Introduction

Whereas the study of the volcanic products of modern volcanic chains allows indirect inferences on lithospheric processes, the eroded roots of these arcs offer a unique opportunity to examine, in the field, the processes of arc building, emplacement of magmas and their interaction with deformation in the arc. The Andean margin is a type convergent oceanic/continental plate boundary zone. This is in part because it has had a continuous record of subduction, since at least Mesozoic times. There has been a switch from extension to contraction- dominated deformation during the mid to Upper Cretaceous as a consequence of rapid sea-floor spreading in the Atlantic Ocean. Obliquity of subduction has generated major trench/orogen parallel strike-slip fault systems and the extensional and contractional deformation phases are often best considered as transtensional or transpressional. A major feature of such plate margins is the emplacement of voluminous magmatic arc plutonic suites as giving rise to trench-parallel plutonic suites (batholiths), comprising numerous individual plutons. In the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile the late Triassic - Early Tertiary plutonic suites are exposed continuously between 33 and 18S (Valparaiso to Iquique). In the Huasco province, to the south of the Atacama region, the Coastal Cordillera and western Precordillera is dominated at outcrop by very well exposed plutonic belts. These young eastward and are of Late Triassic to Early Tertiary age and are separated by screens of volcanic rocks, volcaniclastic rocks and limestones. These screen of country rock, are the remains of the overlying roof, underlying floors or lateral walls. They are important because they can be used to give the relative age of the plutons and they contain a record of emplacement-related and pre- and post-plutonic regional deformation. Careful examination of these structures allows inferences about the emplacement mechanism of magmas and the overall tectonic deformation in the arc to be made. This field trip will make a complete traverse across the Coastal Cordillera and the western Precordillera of the Huasco Province (Coastal Cordillera and Precordillera of Vallenar, Fig. 1). The first and the last day will be almost all used to travel to and from our operation centre, the city of Vallenar - capital of the Huasco province. The second, third and fourth days will be completely devoted to the itinerary described in this guide. Following the sequence in which the Mesozoic plutonic arc was built, we will examine the plutonic complexes from west to east and from old to young. During day 2 we will visit the Pacific coast and the Upper Triassic Carrizal Bajo and the Lower Jurassic Algodones plutonic complexes. On day 3 we will make a traverse across the Lower Cretaceous Infiernillo, Retamilla and La Higuera complexes to finish the day with a visit the Los Colorados iron mine, one of the most productive Chilean iron deposits. During day 3 we will go to the western Precordillera of Vallenar to visit its fold and thrust belt and the Upper Cretaceous-Palaeocene Chehueque Plutonic Complex. Over these five days we hope to maintain fruitful discussions on new concepts on magma transport and emplacement and, examine field evidence for the 3D geometry of plutons. We will discuss the emplacement mechanisms and the respective relationships within the context of the overall tectonic regime of the overriding plate as it evolved through Mesozoic and Palaeocene time.

Fig. 1. Map of the sothern Atacama Region showing the main itinerary of the 5 days field work

Geology of the Coastal Cordillera of Vallenar (Fig. 2)

In the Coastal Cordillera of the Atacama Region, metasedimentary rocks of Devonian-Carboniferous age (Las Trtolas Formation, Naranjo and Puig 1984; Complejo Epimetamrfico de Chaaral (Godoy and Lara 1998) form part of a 3.000 m long belt, from Antofagasta to the Magellan Strait, of sedimentary derived metamorphic rocks that represent the remains of accretionary prisms and/or fore-arc basin associations (Bell, 1982) during the Late Palaeozoic at the western margin of the South-America subcontinent (Gondwana cycle). In Atacama, the existence of southwest vergent folding in these rocks together with the emplacement of meta- to peraluminous intrusions have been interpreted as indications of the initiation of a north-easterly, subduction-induced underthrusting during the CarboniferousPermian boundary (Brook et al., 1986; Bell, 1987; Brown, 1991). In the Chilean-Argentinean border these rocks culminate in extensive Upper Carboniferous-Triassic silicic volcanic and plutonic rocks formed as a result of crustal anatexis due to underplating of basalts. This marked a period of extensive crustal melting in the absence of subduction at the start of the rupture of the Gondwana continent and the Andean cycle (Mpodozis and Kay, 1992). The metamorphic rocks are unconformably overlain by the Canto del Agua Formation (Anisian-Sinemurian; Moscoso and Covacevich, 1982), a 1200-3000 m thick clastic and volcanic sequence of quartzrich conglomerates, sandstones, lutites, limestones, rhyolitic tuffs and pyroclastic breccias. These rocks are considered to be the infill of a system of rift basins developed during a phase of extension during the break-up of the Gondwana supercontinent. Rapid facies changes suggest active tectonics throughout the sediment deposition. Basicsiliceous volcanic rocks, including alkaline basalts, are indicate the initial stages of volcanism of the Andean Cycle and the renewing of subduction along much of the South-American western margin (Mpodozis and Kay, 1992; Surez and Bell, 1992). Unconformably above the Canto del Agua Formation, continental volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, and marine carbonate rocks of Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous in age represent the westernmost units of arc and back-arc sequences (Coira et al., 1982). The lowest sequence belongs to La Negra Formation (Early Jurassic; Garca, 1967) is a ca. 7002200 m thick homogeneous pile of aphanitic to porphyrithic andesitic lava flows interbedded with minor breccias and limestones. A section in the lower part of the Punta del Cobre

Fig. 2. Stratigraphic chart of the Coastal Cordillera and Precordillera from the CopiapVallenar region. Main stratified units in yellow and intrusive rocks in pink (From Arvalo et al . en preparation).

plutonic belts are exposed, most of them separated by a screen of country rock. From west to east they are: Late Triassic, Early Jurassic, Late Jurassic, earliest Early Cretaceous, mid Early Cretaceous and latest Early Cretaceous in age. The Triassic Carrizal Bajo Plutonic Complex and three Cretaceous complexes (Infiernillo, Retamilla and La Higuera plutonic complexes) will be visited during the excursion (Fig.1).

