Exhumation of the Neuquén Basin in the southern Central Andes (Malargüe fold and thrust belt) from field data and low-temperature thermochronology

Folguera, Andrés; Bottesi, Germán; Duddy, Ian R.; Martín-González, Fidel; Orts, Darío; Sagripanti, Lucía; Vera, Emilio Rojas; Ramos, Víctor A.

doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2015.08.003

Cited by 57 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…There is general agreement that most of the contractional deformation in the Chos Malal FTB appears to have happened during two major stages, of Late Cretaceous‐Paleogene and Neogene ages (Cobbold & Rossello, ; Folguera et al, , ; Kozlowski et al, ; Ramos & Kay, ; Rojas Vera et al, ; Sagripanti et al, ; Vergani et al, ). However, the timing, distribution, and magnitude of either stage remain controversial.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Retracted: Middle Miocene to Early Pliocene Contraction in the Chos Malal Fold‐and‐Thrust Belt (Neuquén Basin, Argentina): Insights From Structural Analysis and Apatite Fission‐Tracks Thermochronology

et al. 2017

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In the southern central Andes at 37–38°S latitude, the Chos Malal fold‐and‐thrust belt (FTB), which results from the Late Cretaceous closure of the Neuquén Basin, has generated increasing interest because of its potential for hydrocarbon exploration. Using detailed field mapping, seismic reflection and well data analysis, cross‐section balancing, and detrital apatite fission‐track thermochronology from 18 samples distributed along the FTB, we bring new quantitative constraints on the chronology of the Neogene structural development of the Chos Malal FTB. Our data set reveals that extensive tectonically driven exhumation through basement‐involved thrusting occurred at ~15–7 Ma in both the inner and outer sectors of the FTB. This age range is corroborated by indirect dating of the Chos Malal Formation, a syntectonic unit also deformed after deposition, which we find was deposited after 7.2 Ma ± 1.6/2.0 Ma, an age much younger than the Miocene age it was previously assigned. We document for the first time an early Pliocene rapid cooling stage that was ongoing ~5.5 to 5.1 Ma ago in the interior of the orogenic wedge, which we attribute to out‐of‐sequence thrusting along basement‐involved thrust faults bounding the Cordillera del Viento, driving the surface uplift of this prominent topographic feature. Finally, our sequential reconstruction of the thick‐ and thin‐skinned structures of the Chos Malal FTB shows that most of the horizontal shortening was accommodated after the middle Miocene, which we thus consider as being the main phase of orogenic building in this sector of the Andes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Retracted: Middle Miocene to Early Pliocene Contraction in the Chos Malal Fold‐and‐Thrust Belt (Neuquén Basin, Argentina): Insights From Structural Analysis and Apatite Fission‐Tracks Thermochronology

et al. 2017

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“…A Late Cretaceous onset of Andean orogenesis is recorded by a shift to nonmarine synorogenic sedimentation in Argentina and Chile (Neuquén Group, Las Chilcas Formation, and equivalent units). Although provenance data show continued derivation from both the arc and craton (Balgord & Carrapa, ; Mescua et al, ; Tunik et al, ), a sharp increase in sediment accommodation accompanied by thrust‐related growth strata and focused exhumation demonstrate the contractional nature of the episode (Fennell et al, ; Folguera, Bottesi, et al, ; Horton & Fuentes, ; Horton et al, ). This initial foreland basin is defined by proximal clastic deposits in the Central Valley (Las Chilcas Formation; Boyce, ; Charrier et al, ) and the Principal Cordillera (Brownish‐Red Clastic Unit; Charrier et al, , ).…”

Section: Central To Southern Andes Transition (35°s)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the retroarc zone (Malargüe fold‐thrust belt), 15–45 km of Neogene shortening was accommodated by basement‐involved thrust faults largely guided by preexisting normal faults inherited from Mesozoic and earlier Cenozoic extension (Boll et al, ; Folguera et al, ; Fuentes et al, ; Giambiagi et al, ; Kozlowski et al, ; Manceda & Figueroa, ; Mescua et al, ; Rojas Vera et al, ). A distinct eastward advance of magmatism during the late Miocene resulted in emplacement of 10–5 Ma igneous materials in the thrust belt and adjacent foreland basin (Combina & Nullo, ; Folguera, Bottesi, et al, ). Pliocene‐Quaternary uplift of the San Rafael basement block partitioned the Neogene Malargüe foreland basin, partially coincident with widespread within‐plate mafic magmatism of the Payenia volcanic province, possibly related to asthenospheric influx during latest Cenozoic resteepening of the subducting slab (Horton et al, ; Kay et al, ; Ramos & Folguera, ).…”

