Carmen Galindo

The Pampean Orogeny of the southern proto-Andes: Cambrian continental collision in the Sierras de Cordoba

Abstract A detailed study of the pre-Silurian geology of the Sierras de Córdoba, Eastern Sierras Pampeanas, is used to define the sequence of magmatic and metamorphic events during the Pampean orogeny. This primarily involved Early to Mid-Cambrian subduction and terrane collision at the western margin of Gondwana during the amalgamation of the super-continent. Evidence for this is based principally on new information concerning (a) regional mapping and field relations, (b) analysis of the structures, deformational history and meta-morphic evolution and (c) geochronology and geochemistry of the igneous and metamorphic rocks. The main events recognized are (1) Late Proterozoic break-up of Rodinia (Nd model ages of 1500 ± 200 Ma, inherited zircons 800–1400 Ma), (2) development of an Early Cam-brian passive margin sequence (Puncoviscana Formation and equivalents), (3) emplacement of metaluminous calc-alkaline granitoids (G1a, dated at 530 ± 3 Ma) as a result of NE-directed subduction, (4) crustal thickening, ophiolite obduction, compression and high-grade metamorphism (M2: 8.6±0.8 kbar, 810 ± 50°C, c.525 Ma) related to collision, and culmina-ting in (5) isothermal uplift and widespread low-P anatexis (M3, 4.0±0.5 kbar, 715 ± 15°C, c.520 Ma). The last event is responsible for the linked generation of highly peraluminous granites (G1b) and cordieritites. Subsequent emplacement into the accreted terrane of Ordovician trondhjemite-tonalites (500-470 Ma) and dextral wrench shear are interpreted as inner cordilleran counterparts of the Famatinian arc, which developed to the west along the newly-formed proto-Andean margin.

Early evolution of the Proto-Andean margin of South America

From a detailed study of a 500 km transect in the Sierras Pampeanas, central-west Argentina, two pre-Silurian tectono-magmatic episodes are recognized and defined, each culminating in micro-continental collisions against the proto-Andean margin of Gondwana. The Pampean orogeny started in Early Cambrian time with short-lived subduction, indicated by ca. 535 Ma calc-alkaline granitoids. Following Pampean terrane collision, burial to granulite facies conditions (ca. 9 kbar) generated widespread migmatites and ca. 520 Ma highly peraluminous granites in the Eastern Sierras Pampeanas. After brief quiescence, a second major episode, the Famatinian orogeny, started with subduction ca. 490 Ma, forming a wide continental arc and ensialic backarc basin. This heralded the approach of Laurentia to Gondwana, during which the Precordillera terrane separated from the southern Appalachian region, finally colliding with Gondwana in Silurian–Devonian time.

Involvement of the Argentine Precordillera terrane in the Famatinian mobile belt: U-Pb SHRIMP and metamorphic evidence from the Sierra de Pie de Palo

New data suggest that the eastern margin of the Argentine Precordillera terrane comprises Grenvillian basement and a sedimentary cover derived from it that were together affected by Middle Ordovician deformation and metamorphism during accretion to the Gondwana margin. The basement first underwent low pressure/temperature ( P/T ) type metamorphism, reaching high-grade migmatitic conditions in places (686 ± 40 MPa, 790 ± 17 °C), comparable to the Grenvillian M2 metamorphism of the supposed Laurentian counterpart of the terrane. The second metamorphism, recognized in the cover sequence, is of Famatinian age and took place under higher P/T conditions, following a clockwise P-T path (baric peak: 1300 ± 100 Mpa, 600 ± 50 °C). Low-U zircon overgrew detrital Grenvillian cores as pressure fell from its peak, and yields U-Pb SHRIMP ages of ca. 460 Ma. This is interpreted as the age of ductile thrusting coincident with early uplift; initial accretion to Gondwana must have occurred before this. The absence of late Neoproterozoic detrital zircons is consistent with a Laurentian origin of the Argentine Precordillera terrane.