Formation (Upper Jurassic to Lower Valanginian; Segerstrom and Ruiz, 1962) lies to east of La Negra exposures. This is formed by 300 to 700 m of andesitic lava flows alternating with volcanic breccias, fine grained conglomerates, acidic tuffs and limestones. Lying conformably on top of the Punta del Cobre strata, a ca. 700 m thick homogeneous sequence of well layered red to brownish calcilutites interbedded with fine grained conglomerates assigned to Sierra La Bandera Formation (Valanginian; Pincheira, 1981) is exposed. Upper Triassic to Early Cretaceous intrusions were emplaced into the stratified rocks. Steeply-dipping, margin-parallel normal faults (Tigrillo Fault System, Infiernillo Shear Zone) linked by NW-trending dextral transfer faults, were also active during Triassic to early Cretaceous and gives the main overall extensional setting under which the plutonic complexes may all have been emplaced. Six main NNE trending

Geology of the Precordillera of Vallenar (Fig. 2)

To the east of the Central Depression volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Punta del Cobre Formation and marine carbonate rocks from the Chaarcillo Group are exposed. This region, informally denominated here as Vallenar Precordillera, is bounded to the east by a crystalline block of Lower Paleozoic to Triassic metamorphic, plutonic and acidic volcanic rocks thrust westward by the Vicua Fault System at the latitude of the Alto del Carmen town. The facies of the Punta del Cobre Formation (Late Jurassic to Early Valanginian; Segerstrom and Ruiz, 1962) exposed in the Precordillera are stratigraphicaly higher than those in the Coastal Cordillera. They are formed by a lower sequence of acidic volcanic breccias, related dome complexes and derived epiclastic conglomerates and sandstones interlayered with limestones, and an upper sequence of well bedded lava flows. The Chaarcillo Group (Late Valanginian to Aptian; Segerstrom and Parker, 1959) a type sequence for the Lower Cretaceous in northern Chile, is compounded, here in Vallenar, by three formations. From old to young: (1) Nantoco Formation (Hauterivian; Biese-Nickel in Hoffstetter et al. 1957), a homogeneous package of well layered of grey mudstones with upper evaporitic breccias; (2) Totoralillo Formation (Barremian; Biese-Nickel in Hoffstetter et al. 1957), a well layered sequence of laminated red to yellow calcilutites alternating with massive green volcarenites; and (3) Pabelln Formation (Upper Barremian to Aptian; Biese-Nickel in Hoffstetter et al. 1957), a coarse thickly-bedded sequence of brown bioclastic calcarenites. The Punta del Cobre and Chaarcillo units together with the La Negra and Sierra La Bandera formations, in the Coastal Cordillera, represent a total thickness of 4000 to 7000 m accumulated during the Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, between Chaaral (26 20` S) and Vallenar. Equivalent rocks in Central Chile reached more than 10000 m in thickness, particularly during the Early Cretaceous. This enormous accumulation and the common existence of interbedded shallow marine sediments scarce in volcanic components indicate high basin subsidence (Scheuber and Gonzalez, 1999). These characteristics together with mantle affinities of La Negra (Rogers and Hawkesworth, 1989) and shoshonitic trends from Lower Cretaceous lava flows from Central Chile (Aguirre et al., 1989) suggest that these rocks were deposited as extensional basins within a context of a decoupled margin or a retreating subduction boundary (Russo and Silver, 1996; Grocott and Taylor, 2002). The Chaarcillo rocks are overlain by the epiclastic to volcaniclastic Cerrillos Formation (Albian-Turonian; Segerstrom and Parker, 1959). At the base it contains fluvial conglomerates and sandstones of volcanic origin and freshwater limestones. Higher in the sequence volcanic breccias and lava flows are dominant. Fossils derived from the underlying formations, within the lowermost part of the sequence, imply that the base of the formation is an erosion surface although there is no angular unconformity. This sequence widely exposed in the Atacama region, represent the accumulation of ca. 4000 of mainly clastic and volcaniclastic sediments within a narrow continental basin built on the Lower Cretaceous sequences. The scarcity of contemporaneous volcanic rocks at the base indicates that the basin received sedimentary supply almost exclusively from the erosion of pre-existing volcanic rocks, possibly from the volcanic rocks above the plutonic roofs farther west. Fission track ages between 108 and 86 Ma from the Copiap Coastal Cordillera (Griest in Godoy et al. 2003) confirm an exhumation stage of this province during the Cerrillos deposition, which probably led to the plutonic unroofing. The deposition of the Cerrillos Formation marks a major change in the Andean subduction regime during the Mesozoic. The Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous arc/back-arc pair (Mariana type of subduction; Uyeda, 1982) changes to a Chilean type mode of subduction where a magmatic arc exists without development of backarc basin. Since then the orogen has been characterised by progressive shortening alternating with every time less lasting extensional stages. Extensive Miocene (Atacama Gravels) to Miocene-Pliocene alluvial, fluvial and colluvial sedimentary sheets cover the Coastal Cordillera and Precordillera rocks. These deposits were formed during a large scale period of regional aggradation caused by a generalized uplift of the Andes since the Middle Miocene.

Short Review of Emplacement Mechanisms for Cordilleran Plutons

Frequently cited emplacement mechanisms of plutons are: (1) diapirs or ballooning diapirs; (2) emplacement at dilational sites in fault systems. The hypothesis for the emplacement of granites as diapirs can no longer be sustained for mid- to high crustal levels because where finite strain have been determined in the adjacent wall rocks measured values are too small to support diapirism. Models for emplacement via fault dilation are also often debateable in that the many plutons either do not provide convincing evidence of structural control or are not located in local dilation sites of fault systems. According to Cruden (1998), room for magmas can be created by two mechanisms to produce tabular plutons: roof uplift to create a laccolith or floor depression to create a lopolith type intrusion. While laccoliths are shallow level intrusions and mostly occurs to less than 3 km of palaeodepth (Corry, 1988), deeper plutons, batholithic in size, elongated parallel to inferred axis of magmatic arcs like those which form the Mesozoic plutonic arcs of North and South-America (Cordilleran Plutons), are mostly emplaced by floor depression. Two end-member models are predicted: (1) cantilever and (2) piston (Fig. 3). In both cases the subsidence is accommodated by either down and outward ductile flow of the underlying crust or downward displacement into a deflating deep magma reservoir (Fig 4). In a field based study, Grocott and Taylor (2002) recently evaluated emplacement mechanisms for tabular intrusions from the Costal Cordillera of the Chaaral region. They developed a model involving four end-member cases of pluton emplacement by roof uplift/ floor depression during reactivation of pre-existing, steeply dipping faults in extension or contraction (Fig. 5).

Fig. 3. Geometry and parameters for floor depression models (Cruden, 1998)

Fig. 4. Accomodation of deep crust in a floor depression model (Cruden, 1998)

Fig. 5. Pluton emplacement by roof uplift/ floor depression during reactivation of pre-existing, steeply dipping faults in extension or contraction (Grocott and Taylor, 2002)

Day 1 (9 November)
CRETACEOUS SIERRA DE ATACAMA PLUTONIC COMPLEX HIGH-LOW TEMPERATURE MYLONITES, PLUTON MARGIN MONOCLINES Stop 1. Sierra Fritis, optional, depending on the arrival time (N6.938.197; E355.048) (Fig. 6)
This short stop is to point out a magnificent example of the characteristics normally observed in the study of plutons in the coastal range of Atacama. The Pan American Highway passes through the core of the Sierra de Atacama diorite, the easternmost intrusive of the Coastal Batholith at this latitude. This is a fairly homogeneous pluton with an ellipsoidal view plan and a 26 km NS-trending major axis. It was emplaced within volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Punta del Cobre Formation which comprise the massive green strata exposed to the east and south. The pluton - country rock boundary at the SE side of the pluton is marked by a strongly foliated outward -dipping high-temperature hornblende, biotite shear belt. Hornblende and biotite 40Ar/39Ar ages from the deformed host rocks and the pluton coincide within error and confirm that these are synplutonic mylonites (emplacement-related mylonites; c.f. Dallmeyer et al. 1996). Stretching lineations from these rocks are subvertical and kinematic indicators (-type porphyroclast) contained in them and S-C shear band cleavage developed in limestones to the south indicate pluton down sense of shear suggesting a floor depression emplacement mechanism. The volcanic rocks and the overlying Chaarcillo Group limestones (Nantoco Formation) that surround the intrusion are deformed into antiformal monoclines where the strata dip towards the pluton margin. One of these folds is exposed on the Sierra Fritis to the south.

Fig. 6. Geological map of the area to the noth of Sierra de Fritis (Arvalo, 2004a)

DAY 2 (10 November)

UPPER TRIASSIC CARRIZAL BAJO PLUTONIC COMPLEX AND LOWER JURASSIC ALGODONES PLUTON PLUTON ARCHITECTURE, FEEDER SYSTEMS, MINGLING BRECCIAS, MIGMATITES

Stop 1. Small hill at a side of the Panamerican highway (N6.853.360; E331.550) (Fig. 7)
To the east is a view of the Precordillera and, from N to S, the peaks Chehueque, Peineta and Pie de Gallo. Granitic rocks of the Palaeocene plutonic arc are exposed on Peineta and Pie de Gallo. In the middle distance, smooth outcrops in dark green are of the Lower Cretaceous Punta del Cobre Formation. These volcanic rocks are overlain by resistant outcrops of a brown horizon that marks the base of the Lower Cretaceous carbonate rocks of the Chaarcillo Group. Right at the sky-line, the cone-shaped Chehueque peak is made up of hornfelsic conglomerates and lavas of the continental mid-Cretaceous Cerrillos Formation. To the west the view is of the easternmost Coastal Cordillera. In the foreground diorites from the ca. 123 Ma La Higuera Plutonic Complex are exposed. In the background, granodiorite and tonalite rocks from the ca. 126 Ma Retamilla Plutonic Complex crop out. The rough exposures between are a dacitic dome complex belonging to the Punta del Cobre Formation overlain by well-stratified limestones of the Sierra La Bandera Formation. Separating the Coastal Cordillera and Precordillera is a wide plain (Llano Chacritas) which forms part of a NS alignment of isolated depressions which extend between the Copiap and Vallenar regions. This is equivalent of the northern (north of 27S) and southern (south of 33S) central valleys. A NS alignment of smooth hills made up of semi consolidated gravels (Atacama Gravels) lies parallel to the main highway. These Miocene sediments are deformed into a series of anticlines, probably the surface expression, of fault propagation faults. Such blind structures, probably correspond to a post-Miocene reactivation of a crustal-scale structural system located at the Coastal Cordillera-Precordillera boundary and also recognised for 70 km further northwards to the Inca de Oro and Copiap districts. The main displacements on this system accumulated during the mid-Cretaceous.

