Geology and age of the Parguaza rapakivi

granite, Venezuela

H E N R I E. GAUDETTE Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824
VICENTE M E N D O Z A Dirección de Geología, Ministerio de Minas e Hidrocarburos, Caracas, Venzuela
PATRICK M . HURLEY 1 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
H A R O L D W. FAIRBAIRN J Massachusetts 02139

ABSTRACT tinctly younger province, representing a later episode in the de-

velopment of the Guayana Shield.
The l,550-m.y.-old Paraguaza granite of the northwestern Martin F. (1974) has proposed a thermotectonic event in Ven-
Guayana Shield in Venezuela represents one of the larger, appar- ezuela following the 1,800 m.y. to 2 , 1 0 0 m.y. B.P. trans-
ently anorogenic rapakivi intrusive rocks of the world. The massive Amazonian orogenic cycle which she has named "Parguazan,"
rapakivi granite intrudes foliated granitic rocks and associated vol- based upon 1,500-m.y. K-Ar overprint ages in the Manteco-Guri
canic rocks of trans-Amazonian age in a structural setting transcur- area of Venezuela (Espejo and Santamaria, 1974), the isolated oc-
rent to the general northeast-southwest trend of the older basement currence of intrusive rocks in the 1,500 to 1,600-m.y. range
rocks of the Guayana Shield. Age relations and the geochemistry of throughout the Guayana Shield, and a preliminary Rb-Sr whole-
the rapakivi suggest an anatectic origin from tensional effects de- rock age of 1,490 m.y. for samples of Parguaza granite (Hurley and
veloped by internal distortions within a continental mass. others, 1973). Recently Kovach and others (1976) have shown the
The extensive l,550-m.y.-old Parguaza intrusion in Venezuela is existence of a l,550-m.y.-old basement underlying the upper Ama-
correlated with l,550-m.y.-old basement rocks underlying the zon Basin in Brazil, suggesting a more widespread continuation of
Amazon Basin in Brazil and suggests a widespread " P a r g u a z a n " the proposed "Parguazan" age province to the south.
event 1,500 to 1,600 m.y. ago which affected a large part of the Dall'Agnol and others (1975) reported the presence of a rapakivi
northwestern and southern Guayana Shield, extending as far south granite, which they also considered to be anorogenic, in the Serra
as the Guapore craton of Brazil. The Parguazan event therefore
marks an important Proterozoic episode in the tectonic evolution of
68° 64° 60°
the widespread Precambrian Shield area of northern South
America.

INTRODUCTION

The Parguaza rapakivi granite is a large ( > 3 0 , 0 0 0 km 2 ) batholith

of homogeneous composition in the Amazonas structural province
of the northwestern Guayana Shield, Venezuela. It represents one
of the larger, apparently anorogenic, granite intrusions of the world
(Fig. 1). The granite body has been emplaced in weakly foliated,
northwest-trending Caicara volcanic rocks and in granitic rocks of
the Cuchivero Group. In the Suapure River area, the eastern border
of the Parguaza batholith is in fault and intrusive contact with
Cuchivero G r o u p granitic rocks and Caicara volcanic rocks.
Xenoliths of rhyolite and fine-grained granite are abundant in the
rapakivi granite.
The geology of the Suapure area and the Parguaza rapakivi gra-
nite has been described in detail by Mendoza (1974a, 1974b). H e
showed that the Cuchivero granitic rocks are foliated and contain
epidote and chlorite, minerals that are conspicuously absent from Figure 1. Structural provinces of northern Guayana Shield. Dash-dot
the Parguaza rapakivi granite. The distinct northwest trend of the lines are geographic boundaries. F = Parguaza granite; 1 = Imataca and
Caicara volcanic rocks and northwesterly foliation developed in the Pastora provinces; 2 = Cuchivero area, Amazonas province; 3 = Amazon
Territory, Amazonas province; 4 = area of Surucucu rapakivi of Brazil and
Cuchivero granites are transcurrent to major northeast structural Venezuela; stippled pattern = Canaima platform sedimentary rocks. Dou-
trends of the older regions of the Guayana Shield (for example, the ble dashed line represents Cauro front separating northeast-trending Im-
3-b.y.-old Imataca Complex; Fig. 1), suggesting that this is a dis- ataca province from northwest-trending Cuchivero area.

Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 89, p. 1 3 3 5 - 1 3 4 0 , 5 figs., 3 tables, September 1978, Doc. no. 80906.

1335

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 1336 GAUDETTE AND OTHERS

Parina area on the Venezuelan-Brazilian boundary (Fig. 1). They re- feldspars or as intergrowths with or replacements of hornblende.
lated this granite, which occurs as a large batholith with several The biotites are red-brown, with a low (0° to 10°) 2V, suggestive of
smaller ancillary stocks, to the Parguaza rapakivi of Venezuela on a high Fe content. Hornblende is found as inclusions in the
the basis of composition, texture, and whole-rock Rb-Sr ages be- feldspars, as replacements with biotite, and, rarely, intergrown
tween 1,623 and 1,431 m.y. for several samples (XRb = 1.39 x with clinopyroxene. Optical properties also suggest that the
10- 1 1 yr" 1 ). hornblende is a high-Fe type. Apatite, zircon, and opaque minerals
occur as accessories. Epidote and chlorite, present in the Cuchivero
PARGUAZA GRANITE G r o u p granitic rocks, were not found in any of the Parguaza
rapakivi granite samples examined.
Petrology
Geochemistry
The Parguaza granite is massive, coarse grained, porphyritic, and
of the rapakivi "wiborgite" type (Simonen and Vorma, 1969). N o Major-element analyses of 15 whole-rock and 10 biotite samples
megascopic metamorphic effects were observed in the rapakivi of the Parguaza granite were made by wet-chemical and X-ray
granite in more than 250 outcrops. The granite consists of quartz fluorescence techniques (Table 1). Detailed descriptions of sample
(5% to 3 4 % ) , oligoclase (14% to 3 1 % ) , microcline perthite (24% preparation and analytical procedures and precision are given in
to 5 5 % ) , biotite (2% to 16%), and hornblende (4% to 2 4 % ) , on Mendoza (1974b). The data of Table 1 indicate that the Parguaza
the basis of modal analyses of stained slab samples. About 10% of rapakivi granite is chemically similar to the high-calcium granites
the feldspar phenocrysts show multiple mantling, with successive of Turekian and Wedepohl (1961), to iron-rich granites such as the
zones of K-feldspar and plagioclase, with each successive zone gra- granophyres of the Duluth and Skaergaard complexes, and particu-
dational to the next from the core outward. This multiple zoning larly to the Finnish rapakivi granites, as shown in Table 1. Also of
possibly records several stages in the growth and resorption of interest is the apparent chemical similarity to the Nigerian char-
these crystals rather than simply registering a single stage of re- nockites of Brown and Bowden (1973).
placement during crystallization. T h e chemical analyses of the Parguaza biotite (Table 1) confirm
Microscopically, the rapakivi granite is hypidimorphic granular, its iron-rich nature. Estimation of f0l for the Parguaza biotite based
porphyritic, and very coarse grained. Quartz occurs mostly as upon the experimental data of Wones and Eugster (1965) suggests
xenomorphic crystals, either as inclusions in the ovoid feldspars or values of approximately 10" 16 to 10~ 18 b. Approximation of other
as an interstitial phase. Potassium feldspar is primarily microcline variables of the Parguaza rapakivi system, such as T and P H 2 o, can
perthite occurring as the ovoid cores in the rapakivi texture; how- be obtained by comparing the stability curve of the biotites with
ever antirapakivi textures with an ovoid of plagioclase mantled by minimum melting curves of representative systems. In Figure 2
microcline can also be observed in some specimens. Cloudy pla- these parameters are compared with mineral stability curves for
gioclase occurs most frequently as mantle zones around cores of several rock systems, including Nigerian charnockites. T h e stability
K-feldspar. T h e presence of K-feldspar inclusions in the plagioclase curve of the rapakivi biotite was derived by interpolation of oxygen
and vice versa are probably more indicative of simultaneous crys- fugacity data and by coexistence of the biotite with K-feldspar and
tallization of both minerals along the two-feldspar plane of the
An-Ab-Q-Kf tetrahedron (Barth, 1962) than of replacement.
Biotite occurs as idiomorphic crystals, either as inclusions in

TABLE 1. CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF PARGUAZA RAPAKIVI

GRANITE, PARGUAZA BIOTITES, AND OTHER
GRANITIC ROCKS

Parguaza Nigeria Finland

rapakivi biotites* charnockites rapakivis
(whole rock)
No. of samples: 15 10 3 54

Si0 2 69.2 35.6 68.9 69.2

Ti0 2 0.6 3.75 0.4 0.25
AI2O3 14.7 13.8 14.7 14.6
Fe 2 0 3 1.3 3.3 1.0 0.6
FeO 2.6 26.2 2.9 1.5
MnO 0.08 0.35 0.05 0.05
MgO 0.4 3.25 0.3 0.4
CaO 2.0 1.1 2.1 1.0
Na 2 0 3.3 0.2 3.3 5.6
K2O 5.1 8.0 5.8 6.4 600 700 800 900 1000
P2O5 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 T(°C)
Total 99.48 95.75 99.55 99.7 Figure 2. Intersection of granitic melting curves with stability curves of
biotite and hornblende. Melting curves of Sierra Nevada granites (A),
Reference* 1 1 2 3 granodiorite (B), and tonalite (C) from Piwinskii (1968). D is melting curve
of Nigerian charnockites (Brown and Bowden, 1973). E is annite stability
Note: Values in percent. at f0, equal to pressure of QMF buffer (Eugster and Wones, 1962). F is es-
* Total Fe as Fe 2 0 3 = 32.5 timated stability of Parguaza biotites (this study). G is biotite stability from
+
References: 1, this study; 2, Brown and Bowden (1973, Table 1); Sierra Nevada granite (Dodge and others, 1969). H is hornblende stability
3, Eskola (1963, p. 244). (Lambert and Wyllie, 1968).

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 PARGUAZA RAPAKIVI GRANITE 1337

