Late Eocene to Early Miocene Andean uplift inferred from detrital zircon fission track and U–Pb dating of Cenozoic forearc sediments (15–18°S)

Abstract

Timing, amount, and mechanisms of uplift in the Central Andes have been a matter of debate in the last decade. Our study is based on the Cenozoic Moquegua Group deposited in the forearc basin between the Western Cordillera and the Coastal Cordillera in southern Peru from ∼50 to ∼4 Ma. The Moquegua Group consists mainly of mud-flat to fluvial siliciclastic sediments with upsection increasing grain size and volcanic intercalations. Detrital zircon U–Pb dating and fission track thermochronology allow us to refine previous sediment provenance models and to constrain the timing of Late Eocene to Early Miocene Andean uplift. Uplift-related provenance and facies changes started around 35 Ma and thus predate major voluminous ignimbrite eruptions that started at ∼25 by up to 10 Ma. Therefore magmatic addition to the crust cannot be an important driving factor for crustal thickening and uplift at Late Eocene to Early Oligocene time. Changes in subduction regime and the subducting plate geometry are suggested to control the formation of significant relief in the area of the future Western Cordillera which acts as an efficient large-scale drainage divide between Altiplano and forearc from at least 15.5 to 19°S already at ∼35 Ma. The model integrates the coincidence of (i) onset of provenance change no later than 35 Ma, (ii) drastic decrease in convergence rates at ∼40, (iii) a flat-subduction period at around ∼40 to ∼30 Ma leading to strong interplate coupling, and (iv) strong decrease in volcanic activity between 45 and 30 Ma.