23 research outputs found

    The central Fuegian fold and thrust belt in Tierra del Fuego: Strike‐slip tectonics superimposed onto compressional deformation

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    The boundary between South America and Scotia plates was established during Neogene times when a wrench tectonic regime was developed along the central area of Tierra del Fuego. This boundary includes the Magallanes–Fagnano fault system: a regional diffuse deformation zone, which involves the development of the satellite Yehuin–Chepelmut fault zone and a series of pull-apart basins overprinting the Fuegian fold and thrust belt. The analysis of regional seismic lines allowed to reconstruct and recognize the structure of the external fold and thrust belt. The interpreted structures were integrated into a regional transect and a 3D block diagram that display the different structural domains and, mainly, the wrench deformation associated with the Magallanes–Fagnano fault system. Geophysical data from gravity and magnetic anomaly maps provided further support for the location and development of the pull-apart basins along the plate boundary. The deformation of the external fold and thrust belt is characterized by an imbricated fan system with a Paleogene detachment surface, which was later cut across by the Yehuin–Chepelmut fault zone and the Magallanes–Fagnano fault system.Fil: Lozano, Jorge Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; ArgentinaFil: Bran, Donaldo Mauricio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Peroni, Javier Ignacio. Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lodolo, Emanuele. Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale; ItaliaFil: Menichetti, Marco. Università Degli Studi Di Urbino Carlo Bo; ItaliaFil: Cerredo, Maria Elena. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Tassone, Alejandro Alberto. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentin

    Magnetic fabric and microstructures across the Andes ofTierra del Fuego, Argentina

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    An anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) transect was carried out across the Fuegian Andes, in Argentina, with the aim of studying its tectonic evolution. Two-hundred and forty oriented samples were collected from 27 sites distributed between the Paso Garibaldi to the north and the Canal Beagle to the south. The study was restricted to the Upper Jurassic Lemaire Formation, with a single site located in the Lower Cretaceous Yahgán Formation. Studied rocks comprised basaltic, andesitic, volcaniclastic and sedimentary rocks affected by low-grade metamorphism. AMS measurements were complemented with thin section analyses of representative samples in order to characterize the microstructures and metamorphic assemblages. In general, the magnetic fabric shows dominant oblate shapes and a large variation in the anisotropy degree from 1.04 up to 2. The anomalously high values were observed to be associated to growth of secondary pyrrhotite, which was identified by rock magnetic tests. Magnetic foliation was generally consistent with slaty cleaveage as observed in the field, confirming the tectonic origin of the magnetic fabric. Three geographic domains were distinguished in the study region on the basis of the pattern of the AMS axes distribution. In the northern domain, from Paso Garibaldi to Valle Carbajal, the orientation of the maximum susceptibility axis (k1), or magnetic lineation, is N-S to NE-SW with moderate plunge towards the S-SW and coincides with previous determination of mineral lineations associated with the Andean deformation and very low grade metamorphism. The magnetic fabric pattern can be correlated with the main deformational phase responsible for the development of slaty cleavage (main Andean deformational phase) and the tectonic transport due to progression of the Fuegian fold and thrust belt in the Late Cretaceous. A different character is shown along the Valle Carbajal domain, where subvertical E-W magnetic foliation planes and roughly E-W to ESE-WNW subhorizontal magnetic lineations are more difficult to correlate with the main folding phase and suggest its relation to an E-W, possibly localized, strike-slip regime during the main deformational and metamorphic phase. The magnetic fabrics in the third domain, close to the Canal Beagle, displays a more heterogeneous character with both E-W and N-S striking foliations; in this case a population of subhorizontal E-W magnetic lineation (k1) suggests the existence of a significant component of strike-slip deformation

    Shallow architecture of Fuegian Andes lineaments based on Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT). Evidences of transverse extensional faulting in the central Beagle Channel area