Section: Central To Southern Andes Transition (35°s)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonic Regimes of the Central and Southern Andes: Responses to Variations in Plate Coupling During Subduction

2018

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Construction of the Andes has been governed largely by fluctuating contractional, neutral, and extensional tectonic regimes during differing degrees of mechanical coupling along the convergent plate boundary. These three contrasting regimes are likely regulated by geodynamic variations in absolute trenchward motion of South America and episodic regional shifts in the geometry of the subducting oceanic slab. Alternations among these three modes are revealed in syntheses of Mesozoic‐Cenozoic crustal deformation, basin evolution, and arc magmatism along orogen‐perpendicular transects across the central and southern Andes at 23°S, 35°S, and 43°S. Despite considerable along‐strike dissimilarities in the magnitude of deformation, a comparable tectonic regime typified the early Andean history, as defined by a transition from Late Jurassic‐Early Cretaceous postrift thermal subsidence to Late Cretaceous retroarc shortening. A key contradiction is expressed for the late middle Eocene to earliest Miocene, when neutral to extensional conditions affected retroarc to forearc regions, except in parts of the central Andes, which experienced retroarc shortening with only localized forearc extension. This mixed‐mode scenario during Paleogene time may reflect decoupling along the plate boundary (possibly during slab rollback within a retreating subduction system) in which widespread stasis or low‐magnitude extension dominated the southern Andes but was inhibited in the strongly shortened central Andes at 15–25°S where shallow subduction and/or high topography boosted plate coupling. Comparable temporal and spatial shifts in tectonic regime along the Andes and other convergent margins can be related to variable degrees of coupling during first‐order plate‐scale changes in convergence and second‐order regional cycles of slab shallowing and steepening.

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“…Low‐temperature (low‐T) thermochronological systems are ideally suited for reconstructing thermal histories of rocks in the uppermost part of the crust because they record time and rates of cooling related to exhumation of the first kilometers of the crust. Presently, a rather extensive apatite fission track and apatite (U‐Th)/He (AHe) dating database is available for the axial part of the orogen [ Thomson et al ., ; Guillaume et al ., ; Folguera et al ., ]. However, such type of data are completely lacking from the broken foreland area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Un)Coupled thrust belt‐foreland deformation in the northern Patagonian Andes: New insights from the Esquel‐Gastre sector (41°30′–43°S)

et al. 2016

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The Patagonian Andes represents a unique natural laboratory to study surface deformation in relation to deep slab dynamics. In the sector comprised between latitudes 41°30′ and 43°S, new apatite (U‐Th)/He ages indicate a markedly different unroofing pattern between the “broken foreland” area (characterized by Late Cretaceous to Paleogene exhumation) and the adjacent Andean sector to the west, which is dominated by Miocene‐Pliocene exhumation. These unroofing stages can be confidently ascribed to inversion tectonics involving reverse fault‐related uplift and concomitant erosion. Late Cretaceous‐Paleogene shortening and exhumation are well known to have affected also the thrust belt sector of the study area during a prolonged stage of flat‐slab subduction. Therefore, the different ages of near‐surface unroofing documented in this study suggest coupling of the deformation between the thrust belt and its foreland during periods of flat‐slab subduction (e.g., during Late Cretaceous‐Paleogene times) and dominant uncoupling during periods of steep‐slab subduction and rollback, even when these are associated with high convergence rates (i.e., > 4 cm/yr), as those documented in Miocene times for the Patagonian Andes.

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Exhumation of the Neuquén Basin in the southern Central Andes (Malargüe fold and thrust belt) from field data and low-temperature thermochronology

Cited by 57 publications

References 75 publications

Retracted: Middle Miocene to Early Pliocene Contraction in the Chos Malal Fold‐and‐Thrust Belt (Neuquén Basin, Argentina): Insights From Structural Analysis and Apatite Fission‐Tracks Thermochronology

Retracted: Middle Miocene to Early Pliocene Contraction in the Chos Malal Fold‐and‐Thrust Belt (Neuquén Basin, Argentina): Insights From Structural Analysis and Apatite Fission‐Tracks Thermochronology

Tectonic Regimes of the Central and Southern Andes: Responses to Variations in Plate Coupling During Subduction

(Un)Coupled thrust belt‐foreland deformation in the northern Patagonian Andes: New insights from the Esquel‐Gastre sector (41°30′–43°S)

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