Abstract

SUZANO, Néstor O et al. Geología del prospecto vicuña muerta: emplazamiento múltiple y control estructural de cuerpos subvolcánicos miocenos en el borde oriental de la Puna Austral, Salta. Rev. Asoc. Geol. Argent. [online]. 2015, vol.72, n.4, pp.519-541. ISSN 0004-4822.

On the eastern edge of the southern Puna, northwest Argentina, several Lower-Medium Miocene subvolcanics intrusions with hydrothermal alteration and economic mineral concentrations are located. Vicuña Muerta is part of a group of rhyolitic-dacitic porphyries (Inca Viejo Formation) arranged in a N-S direction and emplaced to the east of a N-S Cenozoic structure with lower Paleozoic inheritance and development on the western edge of the cumbres de Luracatao. Vicuña Muerta comprises three porphyric subvolcanic bodies of rhyolitic composition dated at 18.9±0.5 Ma (K/Ar in Sanidine) and emplaced in Ordovician granites and gabbros (Oire Eruptive Complex). Vicuña Muerta is bounded on its northern and southern edges by anastomosed faults defining an annular geometry structure. These structures are the result of the Andean reactivation (20-16 Ma according to Apatite Fission Tack dating) of lower Paleozoic (Ocloyic phase) regional ductile deformation zones with N-S direction that demarcate cumbres de Luracatao and, also, NW-SE local zones that surround Vicuña Muerta. Tectonic reactivation generated a regional pop-up system and sinistral transtensional faults that developed R, R' and P fractures in the prospect zone. The geometry of the faults and relative movement of tectonic blocks provided a suitable tectonic environment for ascent and emplacement of multiple coeval magma pulses with regional uplift evidenced by high cooling rates. Moreover, structures controlled the circulation of hydrothermal fluids, the alteration distribution of the rocks and the associated mineralization.

Keywords : Tectonic reactivation; Multiple emplacement; Structural control; Hydrothermal alteration.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )