Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)The collision of oceanic arcs with continents is a common plate tectonic process in the Phanerozoic, but its recognition in the Precambrian is hampered by deformation and metamorphism. The Rio Capim volcanic-plutonic-sedimentary belt lies in sharp tectonic contact with Archaean rocks of the Uaua block in the northern part of the Sao Francisco craton. Field relationships and high-precision geochronology indicated that the Rio Capim basalts, gabbros, diorites, and dacites were emplaced approximately at 2148-2143 Ma, and later intruded by 2128 Ma-old diorite to tonalite plutons. All rocks were metamorphosed under amphibolite to granulite fades conditions mainly between 2080 Ma and 2070 Ma, but deformation may have lasted until about 2040 Ma as estimated from syn-deformation zircon and titanite grains. The association of basalt, andesite, dacite, and their plutonic counterparts, combined with their positive epsilon(Nd)(t) values and incompatible trace element geochemical signatures similar to island arc magmas, support the proposition that the Rio Capim belt was a Palaeoproteorozoic intra-oceanic arc sequence that collided with a continent, of which the Mesoarchaean Uana block is a remnant. The implications for the regional evolution and metallogenesis are also discussed. (C) 2010 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.193SI735750Universite Blaise Pascal [3070/95-11, 177/95]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Universite Blaise Pascal [3070/95-11, 177/95]FAPESP [96/03821-8, 06/06222-1]CNPq [300845/91-0, 302590/2008-0]