Mineralogical and chemical composition of Ediacaran-Cambrian pelitic rocks of The Tamengo and Guaicurus formations, (Corumbá Group - MS, Brazil): Stratigraphic positioning and paleoenvironmental interpretations

The Tamengo and Guaicurus formations, upper units of the Corumbá Group, are placed at Ediacaran-Cambrian transition due to biostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy data. The Tamengo Formation is composed mainly of limestones with interbedded mudrocks (siliciclastic, carbonate and mixed siliciclastic-carbonate mudrocks) and record occurrences of macro-fossils Cloudina and Corumbella. The Guaicurus Formation is characterized as an extensive and homogeneous siliciclastic siltstone package. This paper focus in sedimentary, petrographic, mineral (XRD) and chemical (XRF) characterizations of mudrocks and siltstones in order to define stratigraphic positioning of the Tamengo and Guaicurus formations, and indicate depositional environment. To this purpose, three areas were studied in the vicinity of Corumbá (MS-Brazil): Laginha and Corcal quarries and an outcrop along MS-243 road. The rocks of the Tamengo Formation, under microscope, present fluid diffusion features as well as irregular laminations, calcite laminas as evaporate pseudomorphes and biogenic mats. In contrast, siltstones of the Guaicurus Formation are persistently laminated, well sorted and homogenous. Both mudrocks interbedded in carbonate layers and siltstones are composed of detrital quartz, mica and diagenetic clay minerals. Furthermore, the major oxides compositions are broadly similar, except for Na2O, higher in the Guaicurus Formation. The presence of carbonate rocks and mudrocks within the Tamengo Formation imply environment favorable to carbonate formation with episodically immature siliciclastic supply, from very fine-grained rocks of a nearby area, interrupting carbonate depositions. The Guaicurus Formation, distinctively, is a result of an uninterrupted immature siliciclastic supply from a nearby source area, broadly similar to the Tamengo Formation, and was deposited under a low energy setting in a high water level, below fair-weather wave. Petrographic features and diagenetic clay mineral paragenesis – illite + chlorite + smectite – within the Tamengo Formation indicate fluid circulation event. This event resulted in a complex diagenetic history with a possible retrograde diagenesis recorded in the mudrocks of the Tamengo Formation. The siltstones of the Guaicurus Formation present neither petrographic evidences of fluid diffusion nor presence of smectite along the paragenesis illite + chlorite, constraining the event in the Tamengo Formation. After these characterizations, the research revealed that the superior portion of Corcal quarry (L7) exposes rocks from the Tamengo Formation.