermal history modeling indicates a rapid basement cooling event in the early Cretaceous. This cooling is interpreted as a significant exhumation event of the basement that was likely driven by the coeval extensional tectonics associated with back-arc rifts in the Llanos and Putumayo-Oriente-Maranon basins. The extensional tectonics facilitated both basement uplift and subsidence of the adjoining basins, increasing erosional dynamics and consequent exhumation of the basement rocks. The tectonic setting shifted in the late Cretaceous from extensional to contractional, resulting in reduced subsidence of the basins and consequential diminishing cooling rates of the Guiana Shield basement. Throughout the Cenozoic, only gradual, slow subsidence occurred in the study area due to regional flexure linked to the Andean orogeny. Comparative analysis with low-temperature thermochronology data from other West Gondwana cratonic segments highlights that exhumation episodes are highly controlled by tectonic inheritance, lithospheric strength, and proximity to rift zones. This study underscores the complex interplay between tectonic events and the response of cratonic lithosphere over geological time scales and highlights extensional settings as an important geological context for craton exhumation.

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Section: Comparative Analysis Across West Gondwana Cratonic Segmentssupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Comparative Analysis Across West Gondwana Cratonic Segmentssupporting

confidence: 82%

Extensional exhumation of cratons: insights from the Early Cretaceous Rio Negro-Juruena belt (Amazonian Craton, Colombia)

Fonseca,

Nachtergaele,

Bonilla

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…The predominance of goethite in all the samples testifies to high water activity associated with a humid tropical context with only low seasonal contrast (Tardy and Nahon, 1985) that probably persists and intensifies in the early Miocene with bauxite formation (older than 15 Ma). Low-temperature thermochronological investigations (Derycke et al, 2021) and sedimentary data (Wong, 1986;Wong, 1994) (Zachos et al, 2008;Hoorn et al, 2010;Monteiro et al, 2018;Scotese et al, 2021). It is anticipated that older duricrusts would have existed, but it was either not sampled in the present study or it was destroyed by erosion and/or subsequent weathering events.…”

Section: Lateritization and Bauxitization Events In Surinamementioning

confidence: 89%

(U-Th)/He Geochronology Constraints on Lateritic Duricrust Formation on the Guiana Shield

et al. 2022

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Thick regoliths developed under tropical climate, namely, laterites, resulting from long-term and pronounced geochemical and mineralogical rearrangement of the parent rock in response to environmental changes. Little information is available on the timing of laterite and bauxite formations, especially on the chronology of the main weathering episodes responsible for lateritic cover formation on the Guiana shield. For this purpose, we focused on both lateritic and bauxitic duricrusts developed over the Paleoproterozoic Greenstone Belt in the Brownsberg, Suriname. The duricrust samples have a relatively simple mineralogy (i.e., goethite, gibbsite, hematite, and kaolinite) but reveal, when observed at a microscopic scale, a complex history of formation with multiple episodes of dissolution/reprecipitation. The (U-Th)/He dating of 179 Fe-oxides subsamples shows that duricrusts sampled at the top of the Brownsberg plateau have ages ranging from <0.8 Ma to ∼19 Ma. In contrast, Fe-oxides extracted from detrital duricrust boulders collected downslope indicate formation ages up to 36 Ma. This age discrepancy may indicate that a main episode of physical erosion affected this region between ca. 30 and 20 Ma. Consistently, the bauxite sampled at the mountaintop indicates a younger phase of formation, with Fe-oxides recementing fragments of a preexisting bauxitic material older than ∼15 Ma. Geochronological data also reveal a long-lasting weathering history until the present day, with multiple generations of Fe-oxides in the bauxite and the duricrusts resulting from successive cycles of dissolution and reprecipitation of Fe-oxides associated with redox cycles. This long-lasting weathering history led to geochemical remobilization and apparent enrichment in some relatively immobile elements, such as REE, aluminum, and vanadium, especially in the duricrust sampled at the mountaintop. Our geochronological, mineralogical, and geochemical study of Fe- and Al-crusts from the Brownsberg mountain provide constraints on the evolution of environmental conditions prevailing since the early Oligocene in Suriname.

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“…During rifting, thermal uplift along the border faults causes denudation of rift shoulders (Withjack et al, 2002). Indeed, Derycke et al (2021) previously documented on the offshore basement of French Guiana a cooling of ca. 60°C between 140 and 90 Ma, attributed to the Equatorial Atlantic rifting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent thermochronological evidence from apatite and zircon U‐Th/He dating and apatite fission‐track analysis indicate that the onshore basement of French Guiana was heated to ca. 100°C between 210 and 140 Ma (Derycke et al, 2021). Crustal heating may have been initiated by the formation of the CAMP, ca.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermochronology and U–Pb dating of detrital zircons from the Demerara Plateau (French Guiana‐Suriname): Implications for the provenance of the Early Cretaceous syn‐rift sedimentation

et al. 2023

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The provenance of Early Cretaceous sandstones dredged on the northern margin of the Demerara Plateau, offshore French Guiana and Suriname, reveals the sediment routing system that prevailed through the Equatorial Atlantic rifting. Fission‐track analysis and U–Pb dating of 310 and 111 detrital zircons, respectively, have been performed. Microfacies analysis and inherited cooling ages suggest that the sandstones were deposited in shallow marine environments during the Early Cretaceous, before the Late Albian drowning of the marginal plateau. Most of the U–Pb zircon crystallisation ages are comprised of between 700 and 600 Ma and are attributed to the Pan‐African‐Brasiliano orogeny. Statistical and chronological evidence suggest that the zircon fission‐track cooling ages were inherited from source materials. Triassic peak ages (>50% of the population) are attributed to the early phase of Central Atlantic rifting. One sample records a cooling phase at ca. 170 Ma, presumably following volcanic hotspot activity and the opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean. Two other samples record the rapid exhumation of the French Guiana transform margin during the Equatorial Atlantic rifting (127 ± 11 and 106 ± 8 Ma). We propose a source‐to‐sink model in which the Pan‐African‐Brasiliano basement of the margin was eroded as a result of flexural uplift along the French Guiana margin, and the detrital material funnelled in the Cacipore graben sustained the Early Cretaceous syn‐rift sedimentation on the marginal plateau.

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French Guiana margin evolution: From Gondwana break‐up to Atlantic opening

Cited by 6 publications

References 37 publications

Extensional exhumation of cratons: insights from the Early Cretaceous Rio Negro-Juruena belt (Amazonian Craton, Colombia)

Extensional exhumation of cratons: insights from the Early Cretaceous Rio Negro-Juruena belt (Amazonian Craton, Colombia)

(U-Th)/He Geochronology Constraints on Lateritic Duricrust Formation on the Guiana Shield

Thermochronology and U–Pb dating of detrital zircons from the Demerara Plateau (French Guiana‐Suriname): Implications for the provenance of the Early Cretaceous syn‐rift sedimentation

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