Sierra De Famatina Research Articles

Revisión de la Formación La Veteada en su estratotipo (La Rioja, Argentina): edad, estratigrafía y significado paleoambiental

The La Veteada Formation, in the Sierra de Famatina (west of Argentina), is one of the few records of Early Triassic age in South America verified by isotopic age and palynological assemblages. This unit is composed of sandstones, mudstones, shales, limestones, and marls, with some levels of gypsum, chert, and tuff levels. In its stratotype, the La Veteada Formation rests on Late Permian red beds of the Talampaya Formation and is covered by Neogene breccias and conglomerates belonging to the Del Crestón Formation. The unit is divided into three associations of sedimentary facies. Facies association A (80 m thick) is a red bed succession composed of mudstone and fine-grained sandstone, together with some levels of chert and gypsum. Facies association B (58 m thick) is greenish-gray to yellowish-gray and comprises limestones, marls, shales, and fine- to coarse-grained sandstones. This facies includes stromatolites and several levels of shales and marls where rich palynological assemblages were recovered. Finally, facies association C (24 m thick) is made up of yellowish-gray marls, mudstones, and sandstones. In this section, stromatolites are missing, thin levels of gypsum appear, and evidence of subaerial exposition as mud cracks and raindrop imprints are frequent at the top of the facies. The lithology, sedimentary structures, and vertical stacking of facies suggest that the La Veteada Formation was deposited in a lacustrine environment, which evolved from a shallow ephemeral playa lake system (facies association A) to a perennial lake, in which carbonate production increased compared to clastic sedimentation (facies association B). Regarding the facies association C, the increase in clastic supply, the missing stromatolites, and the presence of gypsum levels suggest a progressive shallowing of the lake and the likely transition to a palustrine environment. The Early Triassic age of the La Veteada Formation is indicated from two different lines of research. Firstly, a zircon U-Pb age of 249.66±0.11 Ma obtained from a tuff level at the middle part of the facies association A. Secondly, the presence of palynological species identified in other Early Triassic units worldwide. The La Veteada Formation records the filling of the embryonic extensional basins formed at the earliest Triassic. Moreover, this unit shows the evolution of depositional environments after the late Permian massive extinction event.

Upper-crustal architecture and record of Famatinian arc activity in the Sierra de Narváez and Sierra de Las Planchadas, NW Argentina

The 495 to 450 Ma Famatinian orogen, exposed throughout central and northwestern Argentina, formed from east-directed subduction under the Gondwanan margin. The Sierra de Narváez and Sierra de Las Planchadas preserve a rare upper-crustal section of the Famatinian arc. New mapping, structural analysis, detrital U–Pb zircon geochronology, as well as major and trace element geochemistry in the Sierra de Narváez – Las Planchadas are presented to give a comprehensive geodynamic portrait of the volcano-sedimentary, igneous, and deformational processes acting within the top of the Famatinian arc in the Ordovician.Field observations and bulk rock geochemistry agree with previous work indicating that the top of the Famatinian arc consisted of volcanic centers, mafic and felsic feeders, and plutons built into continental crust in a shallow marine arc setting, characterized by fossil-bearing, fine-grained marine sediments interbedded with coarse-grained volcanic-clastic material. Trace element chemistry is consistent with the Sierra de Narváez – Las Planchadas region being a continuation along the main arc axis from the more southerly Sierra de Famatina, not a back arc setting as previously interpreted. Detrital zircon geochronology in Permian and Carboniferous sedimentary units unconformably overlying Ordovician units adds further constraints to the duration of Famatinian arc activity and the source of sedimentary material. Two peaks in detrital zircon ages within Carboniferous and Permian strata at 481 Ma and from 474 to 469 Ma, record periods of enhanced magma addition during Famatinian arc activity. Structural analysis establishes both Famatinian and post-Famatinian (largely Andean) deformation; contractional deformation in the Ordovician, although small relative to middle- to lower-crustal levels of the Famatinian orogen, caused crustal thickening and likely initiated surface uplift. Unlike the Famatinian middle to lower crust, however, where widespread ductile deformation is ubiquitous, shortening here is accommodated by open folding, pressure solution, and likely localized brittle faulting. We briefly speculate on the implications of variable shortening recorded at different crustal levels.

