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Trabajo presentado en el XV Congreso Geológico Chileno, celebrado en Concepción (Chile), del 18 al 23 de Noviembre de 2018, The origin of Early Ordovician Famatinian intermediate igneous rocks is controversial and has been ascribed to either (i) partial melting of a Proterozoic crust-lithospheric mantle section, or (ii) interaction between mafic magmas and supracrustal materials. We explore the new geochemical evidence from 35 bulk rock O-Sr-Nd isotope compositions from three crustal sections of the arc, a relatively deep one (LC) represented by the Sierra de Valle Fértil, a mid-crustal section (MC) in the Western Sierra de Famatina and SW Sierra de Velasco, and an upper crustal section (UC) in the Sierra de Los Llanos, central Sierra de Famatina and Sierra de Narváez. δ18O values allow us to distinguish four main groups: G1 represented by two meta-gabbros with low δ18O values (ca. +5.3‰), one from LC and one from MC; G2 comprising a wide range of rocks (10 meta-gabbros/gabbros, eight diorite-tonalitegranodiorite samples, three granites and two rhyolites) of all levels with δ18O values from +6.6 to +10‰; G3 consists of two hybrids of MC with δ18O values of +8.7 and +9.9‰ formed by interaction between partially molten country rocks and metaluminous tonalitic magmas; and G4 formed by five Ordovician metasedimentary rocks and three Crd-bearing granites of the three levels with the highest δ18O values (+10.6 to +13.8‰). There is no major difference in isotope composition between mafic G2 rocks thought to be derived from a metasomatized sub-arc mantle (δ18O= +7.4 to +9.4‰, 87Sr/ 86Sri= 0.706 to 0.709 and εNdi = 3.7 to 5.8) and intermediate rocks of the same group (δ18O= +6.6 to +9‰, 87Sr/86Sri = 0.705 to 0.709 and εNdi = 0.5 to 4.4, except for two LC samples with values about +9.5‰, 0.711 and 5). G2 granites and rhyolites show higher values of δ18O (+8.5 to +10‰) but similar 87Sr/86Sri (0.706 to 0.709) and εNdi (ca. 3.5). Remarkably, the range of δ18O values from +6.6 to +10‰ for most G2 samples does not correlate with aluminum saturation index (ASI). Except for some G2 tonalite samples of LC and G3 hybrids from thermal aureoles, the ASI values remain unchanged within each group of rocks. Generation of the G2 intermediate rocks cannot be related to the bulk assimilation of partially melted metasedimentary rocks of G4 through partial melting by mafic intrusions. We conclude that sub-arc mantle melting was the main process involved in the formation of the metaluminous G2 intermediate rocks with restricted contamination (≤ 20%) by continental crust melts.

