Geochemical modelling of the tonalitic and trondhjemitic granulites from the Itabuna-Salvador-Curaçá Block, Bahia, Brazil

The studied tonalitic and trondhjemitic granulites are located in the SSE granulitic domain of the São Francisco craton, Bahia, Brazil, where they represent most of the southern part of the Archean and Paleoproterozoic Itabuna-Salvador-Curaçá Block (ISCB). Chemically, the tonalitic and trondhjemitic granulites belong to a low-K calc-alkaline suite; their REE patterns are steep with strong LREE/HREE fractionation and no significant Eu anomaly. Garnet-bearing mafic granulites that occur as enclaves in the tonalitic and trondhjemitic granulites were derived from basalts and/or gabbros of tholeiitic affinity. Geochemical modelling showed that the tonalitic and trondhjemitic granulites were produced by moderate fractional crystallization of an assemblage of hornblende and plagioclase, with subordinate amounts of magnetite, apatite, allanite and zircon. The garnet-bearing mafic granulites would be the source of the magmas that generated these rocks. Partial melting left a residue made up of plagioclase, garnet, orthopyroxene and hornblende.

► The tonalitic and trondhjemitic granulites belong to a low-K calc-alkaline suite.
► Garnet-bearing mafic granulites occur as enclaves in the granulites rocks.
► Geochemical modelling these rocks consists in the melting of a metamorphosed basalt source.
► The magma did not crystallize under granulitic metamorphic conditions but rather under amphibolite facies metamorphic conditions.