Hydrologic and geomorphologic features of the Río del Oro basin, La Rioja province, Argentina

The analysis of the geomorphological features developed over a given area contributes to the knowledge of the processes that intervened in the evolution of the landscape, helping to reliably understand their interaction with the surface and underground water resources. The headwaters of the Río del Oro are in the Sierra de Famatina, which is located in the north center of La Rioja Province. Based on the collection and analysis of the bibliography and images of the study area and field work, several geomorphological features of the area were identified and characterized, in order to establish links with their locations and determine the agents and processes that acted in landscape modeling. In turn, a hydrological description was made to broaden the knowledge of the water resource of this area, which is essential according to the arid climatic conditions. Despite the aforementioned context, fluvial activity stands out as one of the main relief modelers, considering the neotectonics and the Quaternary climate changes as notable factors in evolution.

Tectonic controls on late Cambrian-Early Ordovician deposition in Cordillera oriental (Northwest Argentina)

The western Gondwana margin underwent a complex geodynamic history during the early Paleozoic, and major uncertainties remain as to the role of tectonism in sedimentary dynamics. This study focuses on the lower part Santa Rosita Formation and the coeval Guayoc Chico Group (Cordillera Oriental; Northwest Argentina), ranging from the late Cambrian (Furongian; Age 10) to Early Ordovician (early Tremadocian; Tr1). This stratigraphic interval has been previously interpreted as deposited in an extensional basin to a retro-arc basin without major regional tectonic-induced deformation during its deposition, only recording long-term relative sea-level fluctuations. Four areas (Sierra de Cajas, Angosto del Moreno, Quebrada de Trancas, and Quebrada de Moya) were chosen because they host the most complete and temporally well-constrained stratigraphic sections of the Cordillera Oriental. Throughout the stratigraphic sections, four main facies zones are described and attributed to deposition in estuarine, foreshore-shoreface, delta-front, and offshore environments. Trilobite biozones are used as the biostratigraphic framework. By integrating sedimentary facies analysis, biostratigraphy, and sequence stratigraphy from the four selected sections, a new scenario showcasing the evolution of the basin is proposed. This scenario interprets a tectonically induced deformation during the deposition of the Santa Rosita Formation and the coeval Guayoc Chico Group. The newly acquired sedimentological data show that physiographical changes took place during the Cambrian-Ordovician transition and are expressed in various localities. This major change is recorded in the stratigraphic architecture, where extensive wave-ravinement surfaces and sedimentary hiatus are the result of local, syn-depositional basement uplifts. The initiation of the Puna-Famatinian volcanic arc during the Early Ordovician on the western margin was likely responsible for deformation in the retro-arc basin and the proposed scenario is consistent with the stratigraphic evolution in other areas of the Cordillera Oriental (e.g., Sierra de Mojotoro) and the Sierra de Famatina. Therefore, this study helps to constrain the evolution of the western Gondwana margin during the early Paleozoic, showing changes in the stratigraphic architecture and basin evolution from an extensional to a retro-arc style.

Qorimayus, a new genus of relictual, high-altitude harvestmen from western Argentina (Arachnida, Opiliones, Gonyleptidae) reveals trans-Andean phylogenetic links.

A new genus of Gonyleptidae Pachylinae, Qorimayus gen. nov., is described to place the high-altitude species originally named Parabalta alticola Ringuelet, endemic to Sierra de Famatina, western Argentina. While classical exomorphological features do not separate this new genus from Parabalta Roewer or Pachyloides Holmberg (to which the species was formerly combined), male genitalic features, especially the shape of the ventral process of stylus, differ clearly. In turn, penis morphology suggests the systematic relationship of Qorimayus gen. nov. with the Chilean genera Metabalta Roewer and Nanophareus Roewer. A cladistic analysis was performed to test the phylogenetic affinities of the new genus; 28 terminals were used, comprising selected species of Parabalta, Pachyloides, Metabalta and Nanophareus, as well as other Gonyleptidae to represent the 'subtropical' and the 'Chilean' opiliofaunistic elements; the most external outgroups included one cosmetid, one metasarcid and one nomoclastid. Results supported the recognition of Qorimayus as an independent genus, and its close relationship with the Chilean genera Metabalta and Nanophareus. A detailed redescription of Qorimayus alticola comb. nov., along with some habitat notes are given. The presumed zoogeographical links of this endemic species with the central Chilean opiliofauna are briefly discussed.

