Crustal magma evolution: the view from the chemistry of large Central Andean ignimbrites.

KAY, S.M. AND COIRA, B.

San Francisco, USA

Congreso; Fall Meeting Suppl.-AGU; 2006

American Geophysical Union

Voluminous andesitic to rhyodacitic ignimbritic fields linked to giant calderas are distinctive features of the Neogene magmatic record of the central Andean Altiplano-Puna plateau. These magmas evolved in a thickened backarc crust of an active subduction regime at a compressional margin. Their chemistry reflects the thermo-mechanical conditions that control the generation of large crustal magma systems, and tracks changes in a crust subjected to thickening, flow and delamination. Correlations with high resolution geophysical images help to decipher magma generation and eruption processes. A compilation of some 400 published and new chemical analyses allows a view of the spatial-temporal crustal evolution of large complexes in the Puna (22° -28°S) over the last 12 Ma. Data are from the 11-10 Ma Granada and Pairique, 9 to 8 Ma Vilama, 6.8 to 6.5 Ma Coranzulí, 6.7-6.1 Ma Panizos, 5.3-4 Ma Toconao, 4.2-3.8 Ma Atana, and 1.3 Ma Purico complexes in the north, the 12-10 Ma Aguas Calientes complex in the central Puna and the 5.1-3.6 Ma Laguna Amarga/Verde and 6.4 – 2.2 Ma Cerro Galan complexes in the south. A notable older to younger chemical trend that is seen is for La/Yb (40 to 10) and Sm/Yb (7.5 to 2) ratios to decrease without a corresponding pattern in Eu anomalies. This trend suggests a change from garnet to amphibole as a controlling residual phase at depth followed by feldspar fractionation at higher levels, possibly in magmas chambers near 20 km imaged by seismic data. Xenocrysts in mafic andesitic lavas could be phenocrysts from magmas at this level. A correlated temporal change to lower Al/(K+Na+Ca) and 87Sr/86Sr ratios and increasing epsilon Nd in the northern Puna requires a changing source linked to an evolving crust. Other patterns are better linked to regional basement differences and variability in the mantle-derived mafic magmas that supply the heat for melting.