late cenozoic bending of the bolivian andes new paleomagnetic and kinematic constraints 1 new paleomagnetic measurements of essentially undeformed late cenozoic volcanic rocks in the bolivian andes south america constrain rigid body rotations about vertical axes during the last 13 myr on both limbs of the bolivian orocline in the eastern cordillera thermal and alternating field demagnetization was carried out on samples from 52 sites in three major volcanic complexes 1 13 2 ma los frailes ignimbritic volcanics outcropping at 19 5 s 2 9 5 ma morococala ignimbritic volcanics outcropping at 18 s and 3 13 5 ma shoshonitic to acidic lavas and intrusives outcropping at 17 5 s well defined magnetic components were isolated which are interpreted to represent the earth s magnetic field at the time of volcanic activity the mean magnetic vector for site groupings suggests regional tectonic rotations about vertical axes with respect to stable south america of 10 8 clockwise for the 13 2 ma los frailes volcanic complex 8 9 clockwise for only the miocene 13 5 ma los frailes volcanics and 1 18 anticlockwise for the combined 13 5 ma morococala and eucalyptus volcanic complexes these data are consistent with observed shortening gradients on the eastern margin of the bolivian andes in the sub andean zone suggesting rotation and shortening are synchronous a joint inversion for both tectonic rotation and the amount of shortening assuming a linear variation in the amount of rotation along the length of the southern limb of the bolivian orocline shows that rotation of the eastern cordillera in the last 10 15 myr relative to stable south america varies from zero at the oroclinal hinge at 18 s to a maximum of 13 5 clockwise at 22 s decreasing to zero south of 23 s with an average rotation in the range 5 to 10 clockwise concomitant with this shortening in the sub andean zone decreases from a maximum of 86 km at the oroclinal hinge to 47 km at 22 s and then 33 km at 23 s the lack of evidence for large scale internal faulting in the eastern cordillera since 9 ma suggests either bending of the eastern cordillera was accommodated by more distributed small scale faulting or that relative rotation here mainly occurred prior to 9 ma the small average rotation of the eastern cordillera on the southern limb of the orocline is consistent with only very small rotation 10 of the forearc region in northern chile during the last 20 myr rotation of the northern limb is less well constrained but it is also likely to be small 5 and anticlockwise

new paleomagnetic data from the northern argentine puna central andes rotation pattern reanalyzed 1 along the central andes a pattern of vertical axis rotations carp has been paleomagnetically identified these rotations which are counterclockwise north of arica and clockwise to the south have been detected in mesozoic and cenozoic rocks cropping out in the andean forearc and the altiplano puna different models have been proposed to explain the geodynamic evolution of the central andes but the origin of these rotations remains controversial such models involve oroclinal bending and or local block rotations this lack of agreement is partly due to the scarce paleomagnetic database particularly for the argentine puna here we report new paleomagnetic data obtained in the northern argentine puna from 57 sites drilled from miocene volcaniclastic rocks and 12 sites from the cretaceous eocene salta group it was determined that 1 the morro blanco area did not undergo significant vertical axis rotation since at least the middle miocene 2 the loma blanca mine area underwent a clockwise vertical axis rotation of 10 later than the late miocene and 3 the coranzuli area underwent a clockwise vertical axis rotation of 40 later than the cretaceous eocene the central andes database was analyzed and some features of the carp were determined these features were explained considering domino style models for the forearc and a local block rotation model in response to penetrative shear for the altiplano puna penetrative shear would occur along a high electrical conductivity zone however the possibility of the existence of an oroclinal bending of 5 cannot be discarded

