Lower Carboniferous post-orogenic granites in central-eastern Sierra de Velasco, Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina: U-Pb monazite geochronology, geochemistry and Sr-Nd isotopes

Abstract

The central-eastern part of the Sierra de Velasco (Sierras Pampeanas, NW Argentina) is formed by the large Huaco (40 x 30 km) and Sanagasta (25 x 15 km) granite massifs and the small La Chinchilla stock (2 x 2 km). The larger granites intrude into Ordovician metagranitoids and crosscut Devonian (?) mylonitic shear zones, whereas the small stock sharply intrudes into the Huaco granite. The two voluminous granites are biotitic-muscovitic and biotitic porphyritic syeno- to monzogranites. They contain small and rounded tonalitic and quartz-dioritic mafic microgranular enclaves. The small stock is an equigranular, zinnwaldite- and fluorite-bearing monzogranite. The studied granites are silica-rich (SiO2 > 70%), potassium-rich (K2O > 4%), ferroan, alkali-calcic to slightly calk-alkalic, and moderately to weakly peraluminous (A/CNK = 1.06-1.18 Huaco granite; 1.01-1.09 Sanagasta granite; 1.05-1.06 La Chinchilla stock). They have moderate to strong enrichments in several LIL (Li, Rb, Cs) and HFS (Nb, Ta, Y, Th, U) elements, and low Sr, Ba and Eu contents. U-Pb monazite age determinations indicate Lower Carboniferous crystallization ages: 350-358 Ma for the Huaco granite, 352.7 ± 1.4 Ma for the Sanagasta granite and 344.5 ± 1.4 Ma for the La Chinchilla stock. The larger granites have similar eNd values between ?2.1 and ?4.3, whereas the younger stock has higher eNd of ?0.6 to ?1.4, roughly comparable to the values obtained for the Carboniferous San Blas granite (?1.4 to ?1.7), located in the north of the sierra. The Huaco and Sanagasta granites have a mainly crustal source, but with some participation of a more primitive, possibly mantle-derived, component. The main crustal component can be attributed to Ordovician peraluminous metagranitoids. The La Chinchilla stock derives from a more primitive source, suggesting an increase with time in the participation of the primitive component during magma genesis. The studied granites were generated during a post-orogenic period in a within-plate setting, possibly as a response to the collapse of the previous Famatinian orogen, extension of the crust and mantle upwelling. They are part of the group of Middle Devonian-Lower Carboniferous granites of the Sierras Pampeanas. The distribution and U-Pb ages of these granites suggests a northward arc-parallel migration of this mainly post-orogenic magmatism with time.