Retroarc Neogene volcanism at Payenia: A review

The Payenia basaltic province is a typical retroarc association developed along the foothills of the Andes between 33°40 ́S and 38°00'S. It records two main events, an older, mostly Miocene one (26 to 8 Ma) and a younger Pliocene to Holocene one (younger than 5 Ma). It covers an N-S lowland belt named here the central depression. To the North of 36°20'S, the region was described as Los Huarpes depression, a partially deformed sedimentary basin characterized by a 1000 m-thick, undifferentiated Cenozoic sequence. To the south, Upper Cretaceous to Lower Paleogene layers, instead of the undifferentiated Cenozoic deposits, are covered by basalts. The volcanism additionally covers the western side of the San Rafael Block as well as the fold and thrust belt of the Andean foothills. The Payenia province consists of more than 800 monogenetic basaltic cones, and scarce polygenetic volcanos fed by shallow magmatic chambers. Among the latter, the following examples can be mentioned: Miocene Chachahuén volcano (7 to 5 Ma), composed of andesites, rhyodacites and basalts with high-K and amphibole; Pliocene El Nevado volcano, with calc-alkaline, basaltic trachyandesites, trachytes, dacites and rhyolites; and Upper Pleistocene to Holocene Payún Matrú volcano, composed of trachytes, trachyandesites and trachybasalts. The southernmost area of the central depression is covered by the Pleistocene, Auca Mahuida basaltic shield (1.7 to 0.88 Ma), consisting of trachybasalts, basaltic trachyandesites and trachyandesites. This shield is aligned with Tromen and Domuyo volcanos, defining an NW-SE volcanic belt, oblique to the Andes, whose southern tip corresponds to the Cortaderas lineament. Some of the monogenetic cones are of hydromagmatic origin, whereas a few others exhibit small mantle inclusions. The Payenia retroarc province develops to the south of the Pampean flat slab segment, where the heights of the Andes are smaller. This height difference might have been caused by a higher thermal gradient that softened the crust in the steeper subduction segment, while the colder lithosphere in the flat slab segment allowed greater crustal thickening and height. From the tectonic point of view the height difference has been attributed to a smaller orogenic contraction in the southern segment. Holocene volcanism appears exclusively at Payun Matru volcano. The associated thermal anomaly may explain the segmentation of the central depression, separating the Cenozoic Los Huarpes basin in the north and the section without coeval sedimentation in the south. The only surface evidence of this segmentation is the E-W, La Carbonilla fault, running both sides of the Payun Matru volcano. Other authors have explained this thermal anomaly as a process of crustal thinning and stretching associated with hot injection from the asthenosphere.Fil:Llambías, E.J. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:Risso, C. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Mantle Xenoliths from Huanul Volcano (Central-West Argentina): A Poorly Depleted Mantle Source under Southern Payenia

Huanul is a shield volcano with several lava flows hosting mantle xenoliths erupted during the Pleistocene (0.84 ± 0.05 Ma). It is located in the southern part of the Payenia Volcanic Province, which is among the largest Neogene-Quaternary volcanic provinces of South America. The vol-canism here has been ascribed as the northernmost expression of the back-arc volcanism of the Andean Southern Volcanic Zone. We present the first petrographic and mineral chemistry study of mantle xenoliths collected from Huanul lavas with the aim of reconstructing directly the mantle source of the Payenia Volcanic Province. Xenoliths are commonly small (<5 cm in radius) but scarcely crossed by basaltic veins. All xenoliths have a fertile lherzolitic modal composition and are equilibrated in the spinel-facies. Most of them exhibit an almost primitive-mantle geochemical affinity, characterized by slightly depleted clinopyroxene REE patterns reproducible by partial melting degrees between 0 and 4% of a PM source. Geothermobarometric P-T estimates of cli-nopyroxene-orthopyroxene couples form a linear trend between 10 and 24 kbar with constant increase of T from 814 to 1170 °C along a 50–60 mW/m2 geotherm. Evidences of interaction with the host basalts occur as spongy textures in clinopyroxene and reacted spinel, which tend to became more restitic in composition and show chromatographic or complete overprinting of the trace element compositions. The presence of plagioclase and calculated P-T values constrain this melt/rock reaction process between 6 and 14 kbar, during magma ascent, and fit the mantle ad-iabat model. Calculated melts in equilibrium with the primary clinopyroxenes do not fit the composition of the host basalt and, together with the geothermobarometric estimations, point to an asthenospheric mantle source for the magmatism in southern Payenia. The PM geochemical affinity of the xenoliths of Huanul is an extremely rare finding in the South America lithospheric mantle, which is commonly extensively refertilized by subduction-derived melts

Across-arc geochemical variations in the Southern Volcanic Zone, Chile (34.5- 38.0°S): Constraints on Mantle Wedge and Input Compositions