lithospheric scale structure across the bolivian andes from tomographic images of velocity and attenuation for p and s waves we have developed a three dimensional lithospheric scale model across the bolivian andes at 20 s based on tomographic images of velocity and attenuation for both p and s waves observations of travel time and attenuation for this study are from regional mantle earthquakes in the subducted nazca plate recorded on a portable broadband seismic array broadband andean joint experiment and seismic exploration of the deep andes in bolivia and chile the shallow mantle under the altiplano from 18 s to 21 s is high velocity and moderately high q vp 8 3 vs 4 7 qp 500 and qs 200 suggesting lithospheric mantle high velocity material in the altiplano extends to a depth of 125 150 km the shallow mantle of the western cordillera is characterized by high vp vs 1 83 suggesting a correlation between vp vs and arc volcanism seismic velocity in the western cordillera mantle is on average only slightly reduced from global averages however velocity and attenuation anomalies are locally strong vp 7 8 vs 4 3 qp 200 and qs 100 consistent with partial melt conditions under the los frailes volcanic field in the eastern cordillera shallow mantle velocity and q decrease drastically from the neighboring altiplano vp 7 8 vs 4 3 qp 300 qs 100 however high vp vs is not as pervasive as it is in the western cordillera we believe that slab derived water and perhaps other volatiles strongly influence the western cordillera while the eastern cordillera low velocity region is more affected by partial melt and or compositional changes average velocity and q in the shallow mantle across the bolivian andes where the tomographic images are best resolved are significantly higher than in most mantle wedge environments where corresponding images are available this is likely the result of a compressional back arc setting in the andes this implies that lithospheric shortening and thickening associated with the formation of the andes has profoundly influenced the shallow mantle structure across the range shallow mantle structure is locally influenced by the subduction processes particularly under the western cordillera however the differing volcanism and seismic character under the two cordilleras suggest that the volcanic process in the eastern cordillera may be distinct from arc volcanism tertiary volcanism in the eastern cordillera is located in the region where mantle shortening is suspected to be greatest both the timing and location of volcanism are consistent with upward migration of mantle wedge asthenosphere following the removal of over thickened lithosphere

palaeomagnetism of neogene ocros dyke swarm the peruvian andes implication for the bolivian orocline summary remanent magnetization directions of 32 dykes and lava flows sampled near ayacucho the peruvian andes revealed 14 2 5 5 counterclockwise rotation after the neogene intrusion of this dyke swarm palaeo magnetic results of these rocks and other palaeomagnetic evidences from the central andean mesozoic rocks suggest relatively recent occurrence of the andean oroclinal bending around the axis at the peru chile border

on the strength of interplate coupling and the rate of back arc convergence in the central andes an analysis of the interseismic velocity field 1 we interpret the interseismic crustal velocity field of the central andes using a simple three plate model in which the andean mountain belt is treated as a rigid microplate located between the nazca and south american soam plates we assume that the euler vectors associated with these plates are strictly coaxial and that the surface velocity field can be decomposed into an elastic loading field driven by locking of the main plate boundary and a smaller contribution associated with back arc convergence we obtain our best fit to the geodetic velocities if the main plate boundary is fully 100 locked between depths of 10 50 km and 8 5 of nazca soam plate convergence is achieved in the back arc by underthrusting of the brazilian shield beneath the subandean zone

insight into the neogene tectonic history of the northern bolivian orocline from new paleomagnetic and geochronologic data a paleomagnetic study of 36 sites 315 samples of neogene strata from the peruvian altiplano and adjacent sub andean belt pilcopata area combined with 40ar 39ar dating of 13 lava flows provide new constraints on the cenozoic deformation history of the northern bolivian orocline in the peruvian altiplano 40ar 39ar dating brackets the age of the strata sampled for paleomagnetism between 26 5 and 12 1 ma for the huaccochullo basin 18 6 and 12 1 ma for the descanso yauri basin and 16 8 and 15 5 ma for the ayaviri basin sub andean sediments are paleontologically constrained as miocene yet pre 9 ma prefolding magnetizations isolated in the huaccochullo descanso yauri and pilcopata localities indicate significant counterclockwise vertical axis block rotations of 11 3 5 4 31 0 10 2 and 7 8 4 8 respectively the pattern of rotations together with mapped structures suggest that deformation of the northern altiplano was partitioned into large regions experiencing relatively minor rotation versus smaller isolated basins exhibiting high amplitude counterclockwise rotations that lie in a major left lateral shear zone our new results imply significant transpressional deformation occurred throughout the peruvian altiplano since circa 12 ma and are integrated in a model detailing the tectonic evolution of the northern bolivian orocline since 25 ma

