Abstract
Geological observations in the Neuquén Basin indicate a Late Oligocene to Early Miocene episode of extension followed by an abrupt shift towards regional compression. However, the reasons behind this brief extensional episode and the Oligo-Miocene tectonic mode switch are not fully understood. Through the aid of numerical modelling, it has been shown that after a period of limited subduction in Early Palaeogene times, the penetration of Nazca’s slab tip into the mantle transition zone in Late Oligocene times resulted in the renewal of effective subduction due to the effect of the slab pull force. This renewed subduction consists of an initial stage of higher trench hinge retreat and steep slab dips, leading to extension and mantelic upwelling processes east of the trench. Then, the natural evolution of the slab produces a deceleration of roll-back and shallowing of the subduction angle once it reaches the lower mantle, resulting in horizontal shortening. These results indicate that the effect of the slab pull force is a potential responsible for the Oligo-Miocene tectonic mode switch, causing the opening of a series of intra-arc basins and widespread magmatism partially devoid of arc-like components followed by an increasing influence of the slab in the magmatic arc and the final closure of the Neuquén Basin.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Álvarez Cerimedo J, Orts DL, Rojas Vera EA et al (2013) Mecanismos y fases de construcción orogénicos del frente oriental andino (36° S, Argentina). Andean Geol 40(3):504–520
Bechis F, Encinas A, Concheyro A et al (2014) New age constraints for the Cenozoic marine transgressions of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina (41°–43° S): paleogeographic and tectonic implications. J S Am Earth Sci 52:72–93
Burd AI, Booker JR, Mackie R, Favetto A, Pomposiello MC (2014) Three-dimensional electrical conductivity in the mantle beneath the Payún Matrú Volcanic Field in the Andean backarc of Argentina near 36.5ºS: evidence for decapitation of a mantle plume by resurgent upper mantle shear during slab steepening. Geophys J Int 198:812–827
Capitanio FA, Faccenna C, Zlotnik S et al (2011) Subduction dynamics and the origin of Andean orogeny and the Bolivian orocline. Nature 480:83–86
Charrier R, Baeza O, Elgueta SE et al (2002) Evidence for Cenozoic extensional basin development and tectonic inversion south of the flat-slab segment, southern Central Andes, Chile (33–36 SL). J S Am Earth Sci 15(1):117–139
Charrier R, Pinto L, Rodriguez MP (2007) Tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Andean Orogen in Chile. In: Moreno T, Gibbons W (eds) The geology of Chile. The Geological Society, London, pp 21–114
Cobbold PR, Rosello EA (2003) Aptian to recent compressional deformation, foothills of the Neuquén Basin, Argentina. Mar Petrol Geol 20:429–443
Dyhr CT, Holm PM, Llambías EJ (2013a) Geochemical constraints on the relationship between the Miocene-Pliocene volcanism and tectonics in the Palaoco and Fortunoso volcanic fields, Mendoza Region, Argentina: New insights from 40Ar/39Ar dating, Sr–Nd–Pb isotopes and trace elements. J Volcanol Geoth Res 266:50–68
Dyhr CT, Holm PM, Llambías EJ, Scherstén A (2013b) Subduction controls on Miocene back-arc lavas from Sierra de Huantraico and La Matancilla and new 40Ar/39Ar dating from the Mendoza Region, Argentina. Lithos 179:67–83
England P, Engdahl R, Thatcher W (2004) Systematic variations in the depths of slabs beneath arc volcanoes. Geophys J Int 156:377–408
Fennell LM, Iannelli SB, Folguera A et al (2017) Interrupciones extensionales en el desarrollo de la faja plegada y corrida de Malargüe (36° S). In: Abstracts of the 20 Congreso Geológico Argentino, San Miguel de Tucumán, 7–11 Aug 2017
Fennell LM, Quinteros J, Iannelli SB et al (2018) The role of the slab pull force in the late Oligocene to early Miocene extension in the Southern Central Andes (27°-46° S): Insights from numerical modeling. J S Am Earth Sci 87:174–187
Folguera A, Ramos VA (2011) Repeated eastward shifts of arc magmatism in the Southern Andes: A revision to the long-term pattern of Andean uplift and magmatism. J S Am Earth Sci 32(4):531–546
Folguera A, Naranjo JA, Orihashi Y et al (2009) Retroarc volcanism in the northern San Rafael Block (34°-35°30’S), southern Central Andes: Occurrenge, age and tectonic setting. J Volcanol Geoth Res 186:169–185