Stop 3. Cerro Barril (N6.891.110; E288.480) (Fig. 8)

From a headland between a small shell-fish farm and the Carrizal Bajo village a general view to the east reveals the bimodal nature of the Triassic Carrizal Bajo Plutonic Complex (CBPC). Dark grey diorites, to the north of the Quebrada Carrizal are separated from reddish granites, to the south of this valley. Detailed mapping of the plutonic complex has revealed that granite and diorite units are constrained to layers bounded by sharp contacts or by horizons of mingling breccias which involve rocks from the two compositions. To the far southeast, reddish exposures of granite (unit 2) underlie dark grey diorites (unit 1b). The contact dips 40-50 to the W. These rocks form part of the eastern limb of an upright NS-trending syncline whose gently-dipping western limb occupies the foreground. The granitic layer on the near side of the fold is thinner and is also underlain by diorite indicating that the granite is a sheet that tapers to the W. U/Pb zircon ages by Cruden et al. (2004) from the granodiorites and diorites confirm that the granodiorites (206,2 0,3 Ma) were intruded into a pre-existing dioritic layer (207,5 0,5 and 207,7 1,3 Ma). The Barril hill itself is made up of a compact package of Triassic granodiorite-diorite mingling breccias which underlies layer 1 and defines a steeply NW-dipping sheeted dyke complex interpreted to be part of the feeder system of the CBPC. The breccias are heavily intruded by a swarm of Jurassic andesitic dykes. The breccias which, in some cases become a mappable unit, are exposed as either decimetre scale blocks of gabbros and quartz diorites immersed in a granitic matrix or as a network of small dykes and irregular veinlets of felsitic material injected in the mafic rocks. They are interpreted as mingling breccias whose fragments, either granitic or dioritic, show a broad variety in size and shape. The felsic fragments range from biotite-hornblende syenogranites to tonalites and have an U/Pb zircon age of 208,20,2 Ma (Cruden et al., 2004), while the mafic fragments range from olivine gabbros to biotite quartz monzodiorites and have an U/Pb zircon age of 208,50,5 Ma (Cruden et al., 2004). Composite fabrics like the Carrizal Bajo mingling breccias occur when the felsic material that is partially or entirely liquid is intruded by contemporaneous mafic magma (Blake, 1981). The temperature gradient of the magmas results in a rapid cooling of the mafic material leading to the formation of angular gabbroic fragments. The existence of pillow-like mafic bodies with crenulate-contacts within the felsic material indicates the simultaneous existence of the bimodal components in a liquid state. The presence of internal fragmentation and jig-saw textures within the mafic lobes could therefore indicate a rapid quenching of the pillow. Moreover, the existence of apatite needles together with fine grain textures in the gabbroic fragments also suggest a rapid cooling after pillows were formed (Vernon et al., 1988). On the whole, these observations suggest that both felsic and mafic fractions are contemporaneous.

Stop 2. Road to Carrizal Bajo, near Los Colorados Mine (N6.872.650; E323.620) (Fig. 7)
To the left are the main installations of the Compaa Minera Huasco (Mina Los Colorados) which exploit an iron ore body in volcanic rocks of Punta del Cobre Formation close to a branch of the Atacama fault System (Thiele and Pinchiera, 1987). The reserves are 245 million metric tonnes with a mean grade of 48% Fe. An 40Ar/39Ar age from biotite is ca. 126,4 1,6 Ma and coincide with the age of the Retamilla Pluton of 126,2 0,4 Ma. A visit to the Los Colorados Mine has been scheduled for the day 3.

Fig.7. Geological map of the area to the south of Los Colorados Mine (from Arvalo and Welkner, in preparation)

Fig. 8. Geological map of the area to the east of Carrizal Bajo (from Arvalo and Welkner, in preparation).

Stop 4. Southern side of Quebrada La Higuera (N8.894.650; E290.375) (Fig. 8)

To the north-east the foreground is formed by massive outcrops of dioritic rocks of unit 1a, in the western part of the CBPC. In the background massive reddish outcrops belong to unit 2, in the eastern part of the CBPC. To the north, the second littoral terrace marks the top of the dyke complex which at this site intrudes heavily hornfelsitised phyllites and schists of the Devonian-Carboniferous basement (Complejo Epimetamrfico de Chaaral). This surface corresponds to the gentlydipping floor of the CBPC above which diorites of unit 1a crop out.

Stop 6. East of Quebrada El Carrizo (N6.887.225; E295.775) (Fig. 8)

In this point the eastern border of the ca. 197 Ma Algodones Pluton is exposed. This pluton is made up of granites and granodiorites with subordinate quartz diorites and has an elliptical shape in plan view. To the west this is in contact with the Carrizal Bajo Intrusive Complex in which a discrete alteration halo is developed. To the east the contact with metapelites and metapsamites of the Metamorphic Complex is marked by a subvertical cureved envelope of mylonites and migmatites with a quartz dioritic and metamorphic protolith. The intense foliation present in the shear zone gradually diminishes toward the pluton and the Metamorphic Complex. Sheared and unsheared short veins of granitic rock coexist in the shear zone and are evidence of melting during the deformation, a process probably helped by the sedimentary nature of pre-existing rocks. In the outcrop itself the shear zone defines a ENE to WNW trending foliation that dips 75-85 to the E and S respectively. A stretching lineation is defined by an alignment of flattened lumps that plunges steeply to the S. -type elements (quartz dioritic fragments) contained in it indicate west (pluton) down sense of shear. This suggests an emplacement mechanism by depression of the pluton floor.

