Atacama Region Research Articles

A sediment quality triad assessment of the impact of copper mine tailings disposal on the littoral sedimentary environment in the Atacama region of northern Chile

A sediment quality triad (SQT) assessment was made of the impact of copper mine tailings disposal on littoral meiofaunal assemblages in the Atacama region of northern Chile. This situation is unusual in that the disposal is direct into the high-energy coastal system and not via a river estuary or other low-energy environment. This situation also allows for the examination of the impact of copper mine tailings in the absence of confounding effects from other pollutants. The three components of the SQT were: 1. an analysis of the bioavailable metals in both the sedimentary porewater and the adjacent seawater, 2. a microcosm bioassay of both sediments and seawaters using meiofaunal assemblages, and 3. quantitative field samples of the meiofaunal assemblages. Twelve study sites with varying degrees of impact were used, including three reference sites. The study identified that both the meiofaunal assemblage densities and taxa diversities decrease with increasing levels of bioavailable copper, that the Foraminifera and Harpacticoida are sensitive to copper, and that otoplanid Turbellaria are often characteristic of impacted sites; tailings also have both chemical and physical impacts on the environment. In some cases the physical impact of tailings is more important in excluding some organisms e.g. the interstitial polychaete, Saccocirrus sonomacus, from a site than is their chemical impact.

K–Ar and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology of supergene processes in the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile: tectonic and climatic relations

New K–Ar and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar data obtained for 29 samples of supergene alunite-, jarosite- and hollandite-group minerals from the Central Depression of Northern Chile document almost continuous supergene oxidation from 33 to 9 Ma. The downward migration of supergene oxidation zones is used to calculate maximum denudation rates of 16–35 m Ma −1 . These calculated rates are sensitive to pre-existing topography and show that the present relief observed in the Central Depression represents a modified Miocene landscape. The results presented here are in good agreement with previously published geochronological data for the Atacama Desert. The combination of all published data, including the results presented here, defines a continuous skewed distribution, with a maximum between 21 and 14 Ma. The relative paucity of ages greater than 30 Ma reflects the removal of supergene profiles by erosion during and immediately after the Incaic compressive deformation. From 29 to 9 Ma, supergene oxidation profiles were generated under semi-arid conditions throughout the Atacama region. Ages between 9 and 5 Ma on the northern and southern margins of the desert mark the end of supergene oxidation processes, consistent with a Pliocene onset of present-day hyperaridity.

Primer registro de cráneos asignados a Palaeospheniscus (Aves, Spheniscidae) procedentes de la Formación Bahía Inglesa (Mioceno Medio-tardío), Chile

Although the skulls of the Spheniscidae are unusual in the paleontologic record, they show important features useful in the systematics of the group, as well as in the rest of the birds. Until now, fossil occurrences were restricted to six skulls: Paraptenodytes antarctica and one new species from the Gaiman Formation (Early Miocene) and Puerto Madryn Formation (Late Miocene) of Argentina, respectively; Spheniscus megaramphus and S. urbinai from the Pisco Formation (Late Miocene), Peru; Marplesornis novaezealandiae from New Zealand (Pliocene); and Spheniscidae cf. Spheniscus from the Bahia Inglesa Formation (Middle-Late Miocene), Chile. Five new materials have been exhumed from this last unit. These skulls, which come from the Caldera locality (Region of Atacama, Chile), have been preliminarily assigned to Palaeospheniscus (Aves, Spheniscidae), constituting the first skulls described for this species. We made an important contribution to the knowledge of the fossil avifauna of Chile and particularly of the Bahia Inglesa Formation.

Effects of copper mine tailings disposal on littoral meiofaunal assemblages in the Atacama region of northern Chile.

The effects of the disposal of copper mine tailings on the littoral meiofaunal assemblages of the Chañaral area of northern Chile were studied. Of the metals data collected, only in the case of copper was there a clear association with the tailings distribution in both the seawater and porewater samples, and it is assumed that the tailings on the beaches was the source of copper in the adjacent seawater. When compared to the reference sites, the meiofaunal assemblages at the impacted sites had significantly lower densities and taxa diversities; at the northern sites only the densities were lower. Otoplanid turbellarians were identified as characteristic of those beaches impacted by tailings. The combination of porewater copper and the amount of tailings present were identified as mostly responsible for the observed structure of the meiofaunal assemblages. It was also established that the variation in natural sediment grain size from beach to beach was not a significant factor in the observed differences in the meiofaunal assemblages. The two groups of meiofauna that proved to be most sensitive to the effects of tailings dumping were the foraminiferans and the harpacticoid copepods.