Previous work has shown that Devonian magmatism in the southern Andes occurred in two contemporaneous belts: one emplaced in the continental crust of the North Patagonian Massif and the other in an oceanic island arc terrane to the west, Chaitenia, which was later accreted to Patagonia. The country rocks of the plutonic rocks consist of metasedimentary complexes which crop out sporadically in the Andes on both sides of the Argentina-Chile border, and additionally of pillow metabasalts for Chaitenia. Detrital zircon SHRIMP U-Pb age determinations in 13 samples of these rocks indicate maximum possible depositional ages from ca. 370 to 900 Ma, and the case is argued for mostly Devonian sedimentation as for the fossiliferous Buill slates. Ordovician, Cambrian-late Neoproterozoic and “Grenville-age” provenance is seen throughout, except for the most westerly outcrops where Devonian detrital zircons predominate. Besides a difference in the Precambrian zircon grains, 76% versus 25% respectively, there is no systematic variation in provenance from the Patagonian foreland to Chaitenia, so that the island arc terrane must have been proximal to the continent: its deeper crust is not exposed but several outcrops of ultramafic rocks are known. Zircons with devonian metamorphic rims in rocks from the North Patagonian Massif have no counterpart in the low metamorphic grade Chilean rocks. These Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks were also intruded by Pennsylvanian and Jurassic granitoids. RESUMEN Trabajos anteriores han demostrado que el magmatismo devónico en los Andes meridionales se produjo en dos cinturones contemporáneos: uno emplazado en la corteza continental del Macizo Norpatagónico y el otro, hacia el oeste, en un arco de islas oceánico, Chaitenia, que más tarde se acrecionó a Gondwana. Las rocas hospedantes de las rocas plutónicas consisten en complejos metasedimentarios que aparecen esporádicamente en los Andes a ambos lados de la frontera entre Argentina y Chile, y adicionalmente de metabasaltos de almohadilla en Chaitenia. Las determinaciones de la edad de U-Pb de circones detríticos en 13 muestras de estas rocas metasedimentarias indican edades deposicionales máximas posibles de ca. 370 a 900 Ma, y se argumenta que la sedimentación es principalmente del Devónico similar a las pizarras fosilíferas de Buill. Procedencia del Ordovícico, del Cámbrico-tardío a Neoproterozoico y “Grenville” se ve en todas las rocas, a excepción de los afloramientos más occidentales donde predominan los zircones detríticos del Devónico. Además de una diferencia en los granos de zircón precámbricos, 76% versus 25% respectivamente, no hay variación sistemática en la procedencia del antepaís patagónico a Chaitenia, por lo que el arco de islas debe haber sido proximal al continente: su corteza más profunda no está expuesta pero se conocen varios afloramientos de rocas ultramáficas. Los bordes metamórficos desarrollados durante el Devónico en circones de las rocas del Macizo Norpatagónico no tienen su equivalente en los circones de las rocas metamórficas de bajo grado del sector chileno. Estas rocas metasedimentarias paleozoicas también fueron intruidas por granitoides del Pennsylvaniano y Jurásico.

Trabajo presentado en el XV Congreso Geológico Chileno, celebrado en Concepción (Chile), del 18 al 23 de Noviembre de 2018, Along the proto-Pacific margin of Gondwana, from Venezuela to northeastern Patagonia, the Early–Middle Ordovician Famatinian orogeny was the first orogenic event following assembly of the supercontinent. Magmatism is mostly restricted to the interval 463±4 to 486±7 Ma, with the most intense period of emplacement between 468 and 472 Ma constituting a magmatic flare-up. Granitoid emplacement in both northeastern Patagonia and the Cordon de Lila (Puna Altiplano, Chile) was effectively synchronous with that in the Sierras Pampeanas, defining a continuous belt. Combined geochemical and isotopic data (whole-rock Sr, Nd; Hf, O in zircon) indicate that the source of calcic metaluminous suites is the subcontinental lithosphere –both mantle and mafic lower crust– with variable contamination by the Early Paleozoic metasedimentary country rocks. The lithospheric mantle involved is assumed to underlie the outcropping 1330–1030 Ma Grenville-age basement of the Western Domain, which exhibits tectonic characteristics of active continental margin in the north and oceanic arc-back arc in the south. The latter sector is the potential source of some minor Famatinian igneous rocks with less evolved isotopic compositions, although a restricted asthenospheric addition cannot be discarded in this case. Minor peraluminous granites are spatially associated with the metaluminous sequence, but major highly peraluminous batholiths occur on the eastern flank of the Central Domain. Field relations and geochemical/isotopic evidence indicate that the most obvious source of these crustal melts was the very thick post-early Cambrian metasedimentary sequence comprising the host country rocks. Although asthenospheric mantle was a necessary heat source for lithospheric melting, its material contribution to the growth of Early Paleozoic crust was apparently very minor. Recycling of Mesoproterozoic lithosphere, including the subcontinental mantle, coupled with crustal melting of Early Paleozoic metasedimentary sequences, accounts for most of the Famatinian orogenic magmatism. Consistent results from the Central Andes and East Antarctica confirm that the early stages of the Terra Australis orogen in SW Gondwana were dominated by lithospheric reworking processes.

Samples and methods.

