Second ISAG, Oxford

(UK),21-231911993

295

GEODYNAMICS OF ANDEANBASINS: AN EXAMPLEFROMTHE

SALAR DE ATACAMA,BASIN,NORTHERNCHILE

Stephen FLINT1,
Adrian HARTLEY2,
Peter TURNER3, Liz JOLLEY3
Guillermo CHONG4

1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Liverpool, P.O. Box 147,

Liverpool L69 3BX, U.K.
2. Department of Geology & Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen,
Aberdeen AB9 2UE, U.K.
3. School of Earth Sciences, University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363,
BirminghamBI5 2TT, U.K.
4. Departamento de Geociencias, UinversidadCatolica del Norte,
Antofagasta, Chile

KEY WORDS: Chronostratigraphy, Central Andes, Extensional tectonics,

Basin analysis

INTRODUCTION
We describe the historyof the Salar de Atacama, long-lived
a
(Permo-Triassic- Recent) nonmarine
basin which, owing to the geodynamic developrnentof the Central Andes, has evolved from a
non-arc-related rift basin, through cornplex "arc-related" stages,to a Miocene-Recent forearc
basin. We atternpt to demonstrate that sedimentary basins
at convergent plate margins preserve
the most cornpleterecord of the local geodynamic historyof the orogen and their analysis is an
essential component in studies of crustal evolution. Our database includes over one hundred
logged sections (some20 km of stratigraphy), field maps, and the interpretationsof aerial
photographs/satelliteimages and several regional seismic lines acrossthe basin.
GEOLOGICAL SETTlNG

The Salarde Atacama has along geological history,from Permo-Triassic to Recent,al1 of it

non-marine. The composite, approximately
10 km of stratigraphy can be divided into five
unconforrnity-boundedmegasequences (Fig. 1). These are the Permo-Triassic Peine Formation
and equivalents, the latest Cretaceous-Eocene Purilactis Group
(Hartley et al., 1992), the
Oligocene-earliest Miocene Paciencia Group (Flint, 1985),the early Miocene-Plio-PleistoceneSan
Bartolo GroupNilama Formation (Jolleyet al., 1990) and the Holocenealluvial fans and saliferous
deposits. The major types and periods of faulting and folding within the composite stratigraphy of
the Salar de Atacamainchde:1. Permian listric normal faults, striking north-south, downthrowingto the east.
2. Late Cretaceous reactivation of the Permian fault system,resulting in

thickening ofthe Purilactis Groupin the hanging wallsof these faults.

3. Local intense folding of the Purilactis Group in the northwest of the
basin, linked to dextral strike-slipfaulting (late Eocene).
4. East to southeast thin-skinned thrusting and related folding in the early
Miocene.
5. Neotectonic thrusting of Tertiary strata over Holocene gravels.
Outcrop and particularly seisrnic reflection data indicate that the dominant
control on basin
formation and deposition of the bulk of the Salar basin fil1 was extensional to oblique extensional

faulting. Our seismic stratigraphie analysis indicates 1566

m+ of pre-Purilactis Groupsedimentary
rocks, characterized by discontinusus reflectors. This earliest basin
fil1 unit shows large thiekness
variations across the Salar de Atacama area; these variations coineide with the Wsitions
of several
large faults. Thickening ofstratal units towardsthe faults indicates synsedimentary fault aetivity,
whieh defined several sub-basins. The Cordon
de Lila was a basernent high during this time.
We
think that the wholePerm-Triassic succession represents a major episode ofrifting; theinterna1
unconformities interpreted from seismic
data and in the limited outcropsare interpreted as the
produds of discrete extensional faulting events. Our
data also indicate that Permo-Triassie
extension heredid not continue into the Jurassic,
as in the case of the Dorneyko basin to the West,
as no marinestrata were deposited. We thus mnclude that the El Bordo area represents a
Paleozoie basement kigh, separatingthe easterly Sala "failed rift" from the western Domeyko
basin. TheSalar basin thus reeeived
some continental detritus during theIate Triassic but had
A seismic interpretationof lines across
probably filledIo depositional base level by Jurassic time.
the northern Salar basin (Macellariet al. 1991) defined five unconformity-bounded depositional
rnegasequences but the inferred stratigraphyof their units1 and 2 and ties to westernoutcrops
differ frorn ours for the Paleozoie through Purilactis Group.

