Decelles, P.G., Carrapa, B., and Gehrels, G.E., 2007, Detrital Zircon
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Detrital zircon U-Pb ages provide provenance and chronostratigraphic information from Eocene synorogenic deposits in northwestern Argentina P.G. DeCelles Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA B. Carrapa Universität Potsdam, Institut für Geowissenschaften, 14476 Golm, Germany G.E. Gehrels Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA ABSTRACT progressively more abundant in the upper part Paleogene clastic sedimentary rocks in the Puna plateau of northwestern Argentina contain of the formation (Fig. 2; Carrapa and DeCelles, valuable information about the timing and location of early mountain building in the central 2006). Conglomerates in the Geste Formation Andes. Because these rocks generally lack tuffaceous facies, only paleontological ages have been contain clasts of vein quartz, quartzite, and available. We present U-Pb ages from detrital zircons in the conglomeratic Eocene Geste Forma- phyllite that are identical to rocks in the under- tion of the central Puna plateau. The zircon ages indicate that the Geste Formation was derived lying Ordovician Copalayo Formation (Azeño- from nearby high-relief ranges composed of Ordovician metasedimentary rocks. A small popu- laza, 1973). Paleocurrent data indicate chiefl y lation of ca. 37–35 Ma grains also confi rms the late Eocene stratigraphic age of the Geste Forma- eastward paleofl ow directions (Carrapa and tion, and suggests that U-Pb detrital zircon ages may provide a new tool for determining deposi- DeCelles, 2006). Middle to upper Eocene fos- tional ages and provenance of widespread Paleogene deposits in the central Andes. sils have been recovered from the middle part of the Geste Formation (marsupials, notoungulates, Keywords: Andes, Argentina, syntectonic sedimentation, U-Pb geochronology. and armadillos; Pascual, 1983; Alonso, 1992). The ranges to the east of the Salar de INTRODUCTION samples of the Geste Formation in the Salar de Pastos Grandes are composed of Ordovician– Acquisition of U-Pb ages of detrital zircons Pastos Grandes area in the central Puna plateau, Silurian granitoid rocks and pegmatites, and from clastic sedimentary rocks is revolution- we discovered a small but systematic group of upper Precambrian metasedimentary rocks izing the discipline of sedimentary petrology Eocene grains in several samples. These data (Puncoviscana Formation, mainly phyllite by providing information about both prov- are consistent with previous vertebrate biostrati- and quartzite), gneisses, and orthogneisses. enance and, in some cases, chronostratigraphy graphic ages (Pascual, 1983; Alonso, 1992), and Pliocene andesites form the >6 km peaks of (Gray and Zeitler, 1997; DeCelles et al., 1998, provide some of the best constraints yet avail- the Nevados de Pastos Grandes, directly north 2004; Gehrels et al., 1999, 2000; DeGraaff- able on the exact ages of these strata. Moreover, of the study area (Fig. 1B). Surpless et al., 2002; Dickinson and Gehrels, our data raise the possibility that U-Pb ages of 2003; Amidon et al., 2005; Link et al., 2005; detrital zircons in general may provide useful METHODS Surpless et al., 2006). Although there have chronostratigraphic information in retroarc set- Six samples of medium- to coarse-grained been detrital zircon geochronological studies tings such as the Andean orogenic belt, where sandstone from the Geste Formation and one of the pre-Cenozoic rocks of the southern and comagmatic zircons may be prevalent even in sample of medium-grained quartzite from the central Andes (Hervé et al., 2003; Augustsson apparently ash-free sediments. underlying Ordovician Copalayo Formation were et al., 2003; Finney et al., 2003, 2005; Fanning collected and processed by standard methods et al., 2004; Thomas et al., 2004; Gelcich et al., GEOLOGICAL SETTING AND for separating zircons. U-Pb geo chronology of 2005; Do Campo and Ribeiro Guevara, 2005), STRATIGRAPHY zircons was conducted by laser-ablation–multi- no attempt has been made to apply the method The Geste Formation is one of many local collector inductively coupled plasma–mass spec- to Cenozoic strata. Widespread Paleogene strata accumulations of coarse-grained Cenozoic sedi- trometry at the University of Arizona Laser Chron of the central Andes (Fig. 1; Jordan and Alonso, mentary rocks of generally pre-Neogene age in Center. Details of the method were described in 1987; Alonso, 1992) are especially attractive northwestern Argentina and southern Bolivia Gehrels et al. (2000, 2006). targets for detrital U-Pb geochronology because (Fig. 1; Jordan and Alonso, 1987; Sempere et al., Analyses that yielded isotopic data of accept- these sparsely dated, coarse-grained clastic 1997; Horton, 1998). The unit