Long period magnetotelluric soundings are available in a 180-km long WSW–ENE profile across the Alto Paranaíba igneous province, a complex Cretaceous alkaline province situated mostly in the southern Neoproterozoic Brasília fold and thrust belt in central Brazil. The data indicate 3D complexity at upper and mid-crust and a simpler 2D regional structure at lower crustal and upper mantle depths. A 2D inversion emphasizing long period data identifies a highly resistive block at the uppermost mantle below the central part of the profile, surrounded by a rapid decrease in resistivity with depth. Resistivities at the block are typical of dry olivine under upper mantle conditions and a deep cratonic lithosphere is defined for this region. It is proposed that the resistive block is a rheologically enduring structure preserved within a southwestward extension of the pericratonic lithosphere of the Archean–Early Proterozoic São Francisco craton that lies beneath the nappes of the Brasília belt. Lower resistivities at shallower upper mantle depths beneath the Sanfranciscana basin at the northeastern end of the profile can be interpreted either as an increased conductivity within the lithosphere or as a localized thinned out lithosphere. The conductivity enhancement possibly arises from the addition of small amounts of water to mantle anhydrous minerals during previous metasomatic percolations.