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Introduction
The pioneer work of Barazangi & Isacks (1976,
1979) described the first two well documented segments along the Andes without late Cenozoic arc
magmatism and adscribed them to flat-slab subduction (Fig. 1). This cold subduction was associated
with a subhorizontal Benioff zone identified in the
retroarc area that was characterized by large and frequent intracrustal earthquakes driven by important
basement shortening. As a result, important foreland
basement uplifts took place in late Cenozoic times
giving rise to the present Sierras Pampeanas
(Gonzalez Bonorino 1950; Jordan et al. 1983a, b).
Another detailed seismotectonic study in the northern Andes recognized a flat-slab segment in the
northern Colombian Andes with similar characteristics (Pennington 1981).
Multidisciplinary research performed during
the last two decades, mainly based on seismological
and geological data on the continents, and oceanographic studies in the adjacent areas, depict the
present setting of these three segments, where
shallowing of the Benioff zone was closely related
to collision of aseismic ridges (Pilger 1981, 1984).
However, it was only recently that geological
evidence was obtained along the Andes showed
steepening of past subhorizontal subduction.
The objective of the present study is to characterize geological processes linked to shallowing and
steepening of the subduction zones and their
geological consequences. We aim to characterize
these parameters along the Andes in order to be
able to identify palaeo flat slab segments during
the Phanerozoic. Based on these premises, three
palaeo flat slabs were identified in Cenozoic times.
Even further, it is speculated that a late Paleozoic
flat slab could have developed in the Central
Andes. These new data enhance the importance of
flat-slab subduction through time, and indicate that
it is not an anomalous feature of the present-day
margin, but has been an important feature of the
geological record and its frequency is higher
than expected.
From: MURPHY , J. B., KEPPIE , J. D. & HYNES , A. J. (eds) Ancient Orogens and Modern Analogues.
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 327, 31 54.
DOI: 10.1144/SP327.3 0305-8719/09/$15.00 # The Geological Society of London 2009.
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Fig. 1. Present flat-slab segments along the Andes (modified from Barazangi & Isacks 1976; Pennington 1981;
Ramos 1999a; Gutscher et al. 2000).
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Fig. 2. Pampean flat-slab segment with indication of isobaths to the Nazca oceanic plate based on Cahill & Isacks
(1992) (compare with the Benioff geometry proposed by Pardo et al. 2002 and Alvarado et al. 2005a, b); main
basement uplifts of Sierras Pampeanas (Jordan et al. 1989), and location of the Precordillera fold and thrust belt
(Ramos et al. 2002).
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Fig. 3. Evolution of arc magmatism through time in the Pampean flat-slab: (a) Representative ages after Ramos et al.
(2002) with indication of the isobath of 200 km depth corresponding to the oceanic slab; (b) Cross-section at crustal
scale showing the expansion and migration of the main volcanic centers during the shallowing of the oceanic slab.
Main elevations in the High Andes not related to the Quaternary volcanoes are also indicated.
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Fig. 4. Subsidence rates in the proximal, intermediate and distal areas of the Bermejo broken foreland basin, with
indication of the beginning of flat-slab subduction at these latitudes (modified from Ramos 1999b). Seismostratigraphic
data after Reynolds et al. (1990).
by Dorbath et al. (1986, 1991). This survey demonstrated that the subduction zone starts under the
trench with a 308 dip until approximately 100 km
depth (Fig. 6), where it becomes horizontal
beneath the Eastern Cordillera and the Subandean
zone (Dorbath et al. 1991). Pilger (1984) showed
the kinematics between the Nazca Ridge collision
and the shallowing of the central Peru segment.
This region was examined again by Gutscher et al.
(1999b), who challenged the previous proposal
and instead of the collision of an aseismic ridge proposed that the large Peruvian flat-slab segment was
the result of the Nazca Ridge and the Inca Plateau
subduction. Precise timing of the Nazca Ridge collision, and constraints in the length of the ridge,
support that collision started at c. 11.2 Ma at about
118S, moving later to the present position, as
depicted by Hampel (2002). The segment north of
this latitude requires a collision of a plateau or
other oceanic feature.
