Santa Bلrbara Formation (Caçapava do Sul, southern Brazil): depositional sequences and evolution of an Early Paleozoic postcollisional basin

The Santa Bárbara Formation, located in southernmost Brazil, comprises red-colored conglomerates, sandstones, and siltstones. It was deposited in the Early Paleozoic under continental conditions in a restricted, strike-slip basin (Santa Bárbara basin) in response to the postcollisional stresses of the Brasiliano/Pan-African cycle (900–500 Ma). Five facies associations are recognized: alluvial fans, fan-delta front, lacustrine, sandy braided, and gravel bed braided river deposits. The application of sequence stratigraphy enables the recognition of three depositional sequences. The two basal sequences (I and II) represent a coherent depositional pattern, with axial fluvial and fan-delta systems that deposit northeastward and lateral contribution from alluvial fans. Such coarse deposits are composed mainly of metamorphic clasts derived from the erosion of ‘Caçapava high’, the eastern steep margin of the Santa Bárbara basin. Sequence III lies unconformably over the basal subunits and reflects the inversion of the axial systems, in that the paleocurrents of the gravel bed deposits systematically point south/southwestward. The alluvial fan deposits of Sequence III also suggest a tectonic rearrangement of the basin, with partial erosion of the basal sequences and the presence of granitoid fragments, which reflects a deeper denudation stage for the Caçapava high and possibly a significant hiatus at the base of Sequence III.