Geomorphological features and processes in the Sierra de Famatina, La Rioja

The Sierra de Famatina is considered the highest elevation outside the Argentine Andes Cordillera, being the General Belgrano hill, 6097 masl, the main height. This altitudinal situation favored the development of glaciers during the cold events of the cyclical Quaternary climatic fluctuations, giving shape to a territory with very complex morphologies. The aim of this contribution is to describe the current and past geomorphological processes in the vicinity of the highest sector of the Sierra de Famatina through different forms of the landscape, which put together allow the recognition of the geomorphological evolution of the region. At present, extreme weather lead to periglacial conditions above 4000 m and glacial above 6000 m, generating ice and snow patches almost without movements in flat to flat-concave sections of the watersheds, and rock glaciers, gelifluction lobes and earth hummocks in cirques, troughs and walls of valleys. Depending on the features of glacial accumulation, three cold events can be recognized, the youngest one (MIS2) with limited distribution, is restricted to the heads of troughs and cirques, from whose deposits the rock glaciers develop. The second one, observed near Puesto Tres Piedras, is represented by moraine-shaped glacier deposits above 3000 m height, and would belong to the Middle-Late Pleistocene. The oldest glacier deposits, early-middle Pleistocene, are in higher topographies. Below 3000 m, valleys are rocky and steep-sided, with permanent courses due not only to low rainfall, but mainly to the melting of the permafrost, forming important reservoirs of water.

Alluvial to lacustrine sedimentation in an endorheic basin during the Mio-Pliocene: The Toro Negro Formation, Central Andes of Argentina

A 2400 m-thick sedimentary column belonging to the Toro Negro Formation was recorded along the Quebrada del Yeso, Sierra de Los Colorados (Vinchina Basin), La Rioja province, NW Argentina. The Vinchina basin is a good example of a closed basin surrounded by the Precordillera fold and thrust belt to the west and basement-cored blocks to the north, south (Western Sierras Pampeanas) and east (Sierra de Famatina). Seven facies associations (FA) are described and interpreted to represent fluvial, lacustrine and alluvial environments developed in the southern part of the Vinchina basin from the Late Miocene until the earliest Pleistocene. The depositional evolution of the formation was divided in four phases. Phase I (∼7–6.6 Ma) represents sedimentation in medial (FA I) to distal (FA II) parts of a southward directed distributive fluvial system with a retrogradational pattern. During phase II (6.6–6.1Ma), the distributive fluvial system was replaced by a mixed clastic-evaporitic shallow lake (FA III) in a high aggradational basin. In phase III (∼6.1–5 Ma) the eastward progradation of a fluvial system (FA IV) was recorded as a distal clastic wedge. Finally, phase IV (∼5-2.4Ma) records two depositional cycles of proximal clastic wedge progradation of fluvial-dominated piedmonts (FAV, FAVII) from the southwest (Sierra de Umango) and/or the west (Precordillera) with an intervening playa lake (FA VI).Two new U-Pb ages obtained from zircons in volcanic ash layers confirm the Late Miocene age of the lower member of the Toro Negro Formation and permit a tight correlation with the central part of the basin (Quebrada de La Troya section). The sedimentation rate calculated for the dated lacustrine-fluvial interval is higher than the corresponding one in La Troya area suggesting a higher subsidence in the southern part of the basin.During the Late Miocene (∼7-6.6Ma) the ephemeral drainage was controlled by an arid to semiarid climate and initially dissipated mostly internally as terminal fan/distributive fluvial systems descending from the north. A thick lacustrine interval developed in the southern part of the basin between ∼6.6 and 6.1 Ma during a period of high subsidence and closed drainage. Besides, this interval coincides with increased aridity recorded in other basins in the Northwest of Argentina. By ∼6.1 Ma the area started to receive the first coarse-grained sediments heralding the progradation of a clastic wedge from the southwest-west (Sierra de Umango and Precordillera) which fully developed during the rest of the Pliocene to the earliest Pleistocene (∼5–2.4 Ma). The 6.1–2.4 Ma interval records ameliorating climate conditions.