We consider that the dominance of extensional tectonicsin the Late Paleozoic-early

Miocene of the Central Andeanbelt is due to several causes (Fig. 2):
1) the late Permian hosted the splitting
of Pangea, due to thermal dorning and rifting (Mpodomis
and May, 1992). Thusthe early Salar basin extension was driven
by stretching in a setting with no
direct evidence of subduction
or volcanic arc aetivity. Continued extension
and thermal
subsidence tookplace through the Triassic and early Jurassic.
2) following middle Cretaceousmntraetion and uplift of the proto Cordillera deDomeyko (driven by
the openingof the South Atlanticocean), Purilactis Group depositionwas controlled by extension,
now in a back-arc basin setting. This extension re-used
the Perm-Triassic fault systerns.
3) extensionand oblique slip during PacienciaGroup time (Oligocene) wa8partially controlled by
collapse of the Cordillerade Dorneyko, which had been uplifted again during late Escene
transpression.
We therefore proposethat the Salar de Atacama stratigraphypreserves a series of
"basins" whieh, swing to the longevity of the Andean margin and hemisphere-scale tectonic
evolution, have evolvedfrom a continental rift, through a back-arc basinand possible inter-arc
stages to a Late Tertiary-Recent forearc basin. Accumulationof the sedimentary succession was
rnainly dueto extensional faulting. Important but short-duration contractional
episodes do link to
known first order plate margin changes (Fig. 2) but their stratigraphieeffect appears to be restricted
to uplift/erosisn rather than creation of significant flexural subsidence.

REFERENCES
Coira , B., Davidson, J., Mpodozis, C.,and Ramos, V., 1982, Tectonicand magmatic evolution of
the Andes of northern Argentinaand Chile: Earth Science Reviews, v. 18, p. 303-332.
Flint, S., 1985, Alluvialfan and playa sedimentationin an Andeanarid, closed basin: the Paciencia
Group (mid Tertiary),Antofagasta Province, Chile: Geological Society ofLondon Journal,
v. 141, p. 533-546.
Hartley, A.J., Flint, S., Turner, P. and Jolley, E.J., 1992, Tectonic contrsls on the developrnent of a
semi-arid, alluvial basinas reflected in the stratigraphy sf the Purilactis Group(Upper
Cretaceous-Eocene), northern Chile: Journal of South Arnerican Earth Sciences, v. 5, p.
273-294.
Jolley, E.J., Turner, P., Williams, GD., Hartley, A.J. and Flint, S.,1996, Sedimentologieal
r ~ ~ pof ~an ~alluvial
e s systemto Neogene thrust tectonics, Atacama desert, northern
Chile: Geological Societyof London Journal, v. 147,p. 769-784.
Macellari, C.E., Su, M.J. and Townsend, F., 1991, Structureand seismic stratigraphy of the
Atacama basin (northern Chile): Actas, VI Congreso Geologico Chileno, ViAa del Mar, p.
133-137.
Mpodozis, C. and Kay, S.M. 1992, Late Paleozoie to Triassic evolutionof the Gondwana margin:
evidenee fromChilean frontal cordilleranbatholiths (28%-32"S):Geological Society of
America Bulletin, v. 104, p. 999-1614.

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Undillorcnlialcd Owlcrnary grovcls,

cvaporabs and volwnics

(lurc-arc bosin)

San Oarlolo Group

Pacicncio p u p

Exlcnsionalpb;lsu 3
(inlor-arc bosin)

Fluvialclaslics
Mudsloncs
Sandslona

Volwnics
Inlrusivu rocks

Figure 1: Lithostratigraphy of the Salar de Atacama basin-fill, as exposed on the inverted basin margin
and interpreted from seismic data.
Chronostratigraphy, North Chilean Basin