Fluvio-lacustrine sedimentation and volcanism in a Late Carboniferous tensional intra-arc basin, northern Chile

Abstract

Extensive outcrops of Late Carboniferous to Triassic volcanoplutonic magnetic-arc complexes occur in the Andes of northern Chile. In the Salar de Atacama area, terrestrial volcanosedimentary successions include a 200–600 m thick fluvio-lacustrine sequence (“Miembro Medio”). The terrestrial basin which accommodated this sequence formed during the latest Carboniferous on top of the deposits of the pre-existing Carboniferous composite volcanoes. The lower part of the Miembro Medio consists of green limnic and multicoloured alluvial fan deposits; the upper part is made up of red fluvial sedimentary rocks. Basic volcanic rocks occur locally throughout the sequence. The climate is inferred to have been warm and humid. The limnic (freshwater) environment had a minimum extension of 300 × 100 km. Limnic facies is inferred from the existence of fine-parallel-bedded sediments, ooliths and a limnic benthic fauna. Lake-shore deposits prevail in the outcrops. In some sections, the green limnic sequence is followed by red fine-grained floodplain or alluvial plain, and fluvial channel deposits. The framework composition of the Miembro Medio is dominated by volcanogenic detritus presumably eroded from the successions of the previous Late Carboniferous volcanic arc. Another volcanogenic clast type was provided by syndepositional basalto-andesitic phreatomagmatic activity, which also produced peperitic sills, dykes and lavas. The limnic-alluvial fan facies association, the predominance of volcanogenic detritus, and the accompanying intrabasinal basic calc-alkaline volcanism together with the considerable size of the basin point to a ?NW-SE trending half-graben setting controlled by (trans-)tensional arc tectonics. With regard to the Late Carboniferous-Triassic volcanosedimentary successions of northern Chile, this Latest Carboniferous tensional setting is the only feature in this area supporting those models, which inferred an extensional magmatic arc for the entire Central and Southern Andes during the Permo-Triassic.