Episodic mafic dike swarms (2.0 and 1.7 Ga) in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero Province, Brazil: Implications for the refinement of the São Francisco Craton magmatic barcode and the North China link

Late Archean to Paleoproterozoic dike swarms crosscut the basement and supracrustal sequences of the São Francisco Craton. Their spatial distribution and orientation patterns, as paleomagnetic signature, provide key evidence to the positioning of the cratonic area in ancient paleocontinental reconstructions through the refinement of the “magmatic barcode”. Zircon U–Pb data from dikes in the cratonic domain of the Quadrilátero Ferrífero Mineral Province, in the southern of São Francisco Craton, allowed the recognition of two magmatic stages: a Rhyacian-Orosirian pulse, belonging to the Paraopeba swarm, and a Statherian pulse that belongs to the Pará de Minas II swarm. The Ediacaran Brasiliano Orogeny later affected dikes from both swarms.