Subduction erosion, magmatism and continental crust formation in the southern Central Andes

ROSIE JONES; LINDA KIRSTEIN; RICHARD HINTON; SIMONE KASEMANN; BRUNO DHUIME; TIM ELLIOTT; LITVAK, VANESA D.

Montreal

Conferencia; Goldschimt 2012 Conference; 2012

The Geochemical Society

Subduction zones, such as the Andean convergent margin, form large recycling systems and are the main producers of new continental crust. The subduction of continental material through either tectonic subduction erosion or sediment cycling is an important component when estimating the mass flux through an active margin over time. Suduction erosion in particular has been highlighted as an important process along certain parts of the Andean continental margin, especially to the west of the Central Andes. We have combined high resolution, U-Pb dating, isotope geochemistry, and major and trace element analyses, from a suite of magmatic rocks sampled from the southern Central Andes , in order to investigate source contamination by subducted continental material between the late Cretaceous and the late Miocene.