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    The southern foothills of the Fuegian Andes are bounded by the Beagle Channel (BC), a conspicuous E-W longitudinal basin, controlled by a large transcurrent fault system, which extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The northern shore of the Beagle Channel’s central segment is characterized by several E-W oriented valleys, parallel to the main basin, which are interspersed with a series of oblique NW trending lineaments that extend across the mountain belt. A geoelectrical survey was carried out in order to investigate the shallow architecture of such sets of linear morphologies. The principal E-W lineament system was characterized by conspicuous sub-vertical resistivity contrasts, interpreted as fractured zones associated with fault strands of the main strike-slip Beagle Channel system, whereas the oblique NW-SE trending set of lineaments revealed slightly different resistivity patterns, with vertical displacements and less abrupt contrasts. These resistivity patterns, in combination with the widespread occurrence of normal faulting in the area, allowed to infer an extensional control over the oblique depressions. These morphological features were related to oblique transverse faults that segment two sub parallel E-W fault systems. The oblique faults were probably developed along inherited structural anisotropies and can be extended well beyond the BC shoreline to the NW. Both geophysical and field evidence suggest a post-glacial deformation along the area

    Temporal and spatial evolution of the Somún Curá Magmatic Province, Northern Extra-Andean Patagonia, Argentina

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    The Somún Curá Magmatic Province (SCMP) is a Cenozoic volcanic region comprised by several basaltic fields and large central volcanoes located at the Northern Extra-Andean Patagonia, Argentina. The principal volcanic sequences were erupted between the late Eocene and late Miocene, forming the Meseta de Somún Curá, which covers ~30,000 km2 between 40°30′-43°20′S and 65°50′-69°20′W, involving around 1 to 2 × 103 km3 of mafic lavas, and about half that volume of intermediate to silicic lava-pyroclastic associations. The SCMP developed in a back-arc to intraplate tectonic setting over the North Patagonian Massif (NPM), at the time of two major geodynamic events at the western margin of South America: the consumption of the Aluk and the break-up of the Farallón oceanic plates. The magmatism at the studied area is represented by eight volcanic complexes, the Somún Curá Formation flood basalts, and other units related to minor volcanic fields or polygenetic centres. These sequences share intricate stratigraphic relations, which hinder the evolution of the SCMP. To address this issue, an updated compilation of geochronological determinations for the Meseta de Somún Curá region is provided. Its integrated analysis, together with stratigraphic information, allowed the identification of periods of preferential volcanic emission, after which seven constructional phases between late Eocene and late Miocene are proposed. Within these phases, seven pulses of magmatic activity are interpreted for the volcanic complexes emplaced in this area (~38-37 Ma, ~32.5–31 Ma, ~29.5–28 Ma, ~26-24 Ma, ~21–18.5, ~18-15 Ma and ~10.5 Ma), together with four pulses of effusion of flood basalts, represented by the Somún Curá Formation (~32 Ma, ~27-26 Ma, ~26-25 Ma, and ~21.5 Ma). The superposition and recurrence of the magmatic pulses associated with the volcanic complexes and the Somún Curá Formation argue against the application of a "pre-plateau", "plateau" and "post-plateau" scheme, which is revised. The largest volumes of magma associated with the Somún Curá Formation and the volcanic complexes were extruded during the late Oligocene and the early Miocene, respectively. The area of emplacement of the Somún Curá Formation changed over time, defining a roughly counter-clockwise spatial and temporal pattern, starting from the southwest. The magmatic activity recorded by the volcanic complexes from late Eocene to middle Oligocene seems to have concentrated alternatively along NW-SE and NE-SW corridors, and along a N–S belt to the west during the early Miocene. This systematic organization could be related to the reactivation of previous structures, triggered by the kinematic changes in the convergence vector between the Farallón-Nazca Plates and the South American Plate.Fil: Cordenons, Pablo Damián. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego. Instituto de Ciencias Polares, Recursos Naturales y Ambiente; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur. Instituto de Ciencias Polares, Ambientales y Recursos Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Remesal, Marcela Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Salani, Flavia Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Cerredo, María Elena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; Argentin
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