Tourmaline composition and boron isotopes record lateritic weathering during the great oxidation event.

Abstract

Identifying evidence of oxidative weathering in the geological record is essential to trace the evolution of Earth's atmosphere oxygenation. Metamorphosed residues of lateritic weathering have been identified as two rock types in the 2.1-Ga-old Cercadinho Formation, Piracicaba Group, Quadrilátero Ferrífero of Minas Gerais. One is tourmaline–hematite–sillimanite–kyanite quartzite; the other is rutile–tourmaline–hematite–muscovite phyllite. Both rocks have abundant tourmaline with δ11B values between about −17‰ and −13‰. The Cercadinho tourmaline is roughly parallel to the povondraite–“oxy-dravite” join of meta-evaporitic tourmaline, in its more aluminous segment, offset to higher contents of iron. These compositional and isotopic characteristics of the Cercadinho tourmaline indicate that continental evaporitic brines interacted with aluminium- and iron-rich residues of lateritic weathering. The abundance of disseminated tourmaline, a mineral poorly reported from palaeosols worldwide, implies a boron-rich brine overprint on the lateritic profile before the onset of metamorphism, reflecting a climatic change from humid to arid conditions in a continental setting. The recognition of lateritic weathering in the Cercadinho Formation contributes to the amount of evidence for increased levels of atmospheric oxygen between 2.22 and 2.06 Ga ago.