South America provides an outstanding laboratory for studies of magmatism and crustal evolution because it contains older Archean-Paleoproterozoic cratons that amalgamated during Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic supercontinent assembly, as well as a long history of Andean magmatism that records crustal growth and reworking in an accretionary orogen. We have attempted to reconstruct the growth and evolution of South America through U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotope analyses of detrital zircons from 59 samples of sand from modern rivers and shorelines. Results from 5,524 new U-Pb ages and 1,199 new Hf isotope determinations are reported. We have also integrated our data into a compilation of all previously published zircon geochronologic and Hf isotopic information, yielding a record that includes>42,000 ages and>1,600 Hf isotope analyses. These data yield five main conclusions: (1) South America has an age distribution that is similar to most other continents, presumably reflecting the supercontinent cycle, with maxima at 2.2-1.8 Ga, 1.6-0.9 Ga, 700-400 Ma, and 360-200 Ma; (2)<200 Ma magmatism along the western margin of South America has age maxima at 183 Ma (191-175 Ma), 151 Ma (159-143 Ma), 126 Ma (131-121 Ma), 109 Ma (114-105 Ma), 87 Ma (95-79 Ma), 62 Ma (71-53 Ma), 39 Ma (43-35 Ma), 19 Ma (23-15 Ma), and 6 Ma (10-2 Ma); (3) for the past 200 Ma, there appears to be a positive correlation between magmatism and the velocity of convergence between central South America and Pacific oceanic plates; (4) Hf isotopes record reworking of older crustal materials during most time periods, with incorporation of juvenile crustal materials at ~1.6-1.0 Ga, 500-400 Ma and ~200-100 Ma; and (5) the Hf isotopic signature of<200 Ma magmatism is apparently controlled by the generation of juvenile magmas during extensional tectonism and reworking of juvenile versus evolved crustal materials during crustal thickening and arc migration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/347220 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Pepper, Martin Bailey |
| Contributors | Gehrels, George E., Reiners, Peter, Kapp, Paul, Zandt, George |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Electronic Dissertation |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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