Abstract

The Early Andean Magmatic Province (EAMP), consists of about 150 000 km3 of volcanic and plutonic units in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile and southern Peru and represents a major magmatic Mesozoic event in the world, for which the precise age of the thick volcanic series was unknown. Thirty 40Ar/39Ar analyses were carried out on primary mineral phases of volcanic and plutonic rocks from northern Chile (18°30′-24°S). Reliable plateau and "mini plateau" ages were obtained on plagioclase, amphibole and biotite from volcanic and plutonic rocks, despite widespread strong alteration degree. In the Arica, Tocopilla and Antofagasta (700 km apart) regions, the ages obtained on lava flows constrain the volcanic activity between 164 and 150 Ma and no N-S migration of volcanism is observed. The uppermost lava flows of the volcanic sequence at the type locality of the La Negra Formation extruded at ca. 153-150 Ma, suggesting the end of the volcanic activity of the arc at that time. The oldest volcanic activity occurred probably at ca. 175-170 Ma in the Iquique area, although no plateau age could be obtained. The plutonic bodies of the same regions were dated between ca. 160 and 142 Ma, indicating that they were partly contemporaneous with the volcanic activity. At least one volcanic pulse around 160 Ma is evidenced over the entire investigated reach of the EAMP, according to the ages found in Arica, Tocopilla, Michilla and Mantos Blancos regions. The episodic emplacement of huge amounts of subduction related volcanism is observed throughout the whole Andean history and particularly during the Jurassic (southern Peru, northern Chile and southern Argentina). These events probably correspond to periodic extensional geodynamic episodes, as a consequence of particular subduction conditions, such as change of obliquity of the convergence, change in the subduction angle, slab roll back effect or lower convergence rate, that remain to be precisely defined. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.