Stop 5. Quebrada La Higuera (N6.896.375; E290.175) (Fig.8)

Strongly hornfelsified metamorphic rocks (metapelites and metapsamites) pervasively intruded by NE and ENE trending granitic and dioritic dykes and sills. Some of the granitic bodies appear to cut and extend laterally toward the floor of the CBPC (to the top of the cliff ). Mingling breccias at the contact between granitic and dioritic dykes like those in Cerro Barril are absent. This might be because the diorites were already crystallised at the time of granite emplacement.

DAY 3 (11 November)

LOWER CRETACEOUS INFIERNILLO AND RETAMILLA PLUTONIC COMPLEXES PLUTON ARCHITECTURE, PRE AND SYN-EMPLACEMENT EXTENSIONAL FAULTING, POST EMPLACEMENT CONTRACTIONAL FAULTING Stop 1. Sosita Pass (N6.855.375; E319.960) (Fig. 9)
To the east is a general view of the central depression (hopefully visible and not obscured by the Camanchaca (poor mans mantle), the local name for the coastal mist). Farther east the Vallenar Precordillera, is seen from which the Cerro Chehueque and the Cerro La Peineta stand out. If we are lucky we will be able to see on the skyline some of the highest peaks of the High Andes Chilean Puna). To the west is a general view of a series of NS trending ranges which coincide with the different plutonic belts and their respective country rocks. In the foreground granodiorites from the ca. 126 Ma Retamilla Plutonic Complex are coloured in yellow by albitic alteration. Farther west, in brown, Jurassic-Cretaceous volcanics crop out (Punta del Cobre Formation) stratigraphicaly underlying Valanginian marine limestones of Sierra La Bandera Formation. These rocks form a series of thrust sheets tectonically transported to the west forming a positive flower structure (Los Colorado Fold and Thrust Belt). The master fault of this structural system (Los Colorados Fault) cannot be seen from this point, although its trace marks the western boundary of the Retamilla Pluton and coincides with minor mining activity and the Tatara Pass. Although Punta del Cobre volcanics underlie the Sierra La Bandera limestones stratigraphically, in Sierra La Bandera they remain structurally below the limestones in the thrust system due to out-of sequence-thrusting that leaves the structure in a young-over-old relationship. At stop 5 we will be return to this point in detail. Farther to the west, in reddish colours, granodiorite from the ca. 130 Ma belt of granodiorites from the Infiernillo Plutonic Complex and farther still to the west a view of the outcrop of the Lower Jurassic volcanics (La Negra Formation). The pass itself is built on volcanics and volcaniclastics of the JurassicLower Cretaceous Punta del Cobre Formation. Immediately to the south is the old open pit of the Sosita mine, an old (active up to year 1950) iron deposit where almost pure magnetite (magnetite-apatite) dykes (red) can be distinguished from surrounding actinolite haloes (green).

Stop 3. Llano El Sauce (N6.858.164; E307.773) (Fig. 9)

At this point the western border of the 130 Ma Infiernillo Plutonic Complex is exposed. All the remaining stops are located to the east which will help us to have an appropriate light during the return. To the west, a massive panel of Lower Jurassic volcanics deformed into a 40-50 east-dipping antiformal monocline is exposed. The host rocks dip steeply towards the pluton margin. To the east, in the low-lying foreground, whitish outcrops of granodioritegranite from the lowermost unit of the Infiernillo Plutonic Complex (IPC) are exposed. To the east, in the low-lying foreground, whitish outcrops of granodiorite-granite from the lowermost unit of the Infiernillo Plutonic Complex (IPC) are exposed. Overlying these rocks, a coarse grained diorite forms part of the peaks Sierra Los Helados, Cerro Colorado and Cerro Infiernillo. The contact between these two end member components of the IPC is a sharp surface which steepens to the east. It is horizontal near Sierra Los Helados and steepens up to 50 to the east. This boundary and the contact of the diorite with rocks of the Punta del Cobre Formation in the pluton roof, are coplanar, so that the diorite has a tabular geometry. Although the floor of the granodiorite cannot be seen, we assume the granodiorite body also has a layered shape. Stratigraphic separation across the pluton roof further north, in the Astillas mine area, imply that the pluton was emplaced along the line of a pre-existing fault with a normal-slip separation down to the east. The closest exposures are made up of an enclave-rich dark granodiorite with a strong subvertical to W dipping, NNE-trending, high temperature foliation. Rounded, blocky and flattened, decimetre to meter scale, fine grained dioritic enclaves show all types of heat transference features: mingling textures, granitic back-veins, melted, jigsaw and lobate margins. Thin sections indicate that the plagioclase and hornblende foliation have a magmatic state alignment of crystals upon which a coplanar crystalplastic fabric was superimposed. A subtle to, in places, strong linear element made up of hornblende and plagioclase alignments plunging steeply down-dip to the west can also be observed. Conjugate S-C (shear band) type fabrics imply that there has been a late bulk flattening strain in the shear zone. -type shear-sense indicators in high-temperature fabrics in thin section consistently show an east (pluton)-down shear sense. 100 m to the west the plutonic rocks have a sharp boundary with strongly foliated andesitic protomylonites cut by undeformed, NNE trending andesitic dykes. The mylonites have a NNE trending foliation dipping 75-85 to the west. A stretching mineral lineation defined by biotite flakes and hornblende needles plunges 70 to 85 to the north. Observe the short, K-feldspar hornblende-rich veins orthogonal to the stretching lineations. Beautifully exposed - type porphyroclasts and S-C shear bands are consistent and indicate east down (pluton) sense of shear, the same kinematic indications are shown by the crystalplastic fabric in the granites. The pluton-down sense of shear shown by the shear zones in the host rocks and the granitic rocks is consistent with the roll-over of the layering towards the contact in the antiformal monocline in the host rocks. These characteristics suggest an emplacement mechanism by depression of the pluton floor during fault reactivation.

