Cretaceous carbonatites of the southeastern Brazilian Platform: a review

ABSTRACT: This paper reviews general aspects of alkaline-carbonatitic rocks of Brazilian, Paraguayan and Bolivian terrains. Although 30 such occurrences are known in literature, only the major ones have been thoroughly investigated. The carbonatites are of Cretaceous age, with two well-defined Lower Cretaceous and Upper Cretaceous generation episodes. A clear tectonic control by ancient structural features such as archs, lineaments and faults characterizes most cases. The rocks exhibit a large compositional variation, in decreasing orders of abundance from calciocarbonatites to magnesiocarbona...