Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
Recent field work and review of radiometric data obtained from Neogene lavas and plutonic rocks exposed in the Eastern Central Patagonian Cordillera (46–48ºS), which overlie subducted segments of the South Chile Ridge, suggest important Late Miocene to Pleistocene morphological changes in relation to base level variations and/or tectonic events. We present new field observations from a region south of Lago General Carrera-Buenos Aires, between the main Cordillera and the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires, demonstrating that normal faulting controlled valley incisions and occurred during lava emplacement at 5–4 Ma and after 3 Ma. We also show that the 12 Ma basaltic flows of the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires (~2000 m a.s.l.) have been subjected to deep incision, with younger lavas dated at 1.2 Ma partially filling the valleys. These incisions are thought to reflect progressive eastward tilting of the entire meseta. Our new observations, together with additional features from Central Patagonia, strongly suggest that tectonic events led to a regional widespread morphological change after 5 Ma. The coincidence in time and space between the subduction of segments of the South Chile Ridge at 6 and 3 Ma causing opening of a slab window, and strong base level variations in the studied area, suggests a cause-and-effect relationship. In Central Patagonia, compressional tectonics ended well before extensional events reported here. Causes of uplift and further extension are probably completely disconnected. The uplift is purely tectonic in origin and occurred prior to the subduction of the South Chile Ridge. Extension should be a consequence of this subduction.
ISSN: 0954-4879

insu-00272075
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00272075
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2007.00766.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
We present a chronological (K-Ar), petrologic and geochemical study (major and trace elements, Sr-Nd isotopes) of Middle Miocene (ca. 16-14 Ma) calc-alkaline rocks (basalts to andesites) extruded in the present-day back-arc region of Central Patagonia (Zeballos Volcanic Sequence (ZVS), 47 S). This magmatism started shortly after mafic plutonism ceased in the arc region (ca. 16 Ma, 200 km west), and ended ca. 2 My before the onset of voluminous slab tear-related back-arc alkaline basaltic magmatism (ca. 12 to Pliocene). The studied calc-alkaline rocks have a typical subduction-related signature (high LILE/HFSE ratios, depletion in Nb, Ta and Ti; Ba/La >20; Ta/Hf <1.5; (Sr-87/Sr-86)(o)=0.70366-0.70402, epsilon(Nd)=+0.1-+3.8). Major and trace elements contents are consistent with their evolution by closed system fractional crystallization of a presumed parental liquid similar in composition to the most basic rock of the suite. Moreover, a strong subducted sediment imprint is recognized (increasing Th/HFSE and decreasing Ce/Pb during differentiation). However, these rocks show striking similarities with volcanic complexes emplaced above areas where a gently dipping slab occurs (high K contents; similar LREE/HREE, Nb/Zr, Ba/Nb; Th/Hf; Th/Ta, Ta/Hf<0.3), particularly the present-day Andean flat-slab region and the Neuquen Basin during the Late Miocene. A comprehensive tectono-magmatic model is here presented to explain the generation and extrusion of these calc-alkaline magmas during the Middle Miocene. The development of a transient low-angle subduction and the resulting eastward migration of the volcanic front are then proposed. Mixing between stored remnants of calc-alkaline magmatism and later primitive alkaline melts is envisioned as the most likely process accounting for the transitional signature (i.e., intermediate between calc-alkaline and alkaline, La/Nb >I; TiO2 <2 wt%) of some basalts extruded synchronously with genuine alkaline lavas in the Neogene Patagonian Plateau Lavas province.
Volcanismo calcoalcalino durante el Mioceno Medio en Patogonia Central (47°S): petrogenesis e implicaciones en la dinamica de placas. En este trabajo se presenta un estudio cronologico (K-Ar), petrologico y geoquimico (elementos mayores y trazas, isotopos de Sr-Nd) de rocas calcoalcalinas (basaltos a andesitas) del Mioceno Medio (16-14 Ma) que ocurren en una posicion de trasarco en Patagonia Central (47°S; Secuencia Volcanica Zeballos, SVZ). Este magmatismo comenzo poco despees de que el plutonismo mafico cesara en la region bajo el arco (ca. 16 Ma, 200 km al oeste), y termino ca. 2 My antes del comienzo de un voluminoso evento magmatico basaltico alcalino desarrollado en el trasarco, relacionado con ventanas astenosfericas, que continuo hasta el Pleistoceno. Las rocas calcoalcalinas estudiadas tienen una quimica tipicamente relacionada con procesos de subduccion (altas razones LILE/HFSE, empobrecimientos en Nb, Ta y Ti; Ba/La>20; Ta/Hf l,5; (87Sr/86Sr)0=0,70366-0,70402, End~O,1±3,8); y sus contenidos de elementos mayores y trazas son consistentes con una evolucion por cristalizacion fraccionada, en un sistema cerrado, desde un liquido parental de composicion similar a la de la roca mas basica del conjunto analizado. Se reconoce, ademas, la influencia de sedimentos subductados en la composicion de estos magmas (aumento de la razon Tb/HFSE y disminucion de la razon Ce/Pb durante la diferenciacion). Sin embargo, estas rocas muestran importantes similitudes composicionales con las de complejos volcanicos emplazados sobre areas donde ocurre subduccion de bajo angulo (altos contenidos de K, similares razones LREF/HREE, Nb/Zr, Ba/Nb; TblHf; TblTa, Ta/Hf O,3), particularmente rocas de la actual region de subduccion plana en Chile central-Argentina y de la cuenca de Neuquen durante el Mioceno Superior. Se propone aqui un modelo tectono-magmatico que explica la generacion y extension de magmas calcoalcalinos en una posicion de trasarco durante el Mioceno Medio en Patagonia mediante el desarrollo de un fenomeno transiente de subduccion de bajo angulo y el consiguiente desplazamiento hacia el este del frente volcanico. Ademas, la mezcla entre remanentes de este magmatismo calcoalcalino almacenados en la corteza y fundidos alcalinos posteriores, provenientes de la astenosfera, se presenta como el proceso responsable de la generacion de la signatura transicional (i.e., intermedia entre calcoalcalina y alcalina, La/Nb>1; TiO2 2 wt%) reconocida en algunos basaltos que ocurren contemporaneamente con otros puramente alcalinos en la provincia de las Lavas Neogenas de Plateau de la Patagonia.
ANDEAN GEOLOGY

