Palaeomagnetic and K—Ar age studies of a 6 km-thick Cretaceous section from the Chilean Andes |
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| Authors: | H C Palmer A Hayatsu W D MacDonald |
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| Institution: | Department of Geophysics, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B7;Department of Geological Sciences, State University of New York, Binghampton, New York 13901, USA |
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| Abstract: | Summary. Thirty-six palaeomagnetic sampling sites distributed within 6000 m of dominantly andesitic flows and tuffs of Cretaceous age from the La Serena area, Chile confirm the normal polarity bias of the Cretaceous period. Af, thermal and limited chemical demagnetization techniques have been used in testing the stability of the remanent magnetization isolated in samples from these sites. A positive fold test in the Quebrada Marquesa Formation, the second lowest in the stratigraphic pile, confirms that the magnetization isolated is pre-Tertiary in age. Ages calculated by the K–Ar whole rock method however, appear to have been variably up-dated probably due to argon loss caused by Cretaceous–Tertiary intrusives. Thermal and hydrothermal effects of these intrusions have probably reset the magnetization in the youngest formation of the volcanic pile. A composite palaeomagnetic pole calculated from the 30 site poles of the three lower formations (209° E, 81° S, A95= 4½°), is in good agreement with mid to Late Cretaceous poles derived from rock units of the stable platform of South America. The use of Andean–Caribbean palaeomagnetic data however, to resolve small time-dependent polar shifts within the Cretaceous and thus to estimate the time of opening of the south Atlantic is questioned. Many of the Andean–Caribbean Cretaceous poles appear to have been affected by local tectonic rotation. |
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