U-Pb ages of detrital and volcanic zircons of the Toro Negro Formation, northwestern Argentina: Age, provenance and sedimentation rates

The Toro Negro Formation is a foreland sequence in western La Rioja province, Argentina, which records the late-stage tectonic evolution of the Vinchina Basin. Together with the underlying Vinchina Formation, these two units represent one of the thickest and longest continually exposed foreland sections in northwest Argentina. The Vinchina basin is uniquely situated between the Toro Negro and Umango blocks of the Western Sierra Pampeanas to the north and south, the Precordillera to the west, and the Sierra de Famatina to the east. New U-Pb dating of volcanic tephra provides improved age constraints on the pace of sedimentation, and U-Pb ages of detrital zircons serve to strengthen existing provenance interpretations. We show that deposition of the Toro Negro Formation spans roughly 6.9 to 2.3 Ma: Late Miocene to Early Pleistocene. A high-relief, erosional unconformity with the underlying Vinchina Formation developed sometime between 9.3 and 6.9 Ma, although stratigraphic considerations suggest it spanned only the later part of this time interval (perhaps 7.5–6.9 Ma). Above this unconformity, undecompacted sedimentation rates are remarkably high at ∼1.2 mm/yr, slowing to ∼0.3 mm/yr after ∼6 Ma. An unconformity in the upper part of the section is constrained to occur sometime between 5.0 and 3.0 Ma, probably beginning not long after 5.0 Ma. The timing of both unconformities broadly Matches the timing of inferred tectonic events in the Sierra Famatina ∼50 km to the east, the Fiambalá basin to the north, and the Bermejo basin to the south, suggesting they May record regional tectonism at these times. Provenance interpretations of detrital zircon spectra are consistent with previous interpretations based on sediment petrography. They show that provenance did not change significantly during the course of Toro Negro deposition, precluding major tectonically-induced drainage reorganization events. Sediments were derived primarily from the north (Toro Negro Block) and west (Precordillera). The data are consistent with a subtle increase in sediment supply from the Precordillera beginning around 6.5 Ma.

Vascular plants of Sierra de Famatina (La Rioja, Argentina): an analysis of its biodiversity

The Sierra de Famatina System is one of the main areas of endemism within the Southern Cone, as well as one of the main diversity hotspots of Argentina. We present here the first checklist for Sierra de Famatina, which includes 909 taxa (species, subspecies, varieties and forms) of vascular plants from 77 families and 358 genera. Sixty-eight are new records for La Rioja province and 28 are endemic species. Voucher specimens, locality information and distribution are given for each taxon, and a brief analysis of the diversity, phytogeography of the flora and the type specimens is presented. Illustrations of the important endemics and type specimens from Sierra de Famatina are provided. Our results emphasize the necessity to give high priority to the Sierra de Famatina region in terms of the conservation of its flora.

The evolution of a mid-crustal thermal aureole at Cerro Toro, Sierra de Famatina, NW Argentina

A more than 12km wide sheeted tonalite complex in western Sierra de Famatina, NW Argentina, was emplaced at middle crust levels (ca. 5kbar), coeval with regional metamorphism during an early phase of the Ordovician Famatinian orogeny (ca. 480Ma). Advective heat from the tonalite complex caused a rise in the host regional temperatures (≤700°C) by a maximum of ca. 100°C, developing an aureole (~3km wide) parallel to the igneous contact. This was accompanied by significant melting (ca. 40%) of the host rocks that hybridized to a variable extent with the tonalitic magmas. Three metamorphic zones were distinguished in a cross-section through the aureole: (1) an external zone consisting of metatexitic gneisses, amphibolites and minor tonalites, (2) an intermediate zone formed by screens of highly melted gneisses, amphibolites and metagabbros lying between tonalite and newly formed leucogranitoid and hybrid rock sheets, and (3) an internal zone formed almost exclusively of massive tonalite and minor hybrid rocks. Incongruent melting of biotite in gneisses of the intermediate zone produced peritectic cordierite and garnet. Hybrids resulting from variable mixing of anatectic granitoids and tonalite magma developed in the innermost part of the aureole at 750–800°C. Increased water activity within this zone eventually promoted increased melting of plagioclase+quartz in the gneisses. Leucogranitoid magmas formed in part by extraction from the hybrid magmas led to heterogeneity of the Sr-isotope composition. The Cerro Toro contact aureole shows that assimilation of metasedimentary rocks through partial melting can play an important role during emplacement of tonalitic magmas at mid-crustal levels.

