Shallow magnetotelluric images of the Golelte Geothermal area in Valle del Cura, Main Andes Cordillera of San Juan

BARCELONA, HERNAN; PERI, VERÓNICA GISEL

San Juan

Encuentro; XXVII Reunión Científica de la Asociación Argentina de Geofísicos y Geodestas; 2014

The Valle del Cura basin is located at the avolcanic Pampean flat-slab segment, where very important mineralization and strong hydrothermal evidences (Kay et al., 1999) are related to the intense magmatic episodes carried out between Oligocene-Miocene ages (Maksaev et al., 1984; Bissig et al., 2001). Lack of recent volcanic activity contrasts with the various hydrothermal manifestations present in the Valle del Cura. A total of seven main thermal zones scattered 60 km long through N-S trend were identified in the literature. They are constrained along the Zancarrón and La Brea ridges, where outcrops the Oligocene-Miocene volcano-sedimentary rocks and the Cretaceous basement rocks by a set of west tectonic vergent thrusts faults (Malizia et al., 1997; Litvak and Poma, 2005; Litvak, 2009; Winocur et al., 2014). Pesce and Miranda (2003) compiled geochemical information about the thermal zones, giving temperature estimations ranging from 180-200°C, but no extended data analysis or complementary studies were carried out. Only the middlemost geothermal zone, called Despoblados, was partially studied and a local geothermal model was recently proposed (Barcelona et al., 2014).