The ancestry and magmatic evolution of Archaean TTG rocks of the Quadrilátero Ferrífero province, southeast Brazil

•The Quadrilátero Ferrífero is one of the best-studied cratonic regions in South America.•It has been the focus of several studies on the early- to late-Proterozoic evolution of the continent.•Here we reveal for the first time the magmatic evolution of a large segment of Archaean crust within the Craton.•The magmatic evolution spans from 3200 Ma to 2770 Ma and is marked by 3 main periods of TTG magmatism.

Combined LA-ICP-MS and SHRIMP U–Pb ages from Quadrilátero Ferrífero (QF) province reveals for the first time three main periods of TTG magmatism in the southern part of the São Francisco Craton (Brazil). These periods – described here as the Santa Barbara (SB), Rio das Velhas I (RVI) and Rio das Velhas II (RVII) events – embody a significant part of a protracted tectonomagmatic history of the Craton, spanning from 3220 to 2770 Ma. The initial stages of TTG magmatism (the SB event) led to formation of a core of Palaeoarchaean TTG crust via magmatic additions of juvenile felsic rocks into mafic–ultramafic rocks, at ca. 3212–3210 Ma. The following event (RVI event) saw the growth of this Palaeoarchaean core into a more composite, polydefomed continental segment through magmatic additions of juvenile TTG rocks and tectonic accretion of mafic–ultramafic greenstone belt terrains. Our U–Pb data and regional constraints suggest that much of the TTG crust exposed in the QF region today was produced during the RVI event, between 2930 and 2900 Ma. The final stages of TTG crust production (RV II event) were marked by convergence-related magmatism, affecting an extensive Palaeo- to Mesoarchaean continental block (The RVI block). The timing and duration of the latest TTG event coincides with the felsic volcanism and deposition of turbiditic wackes of the main greenstone belt sequence.