Paleoenvironmental significance of a new species of freshwater sponge from the Late Miocene Quillagua Formation (N Chile)

This paper reports the first fossil (Tertiary) occurrence of freshwater sponges of the genus Ephydatia in the southern hemisphere. The sponges appear in diatomite lacustrine sediments of Late Miocene Quillagua Formation (Chile, Atacama region). The investigated specimens represent a new species, Ephydatia chileana sp. nov., which is close to the Recent cosmopolitan E. fluviatilis. On the basis of sedimentological and diatom assemblage data, sponge-bearing diatomites have been interpreted as deposited in open offshore shallow lacustrine conditions with slightly alkaline waters. The sponges show malformations, similar to some diatoms and probably caused by high heavy metal concentrations in a lake water. These concentrations are related to hydrothermal activity, which favored the leaching of volcanic rocks that outcrop extensively in the catchment.

Transformations sociales et territoriales à la frontière atacaménienne au cours du XXe siècle. Susques : lorsqu'un village « dépeuplé » devient la « Porte des Andes » / Social and territorial changes along the Atacaman border during the 20th century. Susques : when a depopulated village becomes the « Gateway to the Andes »

Abstract : Social and territorial changes along the Atacaman border during the 20th century. Susques : when a depopulated village becomes the « Gateway to the Andes ». In Argentine, the traditional geography has studied the frontiers as a part of national territories. Influenced by the geopolitics tradition, the frontiers have been seen as a line that divides and differences societies, more effective if they're geographical accidents, like a river or a range. In the same way, they have constructed an expansionist image of the frontiers. The Andes range has been thought like a natural containing wall that divided Argentina and Chile. In the last years, to response this theory, same studies have suggest new ideas. The frontiers are form in multiple territorialities and they aren't associated exclusively with the national territories. A lot of studies suggest that the frontiers have been, historically, spaces with sociability and intense interchange, and sometimes they can survive with some independence with political and institutional changes. This article, with the Puna de Atacama region as the case, analyses the Argentine-Chilean frontier, like a space for inter-state and inter-ethnic relations.

Effective metal concentrations in porewater and seawater labile metal concentrations associated with copper mine tailings disposal into the coastal waters of the Atacama region of northern Chile

Effective metal concentrations in porewater and seawater labile metal concentrations associated with copper mine tailings disposal into the coastal waters of the Atacama region of northern Chile

Relationship between altered pyroxene diorite and the magnetite mineralization in the Chilean Iron Belt, with emphasis on the El Algarrobo iron deposits (Atacama region, Chile)

North of El Algarrobo (one of the four main deposits of the Chilean Iron Belt), the iron-mineralization (magnetite-etrmolite/actinolite-apatite) is related to clinoand orthopyroxene diorite intrusions which have crystallized at shallow depth (4km) under increasing oxygen fugacities. The supercritical fluid phase exsolved during cooling after the consolidation of the plutons (800–900°C), results in a H+, Cl− and sodic enrichment, and in the sequential leaching of Fe (at less than 700°C), then Ca and Mg (between 600 and 500°C) from minerals of the primary magmatic diorite assemblage: titanomagnetite-ilmenite, plagioclase (An70–40), augite, hypersthene. As a consequence of the cationic leaching, the lower mobility of silica and aluminium and the enrichment in sodium, residual altered dioritic rocks present a retromorphic mineral assemblage evolving down to boundary conditions of the greenchist-amphibolite facies (450°C). Fe, Mg and Ca are carried in cationic form associated with Cl− anions, toward cooler rocks where they are precipitated. The deposition (between 550 and 450°C) of magnetite, followed iron-mineralization paragenesis, and occurred in fractured zones located both in altered diorites and contact andesites.

Devonian brachiopods from northern Chile

Fossiliferous marine Devonian has been known in Chile for less than a decade. The initial discovery from south of the Salar de Atacama region, in the Sierra de Almeida, northern Chile is described together with its brachiopods. The brachiopods indicate an age span of Emsian–Eifelian or Givetian, shallow-water conditions in the Benthic Assemblage 2 range, and a biogeographic boundary region between the cool climate Malvinokaffric Realm and warmer region extra-Malvinokaffric Realms, including the Eastern Americas Realm and the Rhenish-Bohemian Region of the Old World Realm. The recent discovery of a Malvinokaffric Realm trilobite far to the south in Chile, at Buill in the Andes of Chiloe, serves to underline our very preliminary knowledge of the Chilean Devonian, whereas the alleged Devonian brachiopods from the Chonos Archipelago far to the south are probably bivalves of uncertain age.

