Absolute dating of Permian ash-fall in the Rio Bonito Formation, Parana Basin, Brazil

The Rio Bonito Formation in southern Parana basin contains a set of tonsteins interbedded with coal-seams. These tonsteins are composed mainly of kaolinite with zircon, apatite and beta-quartz paramorphs as accessory minerals, and were interpreted as volcanic ashes deposited by ash falls over pits protected by barrier islands in a barrier-lagoon system. A U-Pb dating of zircons in the tonstein A, which furnished an age of 267.1 +/- 3.4 Ma (Early Permian) confirming previous age-dates based on palynology and correlating them with one of the main periods of volcanic activity in the Gondwana. The source of the pyroclastic material was attributed to the early Permian Choiyoi magmatic are in Argentina, developed during the Sanrafaelic orogeny, and with a main peak of volcanic activity between 260 and 272 Ma.