Early Carboniferous sub- to mid-alkaline magmatism in the Eastern Sierras Pampeanas, NW Argentina: A record of crustal growth by the incorporation of mantle-derived material in an extensional setting

A recently discovered granitic intrusion at Cerro La Gloria in western Sierra de Famatina (NW Argentina) is representative of sub- to mid-alkaline Carboniferous magmatism in the region. The main rock type consists of microcline, quartz and plagioclase, with amphibole, magnetite, ilmenite, biotite, epidote, zircon, allanite and sphene as accessory minerals. We report a U–Pb zircon SHRIMP age for the pluton of 349±3Ma (MSWD=1.1), i.e., Tournaisian. Whole-rock chemical composition and Nd isotope analyses are compatible with an origin by melting of older mafic material in the lower crust (εNdt between −0.58 and +0.46 and TDM values of about 1.1Ga). The pluton is intruded by penecontemporaneous to late alkaline mafic dykes that are classified as back-arc basalts. Coeval, Early Carboniferous A-type granites occur farther east in the Sierras Pampeanas, probably generated during lithospheric stretching. Overall, the Early Carboniferous granitic rocks show a west-to-east mineralogical and isotopic zonation indicating that magma genesis involved a greater contribution of juvenile material of mantle character to the west. Based on the observed patterns of geochronology, geochemistry and field relationships we suggest that A-type magma genesis in the Eastern Sierras Pampeanas was linked to an Andean-type margin where the lithospheric mantle played a role in its generation.

Mid- to Late Cambrian docking of the Río de la Plata craton to southwestern Gondwana: age constraints from U–Pb SHRIMP detrital zircon ages from Sierras de Ambato and Velasco (Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina)

Abstract: The Early Palaeozoic stratigraphy and tectonic history of the Eastern Sierras Pampeanas of central Argentina are complicated by metamorphism and deformation resulting from the Pampean (545–510 Ma) and Famatinian (490–440 Ma) orogenies. We report U–Pb sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe dating of detrital zircons in two metasedimentary successions exposed at Quebrada de La Cébila ( c . 28°45'S, 66°25'W): the Ambato and the La Cébila metamorphic complexes. The Ambato zircons record age peaks corresponding to Pampean (530 ± 10 Ma), Brasiliano ( c . 570 and c . 640 Ma), Grenville ( c . 950 to c . 1025 Ma) and minor Neoarchaean ages. Similar peaks are also apparent in the La Cébila sample but it additionally contains Palaeoproterozoic zircons ( c . 2.1 Ga) corresponding to the age of the Rio de la Plata craton, from which they are considered to have been sourced. Our interpretation is that the protolith of the Ambato complex was deposited prior to juxtaposition with the craton and is older than the Early Ordovician La Cébila metamorphic complex. We infer that the craton reached its current relative position in the Mid- to Late Cambrian, after the main Pampean tectonothermal event (530–520 Ma) and before deposition of the La Cébila protolith and the Achavil Formation (Sierra de Famatina), which contain comparable detrital zircon populations.

The Cerro Morado Group (Middle Ordovician) in Famatina, Andean foreland, Argentina.

The new denomination of Cerro Morado Group is proposed for a thick volcanosedimentary succession (727 m) that unconformably overlies the Early Ordovician Famatina Group in the central region of the Sierra de Famatina, Andean foreland of western Argentina. From bottom to top a mainly volcanic unit, El Portillo Formation (580 m, former Cerro Morado Formation) is composed of acidic volcanic flows and succeeded by the volcanosedimentary La Escondida Formation (147 m). These records allow to expand the Ordovician record in Famatina to the Middle Ordovician and possibly younger. Alternations of regressivetransgressive cycles indicate recurrent volcanic activity, characteristic of volcanic arc settings. These cycles are interpreted as the flexural response to active volcanism followed by intervals of quiescence, where shallow marine environments interact with important volcaniclastic input. This episodic basin dynamics influenced relative sea level fluctuations and caused the cyclical pattern recognized throughout the Ordovician in Famatina. This study establishes a direct link to Ordovician subduction and later accretion of Precordillera. In this context, the intraordovician angular unconformity between the Cerro Morado Group and the Early Ordovician Famatina Group is related to the Ocloyic orogeny.

Predictive mapping for copper–gold magmatic-hydrothermal systems in NW Argentina: Use of a regional-scale GIS, application of an expert-guided data-driven approach, and comparison with results from a continental-scale GIS

