Magmatic Gradients in the Cretaceous Caleu Pluton (Central Chile): Injections of Pulses from a Stratified Magma Reservoir

The Caleu pluton (Central Chile) extending over 338 km2 and with more than 1, 400 m of vertical relief intrudes the N-S trending Lower Cretaceous volcano-sedimentary and volcanic successions at a depth equivalent to a pressure of 2 kb. The host, stratified volcanic successions, are tilted about 30°–40° E, whereas the pluton shows paleomagnetic evidence of either tilting of <15° E or clockwise rotation by few degrees. ient of westward increasing SiO2 content is recognized across the pluton, giving rise to three N-S elongated zones: Gabbro/Diorite Zone (GDZ), Tonalite Zone (TZ) and Granodiorite Zone (GZ). Biotite and hornblende compositions also exhibit a westward decreasing gradient in Mg/(Mg+Fe), indicating that the more mafic the zone is, the more oxidizing is its crystallization condition. Horizontal inward gradients of progressively less evolved rocks are recognized across GDZ and TZ, whereas no horizontal gradients were found in the GZ. Vertical compositional gradients are recognized in the GDZ and TZ, which consist of an upward increase in SiO2 and decrease in MgO, FeO, Fe2O3, and compatible trace elements. A vertical compositional boundary was recognized along a traverse across the TZ separating two magma pulses with similar trends of compositional variations. ree zones of the Caleu pluton were derived from a common isotopically (Sr-Nd) depleted source. Each zone probably evolved independently, as their compositional characteristics would have not been acquired in situ. The resulting compositional characteristics of the zones would have been developed prior to the intrusion, in a subjacent stratified reservoir placed at about seven kilometers below the pluton.