Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 23 (1974) 261 - 264 ~-]

© North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands

LATE PALEOZOIC K/Ar AGES OF BLUESCHISTS FROM PICHILEMU, CENTRAL CHILE

FRANCISCO HERVE, FRANCISCO MUNIZAGA, ESTANISLAO GODOY

and

LUIS AGUIRRE
Departamento de Geolog[a, Universidad de Chile, Santiago (Chile)

Original manuscript received March 14, 1974

To authors for revision April 17, 1974
Revision received May 13, 1974

Two crossite concentrates and one blueschist whole rock were analyzed by the K/Ar method. These samples
belong to the high/intermediate pressure Western Series of the Chilean metamorphic basement and, in this area, are
intruded by a small monzonite body.
Ages obtained were 211 m.y. and 329 m.y. for the mineral concentrates and 211 m.y. for the whole rock. Discus-
sion based on crystal size as a factor for retention of 4°Ar during localized re-heating of the metamorphic rocks due
to the monzonitic intrusion leads to the acceptance of 329 m.y. as the minimum age of crossite crystallization. This
age agrees with the whole rock Rb/Sr limiting reference isochrons (273-342 m.y.) previously obtained for the meta-
morphic basement of Central Chile which did not include samples of the present area.
This age provides the first evidence of a Paleozoic blueschist assemblage in the eastern Pacific border and would
suggest the existence of a Late Paleozoic subduction zone along the western margin of South America.

1. Introduction Series as defined by Aguirre et al. [2]. Crossite occurs

Crossite-rich assemblages occur sporadically near
Pichilemu (long. 72°W, lat. 34°20'S) in metamorphic
rocks belonging to the Chilean metamorphic basement.
Due to the particular geotectonic implications of this
type of rock it was thought important to date their
formation.
Three samples were dated by F.M. at the Centro de
Pesquisas Geocronologicas, Sao Paulo, Brasil. Two o f
the samples (PM 925 and PM 922) correspond to cros-
site concentrates over 95%, the third one to a whole
rock. Location o f samples is shown on the geological
sketch of Fig. 1, modified from Gonz~ilez-Bonorino
[1].
2. Geological setting
The crossite-bearing rocks belong to the Western
both in metacherts and metabasites. The mineral assem-
blages include abundant epidote, chlorite, actinolite,
albite, quartz, carbonates, white micas and stilpnome-
lane. These rocks are associated in the field with
crossite-free metacherts, metabasites, low-grade pelitic
schists and calcareous beds o f limited extension. Their
structure is dominated by variously plunging refolded
isoclinal folds, in some places typical mdange zones
containing abundant rootless folds are recognized.
Regionally the axial plane o f folds dip to the east at
a rather low angle.
The small intrusive body o f Pichilemu is composed
of monzonitic rocks with normal igneous texture.
The contact with the surrounding metamorphics is
tectonic, at least in part. No sign of penetrative de-
formation is observed in the granitoid, and no wide-
spread contact effects are noticeable in the surround-
ing rocks.
The big tonalitic to granodioritic pluton outcropping
262 F. HERVE ET AL.

east of the metamorphic rocks, is part of a huge batho-

lith at least 500 km in length, emplaced along the
eastern margin of the metamorphic basement in Late
Paleozoic time.

3. Analytical methods and results

The K/At dating techniques have been described in

detail by Amaral et al. [3]. Crushed and sized samples
were fused by induction heating in ultra high vacuum
systems employing C u - C u O and titanium for gas puri-
fication. The gas released was spiked for isotope dilution
with pure 3s Ar. Mass spectrometry was carried out by
the static method on a Reynolds-type mass spectro-
meter. Potassium determinations were made by flame
photometry using a Baird-Atomic research flame photo-
meter with a lithium internal standard. The chemical
procedure was essentially that described by Brannock
and Berthold [4] giving results with an analytical error
of 1%.
Final constants for calculations of age used in this
paper are the following:
total = 0.530 × 10 -9 yr -1
K = 0.588 × 10 - l ° yr -1
at.% 4°K in K = 0.0119

The samples analyzed were the following: P--A ..................... ........

