RT Journal Article
T1 The Maz Metasedimentary Series (Western Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina). A relict basin of the Columbia supercontinent?
A1 Ramacciotti, Carlos
A1 Casquet Martín, César
A1 Baldo, Edgardo G.
A1 Pankhurst, R.J.
A1 Verdecchia, Sebastián
A1 Fanning, C.M.
A1 Murra, Juan Alberto
AB The Maz Metasedimentary Series is part of the Maz Complex that crops out in the sierras of Maz and Espinal (Western Sierras Pampeanas) and in the Sierra de Umango (Andean Frontal Cordillera), northwestern Argentina. The Maz Complex is found within a thrust stack of Silurian age, which later underwent open folding. The Maz Metasedimentary Series mainly consists of medium-grade garnet–staurolite–kyanite–sillimanite schists and quartzites, with minor amounts of marble and calc-silicate rocks. Transposed metadacite dykes have been recognized along with amphibolites, metagabbros, metadiorites and orthogneisses. Schist, quartzite and metadacite samples were analysed for SHRIMP U–Pb zircon dating. The Maz Metasedimentary Series is polymetamorphic and records probably three metamorphic events during the Grenvillian orogeny, at c. 1235, 1155 and 1035 Ma, and a younger metamorphism at c. 440–420 Ma resulting from reactivation during the Famatinian orogeny. The sedimentary protoliths were deposited between 1.86 and 1.33–1.26 Ga (the age of the Andean-type Grenvillian magmatism recorded in the Maz Complex), and probably before 1.75 Ga. The main source areas correspond to Palaeoproterozoic and, to a lesser magnitude, Meso-Neoarchaean rocks. The probable depositional age and the detrital zircon age pattern suggest that the Maz Metasedimentary Series was laid down in a basin of the Columbia supercontinent, mainly accreted between 2.1 and 1.8 Ga. The sedimentary sources were diverse, and we hypothesize that deposition took place before Columbia broke up. The Rio Apa block, and the Río de la Plata, Amazonia and proto-Kalahari cratons, which have nearby locations in the palaeogeographic reconstructions, were probably the main blocks that supplied sediments to this basin.
PB Cambridge University Press
SN 0016-7568
YR 2021
FD 2021-10-14
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/4808
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/4808
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN)
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid/Banco de Santander
NO CONICET
DS Docta Complutense
RD 11 jul 2025