UPb geochronology and significance of Late Permian ignimbrites in Northern Chile

UPb zircon ages of four ignimbrite samples from a Late Paleozoic volcaniclastic succession in northern Chile are presented. The 2 km thick succession consists of the Peine Fm. and the overlying Cas Fm., which crop out at the eastern margin of the Salar de Atacama near the village of Peine. One sample was collected from the oldest ignimbrite of the succession (Lower Member of the Peine Fm.); the other three samples were collected from the Middle Member of the Cas Fm. and its assumed equivalents. The 206Pb238U ages of all samples overlap within their analytical uncertainties, which results in a best estimate of 248 ± 3 Ma (Late Permian: Harland, 1990) for deposition of the entire succession. The age for the stratigraphically older sample is statistically indistinguishable from the other three samples, so that the depositional interval could have been less than 1 million years; maximum errors in the data allow that the Peine and Cas Fms. could have formed during a time span of 6 Ma. The data provide tight constraints on the age of these units, part of which formed in the Lanquir Caldera Complex. They also have implications for the stratigraphy and paleoclimatic models of the Southern Central Andes during the Late Permian. gh the zircon fractions analyzed here document Late Permian ages, they show varying amounts of inheritance of early Paleoproterozoic (to Late Archean?) zircons and also indicate the incorporation of ca. 2.5 Ga initial common lead to varying degrees. This and results from other studies in the area lead us to infer the existence, at least during the Paleozoic, of Precam-brian basement located below the Salar de Atacama area.