The tectonic significance of K/Ar illite fine-fraction ages from the San Luis Formation (Eastern Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina)

• Published in: International journal of earth sciences : Geologische Rundschau Vol. 100; no. 2-3; pp. 659 - 669
• Main Authors: Wemmer, Klaus, Steenken, André, Müller, Stefan, de Luchi, Mónica G. López, Siegesmund, Siegfried
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-04-2011; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Geochemistry; Geological time; Geology; Geophysics/Geodesy; Illite; Metamorphic rocks; Mineral Resources; Original Paper; Orogeny; Plate tectonics; Rock deformation; Sedimentology; Structural Geology; Tectonics; Sierras Pampeanas; Argentina; Chile; Bolivia; Argentina, La Rioja; Illite fine fractions; Eastern Sierras Pampeanas; San Luis Formation; Paganzo Basin; K/Ar
• ISSN: 1437-3254; 1437-3262
• DOI: 10.1007/s00531-010-0629-8

The Sierra de San Luis forms the southern tip of the Eastern Sierras Pampeanas in central Argentina. Two narrow belts of low-grade phyllites and quartz arenites, i.e. the San Luis Formation, have accommodated part of the strain-related differential exhumation of the medium- to high-grade metamorphic domains that constitute to the basement complex of the sierra. Eleven phyllite samples were subjected to the K/Ar fine-fraction dating technique. Results are interpreted in relation to the Kübler index of the illites, which indicate epimetamorphic conditions for the majority of the samples. Obtained ages between 330 and 290 Ma cover a period of compressional tectonics in the late Mississippian (Visean/Serpukhovian boundary) followed by the subsidence during the formation of the Paganzo Basin in the provinces of La Rioja and San Luis. These tectonic movements are coincident with the Toco orogeny in northern Chile and southern Bolivia. This suggests that the older K/Ar ages document the compressional stage and that younger ages record the cooling of the basement during the subsequent extensional uplift of the basement.