magnetite. Thin-section analyses have indicated that the biotite in Rosalia granites. This age is typical of the trans-Amazonian event,
the Parguaza rapakivi originated late, with its crystallization prob- as shown by ages of granitic rocks in Guyana, Suriname, and
ably persistent throughout the last stages of solidification. Thus, the French Guiana. In the northern Guayana Shield in Venzeuela,
physical conditions of the last stages of solidification should be ap- radiometric ages of granitic intrusions are generally 2,100 m.y.,
proximated by those of the liquid minimum in the "granite" sys- raising the question of a slightly younger orogenic effect transcur-
tem. The maximum temperature of the crystallization of biotite in rent to the general northeast-trending Trans-Amazonian rocks.
the rapakivi would appear to be limited by the stability of Field work (Mendoza, 1974a, 1974b) has indicated that the
hornblende. Caicara quartz latite volcanic suite in the Cuchivero area is syntec-
Experimental studies of Nigerian rocks (Brown and Bowden, tonic with the San Pedro and Santa Rosalia granites. A tentative
1973) have shown that glassy material generated by partial melting reference isochron based on three data points is also shown in Fig-
of charnockitic monzonites at 1 kb and 850 °C and at 2 kb and ure 3, indicating an age of 1,736 m.y. (initial Sr^/Sr 86 = 0.7090) for
800 °C has a bulk chemical composition remarkably similar to the these alkalic members of the volcanic suite. Volcanic rocks of this
Parguaza rapakivi granite. They demonstrated that during partial type commonly yield age values that are less than their true age
melting of charnockitic crustal material, with low (1% to 2 % ) (see, for example, Naylor, 1976), so the syntectonic nature of the
volatile addition as water, 6 0 % to 7 5 % partial melts could be de- volcanic rocks based on field observations is not disputed by the
rived at these temperatures which upon cooling would yield suc- limited radiometric data.
cessive residual liquids equivalent to hastingsite-fayalite granite —* The Parguaza rapakivi granite, on the basis of contact relation-
hastingsite-biotite granite —» biotite granite. Thus, in Figure 2, on ships, mineralogy, and lack of foliation, has been mapped as post-
the basis of limiting parameters of hornblende stability and the tectonic and younger than the Cuchivero belt as a whole. Rb-Sr
charnockitic melting curve, an estimated range of temperature- whole-rock analyses (Fig. 4) yield an isochron age for the rapakivi
pressure conditions for the crystallization of the Parguaza rapakivi granite of 1,531 ± 39 m.y. (initial (Sr^/Sr 86 = 0.7004 ± 0.0019),
granite would be f r o m 750 to 850 °C and from 1 to 3 kb. an age significantly younger than the typical trans-Amazonian ages
reported throughout Venezuela and northern South America (Hur-
Geochronology ley and others, 1968). One whole-rock sample (8178) of the Par-
guaza granite and the K-feldspar separate from this rock (8178 F)
The major rock units of the northern Amazonas structural prov- suggest a secondary isochron of 1,250 m.y. (initial 87 Sr^ 6 Sr =
ince in Venezuela are the Chuchivero granitic rocks, represented by 0.726). This is in fair agreement with a resetting age of 1,190 m.y.
the San Pedro and Santa Rosalia foliated granites, the syntectonic previously reported by Hurley and others (1973) for minerals and
quartz latites of the Caicara group, and the younger Parguaza small samples taken from large bulk samples of the Imataca granu-
rapakivi granite. lite gneiss in the Guri D a m area, 900 km to the northwest of the
Rb-Sr analytical data for samples of these units are listed in Table Parguaza granite, and it may represent the Nickerie thermal over-
2 and plotted in Figures 3 and 4. Isochron ages have been calcu- print so prevalent to the east in Guyana.
lated by the York regression technique (York, 1966) and are based Zircon separates were obtained by standard techniques from
on \ R b 8 7 = 1.39 X 10" 11 y r 1 , with Sr^/Sr 88 normalized to 0.1194. four widely spaced samples of the Parguaza granite in the Suapure
Figure 3 shows a whole-rock isochron age of 1,952 ± 71 m.y. River region. Sample 8182 zircons were size fractionated to three
(initial Sr^/Sr 86 = 0.6999 ± .0036) for the San Pedro and Santa subsamples for analysis; single samples for the remaining three zir-

TABLE 2. Rb-Sr ANALYSES

86
MIT sample Sr Rb87 (Sr^/.Sr86),, RU87/C r 86
K.D / 3r atomic Model"
no. (ppm) (ppm) age
(m.y.)
Cuchivero granites
8164 12.13 44.77 0.8022 3.65 1,891
8166 7.335 58.9 0.9163 7.94 1,890
8173 5.781 69.39 1.0198 11.86 1,885
8174 15.03 46.16 0.7862 3.04 1,896
8175 11.81 43.9 0.7932 3.67 1,708
5450 23.95 49.63 0.7536 2.072 1,619
5454 20.49 74.76 0.7978 3.649 1,821

Caicara volcanic rocks

8185 C 3.201 54.3 1.1158 16.77 1,741
8185 B 21.40 26.93 0.7394 1.244 1,962
8185 F 3.154 49.86 1.0554 14.08 1,768

Parguaza rapakivi
8177 17.47 52.55 0.7645 2.97 1,427
8178 10.85 71.68 0.8405 6.53 1,478
8178 F 14.14 126.0 0.8804 8.81 1,418
8182 17.44 54.63 0.7662 3.10 1,406
8183 17.0 58.65 0.7746 3.41 1,454

* Based upon assumed initial Sr87/Sr86 = 0.705.

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 ~i r .900
CUCHIVERO PROVINCE
• 8185 C
VENEZUELA

o CUCHIVERO GRANITES
AGE = 1 9 5 2 ± T I m y.
8 7 8 6
Sr /Sr 0.6999+ .0036

8164 • CAICARA V O L C A N ICS

5454 ^'8|75 AGE = 1 7 3 6 ± 14 m.y.
" 8174
8 7 8 6
Sr /Sr 0 = 0.7090 ± .0006
5450

8185 B X R b 8 7 = 1.39 X I O _ " y r ~ '

Rb87/Sr86
0 4 8 12 16 20
Figure 4. Rb-Sr isochron plots of Parguaza rapakivi granite.
Rb87/Sr86
Figure 3. Rb-Sr isochron plot of Cuchivero granites and Caicara volcanic rocks.