Folguera A, Rojas Vera EA, Bottesi G et al (2010) The Loncopué Trough: a Cenozoic basin produced by extension in the southern Central Andes. J Geodyn 49(5):287–295
Garcia Morabito E, Ramos VA (2012) Andean evolution of the Aluminé fold and thrust belt, Northern Patagonian Andes (38 30′–40 30′ S). J S Am Earth Sci 38:13–30
Gerbault M, Cembrano J, Mpodozis C et al (2009) Continental margin deformation along the Andean subduction zone: Thermo-mechanical models. Phys Earth Planet Int 177(3):180–205
Giambiagi L, Mescua J, Bechis F et al (2012) Thrust belts of the southern Central Andes: Along-strike variations in shortening, topography, crustal geometry, and denudation. Geol Soc Am Bull 124(7–8):1339–1351
Gianni GM, Garcia HPA, Lupari M et al (2017) Plume overriding triggers shallow subduction and orogeny in the southern Central Andes. Gondwana Res 49:387–395
Gianni GM, Dávila FM, Echaurren A et al (2018) A geodynamic model linking Cretaceous orogeny, arc migration, foreland dynamic subsidence and marine ingression in southern South America. Earth-Sci Rev 185:437–462
Godoy E, Yáñez G, Vera E (1999) Inversion of an Oligocene volcano-tectonic basin and uplifting of its superimposed Miocene magmatic arc in the Chilean Central Andes: first seismic and gravity evidences. Tectonophysics 306(2):217–236
Heuret A, Lallemand S (2005) Plate motions, slab dynamics and back-arc deformation. Phys Earth Planet Int 149(1):31–51
Horton BK (2018a) Tectonic regimes of the Central and Southern Andes: Responses to variations in plate coupling during subduction. Tectonics 37. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017tc004624
Horton BK (2018b) Sedimentary record of Andean mountain building. Earth-Sci Rev 178:279–309
Horton BK, Fuentes F (2016) Sedimentary record of plate coupling and decoupling during growth of the Andes. Geol 44(8):647–650
Horton BK, Fuentes F, Boll A, Starck D, Ramírez SG, Stockli DF (2016) Andean stratigraphic record of the transition from backarc extension to orogenic shortening: a case study from the northern Neuquén Basin, Argentina. J S Am Earth Sci 71:17–40
Iannelli SB, Fennell LM, Litvak VDA et al (2018) Geochemical and tectonic evolution of Late Cretaceous to early Paleocene magmatism along the Southern Central Andes (35-36° S). J S Am Earth Sci 87:139–156
Jara P, Charrier R (2014) Nuevos antecedentes estratigráficos y geocronológicos para el Meso-Cenozoico de la Cordillera Principal de Chile entre 32° y 32° 30’ S: Implicancias estructurales y paleogeográficas. Andean geol 41(1):174–209
Jordan TE, Burns WM, Veiga R et al (2001) Extension and basin formation in the southern Andes caused by increased convergence rate: A mid-Cenozoic trigger for the Andes. Tectonics 20(3):308–324
Kay SM, Copeland P (2006) Early to middle Miocene backarc magmas of the Neuquén Basin: Geochemical consequences of slab shallowing and the westward drift of South America. Geol Soc Am SP 407:185–213
Kay SM, Godoy E, Kurtz A (2005) Episodic arc migration, crustal thickening, subduction erosion, and magmatism in the south-central Andes. Geol Soc Am Bull 117(1–2):67–88
Kay SM, Burns M, Copeland P (2006) Upper Cretaceous to Holocene magmatism and evidence for transient Miocene shallowing of the Andean subduction zone under the northern Neuquén Basin. In: Kay SM, Ramos VA (eds) Evolution of an Andean Margin: a tectonic and magmatic view from the Andes to the Neuquén Basin (35–39° S). Geological Society of America SP 407, pp 19–60
Lallemand S, Heuret A, Boutellier D (2005) On the relationships between slab dip, back-arc stress, upper plate absolute motion, and crustal nature in subduction zones. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 6(9):Q09006. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GC000917
Lister G, Forster M (2009) Tectonic mode switches and the nature of orogenesis. Lithos 113:274–291
Litvak VD, Spagnuolo MG, Folguera A et al (2015) Late Cenozoic calc-alkaline volcanism over the Payenia shallow subduction zone, South-Central Andean back-arc (34°30-37´S) Argentina. J S Am Earth Sci 64(2):365–380
Lopez-Escobar L, Vergara M (1997) Eocene-Miocene longitudinal depression and Quaternary volcanism in the Southern Andes, Chile (33–42.5° S): a geochemical comparison. Rev Geol Chile 24(2):227–244
Manea VC, Pérez-Gussinyé M, Manea M (2012) Chilean flat slab subduction controlled by overriding plate thickness and trench rollback. Geology 40(1):35–38