Stop 2. Sosita Mine, optional (N6.855.150; E319.849) (Fig. 9)

The northern end of the main open pit of the Sosita mine. To the west, strongly actinolitised andesite----dacite host rocks are exposed in which up to 10 cm-long actinolite crystal known as piedra palo (stick stone) by the local miners can be seen. This face also displays a 5 m thick dyke, subsidiary to the main ore body, of almost pure magnetite cross cutting the country rock. To the east, the remains of the ore body can be seen. In this case the ore is made up of pure magnetite (red by oxidation in surface) and apatite (scarce). With a bit of luck, up to 1 cm thick pyramidal crystals of apatite can still be found.

Fig. 9. Geological map of the area to the west of Sosita Mine (from Arvalo and Welkner, in preparation)

Stop 4. Front of Cerro Colorado (N6.857.944; E311.043) (Fig. 9)

Looking to the east, half a way to the top of the Sierra Los Helados and Cerro Los Colorados a strong contrast between upper reddish, blocky in surface, diorites (layer 2) and lower whitish, smooth in surface, granodiorites (layer 1) can be observed. The boundary, though not clearly exposed, appears flat and sharp to the south. The nearby upper diorites are actinolitised and intruded by granite dykes.

This sequence has been deformed by a series of folds and thrusts to the west. To the south the western limb of an anticline is observed. The eastern limb of this structure has been truncated by the Los Colorados fault, whose trace can be followed southward to the Tatara pass. The anticline can also be traced to the north. There, the western limb is shared by a broad syncline whose western limb has been thrust over older volcanics and volcaniclastics from Punta del Cobre Formation (the syncline hinge, preserved at the bottom of the valley, has been displaced westward by a minor thrust). The young over old thrust relationship implies out-of-sequence faulting and is evidence for precontractional, east-down displacements along the fault surfaces. This extensional faulting would have occurred prior the emplacement of the Retamilla Plutonic Complex and it has been documented farther to the south, in Quebrada Chaaral. The emplacement of the Retamilla Plutonic Complex probably occurred through the subsidence of the pluton floor via the normal-slip reactivation of a pre-existing Los Colorados Fault, in a similar way that the IPC was emplaced, but the pre-emplacement stratigraphic separation has been neutralised during subsequent inversion as the fold-thrust belt developed.

Stop 4a. South Cerro Colorado, optional (N6.855.606; E312.317) Stop 5. Sierra La Bandera (N6.855.952; E316.619) (Fig. 9)
An overview to the east towards Sierra Sosita and the pass visited during the morning (stop point 1). This magnificent view shows the flat roof of the ca. 126 Ma Retamilla Plutonic Complex indicated by the sharp contact between lower smooth whitish to yellowish outcrops of plutonic rocks and silicified and mined volcanic and volcaniclastics rocks of Punta del Cobre Formation and limestones of Sierra La Bandera above exposed to the far NE. At this side of the Retamilla Plutonic Complex, slightly silicified well layered calcareous mudstones from Sierra La Bandera are interbedded with a thick package of conglomerates and sandstones crops out.

Stop 6. Visit to the Los Colorados Mine (Fig. 7)

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DAY 4 (12 November)

CHEHUEQUE PLUTONIC COMPLEX ARCHITECTURE OF TERTIARY PLUTONS, EMPLACEMENT V/S POST EMPLACEMENT CONTRACTIONAL STRUCTURES Stop 1. Quebrada Jilguero (N6.837.130; 339.446) (Fig. 10)
This stop gives an overview of an E-W section through the JurassicLower Cretaceous sequences deformed into a 20-30 E dipping homocline. To the west brownish, rather massive, outcrops of the bimodal volcanic and volcaniclastic Punta del Cobre Formation with some impure calcareous horizons interbedded into the sequence can be seen. To the east, are exposures of well layered pale-yellow calcilutites from the Totoralillo Formation (Chaarcillo Group) interstratified with green sandstones lying on top of the Punta del Cobre volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. On top of the calcilutites massive thick-bedded brownish limestones from Pabelln Formation, the highest unit of the Chaarcillo Group. Observe folding of the Totoralillo limestones in the Sierra Los Pirpiques. It corresponds to minor asymmetric folds associated with fault-propagation and short-cut thrusts at the footwall of the Agua de los Burros Fault (donkey spring- water fault) (Moscoso and Mpodozis, 1988), a major steeply E-dipping shear zone marked by calcareous mylonites at the Chaarcillo-Cerrillos boundary. Shear sense indicators in down-dip lineations within the calcareous mylonites show that the young Cerrillos rocks were thrust to the west over older Chaarcillo limestones. This out-of-sequence relationship implies that the shear zone correspond to a pre-existing extensional fault reactivated later as a W vergent reverse thrust. Further east, toward the skyline, well-layered granitic units of the Chehueque plutonic complex with cooling joints (Cerro La Peineta) over and underlie volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks from the Cerrillos Formation. In the immediate foreground on the south side of the Qebrada, the ca. 98 Ma Jilguero biotite monzodiorite is exposed intruding volcanics from Punta del Cobre Formation. Immediately to the front a thin bed of Miocene gravels (Atacama Gravels) covers the plutonic rocks. Observe the flat erosion surface that dissects the top of the gravels and partially erodes the granites. This surface forms part of the Atacama Pediment: an erosional surface that extends throughout the Atacama Region and marks a period of relative calm after a vigorous aggradational stage during the Andean Uplift during the Middle Miocene.