Triassic alluvial braidplain and braided river deposits of the La Ternera Formation, Atacama region, northern Chile

The La Ternera Formation is a thick (>2,100 m) succession of terrigenous clastic sediments, with andesitic and basaltic intercalations, exposed in the Quebrada de Paipote area of the Atacama Region, northern Chile. The strata were deposited in an active rift basin during Late Triassic to (?) Early Jurassic times. The lower 1,000 m of the studied elastic succession comprises pebbly granule paraconglomerates, unconformably overlying Upper Paleozoic sedimentary successions, volcanics, and granitoids. These sediments were derived from the east and are interpreted as braid-plain deposits. The upper 800 m of the succession comprises interbedded orthoconglomerates, sandstones and mudstones. Abundant plant fossils include trees in growth position and carbonaceous horizons. Small scale depositional cycles were the product of migrating braided-river channel systems. Larger scale successions resulted from tectonic uplift. The sediments of the La Ternera Formation were derived predominantly from a tectonically uplifted area of Upper Paleozoic acidic volcanic and plutonic rocks (Pantanoso Formation, Choiyoi Group). Active uplift on the eastern margin of the sedimentary basin probably occurred along north-south trending faults. Continued subsidence of the basin resulted in a Sinemurian to Bajocian marine transgression. Occurrences of Triassic andesitic and basaltic volcanic rocks both to the west and the east of the La Ternera formation suggest deposition in an intea-volcanic graben or half-graben.

Braided rivers, lakes and sabkhas of the upper Triassic Cifuncho formation, Atacama region, Chile

A 1,000-m-thickness of Upper Triassic (to possibly Hettangian) sediments of the Cifuncho Formation are exposed in the coastal Cordillera of the Atacama Region, Chile. These coarse-grained clastic terrigenous strata are interpreted as the deposits of braided rivers, ephemeral lakes, sabkhas and volcaniclastic alluvial fans. They include conglomerates, pebbly sandstones, fine to medium-grained sandstones and thin, finely-laminated limestones. Halite hopper-casts are abundant in sandstones near the top of the section. Approximately 90% of the clastic detritus was derived from an upper Paleozoic metasedimentary accretionary complex located to the west. Andesitic debris flow and pyroclastic flow deposits occur near the base of the sequence. Isolated tuff intercalations and an ignimbritic lava flow occur higher in the section. The great thickness of coarse-grained and ill-sorted clastic sediments suggests deposition in an actively subsiding basin, probably a graben, adjacent to rising highlands. Overlying Hettangian-Sinemurian marine sediments were deposited by a transgression which occurred during a world-wide lowstand. This suggests that thermal subsidence followed the Triassic rifting.

The depositional environments and tectonic development of a Mesozoic intra-arc basin, Atacama Region, Chile

AbstractA thick succession of continental redbeds was deposited in a 50 km wide intra-arc basin on the Andean active continental margin in the Atacama region of northern Chile during early Cretaceous times. Upper Jurassic to early Cretaceous marine limestones were buried by the seaward progradation of a succession of coastal dunes, saline lakes and sandflats. Aeolian dune fields migrating towards the east across these coastal plains became stabilized by the growth of vegetation. Interdune alluvial areas between the sand dunes and dune fields developed into extensive alluvial braid plains which were in turn superimposed by alluvial fans. These fans were inundated by a regionally extensive saline lake produced by tectonic or volcanic damming of the sedimentary basin. This lake dried up leaving a large area of playa-lake mudflats. The climate was warm and semi-arid with a low and seasonal rainfall. Parts of the area supported a substantial vegetation of woody plants, together with a vertebrate fauna of dinosaurs, pterosaurs and crocodiles. The continental redbeds were derived from a volcanic source and were deposited on continental crust in a deep but narrow, north-south elongated, fault-bounded graben. This extensional basin formed in an intra-arc setting within an active andesitic volcanic chain. Upwards-coarsening sedimentary successions were the product of uplift of the fault-bounded margins of the basin.

