Geophysical evidence of crustal-heterogeneity control of fault growth in the Neocomian Iguatu basin, NE Brazil

Models of fault growth propose that rift initiation starts with short fault segments. Knowledge of the growth of these segments and their interactions is important to understanding rift geometry and evolution. In the northern part of the Borborema Province, northeastern Brazil, a continental-scale, Cretaceous extensional system of faults has been observed to have reactivated ductile Precambrian shear zones. The faults form small grabens that represent the rift stage of the sedimentary basins. We integrated airborne radiometric and magnetic data with terrestrial gravity survey to investigate the influence of crustal heterogeneity on fault growth and the development of the extensional faults in one of these grabens, the Iguatu basin. Previous studies presented geophysical data, which provide evidence that the Iguatu basin contains a half-graben geometry. In our study, gravity and airborne geophysical data indicate that the basement of the Iguatu basin is part of a heterogeneous structural framework composed of two structural domains, is affected by several ductile shear zones and intruded by a few granite bodies. The gravity modeling reveals that this basin is composed of three right-bend en echelon fault segments. They form a sigmoid system of normal faults that accommodate the strong ∼90° bend of the Precambrian shear zones from E–W to roughly N–S. The growth of these segments led to the generation of two isolated depocenters. The overlapping fault segments link through relay ramps. Release faults that are nearly perpendicular or oblique to the three main fault segments form marginal strike ramps and horst structures in both depocenters. 3D-gravity modeling incorporates the presence of interfering sources of a heterogeneous structural framework. The modeling reveals a maximum sedimentary cover 1620 m thick, which occurs at the bend of the reactivated shear zones. The gravity signature of a possible granite body, after removal of the gravity effect of the basin-filling deposits, indicates that this possible intrusion forms a horst oriented roughly parallel to the basement fabric. The relationship between maximum displacement and fault length indicates that the fault segments formed independently during the initiation of the half-graben. But the fault segments, linked by relay ramps, influence the development of one another. We interpret the segments to represent a pre-linkage, multisegmented stage of an aborted rift system. This pattern of fault growth may have also influenced the rift stage of other sedimentary basins in the region.