The Pali Aike Volcanic Field, Patagonia: slab-window magmatism near the tip of South America

The Pali Aike Volcanic Field (PAVF) represents the southernmost occurrence of the Cenozoic back-arc Patagonian Plateau Lavas. Its activity (Pliocene–Recent) started forming tabular lavas followed by the growth of about 470 essentially monogenetic volcanic centers (tuff-rings, maars, spatter and scoria cones). Azimuths of cone alignment, cone elongation and morphologic lineations show prevailing ENE–WSW and NW–SE trends. Erupted products consist mainly of alkaline basalt and basanite, with minor olivine basalt. PAVF rocks are quite primitive in composition (average Mg#=66, Ni=220 ppm and Cr=313 ppm) with relatively high TiO₂ (average 3.0 wt.%). Ultramafic garnet- and/or spinel-bearing xenoliths are found within PAVF volcanics. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns are significantly LREE-enriched and almost rectilinear [(La/Yb)_N=10.9–21.0]. Primordial mantle-normalized distributions of incompatible trace elements, as well as Sr and Nd isotope ratios (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.70317–0.70339, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd=0.51290–0.51294), show values typical of intra-plate basalts, despite the fact that these rocks occur only 200 km east of the Andean Cordillera. Primary magmas were generated from a fertile garnet-bearing asthenospheric source at P=1.9–2.9 GPa and T=1420–1470°C.

The data suggest a geodynamic model that implies sub-slab asthenosphere flow through a slab window, which started opening below this sector of South America 14 m.y. ago as a consequence of the collision of the Chile Ridge with the Chile Trench. The trailing edge of the Nazca Plate crossed below the Pali Aike area at 9–10 Ma, that is 6–5 m.y. before the onset of the volcanic activity. We hypothesize that this time delay resulted from changes in the kinematics of the South America–Scotia transform plate boundary which only allowed the Pali Aike magmas to rise after about 4 m.y.