Cathodoluminescence images of analysed zircon grains from sites on the Antarctic Peninsula

SW Gondwana resulted from complex interplay between continental amalgamation and dispersal between ~ 650 and 490 Ma. The main cratons involved were Laurentia, Amazonia– MARA (Proterozoic Maz–Arequipa–Rio Apa, Casquet et al., 2012), Kalahari, Rio de la Plata (RPC), Congo and East Antarctica (Mawson block). Several collisional orogenic belts resulted, notably the East Africa–Antarctica, Brasiliano–Panafrican, Pampean–Saldania, and Ross– Delamerian orogens. East-Antarctica broke away from the western margin of Laurentia in Rodinia. After a long drift and counter-clockwise rotation (Dalziel, 2013) it collided with Congo and Kalahari to produce the southern part of the left-lateral transpressional East Africa–Antarctica orogen between 580 and 550 Ma, completing the amalgamation of East Gondwana. The Trans-Antarctic margin became an active one in the Ediacaran and subduction of the Pacific Ocean lithosphere occurred throughout the Paleozoic, forming a tract of the Terra Australis orogen. NW–SE directed compression in Late Cryogenian and Early Ediacaran times promoted closure of the Adamastor Ocean, resulting in the left-lateral transpressional Brasiliano–Pan African orogeny between 650 and 570 Ma. The Pampean orogenic belt to the west of the RPC resulted from right-lateral collision between Laurentia and its eastern extension MARA on the one hand and Kalahari–RPC on the other. Ocean opening started at ~ 630 Ma and subduction and further collision took place between 540 and 520 Ma, coeval with the northward drift of Laurentia (~ 540 Ma) away from MARA and the consequent formation of the proto-Andean margin of Gondwana. The margins of the intervening Puncoviscana ocean were covered by Laurentia-derived siliciclastic sediments and carbonates on the MARA side between 630 and ~ 540 Ma (Rapela et al, 2014; this symposium), and by the marine siliciclastic Puncoviscana Formation on the other. The latter formation, deposited between a 570 and ~530 Ma, received input from large alluvial fans descending from juvenile Mesoproterozoic and Neproterozoic sources (new Hf isotope evidence) largely located in the southern East Africa–Antarctica orogen. The Pampean orogen extended into the Saldania–Gariep orogen of southern South Africa (545–520 Ma) and was apparently discordant to the earlier Brasiliano–Pan African orogen. In late-Early to late Cambrian times the Pampean–Saldania realm evolved into a passive margin with siliciclastic platform sedimentation. The Pampean-Saldania realm was separated from the active Trans-Antarctic margin of East Antarctica by an inferred transform fault in Ediacaran to Cambrian times. Regional NW–SW shortening in the Ediacaran became N–S directed in the Cambrian, suggesting a major plate reorganization at this time.

El congreso internacional GONDWANA 15 ha tenido lugar en Madrid en Julio de 2014. Como en ocasiones anteriores, el congreso tuvo como objeto del mismo el supercontinente Gondwana, desde su amalgamamiento en el Paleozoico Inferior hasta su desmembramiento en el Mesozoico Inferior. El congreso precedente (Gondwana 14) tuvo lugar en Buzios (Brasil) en Agosto de 2011. El Comité de Gondwana, que no es una entidad oficial, está constituido por científicos de diversos países y es el promotor de estos simposios, que tienen lugar cada tres años desde 1967 en diversos lugares del mundo. Este es el primero realizado en Europa. El congreso ha abarcado todos los aspectos involucrados en la historia de Gondwana, incluyendo la geología, paleontología, paleoclimatología y los recursos. Además, el congreso ha incluído dos excursiones antes y después del mismo, a regiones clave de la geología Europea y del norte de África, así como dos breves excursiones de un único día, durante el congreso, a regiones relevantes próximas a Madrid. El congreso tuvo lugar en los locales de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Minas de Madrid, próxima al Instituto Geológico y Minero de España. La Universidad Complutense (UCM) junto con el IGEO (centro mixto de investigación UCM-CSIC) ha contribuído significativamente a este simposio. El comité coordinador ha estado compuesto por el Dr. César Casquet Martín (UCM, IGEO), el Dr. Juán Carlos Gutiérrez Marco (CSIC, IGEO) y el Dr. Javier Fernández Suárez (UCM, IGEO). Las dos instituciones han proporcionado diversas facilidades y se involucraron en la preparación y consecución de las excursiones.