Stop 2. End of Quebrada Tranca Azul (N6.837.662; E339.965) (Fig. 10)

Quebrada Jilguero divides in its upper part into the Quebrada Tranca Azul (northern branch) and Quebrada El Carbn to the south. A traverse along either branch takes in a section through the Chaarcillo foldthrust belt in the Vallenar district and crosses the steeply-dipping belt which lies at the eastern margin of the Palaeocene plutonic arc (Agua de los Burros Fault). Both sections reveal an increase in the general dip of the rocks from c. 25 in the west to vertical in the east near the western margin of the Palaeocene plutonic suite. The maintained gravel road to Las Morteros follows Quebrada El Carbn, and access to the exposures there is straightforward. Quebrada Tranca Azul boasts some spectacular exposures but is not accessible by vehicle. Access involves a walk of +/- 10 km. It does not involve steep inclines but may not be practicable if it is very warm. We will make a decision on the itinerary that we will follow on the day, depending on weather conditions.

Stop 2a. Quebrada Tranca Azul (N6.837.662; E339.965 to N6.838.284; E343.373)

In the lower part of the quebrada massive, recrystallised limestones interlayered within Punta del Cobre Formation are folded by an open, west-vergent fold pair. This is a tip-line fold related to a thrust that outcrops along strike to the N. There is a steeply-dipping, weak disjunctive cleavage in the hinge zone of the anticline. Strongly cleaved calcareous mudstones and volcaniclastic rocks (Totoralillo Formation) overlie the massive, recrystallised limestones (N6.838284; E343373). Cleavage development has obscured bedding in the mudstones. The contact between strongly cleaved and weakly/uncleaved rocks is sharp and dips gently E. A (thrust) faulted contact is suspected, but is difficult to demonstrate.

Stop 2b. Quebrada Tranca Azul (N6.838.373; E343.717)

The Qda narrows to a gorge here. Impressive cliffs on the S side exhibit intense, steeply-dipping cleavage in calcareous mudstones. There are vague traces of bedding which appears to be folded but it is difficult to recognise the structures. On the N side of the Qda, clean water-washed exposures (in 2003) show isoclinal folds in thin chert bands interpreted to represent transposed bedding. The strong planar fabric in the limestones is axial planar to the folds. The intensity of the fabric reinforces the interpretation that the contact to the west, between weakly/uncleaved rocks and intensely cleavage rocks, is a structural and metamorphic break. The intensely foliated mudstones contain spectacular boudinaged meta-andesite dykes. Individual boudins show large separations demonstrating that the intense fabric does indeed represent a very high strain. Dykes up to 1m-thick are disrupted into asymmetric pods with a east-down shear sense. Asymmetric boudins of the chert bands and S-C fabrics also reveal an E-down sense of shear.

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Fig. 10. Geology of the area to the east of Vallenar (from Arvalo and Chvez, in preparation)

Stop 2c Quebrada Tranca Azul (N6.838.830; 344.511)

Traversing east from Stop 2b, and going structurally up the section, the intensity of the fabric decreases and bedding becomes more obvious in shales with thin calcareous mudstones. Asymmetric fold and cleavage vergence is to the west. The black shales contain chert bands characteristic of the Pabelln Formation of the Chaarcillo Group. At Stop 2c, immediately beyond a small gap in the exposure, strongly foliated bioclastic limestones contain a strong, down-dip stretching lineation. An intense mylonitic foliation has reappeared and is parallel to the bedding. The rocks contain spectacular asymmetric boudinaged dykes like those at Stop 2b. The dykes are chlorite-actinolite schists, but were originally presumably basaltic andesites. Separation between the boudins is extreme and is consistent with very high strain. The asymmetry of the boudins is consistently east-side-down. The contact between the essentially non-metamorphic shales and cherts of the Pabilln Formation a few metres to the west implies that the mylonitic and metamorphic limestones have been thrust to the west over a nonmetamorphic footwall. The stratigraphic and structural relationships imply that cleaved and uncleaved/non-metamorphic panels of Chaarcillo group have been duplicated by thrusting to the west. Just upstream from this waypoint the Cerrillos Formation is exposed. The rocks are polymict conglomerates with a strong ductile fabric defined by clasts flattened parallel to the bedding.

Stop 2d Quebrada Tranca Azul (N6.839.125; E346.025)

Two km farther east along Quebrada Tranca Azul a steeply-dipping, a 50 m-wide horizon of recrystallised limestone is present within the Cerrillos Formation. The significance of this strip of limestone within the Cerrillos Formation is debated. It may be a thrust-repeated slice of the Chaarcillo Group within the Cerrillos Formation. On the other hand, freshwater limestones have been described from the Cerrillos Formation in the Copiap area, and this could be an example of such a horizon. Both the upper an lower contacts of the limestone horizon can be examined at this Stop. The Cerrillos Formation below the limestone comprises massive andesites containing silicified lumps. The andesite is in contact with strongly-foliated, fine-grained limestone which is very impure (volcanogenic component?). The andesite is either intrusive or a flow within the Cerrillos Formation but its margin is affected by the cleavage. In any case, there is no evidence that the contact is faulted. The foliation in the limestone is a penetrative mylonitic foliation with a down-dip lineation. The rock contains a prominent S-C fabric with an E-down shear sense. Away from the contact, to the east, the foliation is more planar. Near the upper contact there is a 20m-wide belt of extremely-platy limestones with an intense down-dip stretching fabric. The contact with overlying Cerrillos Formation is not exposed in the quebrada floor, but a few metres to the east of the platy limestones volcaniclastic sandstones contain only a weak, anastomosing, disjunctive cleavage. 50m farther east up the quebrada there are spectacular water-washed (in 2003) exposures of polymict conglomerates. Cobbles of brown limestone (Chaarcillo Group), red cherts (possibly derived from the

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La Negra Formation), microgranite and diorite (from the Cretaceous plutonic arc) show that the Coastal Cordillera was progressively exhumed during deposition of the Cerrillos Formation. The cobbles are well-rounded but poorly-sorted. In the coarse beds, the cobbles are supported by a coarse sandstone matrix. Cobble imbrication indicates current transport to the south. Farther up the quebrada propylitic alteration is prominent which has largely replaced the volcanic cobbles by epidote. The rocks young to the east.