The relationships between sedimentary structures, transport directions and dune types in Mesozoic aeolian sandstones, Atacama Region, Chile

Extensive occurrences of Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous aeolian sandstones form part of a thick sequence of terrigenous red beds in northern Chile. These sediments accumulated in a N-S-elongated intermontane back-arc basin on the landward side of an active volcanic chain. This volcanic chain, which was produced by subduction beneath the continental margin, provided the source of almost all the clastic sediments. The aeolian sands formed isolated dune fields covering only part of the depositional basin at any one time. Cosets of cross-bedded sandstone up to 40 m thick represent the deposits of linear draas. Cross-bedded sets, which average between 0.5 and 1 m in thickness, were produced by the migration of small dunes down and along the gentle lee slopes of the draas. The majority of foreset laminations in the cross-bedded sets are thin, parallel and persistent. They are the product of the lateral migration of dunes which developed oblique to the prevailing winds. Foreset laminations dip at low angles (averaging 19°), well below the angle of repose of dry sand. Most of the laminations originated by tractional processes, rather than by grainflow (avalanching) or grainfall. This conclusion indicates that the dunes were gently undulating with no slip faces. The orientation of the direction of maximum dip of foreset laminations does not provide a reliable indicator of the palaeowind direction. Although individual sets or cosets commonly show a unidirectional pattern, significant variations have been recorded between sets of the same age at nearby locations and vertically between one coset and the next. Variations in vertical sections were produced by the superimposition of draas with different orientations.

Late Triassic fluvial and marine shelf succession, Quebrada Doña Inés Chica, Atacama region, northern Chile

A 400-meter-thick volcanic and fine-grained clastic sedimentary succession in Quebrada Doña Ines Chica (26°07′S latitude; 69°20'W longitude) provides a record of Late Triassic deposition in the Atacama region of northern Chile. The strata are conformably overlain by fossiliferous marine limestones and sandstones of Late Triassic to Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) age which contain the oldest ichthyosaur remains known from Central and South America. The clastic succession is interpreted as coastal fluvial deposits, with the overlying limestones representing shelf deposits.

Aptian ammonite-based age for the Pabellon Formation, Atacama Region, Northern Chile

RESUMEN. El hallazgo del ammonite Parahoplites gr. nutfieldiensis (J. Sowerby) en los estratos superiores de la Formacion Pabellon, Region de Atacama, indica una edad minima aptiana superior temprana para esta unidad. Lo anterior modifica la edad barremiana superior, sugerida previamente sobre la base de otros antecedentes paleontologicos, permitiendo, ademas, postular esa edad para el termino del ciclo sedimentario marino del Cretacico Inferior, en Chile y Argentina.

Saline lake carbonates within an Upper Jurassic‐Lower Cretaceous continental red bed sequence in the Atacama region of northern Chile

ABSTRACTThe Codocedo Limestone Member is a thin but laterally persistent lacustrine sequence within the red beds of the Upper Jurassic‐Lower Cretaceous Quebrada Monardes Formation, in the Atacama region of northern Chile. The thick succession of clastic terrigenous sediments of the Quebrada Monardes Formation was deposited in an arid to semi‐arid environment. Sedimentary facies are indicative of deposition of aeolian dunes, alluvial fans and braided streams, playa‐lake mudflats, and saline lakes and coastal lagoons. The strata accumulated in a N‐S elongated extensional back‐arc basin on the landward side of an active volcanic arc.The 3 m thick Codocedo Limestone Member marks striking facies changes within the Quebrada Monardes Formation. It is underlain by a thick sequence of conglomerates and sandstones, deposited on alluvial fans. The limestone itself is characterized by evaporite minerals and laterally continuous laminations, indicative of deposition by vertical accretion in a perennial saline lake. The overlying siltstones and fine sandstones contain geodes and gypsum pseudomorphs and were deposited on playa‐lake mudflats. The limestone therefore represents a relatively short period of lacustrine deposition within an essentially terrigenous succession. The lake was possibly formed quite suddenly, for example by damming of the basin by a lava flow.Sedimentation in the perennial lake was predominantly cyclical. Seasonal planktonic algal blooms produced millimetre‐scale laminations. Interbedded with these laminites are centimetre‐scale beds of evaporitic gypsum, anhydrite and minor halite. The evaporite minerals have been largely replaced by calcite, chalcedony and quartz. The centimetre‐scale cycles may have resulted from periodic freshwater input into the lake. After a period of about 3000 yr the lake dried up, to be replaced by extensive playa‐lake mudflats.The Codocedo Limestone Member possibly formed a plane of detachment during an early Tertiary phase of E‐W directed regional compression. The limestones and evaporites were folded and extensively brecciated. This deformation probably resulted from simple shear along the bedding plane of the relatively weak evaporite minerals prior to their replacement by calcite and quartz.

