PALAOCLIMATIC DIVERSITY DURING THE LATE PROTEROZOIC TO EARLY CAMBRIAN (700 – 525 MA): AN ATTEMPT AT CORRELATING BETWEEN THE SOUTH CHINA PLATE AND THE PARAGUAY BELT IN WEST-CENTRAL BRAZIL

During the Late Proterozoic, break-up of the Supercontinent Rodinia the South China Plate was situated within tropical latitudes probably either straddling the equator or just a few degrees to the north in an “upside-down” position (today´s northern region having faced south towards the paleo-equator). After the Nantuo (Marinoan) deglaciation, “cap carbonates” (incl. tepee structures) are found ubiquitously and distinct disconformities separate all major formations at least at 6 intervals irrespective of shallow- or deep-water facies, incl. at the level of the Precambrian/Cambrian intersystemic boundary. These disconformable (not unconformable!) contacts, which are clearly established and correlatable at lithostratigraphic levels on the South China Plate, are probably linked to worldwide eustatic regressions which are, at least in part, evidenced by local tillite units (mountain glacier fans?) at various locations embedded in Ediacaran sediments above the Marinoan Puga Tillite in northwestern peri-platformal sections (on the “Amazonia Plate”) in the west-central Paraguay-Belt of Brazil. However, inter- and intraformational contacts are not yet sufficiently dated in Brazil, not only due to lack of fossils but also due to concurrent tectonic activities of the Brazilide-Panafrican Orogeny between ca. 550 and 525 Ma. The paleogeographic position of most of the Late Proterozoic to Cambrian Paraguay Belt was apparently at high latitudes during the Ediacaran time interval.