TABLE 3. U-Pb DATA ON ZIRCONS

Pb isotopie composition Atom ratio"'

Sample u 238 Pb208 206 207 208 p-b206 Pb2"' Pb207
(mol x 10"- ) 6 204 206 206 JJ238 U 235
Pb206
per gram)1
8180
+ 100 1.871 0.4295 1050 0.10055 0.15347 0.2295 2.9930 0.09463
8182
+ 100 1.792 0.3728 1234 0.10954 0.17288 0.2080 2.7186 0.09824
-150+200 1.9099 0.3666 584 0.11699 0.20357 0.1920 2.4586 0.09295
-250+325 1.7842 0.3147 1382 0.10255 0.16973 0.1764 2.2454 0.09238
8183
+ 140 2.4786 0.4731 800 0.11007 0.16758 0.1909 2.4334 0.09251
8184
+ 140 2.0680 0.4008 201 0.16254 0.32675 0.1938 2.4764 0.09274
235
* Corrected for modern Pb (Doe, 1970); 1:19.11:15.82:39.65. U ^ / U = 137.88.

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 PARGUAZA RAPAKIVI GRANITE 1339

con separates were analyzed. Sample preparation and U-Pb chemis- a large part of the northwestern and southern Guayana Shield,
try and analysis were done following the procedures of Krogh perhaps extending as far south as the Guapore craton of Brazil.
(1973). Analytical errors are less than 2 % for U/Pb ratios. Blanks Kovach and others (1976) pointed out the uninterrupted continua-
for the U-Pb procedures have averaged 10 ng Pb and < 0 . 1 ng U in tion of this age province into the upper Amazon Basin basement.
the M I T laboratory over a period of three years. This implies a major episode in the development of this part of
Analytical results for the rapakivi granite zircons are given in northern South America that in the light of the suggested
Table 3. The U-Pb results have been calculated using the decay anorogenic origin for the Parguaza rapikivi granite raises questions
constants of Jaffey and others (1971) as noted in Stacey and Stern concerning the processes that could develop such an extensive
(1973); MJ 238 = 1.55 X 10" 1 0 yr" 1 , and A.U235 = 9.848 x 1 0 - , o y r - 1 - homogeneous intrusion in a transcurrent structural configuration.
These are plotted in Figure 5 on a concordia curve (Wetherill, W e suggest that the Parguaza granite may be evidence of
1956) based on the Jaffey and others (1971) decay constants; they within-plate tensional effects accompanied by zones of high ther-
define a discordia line, determined by simple linear regression mal gradient and slow migration of hot materials from subcrustal
analysis, which intersects the curve at 1,545 ± 20 m.y. The lower depths, possibly related to rifting rather than compressional in-
dashed extension of the discordia line intersects concordia at ap- terplate interaction. Sutton and Watson (1974) have proposed that
proximately 265 m.y. N o geologic events in this part of the early Proterozoic mobile belts (for example, the Churchill province
Guayana Shield are known to correspond to this 265-m.y. age. The of Canada) developed within large continental masses as a result of
significance of this intersection thus is questionable relative to an internal distortion accompanying bodily movement of the conti-
episodic lead-loss model; the data perhaps reflect Pb loss by con- nental mass. This racking of continental plates may produce ten-
tinuous diffusion. However, since the zircons are not highly discor- sional openings, forming rift belts in which deep faulting through
dant, both an episodic lead-loss or continuous-diffusion model the lithosphere may develop crustal horsts and grabens. With such
yield a similar primary age of 1,545, m.y. development, the down-sinking block may fill with volcanic rocks
and volcaniclastic sediments. If such a system is taken to depth,
DISCUSSION heat flow from the sides and base and associated volcanism can
cause metamorphism and anatexis. For example, Barker and others
The Parguaza intrusion represents one of the major rapakivi (1976), on the basis of geochemical evidence, suggested such an
events of the world. The zircon age of 1,545 ± 20 m.y. for the Par- origin for the 1.7 to 1.8-b.y.-old trondjhemites of southwestern
guaza rapakivi corresponds to the whole-rock Rb-Sr results of Colorado and northern N e w Mexico. Their compositional var-
1,531 ± 3 9 m.y. (Fig. 4). The 1,500- to 1,550-m.y. age for the Par- iations and inferred depths of melting are not compatible with a
guaza rapakivi granite substantiates the field relations shown by compressional subduction regime, but they indicate closer relation-
Mendoza (1974b) with respect to the Cuchivero granites and Cai- ship to a tensional vertical tectonic domain, where partial melting
cara volcanic rocks, which are apparently related to late trans- may produce magmas at the base of a sinking volcanic pile.
Amazonian effects in this part of the Guayana Shield. In the Venezuelan Guayana Shield, the original crustal block in
The existence of 1,500 to 1,550-m.y.-old basement rocks under- which such tensional teconic structures could develop is inferred to
lying the Amazon Basin in Brazil (Kovach and others, 1976), be of trondhjemitic or charnockitic composition. Experimental
coupled with the 1,550-m.y. Parguaza zircon age, reinforces the studies (for example, Brown and Bowden, 1973) indicate that the
suggestion of Martin F. (1974) that a thermotectonic event 1,500 anatectic mechanism outlined above may be able to produce large
to 1,600 m.y. ago, following the trans-Amazonian cycle, influenced volumes of alkali-rich magma available to crystallize under