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Fig. 5. The Aconcagua fold and thrust belt in the Central Andes at 328S latitude with variations on shortening and
propagation rates through time (after Ramos et al. 1996b and Hilley et al. 2004) and the subsidence rates in the foreland
basin after Irigoyen et al. (2002).
Bucaramanga segment
The early proposal of Pennington (1981), based on
limited seismological data, showed a shallow subduction zone beneath northern Colombia. This fact
has been confirmed by the seismological studies of
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Fig. 6. (a) General features of the Peruvian flat slab based on Hampel (2002) and Aleman (2006). See the coincidence
between the projection of the Nazca Ridge into the foreland and the uplift of the Fitzcarrald arch and associated alluvial
fan (Espurt et al. 2007). (b) Geometry of Benioff-Wadatti zone beneath central Peru at 14 128S latitude (based on
Dorbarth et al. 1991).
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Fig. 7. Seismic activity and main morphostructural units of the Bucaramanga flat slab based on Dimate et al. (2003).
Volcanic arc based on Mendez Fajury (1989) and retroarc volcanoes based on Cepeda et al. (2004).
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Fig. 8. Segments that recorded flat subduction in Late Eocene to Early Miocene times that correspond to the present
Central Volcanic Zone (based on James & Sacks 1999 and Kay et al. 1999).
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Payenia segment
Arc related rocks were emplaced more than 550 km
away from the trench during Late Miocene times,
from 348300 to 378450 S (Fig. 9), suggesting
shallow subduction processes at that time (Kay
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Fig. 9. Expansion of the magmatic arc during the Middle to Late Miocene showing the location of exhumed andesitic to
dacitic arc rocks on the San Rafael block. Subsequent extensional structures, within plate basaltic flows, and huge
rhyolitic calderas and ignimbritic flows along the main Andes suggest steepening of the subducted slab.
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Fig. 10. Distribution of Upper Palaeozoic magmatic rocks and deformation in the southern Central Andes (based
on Caminos 1979; Ramos et al. 1988; Varela et al. 1993; Mpodozis & Ramos 1989; Mpodozis & Kay 1990). Maximum
expansion of arc volcanic rocks in the Early Permian was followed by subsequent extensional regime associated
with the Choiyoi volcanic province.
44
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flank of the Andes. Extensional deformation is
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associated at depth with crustal attenuation as well
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as anomalous sublithospheric heating inferred by
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teleseismic and tomographic analysis (Gilbert
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et al. 2006; Yuan et al. 2006). Gravimetric studies
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show high positive residual anomalies with areas
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submitted to extension, inferring an area of continu762
ous asthenospheric upwelling in coincidence with
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the area of previous arc expansion (Folguera et al.
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2007b). This extensional setting hosted rhyolitic
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associations derived from crustal melts at the
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highest collapsed sector of the Andes in the Las
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Loicas trough (Fig. 9) (Hildreth et al. 1984, 1991,
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1999), whereas in foreland sectors it was associated
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with poorly differentiated mantle derived products
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(Gonzalez Daz 1972; Rossello et al. 2002; Kay
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et al. 2006b).
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These two contrasting stages of deformation and
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arc dynamics, which occurred during the last 15 Ma
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between 348300 and 378450 S, point to a scenario
in which progressive shallow subduction from
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155 Ma was followed by sudden slab steepening
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during the last 4 Ma, associated with the partial col777
lapse of the orogen at these latitudes.
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Palaeozoic flat-slab subduction segment?
