DEVONIAN-CARBONIFEROUS MAGMATISM AND METALLOGENY IN THE SOUTH URAL ACCRETIONARY-COLLISIONAL SYSTEM

The oceanic stage in the history of the South Urals completed in the Ordovician – Early Silurian. The Ordovician through Devonian events in the region included the formation of an island arc in the East Ural zone from the Middle Ordovician to Silurian; westward motion of the subduction zone in the Late Silurian – Early Devonian and the origin of a trench along the Main Ural Fault and the Uraltau Uplift; volcanic eruptions and intrusions in the Magnitogorsk island arc system in the Devonian. The Middle-Late Paleozoic geodynamic evolution of uralides and altaides consisted in successive alternation of subduction and collisional settings at the continent-ocean transition. The greatest portion of volcanism in the major Magnitogorsk zone was associated with subduction and correlated in age and patterns of massive sulfide mineralization (VMS) with Early – Middle Devonian ore-forming events in Rudny Altai. Within-plate volcanism at the onset of volcanic cycles records the Early (D1e2) and Middle (D2ef2) Devonian slab break off. The volcanic cycles produced, respectively, the Buribay and Upper Tanalyk complexes with VMS mineralization in the Late Emsian; the Karamalytash complex and its age equivalents in the Late Eifelian – Early Givetian, as well as the lower Ulutau Formation in the Givetian. Slab break off in the Late Devonian – Early Carboniferous obstructed the Magnitogorsk island arc and supported asthenospheric diapirism. A new subduction zone dipping westward and the Aleksandrovka island arc formed in the Late Devonian – Early Carboniferous. The Early Carboniferous collision and another event of obstructed subduction led to a transform margin setting corresponding to postcollisional relative sliding of plates that produced another slab tear. Postcollisional magmatism appears as alkaline gabbro-granitic intrusives with related rich Ti-magnetite mineralization (C1). Transform faulting persisted in the Middle Carboniferous through Permian, when the continent of Eurasia completed its consolidation. The respective metallogenic events included formation of Cu-Ni picritic dolerites (C2–3), as well as large-scale gold and Mo-W deposits in granites (P1–2).

Age distribution of cinder cones within the Bandas del Sur Formation, southern Tenerife, Canary Islands

The Quaternary Bandas del Sur Formation in the south of Tenerife comprises a complex sequence of pyroclastic rocks and lavas. In contrast to the NW- and NE-Rift zone on Tenerife, the S-Rift zone comprises a number of characteristics with respect to the morphological features, eruption cyclicity and the geochemistry of the volcanic deposits. Various flank eruptions of the Las Cañadas volcano associated with basaltic lavas and the formation of cinder cones within the Bandas del Sur are important volcanic units for understanding the explosive volcanic cycles during the Pleistocene on Tenerife. A number of palaeomagnetic studies, as well as major and trace element geochemistry and two radio-isotope dates (K–Ar), have been carried out on prominent cinder cones, in order to discover their stratigraphic position. Combining our results with previous K–Ar data, the cones and lavas can be subdivided into three stratigraphic units. The first unit contains cinder cones with reverse magnetization and Y/Nb ratios between 0.37 and 0.41. Cinder cones which belong to the second unit show normal magnetization and Y/Nb ratios of < 0.35. The third unit comprises cinder cones with normal magnetization and Y/Nb ratios of about 0.47. The first two units were constructed between c. 0.948–0.779 Ma and 0.323–0.300 Ma. These units define volcanic cycles ending in violent Plinian eruptions. The third and youngest unit possibly marks the beginning of a further volcanic cycle that started c. 0.095 Ma ago.