The Sierra Brava Complex on the eastern flank of the Sierra de Ancasti consists of marbles, metabasites, calc-silicate rocks, psammo-pelitic schists and gneisses. In the central part of this sierra a thick succession of banded schists (Ancasti Formation) crops out. Regional metamorphism of these rocks is attributed to the Famatinian orogeny (Ordovician), metamorphic grade increasing westwards and southwards and culminating in a migmatite complex on the western side of the Sierra. The meta-carbonate rocks are subdivided into a northeastern group (low-grade calcite marbles), and a southeastern group (high-grade calcite and calcite-dolomite marbles). Twenty-three marble samples were analysed for Sr isotope composition and Rb, Mn, Mg and Ca contents, and six for C and O isotope composition. An Ediacaran depositional age of 570 –590Ma is inferred by reference to the trend of 87Sr/86Sr in Neoproterozoic seawater. Thus the metacarbonates are probably slightly older than the Ancasti Formation (equivalent to the Puncoviscana Formation of northern Argentina), which has a maximum sedimentation age of ca. 570Ma. Ediacaran depositional ages have also been reported for metacarbonates elsewhere in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. We propose that the Sierra de Ancasti carbonates on one hand, and those in the Western Sierras Pampeanas (Difunta Correa Sequence) and –tentativelythe Corumbá Group of Brazil on the other, represent platforms on opposite margins of the extinct Clymene Ocean, whereas Neoproterozoic carbonate successions such as the Loma Negra Formation (Tandilia, southern Argentina) and the Arroyo del Soldado Group (Uruguay) were deposited on the eastern side (present coordinates) of the Rio de la Plata craton, which at the time occupied a position farther to the north.

Five new SHRTMP U-Pb zircon ages are reported for gneisses and foliated plutonic rocks belonging to the Tierra del Fuego igneous and metamorphic basement complex (TFIMC), obtained from the bottom of borehole cores through the Magallanes Basin. Three of the samples yielded weighted mean 206Pb/238U ages (523±7 Ma, 522±6 Ma and 538±6 Ma), interpreted as indicating Early Cambrian igneous crystallization of the host rocks. A migmatitic gneiss shows peaks at ca. 950-1,100 Ma and 560-650 Ma from inherited zircon grains in addition to two grains with ages of ca. 525 Ma, suggesting involvement of Grenvillian and Brasiliano material in the protolith of a Cambrian migmatite. A cordierite-sillimanite-garnet gneiss contains igneous zircons of Cambrian age and a population of U-rich metamorphic Permian zircons, indicating that a Permian high-grade metamorphic and anatectic (P=2-3 kbar, T=730-770°C) event affected the Cambrian igneous rocks or sedimentary rocks derived from them. Cambrian/Ediacaran plutonic rocks are known from the basement of NW Argentina, the Sierra de la Ventana, the Cape Fold Belt in South Africa, and the Ross Orogen in Antarctica. The Permian metamorphic event is coeval with the deformation and low-grade metamorphism of the sedimentary successions that overlie the basement in many of these areas. In Tierra del Fuego at least 8 to 12 km of cover rocks were removed following the high-grade Permian metamorphic episode and the unconformable deposition of the Tobífera Formation volcanic rocks in the Middle to Late Jurassic. This eroded cover could nave been an important source of detritus for the conglomeratic Permian and Triassic? Successions of neighboring regions in South America, Africa and Antarctica. Cinco nuevas edades radiométricas logradas mediante análisis U-Pb en circón utilizando el SHRIMP, fueron determinadas en gneises y rocas plutónicas foliadas obtenidas desde el fondo de pozos de sondajes en la Cuenca de Magallanes y pertenecientes al denominado Complejo ígneo y Metamór-fico de Tierra del Fuego. En tres de las muestras fueron calculadas edades del Cámbrico Temprano (523±7 Ma, 522±6 Ma y 538±6 Ma), interpretadas como edades de cristalización ígnea de las rocas estudiadas. Un gneis migmatítico presenta 'peaks' de circones heredados de ca. 950-1.100 Ma y de 560-650 Ma además de dos granos de edades de 525 Ma, indicando la participación de material Grenviliano y Brasiliano en el protolito de la migmatita cámbrica. Un gneiss de cordierita-sillimanita-granate presenta una población de circones ígneos de edad cámbrica y otro grupo de circones metamórficos, ricos en U, de edad pérmica, indicando que en el Pérmico un evento metamórfico del alto grado acompañado de anatexis (P=2-3 kbar, T=730-770°C) afectó a rocas ígneas cámbricas y/o a rocas sedimentarias derivadas de ellas. Rocas plutónicas cámbricas/ediacaranas han sido descritas en el NW de Argentina, en los basamentos de la Sierra de la Ventana y del Cinturón Plegado del Cabo (en el sur de África), y en el Orógeno de Ross en Antartica. El evento metamórfico Pérmico es contemporáneo con la deformación y metamorfismo de bajo grado, registrado en las sucesiones sedimentarias que sobreyacen el basamento en muchas de estas areas. Siguiendo al episodio Pérmico de metamorfismo de alto grado, en Tierra del Fuego fueron removidos al menos 8 a 12 km de rocas de cobertura antes de la depositación de las rocas volcánicas de la Formación Tobífera en el Jurásico Medio y Superior. Las rocas erosionadas representan una fuente importante de material para las sucesiones conglomerádicas pérmicas y triásicas? ubicadas en las regiones vecinas de América del Sur, África y Antartica.