is ~2 km thick able discordance, in-run fractionation, and pre- strata potentially contain information about the (Fig. 2) and is exposed in the Salar de Pastos cision are in GSA Data Repository Table DR1.1 timing and location of early mountain building Grandes area of the Puna plateau, a vast high- Because 206Pb/238U ages are generally more in the central Andes, a topic that generates vigor- elevation (>4 km average elevation) region in precise for younger ages, whereas 206Pb/207Pb ous debate (Allmendinger et al., 1997; Sempere the interior of the central Andean orogenic sys- ages are more precise for older ages, we rely on et al., 1997; Lamb and Hoke, 1997; Kley et al., tem. The Geste Formation unconformably over- 206Pb/238U ages up to 1000 Ma and 206Pb/207Pb 1997; Jordan et al., 1997, 2001; Coutand et al., lies Middle to Upper Ordovician phyllite and ages if the 206Pb/238U ages are older than 1000 2001; Horton et al., 2002; DeCelles and Horton, quartzite of the Copalayo (or Colquena) Forma- Ma (Gehrels et al., 2006). We report here a total 2003; Elger et al., 2005; Carrapa et al., 2005; tion (Fig. 1; Alonso, 1992; Blasco et al., 1995), of 606 zircon ages. These analyses are plotted Arriagada et al., 2006). Historically, the ages of which forms the bulk of the range directly to the on relative age-probability diagrams (Fig. 3), Paleogene strata in the central Andes have been west of our investigated section. which represent a sum of the probability distri- diffi cult to document owing to a paucity of dat- The Geste Formation consists of an overall butions of all analyses from a sample, normal- able volcanogenic sediment. upward-coarsening succession of sandstone, We set out to document U-Pb ages of detri- conglomerate, and subordinate mudstone (Fig. 2; 1GSA Data Repository item 2007079, Table DR1, U-Pb geochronologic analyses, is available online at tal zircons in Cenozoic basin fi lls of the central Alonso, 1992). The lower part of the Geste www.geosociety.org/pubs/ft2007.htm, or on request Andes of northwestern Argentina primarily as a Forma tion consists of exclusively fl uvial facies, from [email protected] or Documents Secre- provenance tool. In the course of our work on and coarse-grained alluvial-fan deposits become tary, GSA, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO 80301, USA. © 2007 The Geological Society of America. For permission to copy, contact Copyright Permissions, GSA, or [email protected]. GEOLOGY,Geology, April April 2007; 2007 v. 35; no. 4; p. 323–326; doi: 10.1130/G23322A.1; 3 fi gures; Data Repository item 2007079. 323 68° 67° 66° 24° Salars/ Sijes Fm. B C Queva peaks 6130m ndes Pozuelos Fm. a Cover Miocene Pleistocene upper Tertiary middle Eocene Pastos Gr Volcanics lower Geste Fm. Salar Pocitos Pliocene Oire Fm. Upper Capalayo Fm. mo Tertiary Measured sect. Ordovician ¥Nevados de Santa Rosa Salar de Arizaro dos de Paler de los 27'54''S Pastos Grandes ° Neva 24 25° A Pe r u Bol i vi a Pucara 16?S Salar de Pastos Grandes >3km Salar de elevation Hombre Muerto 20?S SIJES e l i ? h 24 S C Study area os 28?S Argentina s je El Morro Paci f i c i Pozuel S Ocean 0 20 km e 74?W 66?W d 26° a Elevation Quaternary salt lakes and Neogene Upper Paleozoic Salar de salt flats plutonic rocks plutonic rocks r r 6500 Quaternary continental Cambrian palayo Neogene e sedimentary rocks volcanic rocks sedimentary rocks i Co S Neogene/Quaternary Tertiary Paleozoic 0 3 km volcanic rocks plutonic rocks 45'54''S sedimentary rocks ° io Neogene/Quaternary Paleogene Ordovician sedimentary r a 24 n ignimbrites sedimentary rocks and local volcanic rocks e t n Quaternary, locally Plio- Cretaceous Precambrian/Cambrian e 1000 C plutonic rocks . Pleistocene basalt sedimentary rocks S Quaternary, locally Plio- Carboniferous Precambrian/Cambrian sedimentary rocks Pleistocene volcanic rocks sedimentary rocks 66°42'18W'' 66°27'54W'' Faults Figure 1. A: General location map of central South America showing location of study area in northwestern Argentina. Shaded region rep- resents area in which elevation exceeds 3 km. B: Geological map of central Andes (modifi ed after Reutter et al., 1994). Inset shows location of area within context of broader Andean orogenic belt; rectangle corresponds to C. C: Geological map of Salar de Pastos Grandes area (modifi ed after Alonso, 1992) draped on digital elevation model. Fm.—formation. ized such that the areas beneath the probability ± 1.5 Ma to 35.4 ± 0.55 Ma (Fig. 3). The pres- these rocks should help to constrain the timing curves are equal for all samples. Age peaks on ence of previously reported Eocene mammal of initial crustal thickening and uplift in the Puna these diagrams are considered robust if defi ned fossils (Pascual, 1983) in the Geste Formation plateau. In this case, our data require proximal by several analyses.