Geochronology of the basement rocks, Amazonas Territory, Venezuela and the tectonic evolution of the western Guiana Shield

Abstract

The Amazonas Territory of Venezuela is a large area of Precambrian basement rocks overlain in some locales by the supracrustal sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Roraima Formation. The basements rocks are medium to high grade gneisses with both igneous and sedimentary protoliths, plutonic rocks ranging in composition from granite to tonalite, and meta-volcanic rocks. Rb-Sr whole rock, and U-Pb isotopic analyses of zircons indicate a period of medium to high grade metamorphism and intrusion from 1860 to 1760 Ma. Post-tectonic plutonic activity continued to 1550 Ma. The volcanic rocks of the Roraima Formation in Venezuela give an age of 1746 Ma comparable to volcanic rocks of the Roraima Formation in other parts of the Guiana Shield. The ages and distribution of the basement rocks suggest the presence of a tectonic zone, approximately coincident with the Venezuelan-Colombian border, representing an active orogenic boundary between distinct tectonic provinces. The rocks to the northeast of this zone are part of the Trans-Amazonian of the Guiana Shield, while to the southwest and in adjacent Brazil and Colombia, new younger continental crust has been developed and cratonized. We suggest a model of collision and subduction followed by a change in tectonic style to extensional-vertical to produce the basement rocks of the western Guiana Shield in the Amazonas Territory.