ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Diagenesis
PROVENANCE OF THE LATE EDIACARAN MINAS DE CORRALES FORMATION, NICO PÉREZ TERRANE, URUGUAY: PALEOGEOGRAPHIC IMPLICATIONS
Provisionally accepted
- 1Centro Universitario de la Región Este - Sede Treinta y Tres - Universidad de la Republica Uruguay, Treinta y Tres, Uruguay
- 2Departamento de Geociencias, Centro Universitario Regional Este (UdelaR), Treinta y Tres, Uruguay, Treinta y Tres, Uruguay
- 3Department of Earth Sciences, University of the Western Cape, Western Cape, South Africa, Western Cape, South Africa
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The Nico Pérez Terrane, located in the eastern margin of the Río de la Plata Craton, played a critical role in the assembly of SW Gondwana. The Isla Cristalina de Rivera basement klippe represents the northernmost exposures of the Nico Pérez Terrane in Uruguay, where the metavolcano-sedimentary Minas de Corrales Formation represent the only preserved Ediacaran supracrustal cover. The provenance analyses of this key succession unravel the crustal signature and ages of its sources, providing constraints on the paleogeography and tectonic evolution of the Arachania subduction-related orogeny developed along the eastern margin of the Río de la Plata Craton. A comparison to other coeval extensional basins in a back-arc position regarding Arachania linked to the opening of the Brazilides Ocean is assessed. Detrital mineral quantification and whole-rock geochemistry of the Minas de Corrales Formation indicate that the bulk of the detritus was rapidly sourced from basement rocks with a composition similar to average unrecycled upper continental crust, with influences of a less differentiated component. Nd isotopes further suggest a Mesoproterozoic mantle extraction age for the juvenile component of the metavolcanic-sandstones. Detrital zircon patterns of all studied samples point to diverse source rock ages: one metasandstone displays a dominance of (95%) Siderian-Rhyacian ages, whereas the other one shows a concentration of Tonian to Cryogenian ages (89%); the metavolcanic-sandstones yield main populations of Rhyacian, Calymmian and Ectasian ages. All the provenance indicators suggest that the Ediacaran Mina de Corrales Formation was fed from Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic basement sources likely comprising the rift-shoulders and nearby areas; these sources are traced to the Taquarembó, Tijucas, São Gabriel, and Nico Pérez Terranes. The Minas de Corrales Formation was deposited in an extensional basin emplaced on the eastern margin of the Río de la Plata Craton that developed during the opening of the Brazilides Ocean.
Keywords: geochemistry, Minas de Corrales Formation, Neoproterozoic, Petrography, provenance, Río de LaPlata Craton, SW Gondwana
Received: 03 Sep 2025; Accepted: 26 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Abre, Blanco and Frei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Paulina Abre
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