Superposition of structures in the interference zone between the southern Brasilia belt and the central Ribeira belt in the region SW of Itajuba (MG), SE Brazil

The study area is localized in the Socorro nappe, part of the southern Brasilia belt, with a minor part in the Embu terrane, part of the central Ribeira belt. Three phases of deformation were detected, Dn-1, Dn and Dn+ 1. Sn-1 seems to be generally transposed into Sn, but in the northwestern part it is well preserved, dipping about 60 degrees to W and SW, with a stretching and/or mineral lineation plunging down dip. The main foliation in most of the area is Sn, dipping about 70 degrees to SSE. Dn folds are tight to isoclinal, with axes that plunge about 40 degrees to SW. Quartz-feldspathic segregation veins are folded by Dn. The structures related to Dn-1 and Dn are cut and modified by four important shear zones ascribed to deformation phase Dn+ 1. Two samples of a granite that is elongated along the Caxambu shear zone, and also cut by it, were dated. One yielded a crystallization age of 575 +/- 5 Ma, and the other one, from the shear zone, an age of 567 +/- 8 Ma, interpreted either as representing the age of movement along the Caxambu shear zone, or as metamorphic growth.