The emplacement of the granitic Las Tazas complex, northern Chile: the relationship between local and regional strain

The Coastal batholith of northern Chile grew under transtensional–extensional conditions that prevailed along the Andean margin during the Mesozoic. The batholith hosts the Atacama Fault Zone, a major arc-parallel fault system which was characterised by sinistral transtensional shearing during the Early Cretaceous. The Las Tazas complex is a composite granitoid intrusion that was emplaced syntectonically along the Atacama Fault Zone at ∼130 Ma. Syntectonic emplacement is indicated by a consistent kinematic history between the complex and its wall rocks, together with synchronous crystallisation and shearing ages. In contrast to regional patterns, the Las Tazas complex was emplaced during a local change from vertical east-side-down to dextral transcurrent displacement along the fault zone. During intrusion, strain was partitioned between non-coaxial simple shearing within country-rock mylonites and a flattening strain across the crystallising complex. This combination indicates that the pluton was emplaced under temporary transpressive conditions that were localised around the pluton, probably induced by magma emplacement. Such a difference between local and regional strain suggests that emplacement-related structures should only be related to regional strain-states with great care.