Thermobarometry and electron-microprobe Th-U-Pb monazite dating in garnet metapelites from the Capelinha Formation, Araçuaí Orogen, Brazil

Abstract The Capelinha Formation (Macaúbas Group) consists of a lower quartzitic unit with metamafic intercalations and an upper metapelitic sequence. It occurs in a complex tectono-metamorphic sector of the Araçuaí orogen, where post-collisional collapse-related structures superimposed collisional structures. The garnet-bearing assemblages started crystallization in the collisional deformation stage that formed the main regional foliation around 570 Ma. Garnet porphyroblasts display a well-developed growth zonation of Fe-Mg-Ca-Mn and show, from core to rim, increasing almandine and pyrope contents in contrast with decreasing grossular and spessartine contents. Mineral relations and microstructures provide criteria for local equilibria and a structurally controlled application of geothermobarometers based on cation exchange and net transfer reactions. The P-T values calculated from cores to rims of garnets, aligned along clockwise trends, resulted in increasing temperatures (from 500 ºC up to 620 ºC) under decompression conditions (from 8.0 kbar to 4.5 kbar). The Th-U-Pb dating of homogeneous monazites by electron microprobe revealed a recrystallization period at around 490 - 480 Ma. These ages can be related to the tectono-thermal event associated with the gravitational collapse, constraining the youngest time limit for metamorphic processes in the Araçuaí orogen.