late cenozoic paleomagnetism and chronology of andean basins of bolivia evidence for possible oroclinal bending new paleomagnetic and radioisotopic data are reported from two late tertiary high elevation non marine basins in the eastern cordillera of bolivia 1 quebrada honda located at 22 s lat consists of a 300 m thick section containing abundant santacrucian or friasian middle miocene fossil mammals this locality is constrained by mean 40 k 40 ar ages of 12 83 0 11 ma and 11 96 0 11 ma and the local magnetostratigraphy is correlated to chrons c5aa through c5a on the magnetic polarity time scale mpts the fossil mammals from quebrada honda have an extrapolated age of about 13 0 to 12 7 ma 2 micana located at 17 s lat consists of a 205 m thick section containing late miocene fossil mammals including a megatheriid sloth and the tiny mesothere microtypotherium cf m choquecotense this locality is constrained by a fission track age determination of 6 9 1 1 ma and the local magnetostratigraphy is correlated to chron 7 on the mpts the fossil mammals from this section have an extrapo

post middle oligocene origin of paleomagnetic rotations in upper permian to lower jurassic rocks from northern and southern peru abstract we report paleomagnetic data from 28 sites of upper permian to lower jurassic strata from northern and southern peru in northern peru 6 s a stable magnetic component from six permo triassic sites passes fold and reversal tests the overall mean pole agrees well with late permian to triassic poles from cratonal south america suggesting this part of peru has experienced neither significant rotation nor latitudinal transport since the permo triassic in southern peru 13 to 16 s thermal demagnetization isolates stable magnetic components in 16 of 22 upper permian to lower jurassic sites collected along the transition between the altiplano and the eastern cordillera these 16 sites are rotated 14 to 147 counterclockwise and pass an inclinations only fold test within the same structural zone three other permo triassic sites as well as 10 paleocene sites also show important counterclockwise rotations roperch and carlier j geophys res 97 1992 17233 17249 butler et al geology 23 1995 799 802 the large magnitude and exclusively counterclockwise sense of rotation suggest that the tectonic regime included an important sinistral shear component no correlation exists between rotation amount and rock age suggesting the rotations are post paleocene in age because the rotations occur along the fringe of the eastern cordillera they were likely produced during its structural formation hence from the late oligocene to present sinistral shear acting in the northern part of the bolivian orocline appears much more pronounced than that north of the abancay deflection which likely arises from differences in convergence obliquity

the kinematic history of the central andean fold thrust belt bolivia implications for building a high plateau this paper presents a model for the kinematic evolution of the central andean plateau based on balanced cross sections across the bolivian andes the proposed model links the formation of the andean plateau to the development of the andean fold thrust belt through the creation and propagation of two large basement mega thrusts support for large basement involved thrust sheets is found in significant steps in both the topography and the exposed structural elevation of the andean fold thrust belt the structurally highest basement thrust raised folds and faults in predominantly lower paleozoic rocks of the eastern cordillera with respect to tertiary rocks in the broad internally drained basin of the altiplano to the west and east verging folds and faults in upper paleozoic rocks of the interandean zone to the east the interandean zone was in turn raised both structurally and topographically with respect to the frontal folds and faults of the fold thrust belt the subandean zone by a second structurally lower basement thrust sheet thus these two megathrusts divide the andean fold thrust belt into four areas of markedly different structural elevations the eastern cordillera can be further subdivided into two zones of west and east vergent folds and thrusts shortening accommodated by the fold thrust belt can be divided among these tectono structural zones and linked to shortening accommodated by the inferred basement megathrusts the proposed kinematic model suggests that the eastward propagation of the structurally highest basement thrust fed 105 km of slip into the eastern cordillera along east vergent and west vergent faults this structure also fed 90 km of eastward slip into the interandean zone the initiation and eastward propagation of a lower basement thrust structurally elevated the interandean zone with respect to the foreland while feeding 65 km of slip into the subandean zone out of sequence basement thrusting to the west is proposed to have elevated the western edge of the plateau and accommodated 40 km of shortening within the altiplano total cumulative shortening within the cover rocks of the andean fold thrust belt 300 330 km can be balanced by an equivalent amount of shortening along two basement megathrusts to the first order the eastern margin of the central andean plateau defined by the 3 km topographic contour is contiguous with the leading edge of the upper basement megathrust this relationship between the basement highs and the physiographic boundaries of the andean plateau suggests that extensive megathrust sheets involving strong rocks such as crystalline basement or quartzite play an important role in the formation of the central andean plateau and a similar link between megathrust sheets and plateaus may be found in other orogens