Geographic Information Systems (GISs) are very useful tools for managing, checking, and organizing spatial information–from many sources and of many types–in thematic layers. Processing of these data enables exploration-oriented GISs to produce potential and predictive maps for a given commodity, which constitute documents of real use in decision-making. Integration of all information in a single reference system enables a better understanding of the parameters controlling a region's metallogeny, in terms of both time and space. But what scale should be used for developing a mineral exploration GIS? Should preference be given to systems with high spatial resolutions (scale < 1:500,000), or to more general systems with scales of around 1:1,500,000 or 1:2,000,000? Will the gain be worthwhile relative to the additional work generated by compilation at a higher scale? In order to make greater use of previous predictive studies performed on gold-rich epithermal and porphyry systems at the scale of the entire Andes, an expert-guided data-driven approach is now applied to a regional-scale GIS of NW Argentina, between the Puna and the Sierrras Pampeanas, where known deposits like Bajo de la Alumbrera, Agua Rica, and others, account for a metal potential of over 10 Mt Cu and 750 t Au. In developing this new predictive map, three criteria that were likely to be connected to the mineralizing event were selected and quantified: (i) lithostratigraphy, because of its role as a favourable environment for the development of mineralization, based on its physico-chemical properties; (ii) lithostratigraphic contacts, based on the rheological properties of the formations in contact; and (iii) the orientation of structural discontinuities, which channel source magmas and encourage the circulation of hydrothermal fluids. Assigning a score enables classification of the favourabilities calculated for each of the criteria considered. This approach is employed here to check and standardize the statistical results obtained by methods such as Weight of Evidence Modelling or an algebraic approach. For each criterion, four classes were distinguished: very favourable: score = 3; favourable: score = 2; slightly favourable: score = 1; and unfavourable: score = 0. The predictive map is obtained by adding the scores for the three favourable criteria defined above. The regional-scale work identified 20 anomalous envelopes with cumulative scores greater than 5. They correspond to mining areas that are active (e.g., Bajo de la Alumbrera), under development (e.g., Agua Rica), or abandoned (e.g., La Mejicana), or to new areas (e.g., the Vicuña Pampa Volcanic Complex). Structural analysis of the region, integrating the orientation of the favourable envelopes, suggests that the mineralizing fluids were emplaced under extensional conditions, sub-parallel to the principal directions of shortening: (i) WNW–ESE, found along the southern edge of the Puna; and (ii) E–W, seen in the Sierra de Famatina. It appears that a regional-scale information system is a tool that is well suited to the definition of areas for mineral prospecting, and to the study and confirmation of metallotects usable for mineral exploration. Comparison with work conducted on the basis of a 1:2,000,000 geological compilation shows that the principal mining districts can indeed be found at continental scale. On the other hand, the lack of detail inherent at a scale of 1:2,000,000 may lead to inaccuracies, in particular fictitious favourabilities assigned to formations that are genetically unrelated to the mineralization, but that contain, for example, small Tertiary intrusive bodies that cannot be recorded at this scale. This comparison therefore shows that the use of a continental-scale GIS is effective, and well suited to the definition of prospective areas at a strategic level.

The Famatina complex (NW Argentina): back-docking of an island arc or terrane accretion? Early Palaeozoic geodynamics at the western Gondwana margin

Abstract This paper concerns sedimentary, volcanic, metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Sierra de Famatina and adjacent rock series in NW Argentina, for which the name ‘Famatina system’ has been used widely in the literature. It is suggested that this is renamed the ‘Famatina complex’, since ‘system’ is an internationally defined stratigraphical term. The Famatina complex is considered to have formed as an island arc on continental crust, represented in its diversity by metasediments and meta-volcanic rocks of the Sierra de Famatina, with a corresponding back-arc basin exposed in the medium- to high-grade metamorphic rocks of the adjacent Las Termas belt to the east. The Famatina complex was deposited in contact with the eastern Pampean complex (‘Pampia terrane’) at the western active continental margin of Gondwana in latest Proterozoic and Ordovician times. Deposition was, in part, accompanied by voluminous Ordovician magmatism of calc-alkaline composition. NNW-SSE-striking shear zones, dated previously at 402 ± 2 Ma, are interpreted as marking the final stage of collision of the island-arc/back-arc/continent complex. The dynamics of crustal block movements along the most prominent (TIPA) shear zone indicate overthrusting of the eastern Pampean series onto the western Famatina series and, hence, uplift and cooling of the eastern block must have occurred earlier than cooling of the western one. The composition of inherited components in Famatina metasediments and meta-granitoids argues for autochthonous arc-continent convergence rather than accretion of an exotic terrane.