The evolution of Neoproterozoic magmatism in Southernmost Brazil: shoshonitic, high-K tholeiitic and silica-saturated, sodic alkaline volcanism in post-collisional basins

The Neoproterozoic shoshonitic and mildly alkaline bimodal volcanism of Southernmost Brazil is represented by rock assemblages associated to sedimentary successions, deposited in strike-slip basins formed at the post-collisional stages of the Brasilian/Pan-African orogenic cycle. The best-preserved volcano sedimentary associations occur in the Camaquã and Campo Alegre Basins, respectively in the Sul-riograndense and Catarinense Shields and are outside the main shear belts or overlying the unaffected basement areas. These basins are characterized by alternation of volcanic cycles and siliciclastic sedimentation developed dominantly on a continental setting under subaerial conditions. This volcanism and the coeval plutonism evolved from high-K tholeiitic and calc-alkaline to shoshonitic and ended with a silica-saturated sodic alkaline magmatism, and its evolution were developed during at least 60 Ma. The compositional variation and evolution of post-collisional magmatism in southern Brazil are interpreted as the result mainly of melting of a heterogeneous mantle source, which includes garnet-phlogopite-bearing peridotites, veined-peridotites with abundant hydrated phases, such as amphibole, apatite and phlogopite, and eventually with the addition of an asthenospheric component. The subduction-related metasomatic character of post-collisional magmatism mantle sources in southern Brazil is put in evidence by Nb-negative anomalies and isotope features typical of EM1 sources.

Filling and plugging of a marine basin by volcanic rocks: the Tunoqqu Member of the Lower Tertiary Vaigat Formation on Nuussuaq, central West Greenland

The volcanic Tunoqqu Member formed at the end of the second of three volcanic cycles in the Paleocene Vaigat Formation. The Tunoqqu Member consists of brown aphyric and feldspar-phyric basalts and forms a marker horizon within the grey picritic rocks of the Vaigat Formation. Most of the basalts are siliceous and were produced by contamination with crustal rocks of magmas ranging in composition from picrite to evolved basalt. Some of the basalts were erupted from local volcanic centres of which four have been identified, whereas other basalts form more regional flows. The four identified eruption centres are located along fault lines and zones of uplift and subsidence, indicating tectonic control. Tectonic control is also inferred to be important in terminating the volcanic cycle and causing the development of high-level magma chambers where the magmas stagnated, fractionated, and became contaminated. The basalts of the Tunoqqu Member form subaerial lava flows in western Nuussuaq. Central Nuussuaq constituted a marine embayment in which the volcanics were deposited as eastward prograding foreset-bedded hyaloclastite breccia fans which indicate water depths of up to 160 m. Eastern Nuussuaq was a gneiss highland with a more than 700 m high NW-SE-elongated gneiss promontory stretching into the sea. During Tunoqqu Member time the volcanic rocks reached the gneiss promontory and blocked the outlet from the south to the sea in the north. This resulted in increased water levels in the enclosed embayment and transformation of the outlet into a torrential river. This river eroded the concomitantly forming Tunoqqu Member volcanics and the gneiss promontory and deposited the material in up to more than 250 m thick foreset-bedded boulder conglomerates in the sea where the north coast of Nuussuaq is now situated.

Stratigraphy, structure and geochronology of the Las Cañadas caldera (Tenerife, Canary Islands)

After a long period of subaerial fissure-fed extrusions of basaltic magmas (∼ 12 to > 3 Ma) volcanic activity was then concentrated in the central part of Tenerife. Phonolitic magma chambers formed and a central volcanic complex was constructed (the Las Canadas edifice). The formation of a large depression (the Las Canadas caldera) truncated the top of the edifice. The active twin strato-cones Teide—Pico Viejo are sited in this depression. The history of the Las Canadas caldera and edifice are established from stratigraphy, geochronology (K—Ar dates) and volcanological studies. Two different groups are recognized, separated by a major unconformity. The Lower Group is dated at 2 to 3 Ma and includes the products of several volcanic centres, which together represent several cycles. The Upper Group ranges from 1.56 to 0.17 Ma and includes three different formations representing three long-term (∼ 100 to 300 Ka) volcanic cycles. The periods of dormancy between each formation were of ∼ 120 to 250 Ka duration. The Las Canadas caldera is a multicyclic caldera which formed over the period 1.18–0.17 Ma. Each cycle of activity represented by a formation culminated in caldera collapse which affected different sectors of the Las Canadas edifice. Geological observation and geochronology support an origin by collapse into a magma chamber. The minimum volume of pyroclastic ejecta is substantially greater than the present caldera depression volume (45 km3), but approaches the inferred volume of the original caldera depression (> 140 km3). After the formation of the caldera, sector collapses could also occur at the northern flank of the volcano causing the disappearance of the northern side of the caldera wall.