New SHRIMP U-Pb data from the Famatina Complex: constraining Early-Mid Ordovician Famatinian magmatism in the Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina

New SHRIMP U-Pb zircon ages are reported for igneous and sedimentary rocks of the Famatina Complex, constraining the age of the magmatism and the ensialic basins. Together with whole-rock and isotope geochemistry for the igneous rocks from the complex, these ages indicate that the voluminous parental magmas of metaluminous composition were derived by partial melting of an older lithosphere without significant asthenospheric contribution. This magmatism was initiated in the Early Ordovician (481 Ma). During the Mid-Late Ordovician, the magmatism ceased (463 Ma), resulting in a short-lived (no more than ~20 Ma) and relatively narrow (~100-150 km) magmatic belt, in contrast to the long-lived cordilleran magmatism of the Andes. The exhumation rate of the Famatina Complex was considerably high and the erosional stripping and deposition of Ordovician sediments occurred soon after of the emplacement of the igneous source rocks during the Early to mid-Ordovician. During the upper Mid Ordovician the clastic contribution was mainly derived from plutonic rocks. Magmatism was completely extinguished in the Mid Ordovician and the sedimentary basins closed in the early Late Ordovician.

The age and origin of the barite-fluorite (PbZn) veins of the Sierra del Guadarrama (Spanish Central System, Spain): a radiogenic (Nd, Sr) and stable isotope study☆

Fluorite and barite-rich veins ( + sulphides) of the Sierra del Guadarrama (Spanish Central System) are usually hosted by Hercynian granitoids. Zoned fluorites from one of these veins have a Sm-Nd age of 145 ± 18 Ma. This age is similar to the K-Ar ages obtained in other hydrothermal rocks of the Spanish Central System (156-152 Ma) and confirms the existence of an important hydrothermal event during the Late Jurassic, probably related to extensional fracturing accompanying the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean. The 87Sr/86Sr ratio found in fluorite and barite (0.7154-0.7207) is in most cases lower than that found in the host granitoids (0.7194 and 0.7209), suggesting more than one source of strontium. This, in turn, supports previous models that involve mixing of two fluids during mineralization, an ascending hot ( > 300 ° C) and low-salinity fluid and a shallow, cooler ( < 100 ° C) and more saline brine. The ascending fluid probably reacted to a variable extent with the host granitoids, and the most likely source for the shallow fluid derived from a marine/evaporitic environment, with a low 87Sr/86Sr ratio (0.7069 in the Late Jurassic) . The calculated ENd composition of the fluorites (-8.8 to -7.6) as well as the 147Sm/144Nd variation found in this mineral (0.153-0.405) do not conflict with the mixing model although they can be largely explained by interaction of the ascending fluid with the host granitoids. Sulphur isotopic compositions of sulphides range between - 3.4 and - 0.8 ‰ and those of barites from + 15.5 to + 15.8‰. The near δ34S-value of the sulphides suggests that their sulphur was derived from the hydrothermal leaching of the granitoids by the ascending fluid. The δ34S-value of barite is consistent with Upper Jurassic marine sulphate as the source of sulphate in the shallow fluid. The absence of equilibrium between reduced and oxidized sulphur species can be easily interpreted as a consequence of the short residence time of the mixed fluid in the open fractures at temperatures between 250° and lOO°C. Although no pre-Cretaceous sediments are found on this part of the Iberian Hercynian basement, the data presented here support the existence of a shallow platform joining central Spain with the Iberian or the Subbetic realm in Late Jurassic times.

The Aguablanca Cu–Ni ore deposit (Extremadura, Spain), a case of synorogenic orthomagmatic mineralization: age and isotope composition of magmas (Sr, Nd) and ore (S)

Abstract The Aguablanca Cu–Ni orthomagmatic ore deposit is hosted by mafic and ultramafic rocks of the Aguablanca stock, which is part of the larger, high-K calc-alkaline Santa Olalla plutonic complex. This intrusive complex, ca. 338 Ma in age, is located in the Ossa-Morena Zone (OMZ) of the Iberian Variscan Belt. Mineralization consists mainly of pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite resulting from the crystallization of an immiscible sulphide-rich liquid. Isotope work on the host igneous rocks (Sr, Nd) and the ore (S) suggests that contamination with an upper-crustal component took place at some depth before final emplacement of the plutons (eNd338=−6 to −7.5; Sr(338)=0.7082 to 0.7100; δ34S(sulphides) near +7.4‰). Assimilation–fractional crystallization (AFC) processes are invoked to explain early cumulates and immiscible sulphide-magma formation. Intrusion took place at the beginning of the type-A oblique subduction of the South Portuguese Zone under the Ossa-Morena Zone and was probably driven by transpressive structures (strike-slip faults). The mineralization is thus synorogenic. Aguablanca is probably the first case referred to in the literature of a magmatic Cu–Ni ore deposit hosted by calc-alkaline igneous rocks.