palaeomagnetism of the cordillera de la costa northern chile evidence for local forearc rotation abstract palaeomagnetic studies of lower jurassic to lower cretaceous volcanic plutonic and sedimentary rocks from the cordillera de la costa of northern chile indicate that there has been no significant latitudinal movement of northern chile since early cretaceous times a palaeomagnetic pole for the cordillera de la costa 63 s 187 e 95 7 7 was derived from combining the results of three studied units the la negra formation jurassic volcanics jurassic lower cretaceous granodioritic plutons and the e1 way formation hauterivian marine carbonates together with the coloso formation lower cretaceous red beds comparison with a cretaceous reference pole for the stable shield area of south america 87 s 235 e 95 2 4 indicates that 24 7 of clockwise rotation has taken place possible mechanisms for the rotation of the andean forearc in this area have been examined in relation to the kinetics of the subducting nazca and over riding south american plates the cordillera de la costa has been subjected to both compressional and extensional tectonics since the lower cretaceous major eastwardly directed thrusting in mid cretaceous and early tertiary times possibly associated with a period of oblique subduction of the nazca plate contributed to the accretion of the cordillera to the main forearc rotation may have occurred during this process in oligo miocene and later tertiary times extensional faulting possibly associated with roll back of the nazca plate led to the reactivation of the atacama fault zone and the formation of oblique extension faults in the cordillera de la costa structural rotation associated with this phase of extension could equally explain the observed palaeomagnetic results

seismicity along st lawrence paleorift faults overprinted by a meteorite impact structure in charlevoix quebec eastern canada abstract the charlevoix seismic zone csz in quebec has the highest number of earthquakes in eastern canada with cataloged events diffusely distributed between the st lawrence paleorift faults in this study we relocate 1242 out of 1639 earthquakes in the csz from 1988 to 2010 using double difference relocations with phase arrivals from manual picks and waveform cross correlations and requiring a strict set of quality control criteria our results show a diffuse distribution of earthquakes beneath the st lawrence river within a meteorite impact structure and clear lineations of event hypocenters outside the inner boundary of the impact structure the diffuse seismicity distribution coupled with a lower cumulative seismic moment within the impact structure despite a higher number of events suggests the presence of highly fractured crust and weakened pre existing faults a lack of m n 4 0 earthquakes and a wide variation of focal mechanism p axis orientations also provide evidence for weakened pre existing faults relocated earthquakes beneath the north shore of the st lawrence river illuminate a broad southeast trending linear structure suggesting the geometry of the gouffre northwest river fault a paucity of seismicity between the north shore and the river may correspond to fault controlled basins of unconsolidated sediments at the surface and volumes of high seismic velocity material at midcrustal depths online material earthquake catalogs