Early Miocene andesite conglomerates in the Sierra de Famatina, broken foreland region of western Argentina, and documentation of magmatic broadening in the south Central Andes

A thick synorogenic megasequence, known as the Del Crestón Formation, crops out in the Famatina belt in western Argentina. Its coarsening upward arrangement, rotational syntectonic unconformities, and provenance analysis allowed considering this unit as an this unit was an Andean-related foreland succession, although its age and geological meaning have been largely controversial. It unconformably overlies Late Paleozoic (Paganzo Group) red beds and is covered by the Middle–Late Miocene Angulos Group in a faulted contact. No previous geochronologic data constrain this important synorogenic cycle bracketed between the Triassic and the late Neogene. This work provides a set of new ages for andesite boulders recorded in the lowermost volcanogenic conglomerate of the Del Crestón Formation. The andesite boulders provide evidence of backarc volcanism in the external foreland during the Early Miocene (ca. 17 Ma). This volcanic pulse, together with other evidence for Early Miocene volcanism in the Argentine Precordillera, support a previously unrecognized stage of magmatic broadening in the south Central Andes associated with the initiation of shallow subduction and changes in the plate convergence pattern at about 18 Ma. Major progressive unconformities and unroofing history from conglomerates indicate deformation at a proximal foreland depozone and basement involvement (broken foreland stage). This deformation could have occurred coevally with the deposition of distal facies in the Bermejo basin system to the south, suggesting markedly nonuniform Andean foreland development.

TWO NEW SPECIES OF LIOLAEMUS LIZARDS FROM NORTHWESTERN ARGENTINA: SPECIATION WITHIN THE NORTHERN SUBCLADE OF THE ELONGATUS GROUP (IGUANIA: LIOLAEMIDAE)

The Liolaemus elongatus group currently includes eight species (including the species described herein) of mid-sized, long-tailed, primarily saxicolous lizards. Members of this lineage are distributed in northwestern Argentina along the Andean Cordillera south to the Patagonian Steppe (27–44° S) and over a wide range of elevations (350–3900 m). Here we describe two new species belonging to the northern radiation of the elongatus group. The four currently recognized members of this northern subclade (including the two species described herein) have fewer midbody scales than other members of the elongatus group, brown to black heads, and lack the distinct dorsal body or tail patterns found in adults of other species belonging to the elongatus group. Additionally, pregnant and recently spent females exhibit crimson red color in the cloacal region—a trait known only for members of this northern lineage and L. buergeri. The first new species, L. dicktracyi from the Sierra de Famatina of La Rioja Province, diff...

The Pampean flat-slab of the Central Andes

Late Cenozoic Andean deformation in the Pampean segment of Argentina and Chile (27°00′–33°30′S) provides an exceptional opportunity to study the orogenic effects of flat subduction in an active convergent margin. At these latitudes, constraints derived from oceanic geomorphic structures indicate that collision of the Juan Fernandez Ridge in the Nazca plate with the Chilean trench propagated from north to south from ca. 18 to ca. 11 Ma. In this region, Cenozoic tectonics have resulted in the development of the Principal and Frontal Cordilleras, the Cuyo Precordillera, and the associated Sierras Pampeanas in the eastward foreland region. The analyses of different structural transects across the Sierras Pampeanas between 27 and 33°S latitudes show a southward diachronic beginning of basement block uplift from 7.6 to 6 Ma in the Sierra de Aconquija (27°S), 4.5 to 4.19 Ma at Sierra de Famatina (29°S), 5.5 to 4.7 Ma at Sierra de Pocho (31°S), and ca. 2.6 Ma at Sierra de San Luis (33°S). Uplift times are constrained by the age of synorogenic deposits, fission-track data on apatite, and hydrogen isotopes in alunite, where available. These time constraints are compared with the migration and expansion of the magmatic activity into the foreland. The relation of these two data sets shows a striking coincidence, after a residence time of approximately 4–2.6 Ma, between magmatic activity and failure of the crust that resulted in basement block uplift. Thermal weakening of the crust associated with eastward migration of arc magmatism acted to elevate brittle–ductile subsurface décollments, thus leading to thick-skinned basement uplift of the Sierras Pampeanas. The evolution of the Sierras Pampeanas is linked to that of the main Andes at 33°S latitude. The main deformation phases and uplift of the thin- and thick-skinned fold and thrust belts of Principal Cordillera occurred between 20 and 8.6 Ma. Arc volcanism migrated eastward at this latitude between 16 and 15.8 Ma. This expansion was accompanied by deformation and uplift with the development of a foreland basin. Soon after the shallowing of the subduction zone, orogenic shortening and basin formation were followed by a migration of the volcanic front to the foreland. Propagation rates of the thrust front from 2.5 mm/a in the early stage (15–9 Ma) accelerated to 13.3 and 13.7 mm/a during the middle (9–6 Ma) and late (5–2 Ma) stages of shallowing. Uplift of the Frontal Cordillera overlapped the last stages of Principal Cordillera deformation at 9 Ma. This time is also constrained by magnetostratigraphic studies of the foreland deposits that record a rapid increase in subsidence rates at the same time that arc magmatism expanded to the Sierras Pampeanas, between 9.5 and 6.4 Ma. This rapid propagation of the thrust front and migration of the arc magmatism occurred 2 m.yr later than the 11 Ma collision of the Juan Fernandez Ridge at this latitude. Uplift of the Precordillera by tectonic inversion of pre-existing normal faults and basement uplifts of the Sierras Pampeanas in the vicinity of 33°S occurred from 2.6 Ma to the present. Neotectonic studies, as well as GPS measurements, indicate active deformation in the thrust front of the Precordillera, as well as in the Sierras Pampeanas. Magmatic activity ended in the Principal Cordillera at approximately 8.6 Ma and in the Sierras Pampeanas at 1.9 Ma. The last subduction-related volcanism occurred more than 750 km east of the trench. Analyses performed along four different transects show close relations between eastward propagation of the magmatic arc, formation of new brittle–ductile transition zones as a function of heat input, and orogenic deformation. Uplift and deformation in Sierras Pampeanas, thus clearly follows the eastward propagation of arc magmatism. This relation implies that uplift and deformation are more likely related to thermal weakening and crustal anisotropy than to fluctuations in horizontal compressive stress. Eastward propagation of magmatism to the foreland over the last 6 m.yr plays an important role in the thermal crustal weakening and development of brittle–ductile transitions that allowed uplift of Sierras Pampeanas basement-cored blocks.