K-bentonites in the Argentine Precordillera contemporaneous with rhyolite volcanism in the Famatinian Arc

New U–Pb radiometric dates for K-bentonite horizons within the Lower Cambrian to Middle Ordovician platform carbonates from the Precordillera terrane of NW Argentina provide further constraints on models for the allochthonous or parautochthonous accretion of this terrane. Two K-bentonite layers from the Talacasto section yield indistinguishable sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U–Pb zircon dates of 469.5 ± 3.2 Ma and 470.1 ± 3.3 Ma respectively. These are within uncertainty of the U–Pb SHRIMP zircon date of 468.3 ± 3.4 Ma for a porphyritic rhyolite from the Famatinian magmatic arc, Sierra de las Planchadas, near Rio Chaschuil. Geochemical and isotope data also demonstrate the similarity of the K-bentonite and Chaschuil rhyolite parent magmas. Thus, it is highly probable that the Famatinian arc volcanoes provided the ash for the K-bentonite horizons, suggesting proximity to the Precordillera terrane during the deposition of the Lower Cambrian to Middle Ordovician platform carbonates. This implication supports a mid-Ordovician collision model, but could also be compatible with a parautochthonous model for docking of the Precordillera terrane, by movement along the Pacific margin of Gondwana, rather than across the Iapetus Ocean.

Grenvillian massif-type anorthosites in the Sierras Pampeanas

We report the discovery of massif-type anorthosites in the Andean basement of the Western Sierras Pampeanas of Argentina. U–Pb zircon dating (by sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe) of a cogenetic gabbronorite dyke yields ages of 1070 ± 41 Ma for igneous emplacement and 431 ± 40 Ma for metamorphism. These anorthosites are petrologically and geochemically comparable with those of the Grenville province of Laurentia. Palaeogeographical reconstructions of Rodinia at 1.0–1.1 Ga suggest that the Sierras Pampeanas anorthosites were part of a large anorthosite province in the late Mesoproterozoic.

The Gondwana connections of northern Patagonia

A multidisciplinary study (U–Pb sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe geochronology, Hf and O isotopes in zircon, Sr and Nd isotopes in whole-rocks, as well as major and trace element geochemistry) has been carried out on granitoid samples from the area west of Valcheta, North Patagonian Massif, Argentina. These confirm the Cambrian age of the Tardugno Granodiorite (528 ± 4 Ma) and the Late Permian age of granites in the central part of the Yaminué complex (250 Ma). Together with petrological and structural information for the area, we consider a previously suggested idea that the Cambrian and Ordovician granites of northeastern Patagonia represent continuation of the Pampean and Famatinian orogenic belts of the Sierras Pampeanas, respectively. Our interpretation does not support the hypothesis that Patagonia was accreted in Late Palaeozoic times as a far-travelled terrane, originating in the Central Transantarctic Mountains, and the arguments for and against this idea are reviewed. A parautochthonous origin is preferred with no major ocean closure between the North Patagonian Massif and the Sierra de la Ventana fold belt. Supplementary material: U–Pb SHRIMP analytical data, geochemical analyses and sample global positioning system locations are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18722.

Southward migration of continental volcanic activity in the Sierra de Las Cruces, Mexico: palaeomagnetic and radiometric evidence

New Palaeomagnetic data for 30 sites (271 samples) and K–Ar data from five units in the Sierra de Las Cruces, western Basin of Mexico, provide constraints on the spatial-temporal evolution of arc magmatism in the central Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The normal and reversed directions show a polarity pattern with a consistent spatial zonation perpendicular to the NNW–SSE trend of the range. The magnetostratigraphy and K–Ar dates indicate that volcanic activity in the Sierra de Las Cruces migrated southeastward at a mean rate of 1.6 cm/a, between 3.6 and 1.8 Ma, and that the rate of migration may have been higher, up to 4 cm/a, during the Gauss Chron. Normal and reversed directions pass the reversal test at a 95% confidence level. The mean Plio-Quaternary palaeomagnetic direction for Sierra de Las Cruces is D=350.7°, I=30.6° (N=25, k=30.7, α95=5.3°). The declination deviates to the west of the expected direction, which suggests that small counterclockwise rotations could take place during formation of the Sierra de Las Cruces volcanics.