origin of the high plateau in the central andes bolivia south america the bolivian altiplano in the central andes of south america is part of the second largest high plateau on earth it is an elongate region of subdued relief 1 2 105 km2 and 4 km above sea level bounded by the eastern cordillera and volcanic arc western cordillera here the crust is up to 75 km thick we describe the cenozoic geological evolution of this region using a revised chronostratigraphy and an analysis of the crustal and lithospheric structure crustal shortening and magmatic addition and locally sedimentation are the main mechanisms of cenozoic crustal thickening leading to nearly 4 km of surface uplift since the paleocene addition of mafic melts appears to be a first order mechanism of cenozoic crustal growth contributing 40 of the crustal thickening beneath the volcanic arc removal of the basal part of the lithosphere may have caused two episodes of widespread arc and behind arc mafic volcanism at 23 ma and 0 5 ma contributing to the surface uplift the altiplano originated as a sedimentary basin several hundred kilometers wide between the proto western cordillera and a narrow zone of uplift proto eastern cordillera farther east the latter zone formed by inversion of the center of a wide lacustrine or marine cretaceous paleocene basin close to sea level at 45 ma a thickness of 2 4 km of paleogene continental elastics accumulated in the proto altiplano basin subsequently in the oligocene we estimate that this region and the western margin of the eastern cordillera were technically shortened 22 65 km resulting in 9 km of average crustal thickening the altiplano basin was rejuvenated at 25 ma and subsequently flooded with up to 8 km thickness of detritus eroded from the uplifting eastern and western cordilleras between 25 and 5 ma folding and thrusting in the western margin of the eastern cordillera migrated westward into the center of the altiplano basin essentially terminating deposition except in local subbasins and accommodating 13 30 km of shortening and an estimated 7 km of average crustal thickening subsequently there has been strike slip deformation and limited local thrusting 5 km of shortening geomorphological and geochronological evidence for 1 5 2 km of surface uplift of this region since the late miocene suggests 14 km of lower crustal thickening beneath an essentially rigid lid and can be explained by 100 150 km of underthrusting of the brazilian shield and adjacent regions beneath the eastern margin of the central andes the present subdued relief in the altiplano may be a result of ductile flow in the lower crust and sedimentation and erosion in an internal drainage basin

paleomagnetic study of upper miocene rocks from northern chile implications for the origin of late miocene recent tectonic rotations in the southern central andes paleomagnetic studies in the southern central andes have shown the widespread presence of clockwise vertical axis rotations rock units sampled in these studies however are heterogeneously distributed in stratigraphic age with most paleomagnetic data from northern chile being from mesozoic and lower tertiary rocks whereas most data in the southern altiplano puna and cordillera oriental are from upper tertiary rocks in this paper we present the results of a paleomagnetic study on upper miocene sedimentary rocks and ignimbrites from the precordillera of northern chile at 22 s these rocks are coeval with the initiation of crustal shortening in the eastern foreland fold thrust belt which some tectonic models relate to oroclinal rotation of northern chile primary magnetizations in rocks from widely distributed sites in two ignimbrites indicate that no relative rotations have occurred between sites suggesting the study area has acted as a single coherent block with respect to vertical axis rotational deformation although minor inadequate sampling of paleosecular variation can affect our data set its time averaged paleomagnetic direction is indistinguishable from the expected late miocene reference direction indicating no paleomagnetically significant rotation of the study area since circa 11 ma this suggests that late miocene recent oroclinal rotation of the northern chilean forearc if present must be either very low or nonuniform a direct implication of this result is that much of the unquestionable tectonic rotations detected from upper miocene rocks in the southern central andes is of local origin available structural data permit us to relate several of these rotations with shear in dextral transfer zones in the foreland thrust belt on the east side of the andes

facies analysis and basin architecture of the neogene subandean synorogenic wedge southern bolivia foreland sedimentation in the subandean zone of south central bolivia spans from the upper oligocene to present it records sediment dispersal patterns in an initially distal and later proximal retroarc foreland basin and thereby contains stratigraphic information on the tectonic evolution of the adjacent andean fold thrust belt within the neogene orogenic wedge individual siliciclastic dominated depositional systems formed ahead of an eastward propagating deformation regime we defined described and interpreted eight architectural elements and 24 lithofacies from 15 outcrop locations representing the neogene foreland basin in the subandean zone and the chaco plain these are combined to interpret depositional settings the up to 7 5 km thick neogene wedge is subdivided in five stratigraphic units on the basis of facies associations and overall architecture 1 the basal oligocene miocene up to 250 m thick petaca formation consists dominantly of calcrete reworked conglomeratic pedogenic clasts and fluvial sandstone and mudstone this unit is interpreted to represent extensive pedogenesis under an arid to semiarid climate with subordinate braided fluvial processes 2 the overlying upper miocene up to 350 m thick yecua formation records numerous small scale transgressive regressive cycles of marginal marine tidal and shoreline facies of sandstone ooid limestones and varicoloured mudstone 3 the upper miocene up to 4500 m thick tariquia formation principally consists of sandstone with interbedded sandstone mudstone couplets representing frequent crevassing in anastomosing streams with an upsection increasing degree of connectedness 4 the up to 1500 m thick lower pliocene guandacay formation represents braided streams and consists principally of granule to cobble conglomerate interbedded with sandstone and sandy mudstone 5 the upper pliocene up to 2000 m thick emborozu formation consists predominantly of alluvial fandeposited cobble to boulder conglomerate interbedded with sandstone and sandy mudstone the coarsening and thickening upward pattern and eastward progradation coupled with the variable proportions of overbank facies channel size and degree of channel abandonment in the tariquia guandacay and emborozu formations reflect a distal through proximal fluvial megafan environment this long lived megafan grew by high sedimentation rates and a northeast through southeast radial paleoflow pattern on large coarse grained sediment lobes the marked overall