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Palaeozoic deformations exhumed by Andean
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events through the Southern Central Andes have
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been connected to collisional episodes (Ramos
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et al. 1984; Ramos 2004). Early Permian defor787
mations of the San Rafael tectonic phase have also
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been related to collision of an unidentified X
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terrane (Mpodozis & Kay 1990). This deformation
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exhibits some peculiarities in the foreland sedimen791
tation and is associated with a phase of orogenic col792
lapse that led Mpodozis & Kay (1990) to propose
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structural instabilities after orogenic development.
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The analysis of the late Palaeozoic orogenies in
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other areas of Gondwana led Cawood & Buchan
796 Q2 (2007) to argue that deformation is not always
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related to a collisional event. Furthermore, in this
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segment of the Andes, little attention has been
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paid to coeval arc dynamics, which constitutes a
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direct indicator of Benioff zone variations through
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time. The Early Permian San Rafael tectonic phase
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is associated with unique processes that resemble
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more those of Andean tectonics than those occurred
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in Palaeozoic times at these latitudes (Ramos &
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Folguera 2007): (1) arc related volcanic assem806
blages cover diachronically Early Permian com807
pressive deformation features; (2) Early Permian
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arc abnormally expanded to extend through the
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entire region and probably its front shifted to the
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east; (3) extensional processes followed the main
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phase of orogenic building and intraplate rhyolitic
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sequences were erupted through the area of previous
arc expansion; and (4) resetting of remanent magnetization in the area suggests abnormal lithospheric
heating that preceeds eruption of intraplate melts.
These facts point to a flat subduction cycle in
Early Permian times, followed by slab steepening
and consequent orogenic collapse in the Late
Permian to Early Triassic, as proposed by Martnez
et al. (2006).
Sedimentary evolution. Late Carboniferous Early
Permian 70008000 m thick marine to non-marine
sequences are hosted along the eastern slope of the
Principal Cordillera of Mendoza and San Juan
(Fig. 10). Those are locally covering a Late Proterozoic basement indicating an important erosional
hiatus prior to their deposition. The broad area
uplifted in the Main Andes was the source of these
sequences, which are characterized by coarseningup cycles. This episode of mountain building, known
as the San Rafael orogenic phase (280 270 Ma:
Azcuy & Caminos 1987; Llambas et al. 1993;
Cortes & Kleiman 1999), ended in the Lower
Permian with an important angular unconformity.
From west to east these sequences were gathered
in the Loma de los Morteritos and El Plata formations, with palynomorphs indicative of a Late
Carboniferous to Early Permian age. These units,
located on the eastern slope of the Frontal Cordillera, formed the maximum depocentre of the Late
Palaeozoic in the region (Polanski 1958; Caminos
1965; Folguera et al. 2004b). To the east, Late
Palaeozoic thicknesses fall in the western Precordillera region (Fig. 10), where several coarsening-up
tectonostratigraphic units do not reach 500 m.
These sequences, as determined by invertebrate
and palynomorph associations (Ottone 1987), are
coeval with the magmatic rocks and the structural
deformation of the region.
This main depocentre of several thousand metres
flanked the Early Permian belt of deformation, and
pinch out to the platform area. The foreland basin
started with shore sediments over which deltaic
bodies and turbiditic lobes prograded, ending with
braided fluvial systems (Heredia et al. 2002). Moreover, the dominance of westward palaeocurrents
and lithoclasts of crystalline basement indicate
that the basement may have been exhumed east of
the Early Permian orogenic front, potentially as an
incipient Sierras Pampeanas system, similar to the
present setting of the Pampean flat slab (Fig. 2).
Lower Permian mesosiliceous lavas are part of
the basal section of the Choiyoi Group. The upper
part of this unit accumulated either in the Frontal
Cordilleran or Precordilleran areas in a contrasting
tectonic regime when compared to the basal
member. As revealed by the structural style of the
Andean fold and thrust belt at these latitudes, the
main basement thrusts are the result of tectonic
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Fig. 11. Segments that have experienced shallowing of the subduction zone during Cenozoic times along the Andes.
Note the almost continuous outline of flat-slabs.
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References
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