U/Pb ages on detrital zircons in the southern central Andes Neogene foreland (36°–37°S): Constraints on Andean exhumation

Abstract

Abstract U/Pb dating on detrital zircons was performed in the Pampa de Carrizalito depocenter of the Late Miocene foreland basin associated with the Southern Central Andes orogenic front. This reveals Andean and pre-Andean components in magmatic derived zircons inhomogeneously distributed through the sequence. Andean, Grenville, Pampean, Famatinian and Gondwanic components reveal a complex source distribution from either the Main Andes, Coastal Cordillera and basement foreland areas. These are discussed showing different patterns in the context of the Andean orogenic cycle. Cretaceous and Jurassic components that are partly related to Mesozoic batholiths, developed at the western slope of the Andes at these latitudes, have a very contrasting behavior through the sequence: While Jurassic grains are represented from base to top, Cretaceous ones dilute upwardly. This is explained through the progressive uplift of the Southern Central Andes that could have created a barrier to Cretaceous and Jurassic detritus, while the older ones could have had either an alternative source area represented by the inverted rift system of the Huincul Ridge in the foreland area and the Cordillera del Viento in the hinterland area or the reworking of Jurassic sedimentary sequences of the Neuquen basin. Finally, a progressive enrichment in pre-Andean components to the top of the sequence is interpreted as related to the development of a broken foreland and the consequent rapid expansion of the orogenic front at the time of development of a slab shallowing setting in the region as shown by previous works.