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Research ArticleArticles

Alternating contraction and extension in the Southern Central Andes (35°–37°S)

Lucas M. Fennell, Sofia B. Iannelli, Alfonso Encinas, Maximiliano Naipauer, Victor Valencia and Andrés Folguera
American Journal of Science May 2019, 319 (5) 381-429; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2475/05.2019.02
Lucas M. Fennell
* CONICET – Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Estudios Andinos Don Pablo Groeber (IDEAN), Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina
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  • For correspondence: lucasfennell90@gmail.com
Sofia B. Iannelli
* CONICET – Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Estudios Andinos Don Pablo Groeber (IDEAN), Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina
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Alfonso Encinas
** Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
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Maximiliano Naipauer
* CONICET – Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Estudios Andinos Don Pablo Groeber (IDEAN), Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina
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Victor Valencia
*** School of the Environment, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA.
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Andrés Folguera
* CONICET – Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Estudios Andinos Don Pablo Groeber (IDEAN), Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina
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Abstract

The Andes are thought to be formed through discrete contractional stages separated by periods of little to no orogenic construction. This paper analyzes the intervals between the main contractional phases that built the Southern Central Andes between 35° and 37°S in order to determine whether they were characterized by neutral, contractional or extensional conditions. During an interruption in orogenesis between the Late Cretaceous and the Miocene shortening phases, two extensional stages are recorded through the opening of a series of intra- and retro-arc basins. U-Pb dating of detrital zircons in a sample collected from the Los Ángeles unit, a syn-extensional volcano-sedimentary succession located at ∼35°40'S along the Chile and Argentina international border, provided a maximum depositional age of 67.1 +2.4/−0.9 Ma. This age, in association with evidence of regional crustal thinning, suggests a previously unrecognized extensional phase during latest Cretaceous times. Limited shortening succeeded this extensional event and was followed by a second extensional episode during late Oligocene and earliest Miocene times. While the first extensional event was restricted to the core of the Late Cretaceous orogen, the second episode affected a wide area ranging between the present forearc and retroarc areas. A structural section across the Malargüe fold-thrust belt at ∼36°S indicates inversion of normal faults where extension was focused and new thrust generation in areas not affected by extensional deformation. Our data reveal that the growth of the Southern Central Andes is the product of a complex alternation of contractional and extensional phases, with inherited structures playing a role in their tectonic evolution. A comparison with other Cordilleran orogenic systems such as the Puna-Altiplano plateau, the northern Peruvian Andes and the North American Sevier-Laramide orogenic belt, suggests that extensional deformation in the Southern Central Andes responds better to changes in plate kinematics, rather than to localized events within a continuous contractional setting.

  • fold-thrust belt
  • intra-arc basin
  • retroarc basin
  • inheritance
  • geodynamics
  • tectonic regime
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American Journal of Science: 319 (5)
American Journal of Science
Vol. 319, Issue 5
1 May 2019
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Alternating contraction and extension in the Southern Central Andes (35°–37°S)
Lucas M. Fennell, Sofia B. Iannelli, Alfonso Encinas, Maximiliano Naipauer, Victor Valencia, Andrés Folguera
American Journal of Science May 2019, 319 (5) 381-429; DOI: 10.2475/05.2019.02

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Alternating contraction and extension in the Southern Central Andes (35°–37°S)
Lucas M. Fennell, Sofia B. Iannelli, Alfonso Encinas, Maximiliano Naipauer, Victor Valencia, Andrés Folguera
American Journal of Science May 2019, 319 (5) 381-429; DOI: 10.2475/05.2019.02
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Keywords

  • fold-thrust belt
  • intra-arc basin
  • retroarc basin
  • inheritance
  • geodynamics
  • tectonic regime

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