May VR, Chivas AR, Dosetto A et al (2018) Quaternary volcanic evolution in the continental back-arc of southern Mendoza, Argentina. J S Am Earth Sci 84:88–103
Mosolf JG, Gans PB, Wyss AR et al (2018) Late Cretaceous to Miocene volcanism, sedimentation, and upper-crustal faulting and folding in the Principal Cordillera, central Chile: field and geochronological evidence for protracted arc volcanism and transpressive deformation. Geol Soc Am Bull. https://doi.org/10.1130/B31998.1
Muñoz J, Troncoso R, Duhart P et al (2000) The relation of the mid-Tertiary coastal magmatic belt in south-central Chile to the late Oligocene increase in plate convergence rate. Rev Geol Chile 27(2):177–203
Muñoz M, Tapia F, Persico M et al (2018) Extensional tectonics during Late Cretaceous evolution of the Southern Central Andes: evidence from the Chilean main range at ~35° S. Tectonophysics 744:93–117
Parras A, Griffin M (2013) Late Cretaceous (Campanian/Maastrichtian) freshwater to restricted marine mollusk fauna from the Loncoche Formation, Neuquén Basin, west-central Argentina. Cretaceous Res 40:190–206
Pesicek JD, Engdahl ER, Thurber CH et al (2012) Mantle subducting slab structure in the region of the 2010 M8.8 Maule earthquake (30°–40° S). Chile. Geophys J Int 191:317–324
Quinteros J, Sobolev SV (2013) Why has the Nazca plate slowed since the Neogene? Geology 41(1):31–34
Radic JP (2010) Las cuencas cenozoicas y su control en el volcanismo de los Complejos Nevados de Chillán y Copahue-Callaqui (Andes del Sur, 36-39° S). Andean Geol 37(1):220–246
Ramos VA, Folguera A (2009) Andean flat-slab subduction through time. J Geol Soc London 327(1):31–54
Ramos ME, Folguera A, Fennell LM et al (2014) Tectonic evolution of the North Patagonian Andes from field and gravity data (39–40° S). J S Am Earth Sci 51:59–75
Rojas Vera EA, Folguera A, Zamora Valcarce G et al (2010) Neogene to Quaternary extensional reactivation of a fold and thrust belt: the Agrio belt in the Southern Central Andes and its relation to the Loncopué trough (38–39 S). Tectonophysics 492(1):279–294
Royden LH (1993) The tectonic expression slab pull at continental convergent boundaries. Tectonics 12(2):303–325
Sagripanti L, Bottesi G, Naipauer M et al (2011) U/Pb ages on detrital zircons in the southern central Andes Neogene foreland (36°–37° S): Constraints on Andean exhumation. J S Am Earth Sci 32(4):555–566
Sagripanti L, Bottesi G, Kietzmann D et al (2012) Mountain building processes at the orogenic front. A study of the unroofing in Neogene foreland sequence (37° S). Andean Geol 39(2):201–219
Sagripanti L, Colavitto B, Jagoe L et al (2018) A review about the Quaternary upper-plate deformation in the Southern Central Andes (36°–38° S): A plausible interaction between mantle dynamics and tectonics. J S Am Earth Sci 87:221–231
Sobolev SV, Babeyko AY (2005) What drives orogeny in the Andes? Geology 33(8):617–620
Somoza R, Ghidella ME (2012) Late Cretaceous to recent plate motions in western South America revisited. Earth Planet Sci Lett 331:152–163
Vergani GD, Tankard J, Belotti J et al (1995) Tectonic evolution and paleogeography of the Neuquén basin, Argentina. In: Tankard AJ, Suárez R, Welsink HJ (eds) Petroleum Basins of South America. AAPG Memoir 62:383–402
Waschbusch P, Beaumont C (1996) Effect of a retreating subduction zone on deformation on simple regions of plate convergence. J Geophys Res 101(B12):28133–28148
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge Marius Walter and the GFZ Geodynamic modelling section for their assistance with the numerical model. We are also grateful to Mark Brandon, whose valuable feedback improved the quality of this contribution. This is the R-317 contribution of the Instituto de Estudios Andinos “Don Pablo Groeber”.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fennell, L., Quinteros, J., Folguera, A. (2020). The Oligo-Miocene Tectonic Mode Switch: From a Brief Period of Widespread Extension to the Final Closure of the Neuquén Basin. In: Kietzmann, D., Folguera, A. (eds) Opening and Closure of the Neuquén Basin in the Southern Andes. Springer Earth System Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29680-3_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29680-3_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-29679-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-29680-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)