Effects of Uplift on Carboniferous Exhumation and Mountain Glaciations in Pericratonic Areas of SW Gondwana, Central Argentina

Abstract

The late Paleozoic ice age (or LPIA) glaciations in Gondwana were the longest and most widespread in Phanerozoic history. Despite their paleobiogeographic significance for Earth evolution, their drivers are strongly debated. In this work, we used field observations (upper Paleozoic glaciogenic strata lapping onto Mississippian granites), low-temperature cooling ages (apatite fission track), thermochronology modeling (apatite and zircon fission track, and apatite U-Th/He data) and landscape numerical simulations in a pericratonic scenario far away from the late Paleozoic plate margin to demonstrate that exhumation, tectonic uplift and glaciations were coeval and genetically linked. Considering low temperatures alone cannot drive a glaciation, we propose that this uplift and mountain building were key controls to trap humid air masses within the interior foreland of SW Gondwana.