paleomagnetism of mesozoic rocks from the central andes of southern peru importance of rotations in the development of the bolivian orocline a paleomagnetic study has been undertaken in jurassic volcanics and cretaceous intrusions from coastal southern peru a secondary magnetization in the jurassic volcanics was identified at 21 sites from three main localities along the southern coast of peru mean virtual geomagnetic pole 59 5 n 190 1 e k 111 95 3 0 this secondary magnetization was acquired during a tectonomagmatic event that may be related to the emplacement of the peruvian coastal batholith and or to the first andean phase of compressional deformation in late cretaceous if we assume that the remagnetization is of late cretaceous age a regional counterclockwise rotation of about 20 is recorded by the forearc of southern peru from 16 s to 18 s primary remanent magnetizations recorded by the volcanics and the batholith reveal a more complex tectonic history of block rotations counterclockwise rotations of 50 to 80 are documented near the localities of chala eight sites ocona two sites and arequipa four sites preliminary results based on three sites of late permian to early triassic sediments from northern bolivia also show a large counterclockwise rotation the observed differences between the primary and the secondary magnetization indicate that large block rotations occurred prior to the acquisition of the secondary magnetization perhaps this first episode of deformation partially structured the andean chain in the central andes and induced an incipient orocline during the cenozoic a differential shortening along the chain gave the present day shape of the bolivian deflection and resulted in a counterclockwise rotation of the forearc system by about 20 as indicated by the remagnetization

neogene paleomagnetism and oroclinal bending of the central andes of bolivia geophysical and tectonic evidence suggests that the principal vertical axis bending of the bolivian orocline is a late cenozoic event related to subduction and andean uplift to further test this hypothesis paleomagnetic data are presented from miocene basins within the altiplano and cordillera oriental of bolivia located in the presumed southern limb of the orocline to factor out potential vgp data samples were collected from sedimentary sections spanning at least 0 5 m y new paleomagnetic data are presented for two sites i e gerdas 21 s latitude 16 15 ma and quehua 20 s latitude 13 7 ma in conjunction with previously published paleomagnetic results from middle to late tertiary rocks from bolivia and peru spanning some 16 of latitude 6 22 s a consistent pattern of oroclinal development is as follows significant counterclockwise rotation about 15 20 in the northern limb negligible rotation in the axis at the latitude of the arica deflection and significant clockwise rotation about 15 20 in the southern limb although these paleomagnetic data could represent independent mesoscale 102 to 104 km2 block rotations the preferred interpretation is that they confirm the hypothesis that a significant portion about 30 40 of the oroclinal bending occurred during the late cenozoic using the unit mean paleomagnetic declinations in the well dated sections minimum rates of oroclinal bending during the late cenozoic are calculated to range from 0 6 m y to 1 7 m y the remaining 15 20 of observed curvature of the orocline probably resulted from an earlier phase of andean deformation or may represent the shape of the ancestral andes

