Reply to the comment on “Devonian to Permian post-orogenic denudation of the Brasília Belt of West Gondwana: insights from apatite fission track thermochronology” by Alessandretti and Warren, 2021

Abstract

Here we reply to the comment by Alessandretti and Warren, (2021) on the paper “Devonian to Permian post-orogenic denudation of the Brasília Belt of West Gondwana: insights from apatite fission track thermochronology” by Fonseca et al. (2020). We have the impression that many of the remarks, at least to some extent stem from a misunderstanding of our manuscript, also considering that they did not propose any alternative hypothesis for interpretation of our results presented in the aforementioned paper. We, thus, reiterate our interpretations from our low-temperature thermochronology data. The basement of the Brasilia Belt was subject to a significant exhumation during the Devonian to the Permian through erosion, and was likely a source area for detrital sediments deposited in parts of the northeastern Paraná Basin at that time. Apatite fission-track data show that Meso-Cenozoic events had limited effect on post-orogenic exhumation of the Brasília Belt, in contrast to e.g. the Araçuaí Belt.