Early Cretaceous Surtseyan volcanoes of the Baño Nuevo Volcanic Complex (Aysén Basin, eastern central Patagonian Cordillera, Chile)

Tens of Surtseyan tuff cones are exposed in the Río Coichel valley, between Ñireguao and Estancia Baño Nuevo (Southern Chilean Andes). The Early Cretaceous products of the submarine eruptions rest on, or are interbedded with, shallow marine sandstones of the Hauterivian-early Aptian Apeleg Formation. The Early Cretaceous rocks typically contain large amphibole phenocrysts, clinopyroxene and plagioclase, and have compositions that range from relatively primitive basalts to andesites. The basalts are slightly enriched in LREE and incompatible trace elements. They have low Ti-contents and negative anomalies in Nb and Ta, characteristic of subduction-related magmas. Centimetre-sized amphibole megacrysts and an amphibole-bearing clinopyroxenite xenolith have been found in one of the tuff cones located near Estancia Baño Nuevo. The amphibole megacrysts are pargasite (low Si and Ti, high Mg). The xenolith has diopsidic clinopyroxene with abundant inclusions, and pargasite veins enclosing smaller clinopyroxene neoblasts. Geochemical data show that the megacrysts and the xenolith have the same origin and correspond to underplated igneous bodies crystallized at high pressure

Isotope geochemistry and petrogenesis of peralkaline Middle Miocene ignimbrites from central Sonora: relationship with continental break-up and the birth of the Gulf of California

Middle Miocene peralkaline ignimbrites constitute a specific geodynamic marker of the early stage of opening of the Gulf of California, preserved either in central Sonora or the Puertecitos area, in Baja California. Very uniform ages (12-12.5 Ma) obtained on these rocks show that this volcanic episode corresponds to a specific stage in the tectonic evolution of the proto-gulf area. Field observations and slightly different Sr and Nd isotopic signatures support eruptions from several small volume magma batches rather than from a large-volume caldera forming event. Isotopic ratios help to constrain the petrogenesis of the peralkaline liquids by fractional crystallization of transitional basalts in a shallow reservoir, with slight contamination by Precambrian upper crustal material. Less differentiated glomeroporphyritic icelandites erupted at about 11 Ma, mark an increase in the magma production rate and highlight an easier access to the surface, illustrating an advanced stage in the weakening of the continental crust. The tilting of the Middle Tertiary sequences results from a major change in the tectonic regime, from E-W extension giving rise to N-S grabens, to NNW-SSE strike-slip motion that can be related to the transfer of Baja California from North America to the Pacific plate. The location of peralkaline volcanism coincides with the southern edge of the Precambrian crust and the southernmost extension of the California slab window at 12.5 Ma

Geocronologia y petroquimica de sucesiones volcanicas del Cretacico Superior- Paleogeno? del este de la Cordillera Patagonica oriental (45°15-45°40S).

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