Maryland medicine : MM ; a publ. of MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society

Southern Mendoza, Argentina, is characterised by abundant Pleistocene to Holocene volcanism associated with back-arc magmatism, influenced by the subducting Nazca plate. Age determinations in this volcanic area have been improved during the last 5 years

Journal of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management : JNMM

The Payenia Basaltic Province (PBP) is located 450. km east of the Chile-Peru trench in central west Argentina, behind the Andean arc front, constituting the back-arc. In order to evaluate the influence of the subducting slab as well as the magmatic source of this region, two volcanic fields located at comparable distance to the trench, having abundant basaltic products and similar eruptive timeframes were chosen. The Llancanelo (LLVF) and the Payún Matrú (PMVF) volcanic fields are part of the PBP and exhibit abundant basaltic activity during the Pleistocene. The geochemical data suggest that the LLVF has some arc signatures which have been described as weak as they are not as pronounced as in the Andean arc. The weak arc signature is not derived from slab dehydration as high Th enrichment relative to U cannot be explained by this process. We relate the Th enrichment as well as the lack of large residual garnet signatures, to slab sediments in the source. In the case of the PMVF, no arc signature has been inferred despite being only 30. km south of the LLVF. However the PMVF has a composition similar to that of the local intraplate end member, represented by the Rio Colorado volcanic field. The two volcanic fields, LLVF and PMVF, show indications of lower crustal assimilation as they trend towards the lower continental crust end member in Nb/U vs Ce/Pb and Nb/Yb vs Th/Yb diagrams.The geochemical differences between the LLVF and the PMVF as well as between several volcanic fields are illustrated using spatial distribution maps of geochemical ratios. Using this new approach, the decrease in arc signature can be traced in the back-arc and the higher enrichment in high field strength elements (HFSE) relative to large ion lithophile elements (LILE) in the PMVF compared to the LLVF is explicitly shown. These geospatial maps provide a graphical manner to illustrate the presence of two distinct types of volcanism (OIB-like and arc-like) occurring in the same Quaternary basaltic province

Localised magmatic constraints on continental back-arc volcanism in southern Mendoza, Argentina : the Santa Maria Volcano

The Payún Matrú Volcanic Field constitutes part of the continental back-arc in Argentina. This volcanic field has been the focus of several regional investigations; however, geochemical analysis of recent volcanoes (<8 ka) at the scale of an individual volcano has not been conducted. We present a morphological description for the Santa Maria Volcano in addition to results from major and trace element analysis and ²³⁸U-²³⁰Th-²²⁶Ra disequilibria. The trace element evidence suggests that the Santa Maria magmatic source has a composition similar to that of the local intraplate end member (resembling an ocean island basalt-like source), with a slight contribution from subduction-related material. The U-series analyses suggest a high ²²⁶Ra excess over ²³⁰Th for this volcano, which is not derived from a shallow process such as hydrothermal alteration or upper crustal contamination. Furthermore, intermediate-depth processes such as fractional crystallisation have been inferred for the Santa Maria Volcano, but they are not capable of producing the ²²⁶Ra excess measured. The ²²⁶Ra excess is explained by deep processes like partial melting of mantle lithologies with some influence from subducted Chilean trench sediments. Due to the short half-life of ²²⁶Ra (1600 years), we infer that fast magma ascent rates are required to preserve the high ²²⁶Ra excess.13 page(s