oxidized magnetite series rapakivi type granites of carajas brazil implications for classification and petrogenesis of a type granites abstract the varying geochemical and petrogenetic nature of a type granites is a controversial issue the oxidized magnetite series a type granites defined by anderson and bender anderson j l bender e e 1989 nature and origin of proterozoic a type granitic magmatism in the southwestern united states of america lithos 23 19 52 are the most problematic as they do not strictly follow the original definition of a type granites and approach calc alkaline and i type granites in some aspects the oxidized jamon suite a type granites of the carajas province of the amazonian craton are compared with the magnetite series granites of laurentia and other representative a type granites including finnish rapakivi and lachlan fold belt a type granites as well as with calc alkaline i type orogenic granites the geochemistry and petrogenesis of different groups of a types granites are discussed with an emphasis on oxidized a type granites in order to define their geochemical signatures and to clarify the processes involved in their petrogenesis oxidized a type granites are clearly distinguished from calc alkaline cordilleran granites not only regarding trace element composition as previously demonstrated but also in their major element geochemistry oxidized a type granites have high whole rock feo t feo t mgo tio 2 mgo and k 2 o na 2 o and low al 2 o 3 and cao compared to calc alkaline granites the contrast of al 2 o 3 contents in these two granite groups is remarkable the cao feo t mgo tio 2 vs cao al 2 o 3 and cao feo t mgo tio 2 vs al 2 o 3 diagrams are proposed to distinguish a type and calc alkaline granites whole rock feo t feo t mgo and the feo t feo t mgo vs al 2 o 3 and feo t feo t mgo vs al 2 o 3 k 2 o na 2 o diagrams are suggested for discrimination of oxidized and reduced a type granites experimental data indicate that besides pressure the nature of a type granites is dependent of o 2 conditions and the water content of magma sources oxidized a type magmas are considered to be derived from melts with appreciable water contents 4 wt originating from lower crustal quartz feldspathic igneous sources under oxidizing conditions and which had clinopyroxene as an important residual phase reduced a type granites may be derived from quartz feldspathic igneous sources with a metasedimentary component or alternatively from differentiated tholeiitic sources the imprint of the different magma sources is largely responsible for the geochemical and petrological contrasts between distinct a type granite groups assuming conditions near the nno buffer as a minimum for oxidized granites magnetite bearing granites formed near fmq buffer conditions are not stricto sensu oxidized granites and a correspondence between oxidized and reduced a type granites and respectively magnetite series and ilmenite series granites is not always observed

lithospheric flexure and bending of the central andes gravity anomaly and topography data are used to define the effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere t in the bend region of the central andes values of z increase from nearly zero north and south of the bend to values greater than 50 km at the bend in bolivia there is a close correlation between t and the style and magnitude of the shortening in the central andes since the late miocene in the bend region where the lithosphere is flexurally strong with large t foreland deformation is concentrated into a thin skinned fold and thrust belt above a basal decollement which has absorbed more than 100 km of shortening further north and south where the lithosphere is flexurally weak with low t foreland deformation is more complex involves basement and has absorbed less shortening the along strike gradients in foreland shortening have accommodated both clockwise and anticlockwise rotations about a vertical axis of almost the entire width of the bolivian andes we speculate that the observed variation in t is related to the proximity of the brazilian shield and has been an important factor in controlling the nature and amount of foreland deformation and hence bending of the central andes the flexural properties of the lithosphere may play an important role in determining the large scale evolution of mountain belts

neogene shortening contribution to crustal thickening in the back arc of the central andes to illustrate the neogene shortening distribution in the back arc units of the central andes and to estimate the contribution of the shortening to crustal thickening two balanced crustal cross sections have been constructed across the northern and southern branches of the bolivian orocline total neogene shortening which varies from 191 to 231 km is accommodated by a crustal duplex below the cordillera oriental but is insufficient to produce the 70 km of crustal thickness evidenced by geophysical data below the altiplano the best explanation for this anomalous thickening seems to be crustal underplating by material tectonically eroded from the continental margin this process probably caused the altiplano uplift the subduction of oceanic lithosphere coupled with this underplating and a brief episode of gravity spreading of the altiplano constituted the driving forces that produced neogene shortening and development of the central andes