Current channelling and three-dimensional effects detected from magnetotelluric data from a sedimentary basin in Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina

Aquifer-bearing intermontane sedimentary basins of the Sierras Pampeanas in the northwest of Argentina are in general very deep and narrow and contain economically important deposits of Tertiary sediments. This paper presents the results of a study to characterize the sedimentary basin bounded to the west by Sierra de Famatina and to the east by Sierra de Velasco, where an electromagnetic sensing technique, the magnetotelluric (MT) method, was applied. 12 MT sites were deployed along a 30 km E-W transect. Some of the data collected were used to derive a 2-D resistivity model of the basin. The model shows a subsurface trough with a thick (approximately 8 km) sedimentary sequence above it. Anomalous behaviour of the E-W electric-field component (Ey) was detected in the period range 1–100s, where the amplitude of this component was below the instrumental noise level. The cause of this anomaly is not known, but it might be due to the presence of an embedded conducting body between 8 and 10 km, which would give rise to N-S current channelling.

The Famatinian magmatic arc in the central Sierras Pampeanas: an Early to Mid-Ordovician continental arc on the Gondwana margin

Abstract A new multi-disciplinary study of the central Sierras Pampeanas encompasses fieldwork, petrography, metamorphic and micro-structural analysis, geochemistry and geochronology. Remnants of a low-to-medium grade metasedimentary sequence, which also occurs in the Sierras de Córdoba to the east, are considered regionally equivalent to the Puncoviscana Formation; a ?mid-Cambrian Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron of 513 ± 31 Ma probably dates their main metamorphism. The predominant granitoids of the Los Llanos-Ulapes batholith constitute a calc-alkaline suite representative of the Famatinian subduction-related magmatic arc. The main granodiorite phase of the batholith is associated with an S2 fabric and shear zone formation, and was emplaced late during the deformational history of the metasediments. Conventional and SHRIMP U-Pb zircon dating yielded a combined age of 490 ± 5 Ma. Younger monzogranites gave Rb-Sr whole-rock ages of 470–450 Ma, typical of granites in the Sierra de Famatina, but geochemical continuity with the main granodiorite suite raises the possibility that these are partially reset ages. A minor cordierite granite phase is ascribed to local anatexis caused by heat from the granodiorites. All the calc-alkaline rocks of the Los Llanos-Ulapes batholith have high initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr (0.7075–0.7105) and low ɛNd t (−4.6 to −6.3), inherited from lower crust. Sm-Nd model ages of 1600–1700 Ma indicate that the underlying crust is identical to that beneath the foreland to the east. This part of the Famatinian arc was thus a continental magmatic arc and was established significantly before the arrival of the allochthonous Precordillera terrane in mid-Ordovician times.