New SHRIMP U-Pb zircon ages are reported for igneous and sedimentary rocks of the Famatina Complex, constraining the age of the magmatism and the ensialic basins. Together with whole-rock and isotope geochemistry for the igneous rocks from the complex, these ages indicate that the voluminous parental magmas of metaluminous composition were derived by partial melting of an older lithosphere without significant asthenospheric contribution. This magmatism was initiated in the Early Ordovician (481 Ma). During the Mid-Late Ordovician, the magmatism ceased (463 Ma), resulting in a short-lived (no more than ~20 Ma) and relatively narrow (~100–150 km) magmatic belt, in contrast to the long-lived cordilleran magmatism of the Andes. The exhumation rate of the Famatina Complex was considerably high and the erosional stripping and deposition of Ordovician sediments occurred soon after of the emplacement of the igneous source rocks during the Early to mid-Ordovician. During the upper Mid Ordovician the clastic contribution was mainly derived from plutonic rocks. Magmatism was completely extinguished in the Mid Ordovician and the sedimentary basins closed in the early Late Ordovician., Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas

Magmatic evolution of the Peñón Rosado Granite, Cerro Asperecito, western flank of the Famatina range. Garnet is an uncommon accessory mineral in igneous rocks and is a relevant petrologic topic. Combined petrology, chemistry/mineralogy, whole-rock geochemistry, and isotopic geochemistry studies in the cerro Asperecito indicate that the garnet-bearing granitoids of the Peñón Rosado Granite (PRG) were produced by partial melting of metasedimentary rocks and subsequent differentiation during their emplacement at the Early-Middle Ordovician. In this way the PRG1 facies represent an early crystallized, the PRG2 facies represent a differentiated melt, and the PRG3 facies a residual melt. The Peñón Rosado Granite, was emplaced in moderated-T (785ºC) and middle-P (4.4 kb) conditions in middle crustal depths (~15 km). The almost synchronous emplacement in the middle crust of a major metaluminous igneous suite during the Early-Middle Ordovician (468 Ma in the cerro Asperecito) was sufficient to induce local anatexis of the surrounding metasediments. Major (CaO, Na2O) and trace element (Rb, Sr, Ba) contents in the Peñón Rosado Granite strongly suggest anatexis from immature continental platform material. Thus the Peñón Rosado Granite is a S-type garnet-bearing granitoid and the present model established here contributes to better understanding about the garnet crystallization in granitic rocks., El granate es un mineral accesorio poco común en rocas ígneas y constituye un tema relevante de la petrología ígnea. Estudios combinados de petrología, química mineral, geoquímica de roca total y geoquímica isotópica en el cerro Asperecito indican que los granitoides con granate que forman el Granito Peñón Rosado (GPR) fueron producidos por la fusión parcial de rocas metasedimentarias con subsecuente diferenciación durante su emplazamiento en el Ordovícico inferior-medio. En este sentido, la facies GPR1 representa un cristalizado temprano, la facies GPR2 representa un fundido diferenciado, y la facies GPR3 un fundido residual. El Granito Peñón Rosado, fue emplazado en condiciones de moderada temperatura (785ºC) y presión media (4,4 kb) en profundidades de la corteza media (~15 km). El emplazamiento casi sincrónico en la corteza media de una abundante suite metaluminosa durante el Ordovícico inferior-medio (468 Ma en el cerro Asperecito) fue suficiente para inducir anatexis local de los metasedimentos circundantes. Los contenidos de elementos mayoritarios (CaO, Na2O) y elementos traza (Rb, Sr, Ba) en el Granito Peñón Rosado sugieren anatexis a partir de un material inmaduro acumulado en un plataforma continental. Así, el Granito Peñón Rosado es un típico granitoide tipo-S con granate y el modelo establecido aquí puede contribuir a un mejor entendimiento acerca de la cristalización del granate en rocas graníticas., La realización de este trabajo fue financiado con los subsidios IM40 2000 (ANPCyT), BTE2001-1486 (España) y PIP02082 CONICET.

