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Atherton & Warden 1985 The Mesozoic Marginal Basin of Central Peru

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Victor Valdivia
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148 views12 pages

Atherton & Warden 1985 The Mesozoic Marginal Basin of Central Peru

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Victor Valdivia
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The Mesozoic marginal basin of Central Peru a geochemical study of within-plate-edge volcanism Michael P. Atherton, Vanita Warden, and L, Michael Sanderson Department of Geology University of Liverpool Liverpool L69 3BX United Kingdom The marginal basin which forms part of the West Peruvian Trough received upwcards of 90007 of material during the ‘Mesozoic, and within the Cretaceous rocks there is a well-defined west-to-east facies change whereby a thick sequence of voleaniclastc turbidites and pillow lavas (the ‘eugeosynclin’) thins eastwards, o be replaced by a mixed clastic platform sequence. The volcano-sedimentary association and the chemical composition, coupled with the geophysical evidence, suggests that the ‘eugeosyncline’ represents an extensional basin similar to that described in Southern Chile. It is into this marginal asin that the Coastal Batholith is emplaced and contributes to the evolution of new crust. Introduction ‘The Mesozoic West Peruvian Trough (Wilson, 1963) isa fundamental feature of the middle South American margin and may be divided into an eastern sedimentary sequence about 500m thick, and a western voleanic sequence, between 7000-9000 m thick, considered by Cobbing (1978) to represent a classical geosynclinal bicouple, viz. a voleanic eugeosyncline and a sedimen- tary miogeosyneline, separated by a geanticline (Myers, 19754). The transition, called the Tapacocha axis by Myers (19756 and Figure 6.1), marks the change from virtually undeformed volcanics to moderately deformed sediments. However, in the south near the Figure 6.1 The Mesozoic West Peruvian Trough (Win 1963) showing the volcanic and voleaniclastic nature ofthe western part of ‘the trough and the clastic wholly sedimentary nature of the eastern ‘art, with the Coastal Batholith emplaced for the most part in the ‘oleanc sequence Le. marginal basin. T: Tapacocha axis; C.BE. Cordillera Blanca fault latitude of Lima the volcanic rocks crop out to the east of the axis as far as the Cordillera Blanca fault, which Cobbing (1978) considered the more important struc~ ure (Figure 6.1). The West Peruvian Trough subdivided into individual basins which were probably interconnected during most oftheirsedimentary history (Cobbing, 1978) and were thought to relate to inde- pendent vertical movements of ribbon-like blocks. This Paper is concerned only with the volcanic (‘eugeosyn-

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