insu-00561888
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00561888
DOI : 10.5027/andgeo2010-678

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer-Verlag
Résumé : The Chile-Argentina Patagonian Cordillera is a natural laboratory to study the interactions between oceanic and continental lithosphere during the subduction of an active spreading ridge beneath a continent. Subduction of the South Chile spreading ridge, which separates the Nazca plate from the Antarctic plate, started around 15–14 Ma at the southern tip of Patagonia. Presently, the southernmost segment of the Chile Ridge enters the Peru-Chile trench at 46°S, at the site of the Chile Triple Junction (CTJ). We review the main events which occurred on land in the CTJ region (46–47°S), related with processes of ridge subduction. We summarize tectonic, sedimentary, and magmatic features in a 30 Ma-to Present chronological table. A preridge subduction stage, from 30 to 15 Ma, is characterized by the onset and growth of Patagonian relief and by a shift from marine to continental detrital sedimentation in the foreland at 20–22 Ma. The change from pre-ridge subduction to ridge subduction is marked on land by a transition from calc-alkaline to alkaline volcanism, at 14–12 Ma, and by the onset of eruption of very large fl ood basalt provinces (future volcanic plateaus) following rapid erosion of the eastern foreland belt. Post-plateau basaltic volcanism (<4 Ma) is coeval with a period of tectonic and morphological rejuvenation during which the eastern foreland of the Cordillera has been affected by extensional/transtensional tectonics. We place these events in the framework of a tectonomagmatic model involving the opening of slab windows due to both slab tear and ridge axis subduction.
Subduction Zone Geodynamics

hal-00421053
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00421053
DOI : 10.1007/978-3-540-87974-9_12

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Patagonia is well known for spectacular occurrences of a variety of glacial-derived landforms and deposits and for a long history of ancient glaciations. In this paper, we first review the diverse evidence that demonstrates the development of glacial-related sedimentary units within the Central Patagonian Cordillera since 7 Ma. Well preserved glacial landforrns at the top surface of mesetas on both sides of the Lago General Carrera-Buenos Aires are described: the Meseta Guenguel to the north, and the volcanic Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires to the south. The latter meseta corresponds to a 3 Ma old, morphologically inverted paleo-piedmont, based on Ar/Ar dates of the uppermost lava flows. It shows evidence of glacier advances to the NE direction. Over a distance of 20 km, glacial landforms observed by remote sensing data and digital elevation model define glacial tongues that were fed by the Cordillera reliefs to the west. These lobes are now beheaded from their westward sources along a morpho-structural corridor that bounds the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires to the west. These remnants can be correlated with the oldest glacial landforms recognized north of Lago General Carrera-Buenos Aires, on the Meseta Guenguel that form the Chipanque moraine system. From these features it is concluded that the glacial drainage network of Central Patagonia has been strongly modified following relief inversion in response to erosion processes and to tectonic causes. Changes occurred after 3 Ma, from a smooth piedmont surface covered by an extensive ice mantle ending with ample glacial lobes, to the current series of deeply incised glacial valleys such as the Lago General Carrera-Buenos Aires depression. These new data bear important constraints on the history and development of the first glaciations in southern South America.
ANDEAN GEOLOGY

hal-00512682
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00512682