Pre-Andean peraluminous and metaluminous leucogranitoid suites in the High Andes of central Chile

Abstract

Two distinct pre-Andean leucogranitoid suites are recognized in the High Andes of Central Chile (30°31'S): the Hacienda Vieja and Monte Grande Suites (HVS and MGS). Both represent the transition from upper Paleozoic orogenic magmatism to Andean orogenic igneous activity (post-Triassic). The HVS comprises medium-grained peraluminous leucogranites and leucogranodiorites, whereas the MGS includes medium- to fine-grained and porphyritic leucogranites of metaluminous character. The mineralogy of the HVS leucogranitoids consists mainly of plagioclase, quartz, interstitial microcline, biotite ± muscovite ± cordierite, and small andalusite-bearing inclusions. The MGS leucogranites are characterized by large amounts of quartz, plagioclase, and perthitic K-feldspar, and minor Fe-hornblende, Fe-hedenbergite, and biotite. The two suites have a small range of composition caused mainly by intrasuite plagioclase-dominated fractionation. Calculations based on compositions of feldspar, muscovite, biotite, and FeTi oxides indicate that the HVS plutons crystallized at higher total pressure (∼3.0 Kb), lower temperature (∼670°) and higher oxygen fugacities than those of the MGS (P,∼1 Kb; T,∼750°C). Although fractionation of a mantle-derived magma is not ruled out in the origin of the MGS, the two suites may be the products of partial fusion at different crustal depths, and hence H 2O contents of semipelitic protolith in the case of the HVS, and Ca-poor quartzo-feldspathic ( s.l.) rocks in the case of the MGS. Crustal melting was probably induced by a long-lived thermal perturbation caused by voluminous upper Paleozoic mantle-derived magma injection and decompression of the crust linked to an extensional tectonic regime.