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 1340 GAUDETTE AND OTHERS

temperature-pressure conditions appropriate for development of rock Rb-Sr datings: Canadian Jour. Earth Sci., v. 5, p. 633-638.
the Parguaza granite. Hurley, P. M., Fairbairn, H. W., Gaudette, H. E., Mendoza, V., Martin
If such processes have formed the Parguaza rapakivi intrusion, B., C., and Espejo, A., 1973, Progress report on Rb-Sr age dating in
the northern Guayana Shield: MIT Geochronology Lab. Prog. Rept.
then the Cuchivero transcurrent province bounded on the east by 20, 1972-1973, p. 1 - 7 .
the Cauro front (see Fig. 1) may in fact represent a Proterozoic zone Jaffey, A. H., Flynn, K. F., Glendenin, L. E., Bentley, W. C., and Essling,
of in situ magma generation by means of vertical tectonics in a ten- A. M., 1971, Precision measurement of half-lives and specific activities
sional intraplate environment. of a s U and ^ U : Phys. Rev. C., v. 4, p. 1889.
Kovach, A., Fairbairn, H. W., Hurley, P. M., Basei, M.A.S., and Cordani,
U. G., 1976, Reconnaissance geochronology of basement rocks from
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS the Amazonas and Maranhao Basins in Brazil: Precambrian Research,
v. 3, p. 471-480.
W e thank the Venezuelan Ministerio de Minas e Hidrocarburos, Krogh, T. E., 1973, A low-contamination method for hydrothermal de-
Dirección de Geologia, Caracas, for support of the field investiga- composition of zircon and extraction of U and Pb for isotpic age de-
terminations: Geochim. et Cosmochim. Acta, v. 37, p. 485-494.
tions and sampling. The mass spectrometer analyses at M I T were Lambert, I. B., and Wyllie, P. J., 1968, Stability of hornblende and a model
supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant A40242 for the low velocity zone: Nature, v. 219, p. 1240-1241.
to P. M . Hurley. We thank Stanley R. H a r t for his comments and Martin, F. C., 1974, Paleotectonica de! Escudo de Guayana: Venezuela
discussion of an early draft of the manuscript. Ministerio de Minas e Hidrocarburos Spec. Pub. 6, p. 251-305.
Mendoza, V., 1974a, Geologia del area del Rio Suapure, NO del Escudo de
Guayana, Estado Bolivar, Venezuela: Venezuela Ministerio de Minas e
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