The Early Mesozoic magmatism of southwestern Gondwana is reviewed in the light of new U-Pb SHRIMP zircon ages (181 ± 2 Ma, 181 ± 3 Ma, 185 ± 2 Ma, and 182 ± 2 Ma) that establish an Early Jurassic age for the granites of the Subcordilleran plutonic belt in northwestern Argentine Patagonia. New geochemical and isotopic data confirm that this belt represents an early subduction-related magmatic arc along the proto-Pacific margin of Gondwana. Thus, subduction was synchronous with the initial phase of Chon Aike rhyolite volcanism ascribed to the thermal effects of the Karoo mantle plume and heralding rifting of this part of the supercontinent. Overall, there is clear evidence that successive episodes of calc-alkaline arc magmatism from Late Triassic times until establishment of the Andean Patagonian batholith in the Late Jurassic involved westerly migration and clockwise rotation of the arc. This indicates a changing geodynamic regime during Gondwana break-up and suggests differential rollback of the subducted slab, with accretion of new crustal material and/or asymmetrical ‘scissor-like’ opening of back-arc basins. This almost certainly entailed dextral displacement of continental domains in Patagonia., Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas

2 p., El trabajo se realizó en el marco de lso proyectos PB97-1246 (MEC) y BTE2001-1486 (MCYT) y PICT98-4189 (Argentina)

[ES] El margen proto-andino de Gondwana ha sido el escenario de al menos dos orogénesis desde el desmembramiento del supercontinente Rodinia al final del Neoprotrozoico, hasta el reagrupamiento de las masas continentales en Pangea al final del Carbonifero. Ambas orogénesis van precedidas de un periodo de apertura oceánica y sedimentación en márgenes pasivos y culminan en subducción oceánica con desarrollo de arcos-magmáticos de tipo cordillerano y colision de tipo continente-continente. La primera, orogénesis Pampeana, tiene lugar en el Cámbrico, en un intervalo de tiempo relativamente pequeño (535-520 Ma: etapas de subducción-arco magmático y colisión), y culmina con la acreción ortogonal de un pequeño terreno continental (terreno Pampeano) de naturaleza semiautóctona. Por el contrario, la orogénesis Famatiniana, tiene lugar en un periodo de tiempo más dilatado, durante el Ordovícico y Silúrico (499-435 Ma). Durante esta orogénesis tuvo lugar la acreción de un terreno exótico a Gondwana, el terreno Precordillera (460 Ma). Este terreno está constituido por un basamento grenvilliano (aprox. 1.1Ga) y una cubierta sedimentaria de plataforma carbonatada de edad Cámbrico-Ordovícico. La acreción al margen de Gondwana fue probablemente oblicua, y el margen oriental del terreno Precordillera fue afectado por fuerte deformación y metamorfismo regional. El basamento de los cinturones andinos del Paleozoico Superior y Mesozoico situados al oeste de la Precordillera, parece estar constituido también por rocas metamórficas grenvillianas; con lo cual, gran parte de los Andes centrales entre los 26ºS y 34ºS se encuentra asentado sobre terrenos alóctonos. En cualquier caso, la paleogeografía de las masas continentales involucradas en la colisión de los terrenos exóticos durante el Paleozoico Inferior no se conoce bien todavía., [EN] The proto-Andean margin of Gondwana was the site of at least two orogenies between the break-up of the Rodinia supercontinent, at the end of the Neoproterozoic, and the new continental amalgamation of Pangea at the end of the Carboniferous. Both orogenies were preceded by a period of ocean opening and passive margin sedimentation and ended with ocean subduction, development of cordilleran-type magmatic arcs and continent-continent collision. The Pampean orogeny took place in a relatively short period of time in the early Cambrian (535- 520 Ma; subduction – magmatic arc stage and continental collision), and ended with the orthogonal accretion of a semiautochthonous microcontinental fragment - the Pampean Terrane- to the Gondwana margin. On the other hand, the Famatinian orogeny spanned a longer period of time in the Ordovician and Silurian (499-435 Ma). During this orogeny the exotic Precordillera Terrane was accreted to the margin of Gondwana (460 Ma). This terrane, probably of Laurentian provenance, consists of a Grenvillian basement (1.1 Ga) and a Lower Paleozoic sedimentary cover of the carbonate platform type. Accretion was probably oblique to the Gondwana margin, and the eastern margin of the Precordillera Terrane was thoroughly affected by Famatinian deformation and regional metamorphism. The basement to the Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic Andean belts, situated to the west of the Precordillera, also appears to be formed by Grenvillian metamorphic rocks, so that the greater part of the Central Andes between 26ºS and 34ºS are established upon allocthonous terranes. The Lower Paleozoic paleogeography of continental masses involved in the collision is not still fully understood., Este trabajo ha sido subvencionado por los proyectos PICT98-4189 argentino y PB97-1246 español. Este trabajo es una contribución al proyecto IGCP-436: “Tectonic Evolution of the Pacific Gondwana Margin. Structure, Assembly and Break-up Events”.