Crustal assimilation (e.g. Hildreth and Moorbath, 1988) and/or subduction erosion (e.g. Stern, 1991; Kay et al., 2005) are believed to control the geochemical variations along the northern portion of the Chilean Southern Volcanic Zone. In order to evaluate these hypotheses, we present a comprehensive geochemical data set (major and trace elements and O-Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotopes) from Holocene primarily olivine-bearing volcanic rocks across the arc between 34.5-38.0°S, including volcanic front centers from Tinguiririca to Callaqui, the rear arc centers of Infernillo Volcanic Field, Laguna del Maule and Copahue, and extending 300 km into the backarc. We also present an equivalent data set for Chile Trench sediments outboard of this profile. The volcanic arc (including volcanic front and rear arc) samples primarily range from basalt to andesite/trachyandesite, whereas the backarc rocks are low-silica alkali basalts and trachybasalts. All samples show some characteristic subduction zone trace element enrichments and depletions, but the backarc samples show the least. Backarc basalts have higher Ce/Pb, Nb/U, Nb/Zr, and Ta/Hf, and lower Ba/Nb and Ba/La, consistent with less of a slab-derived component in the backarc and, consequently, lower degrees of mantle melting. The mantle-like δ18O in olivine and plagioclase phenocrysts (volcanic arc = 4.9-5.6 and backarc = 5.0-5.4 per mil) and lack of correlation between δ18O and indices of differentiation and other isotope ratios, argue against significant crustal assimilation. Volcanic arc and backarc samples almost completely overlap in Sr and Nd isotopic composition. High precision (double-spike) Pb isotope ratios are tightly correlated, precluding significant assimilation of older sialic crust but indicating mixing between a South Atlantic Mid Ocean-Ridge Basalt (MORB) source and a slab component derived from subducted sediments and altered oceanic crust. Hf-Nd isotope ratios define separate linear arrays for the volcanic arc and backarc, neither of which trend toward subducting sediment, possibly reflecting a primarily asthenospheric mantle array for the volcanic arc and involvement of enriched Proterozoic lithospheric mantle in the backarc. We propose a quantitative mixing model between a mixed-source, slab-derived melt and a heterogeneous mantle beneath the volcanic arc. The model is consistent with local geodynamic parameters, assuming water-saturated conditions within the slab

How reliable is assessment of true vocal cord-arytenoid unit mobility in patients affected by laryngeal cancer? a multi-institutional study on 366 patients from the ARYFIX collaborative group

Purpose: In clinical practice the assessment of the “vocal cord-arytenoid unit” (VCAU) mobility is crucial in the staging, prognosis, and choice of treatment of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). The aim of the present study was to measure repeatability and reliability of clinical assessment of VCAU mobility and radiologic analysis of posterior laryngeal extension. Methods: In this multi-institutional retrospective study, patients with LSCC-induced impairment of VCAU mobility who received curative treatment were included; pre-treatment endoscopy and contrast-enhanced imaging were collected and evaluated by raters. According to their evaluations, concordance, number of assigned categories, and inter- and intra-rater agreement were calculated. Results: Twenty-two otorhinolaryngologists evaluated 366 videolaryngoscopies (total evaluations: 2170) and 6 radiologists evaluated 237 imaging studies (total evaluations: 477). The concordance of clinical rating was excellent in only 22.7% of cases. Overall, inter- and intra-rater agreement was weak. Supraglottic cancers and transoral endoscopy were associated with the lowest inter-observer reliability values. Radiologic inter-rater agreement was low and did not vary with imaging technique. Intra-rater reliability of radiologic evaluation was optimal. Conclusions: The current methods to assess VCAU mobility and posterior extension of LSCC are flawed by weak inter-observer agreement and reliability. Radiologic evaluation was characterized by very high intra-rater agreement, but weak inter-observer reliability. The relevance of VCAU mobility assessment in laryngeal oncology should be re-weighted. Patients affected by LSCC requiring imaging should be referred to dedicated radiologists with experience in head and neck oncology

How reliable is assessment of true vocal cord-arytenoid unit mobility in patients affected by laryngeal cancer? a multi-institutional study on 366 patients from the ARYFIX collaborative group

Purpose: In clinical practice the assessment of the "vocal cord-arytenoid unit" (VCAU) mobility is crucial in the staging, prognosis, and choice of treatment of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). The aim of the present study was to measure repeatability and reliability of clinical assessment of VCAU mobility and radiologic analysis of posterior laryngeal extension. Methods: In this multi-institutional retrospective study, patients with LSCC-induced impairment of VCAU mobility who received curative treatment were included; pre-treatment endoscopy and contrast-enhanced imaging were collected and evaluated by raters. According to their evaluations, concordance, number of assigned categories, and inter- and intra-rater agreement were calculated. Results: Twenty-two otorhinolaryngologists evaluated 366 videolaryngoscopies (total evaluations: 2170) and 6 radiologists evaluated 237 imaging studies (total evaluations: 477). The concordance of clinical rating was excellent in only 22.7% of cases. Overall, inter- and intra-rater agreement was weak. Supraglottic cancers and transoral endoscopy were associated with the lowest inter-observer reliability values. Radiologic inter-rater agreement was low and did not vary with imaging technique. Intra-rater reliability of radiologic evaluation was optimal. Conclusions: The current methods to assess VCAU mobility and posterior extension of LSCC are flawed by weak inter-observer agreement and reliability. Radiologic evaluation was characterized by very high intra-rater agreement, but weak inter-observer reliability. The relevance of VCAU mobility assessment in laryngeal oncology should be re-weighted. Patients affected by LSCC requiring imaging should be referred to dedicated radiologists with experience in head and neck oncology