PM 925 : A crossite concentrate of more than 95%
from a quartz-albite-epidote-crossite, fine-grained
ll~o~n1~ SAUI-~.n~L~E, SIAUIIOLJTI['-ANDA/rUS~T| A~tO $ILLIMANI'IIE ZONESli~ONOFK4* lo THE
cherty bed from Cahuil. LOW-P~CSOUII|,IEAST|FIN I G I I B CIPTHI[ CHILEAN CII~RLLIIk~ Ilks4n4fNT

PM 923: Fine-grained quartz-albite-epidote-cros- Fig. 1. Geological sketch of the Pichilemu region, Central Chile
site-white mica-tourmaline schist. (Modified after Gonzzilez-Bonorino [ 1 ].)
PM 922: Crossite concentrate of coarse-grained
mineral from cross-cutting crossite-quartz vein on rock
PM 923. 4. Discussion
The analytical data and ages obtained for each sample
are shown in Table 1. The obtained discordant ages, 211,211 and 329
m.y., must be interpreted both on physical and geo-
TABLE 1
logical grounds.
Analytical results
The three analyzed samples were obtained from
PM925 PM923 PM922 the same quarry, some meters apart from one another.
The sample locality lies approximately 3 km south of
K(wt.%) 0.1012 1.3162 0.1932 the Pichilemu monzonite, which has a whole rock Rb/
4°Arrad(cm3 STP/g× 10-6) 0.8999 11.72 2.771 Sr isochron of 218 m.y. [5].
Atm. Ar(%) 77.40 19.63 47.34 Field evidence indicates that crossite in the cherty
Age(m.y.) 211_+ 32 211-+12 329_+22 bed (PM 925) and the minerals in the schists formed
synchronously during a regional metamorphic event.
LATE PALEOZOIC K/Ar AGES OF BLUESCHISTS FROM PICHILEMU
Crossite from the cross-cutting vein (PM 922) probably
formed penecontemporaneously with the former, but
at a somewhat later moment when differential stress
had already declined from maximum development or
had ceased. This evidence is in contradiction with the
results obtained, which indicate an older age for the
cross-cutting vein.
Grain size is an important factor influencing the re-
tention of 4°Ar in crystals o f a given mineral species
[6, 7]. Samples PM 925 and PM 923 are fine-grained
rocks, bearing needle-shaped crossite crystals less than
1 mm long and 100 microns accross. On the contrary,
crossite crystals in the vein sample PM 922 are more
than 1 cm long. It is supposed then that a probable
cause explaining the age differences obtained is to be
found in the grain size of the specimens, the finer-
grained minerals having lost part o f their radiogenic
argon. Furthermore, sample PM 925 contains a certain
amount o f white mica which should account for the
high K content o f this rock. White mica is known to
rejuvenate rather easily its K/Ar ages.
Disregarding the possibility of excess argon, the
above statements lead to the acceptance of the 329
m.y. age as the minimum age of crossite crystallization,
the 211 m.y. ages being related to argon loss due to
localized heating of the rocks by the 218 m.y. old
Pichilemu monzonite. The 211 m.y. age coincides with
that given by Gonz~lez-Bonorino [8] for a siliceous
slate from the Pichilemu beach (Fig. 1), also located
near the contact with the post-tectonic Pichilemu
monzonite
The minimum age of blueschist formation thus es-
tablished is concordant with the whole rock Rb/Sr
limiting reference isochrons (273 and 342 m.y.) for the
metamorphic basement o f Central Chile presented by
Munizaga et al. [9] which did not include samples o f
the present area, the only known Chilean locality of
the Western Series having well-developed blueschist
assemblages.
Glaucophane-bearing assemblages are extremely rare
in Precambrian terranes and rather scarce in Paleozoic
belts. They are mainly developed in Mesozoic and
Cenozoic times (De Roever [10, 11], Ernst [12]). In
the western Pacific region, Paleozoic glaucophane-
bearing belts have been recognized in Japan, i.e. the
Kiyama Group (Yamamoto [13]) and the Omi Group
(Banno [14]). The Paleozoic age obtained for the
Chilean blueschists would be the first for the eastern
Pacific border.
263
Blueschist facies is thought to represent high-pres-
sure/low-temperature conditions confined to subduc-
tion zone belts o f deformation. This, then, would be an
evidence for a Late Paleozoic subduction zone along the
western margin of South America.
Acknowledgements
Financial support for this study was obtained from
Grant N 4 of the Comisi6n de lnvestigaci6n Cientffica,
Universidad de Chile and from the Programa Multinacio-
nal en Ciencias de la Tierra o f OAS. Prof. Umberto
Cordani, Centro de Pesquisas Gebcronologicas, Sao
Paulo, Brasil, guided the age determinations at his lab-
oratory.
References
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264 F. HERVE ET AL.

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