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The Montesbelos mass-flow (southern Amazonian craton, Brazil): a Paleoproterozoic volcanic debris avalanche deposit?

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Abstract

The present contribution documents the extremely well-preserved Paleoproterozoic architecture of the Montesbelos breccia (named here for the first time), which is interpreted as a rare example of a subaerial paleoproterozoic (>1.85 Ga) granular-dominated mass-flow deposit, few of which are recorded in the literature. Montesbelos deposit is part of the andesitic Sobreiro Formation located in the São Felix do Xingu region, southern Amazonian craton, northern Brazil. The large volume, high variability of textural features, presence of broken clasts, angular low sphericity fragments, mono- to heterolithic character, and the size of the outcrops point to a volcanic debris avalanche flow. Fluviatile sandy material and debris flows are associated with the deposit as a result of post-depositional reworking processes.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Brazilian project CAPES/CNPq 402564/2012-0 (Programa Ciências sem Fronteiras) and by the grant of the Brazilian CAPES/CNPq Programa Ciências sem Fronteiras, Atração de Jovem Talento 402564/2012-0. Thanks to the CNPq/CT-Mineral (Proc. 550.342/2011-7) and the INCT-Geociam (573733/2008-2) - CNPq/MCT/FAPESPA/PETROBRAS). I strongly thank Dr. Caetano Juliani and Dr. Carlos Marcelo Dias Fernandes for introducing me to the Precambrian volcanism in Amazonia, Dra. Lucia Capra for the major help and support, Tommaso Giovanardi for the help with geochronology data, and Jeovaci Jr. Martins da Rocha for the help in the field. I thank very much Dr. Lee Sieber and Dr. Pablo Dávila-Harris for the useful reviews and comments.

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  1. Departamento de Geologia Sedimentar e Ambiental, USP, IGC Instituto de Geociências, São Paulo, 05508080, Brazil

    M. Roverato

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Roverato, M. The Montesbelos mass-flow (southern Amazonian craton, Brazil): a Paleoproterozoic volcanic debris avalanche deposit?. Bull Volcanol 78, 49 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-016-1043-2

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