Stop 4. Sierra La Peineta (N6.838.697; E347.269) (Fig. 9)

To the west is a view of the Rio Huasco valley, probably hidden by the Camanchaca in its lower part, and the Coastal Ranges to the far west. In the foreground there is an E-dipping homocline formed by well layered mainly yellow Lower Cretaceous Chaarcillo limestones underlying mid-Cretaceous continental clastic and volcanic Cerrillos Formation in green tones. A thick, yellow package of subvertical, strongly foliated limestones within the Cerrillos stands out in the distance. To the east, the southern part of the Palaeocene Chehueque Plutonic Complex lies above a thick sequence of conglomerates and volcaniclastic rocks of Cerrillos Formation. Its base is parallel to bedding in the Cerrillos. In the closest of the two peaks, to the north (Cordn El Cura) and to the south (Cerro La Peineta) of Quebrada Veladero, clear layering in the granitic rocks can be appreciated. From this view point two first order compositional layers can easily be appreciated. A lower pinkish, blocky in outcrop, monzodiorite (layer 1) with a coarse layering (second order) immediately overlies the volcanics. Notice the perfect concordance between the plutonic layering and the bedding in the volcanic rocks in the northern hill. Above is a much lighter microgranite layer (layer 2) with well-developed granite layers (second order layering) in which a characteristic vertical jointing develops. This latter comb type characteristic gives the name to the hill (Peineta=comb). Farther east and at the top of the microgranites three more compositionally distinctive layers (not visible from this point) have been recognised and mapped. To the west the strong contrast between multicoloured Cerrillos rocks and massive brownish Chaarcillo limestones marks the Agua de los Burros Fault.

Stop 3a. Quebrada El Carbn, optional (N6.836.708; E343.856)

From Stop 1 in Qda Jilguero the dip gradually increase eastward. At this locality, steeply-dipping limestones of the Chaarcillo Group on the N-side of the road with discordances at a steeply-dipping (thrust?) fault can be seen.

Stop 3b Quebrada El Carbn, optional (N6.837.385; 345.023)

To the east the rocks become progressively more highly cleaved. Often the calcareous mudstones are very finely laminated and it can be difficult to recognise whether this is a ductile fabric or a fine bedding lamination. At many localities, steeply-inclined, tight to isoclinal minor folds with the planar fabric in the axial plane demonstrate that the planar fabric is a foliation. The minor fold vergence is consistently to the west.

Stop 3c Quebrada El Carbn, optional (N6.836.996; E344.625)

Steeply-dipping contact between Cerrillos Formation and the Chaarcillo Group. The Cerrillos contains horizons of conglomerates and brecciated volcanics with a feldspar-phyric matrix. The volcanic rocks contain a rough, disjunctive foliation but in conglomeritic horizons, the clasts are flattened with a weak down-dip elongation in the foliation plane. The exposures in the Chaarcillo Group are rather dust-covered near the road but are calcareous mudstones with an intense foliation. Although less spectacular than in the Qda Tranca Azul section, the limestones contain boudinaged andesite dykes implying a large amout of down-dip extension. There is one clear example of an asymmetric boudin with a east-down sense of shear.

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DAY 5 (13 November)

ARCHITECTURE OF CRETACEOUS PLUTONS LA BORRACHA PLUTONIC COMPLEX Stop 1. Pampa Medanosa, optional, depending on the departure time (N6.992.145; E383.969) (Fig. 11)
General view of one of the most beautiful isolated plains (llanos) at the boundary between the Coastal Cordillera and Copiap Precordillera. To the west is exposed the Sierra Partida pericline (double plunging anticline) made up by white and red coloured marls of the Upper Valanginian to Barremian Bandurrias Formation, a mostly continental, laterally equivalent unit of the Chaarcillo Group. The deformation has been described as produced by a mid-Cretaceous (90-80 Ma) leftlateral transpression stage mainly recorded at the boundary between the Coastal Cordillera and Copiap Precordillera in the Copiap region (Arvalo and Grocott, 1997) and correlated with the fold-thrust belt in the Vallenar region. To the east are outcrops of the eastern most pluton of the Costal Batholith at this latitude (La Borracha Plutonic Complex) and one of the best examples of multilayered intrusion within the Costal Cordillera. This body is internally made up of at least 5 different compositional layers all dipping 22-28 to the ESE. A further two layers have recently been mapped to the west. The compositions varies from granite (to the bottom) to monzodiorite. To the south there is a clear view of the uppermost layer of microgranite (layer 5) with a pinkish colour, and dipping 22 to the E above green monzodiorites from layer 4. The boundary is marked by the strong colour change from whitish upper rocks to greenish lower rocks. Farther east the microgranites underlie conformably sediments from the Bandurrias Formation. Two kilometres down the road a pre-Columbus trail known as the Camino del Inca (Inca Trail) cross cut the road. This old track was used by tax officers, messengers (called chasquis in old quechua) and llama caravans from the capital of the old Inca Empire, El Cuzco, located ca. 2.100 km further north in the neighbouring country, Peru.

Fig. 11. Geology of the area to the north of Copiap (from Arvalo, 2004b)

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