Fil: Rapela, Carlos Washington. Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas (CIG). Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Argentina Fil: Pankhurst, Robert J.. British Antarctic Survey. Cambridge; United Kingdom Fil: Casquet, César. Departamento de Petrología y Geoquímica. Universidad Complutense. Madrid; Spain Fil: Baldo, Edgardo G.. Departamento de Petrología y Geoquímica. Universidad Complutense. Madrid; Spain Fil: Saavedra, Julio. SIC. Instituto de Agrobiología y Recursos Naturales. Salamanca; Spain Fil: Galindo, Carmen. Departamento de Petrología y Geoquímica. Universidad Complutense. Madrid; Spain

Las Sierras Pampeanas Argentinas constituyen un buen registro de la evolución Pre-Devónica del margen sur occidental del Gondwana. Los trabajos multidisciplinarios recientes y especialmente la información geocronológica, recolectada a lo largo de una transecta E-W de aproximadamente unos 500 km, permiten precisar la edad y los rasgos geológicos de los dos principales ciclos tectono-magmáticos involucrados en la evolución paleozoica inferior de esta parte del basamento argentino. El Ciclo Orogénico Pampeano comienza con una etapa de sedimentación en un margen pasivo (560-530 Ma), que evoluciona hacia una situación de margen activo con generación de un arco magmático tipo Andino, a los 533 - 528 Ma. El ciclo finaliza hacia los 523 Ma. en una colisión de tipo ortogonal, con un importante engrosamiento cortical, anatexis regional y generación de granitos "S". El "Ciclo Orogénico Famatiniano" se inicia a los 499-496 Ma y se caracteriza por la implantación de un arco magmático intemo de tipo trondhjemitico, seguido hacia el oeste por un importante arco magmático externo, contemporáneo con el anterior y formado por granodioritas de tipo "1" y grandes batolitos graníticos de tipo "S". Durante el Famatiniano tiene también lugar la formación de una cuenca de retroarco ensiálica con magmatismo básico. El final de este ciclo (450-420 Ma) está marcado por el desarrollo de importantes fajas de milonitización que marcan la colisión oblicua del Terreno Precordillera respecto al margen de Gondwana., Este trabajo se ha realizado con la ayuda económica de la Comunidad Europea (Proyecto CI1-CT92-0088), el Programa Sectorial de Promoción General del Conocimiento del Ministeno de Educación y Cultura de España (Proyecto PB97-1246) y el CONICET, Argentina (Proyecto PIP N" 4148).