Vertebrate fossils and trace fossils in Upper Jurassic-Lower cretaceous red beds in the Atacama region, Chile

Pterosaur, dinosaur, and crocodile bones are recorded here for the first time in Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous red beds in the Atacama region east of Copiapó, Chile. Trace fossils produced by vertebrate animals include the footprints of theropod dinosaurs and the depressions of sandstone laminae interpreted as burrows and foot impressions. The fossils occur in the 1500-meter-thick Quebrada Monardes Formation, which consists predominantly of the aeolian and alluvial deposits of a semi-arid terrestrial environment. Vertebrate fossils are very rare in Chile. Dinosaur bones and footprints have previously been recorded at only seven locations, and pterosaur remains at only one location. The newly discovered dinosaur bones are the oldest to be described in Chile.

Middle Miocene climatic change in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile: Evidence from supergene mineralization at La Escondida

Geochronology and paleotopographic reconstruction of the porphyry-copper deposit at La Escondida, Chile, are used to calculate long-term erosion rates and to deduce the timing of Tertiary climatic change for a portion of the Atacama Desert region. Hypogene hydrothermal alteration and protore mineralization at La Escondida took place between 33.7 ± 1.4 and 31.0 ± 1.4 Ma based on K-Ar dating of hydrothermal biotite and sericite. Supergene weathering and copper-sulfide en-richment processes were active from 18.0 ± 0.7 to 14.7 ± 0.6 Ma based on K-Ar dating of supergene alunite, distinguished from hypogene alunite by grain size, color, and sulfur isotopic composition. Reworked lenses of volcanic ash in the vicinity of La Escondida provide useful time-stratigraphic markers at 8.7 ± 0.4, 6.5 ± 0.2, and 4.2 ± 0.2 Ma within present soil profiles. Long-term average rates of erosion are determined by these age dates and quantitative calculation of eroded leached capping thickness at La Escondida using mass-balance analysis of geochemical profiles coupled with an estimate of unmineralized lithocap thickness based on alteration petrology and fluid-inclusion geobarometry at similar deposits. The observed trend of decreasing long-term average erosion rates with time is consistent with arid to semiarid conditions in the early Miocene changing to hyperarid conditions during the middle Miocene. This climatic desiccation caused termination of significant supergene copper-suffide enrichment at La Escondida and elsewhere in the Atacama region and preservation of surficial features, including the ash horizons and the leached capping. Middle Miocene climatic desiccation in northern Chile and southern Peru was probably related to a pronounced decrease in temperature of coastal waters supplied by an ancestral Humboldt Current and an increase in upwelling intensity as the Antarctic ice cap became established at approximately 15 to 13 Ma. The Central Andes Cordillera, which now provides a rain shadow protecting the Atacama region from precipitation from the east, must have attained at least half its present elevation prior to about 15 Ma to have played a similar role in the middle Miocene.

Upper Triassic to Lower Cretaceous continental and coastal saline lake evaporites inthe Atacama region of northern Chile

AbstractEvaporites within Upper Triassic to Lower Cretaceous sequences in the Atacama region of northern Chile are interpreted as the deposits of continental and coastal saline lakes. Halite casts and finely laminated calcareous evaporites, intercalated with alluvial and fluvial sediments, are probably playa lake deposits. These continental evaporites have been recognized in Upper Triassic alluvial sediments (Cifuncho Formation), in Upper Triassic–Lower Jurassic braided river deposits (basal unit of the Pan de Azúcar Formation), and within a sequence of Lower Cretaceous aeolian, alluvial and playa lake mudflat sediments (Quebrada Monardes Formation). Lower Cretaceous evaporites between marine limestones (Lautaro Formation) and continental redbeds (Quebrada Monardes Formation) were probably deposited in coastal saline lagoons, produced during a regionally extensive marine regression.These sequences, and other similar successions in northern Chile, provide a record of almost continuous evaporite deposition, and hence of arid to semi-arid conditions, since Upper Triassic times. These conditions were primarily the result of a constant latitudinal position within the subtropical zone. A contributary factor was the geographical position of the area, initially on the west coast of Gondwanaland and subsequently on the coast of South America, with cold, northward-flowing ocean currents and offshore winds.

Zur Entwicklung einer Sabkha-Fazies in der unterkretazischen Abfolge in der Region Atacama, Nordchile

Zur Entwicklung einer Sabkha-Fazies in der unterkretazischen Abfolge in der Region Atacama, Nordchile