CH 14 Mpodozis, Cornejo, 2012, Cenozoic Tectonics and Porphyry Copper Systemes of The Chilean Andes, SEGSP

2012 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.
Special Publication 16, pp. 329360
Chapter 14
Cenozoic Tectonics and Porphyry Copper Systems of the Chilean Andes
CONSTANTINO MPODOZIS AND PAULA CORNEJO
Antofagasta Minerals, Apoquindo 4001, Piso 18, Santiago, Chile
Abstract
Subduction under South America has been active for the past 550 m.y. but large porphyry copper deposits
were essentially emplaced during the Paleocene (6050 Ma) in southern Peru, and mid-Eocene-early
Oligocene (4332 Ma) and late Miocene-Pliocene (106 Ma) in north and central Chile. Although the tectonic
setting of the Paleocene porphyry deposits is still poorly understood, those of the northern Chile EoceneOligocene belt were emplaced along the margin-parallel Domeyko fault system, where active compressional
and/ortranspressional deformation and block rotations took place during the formation of the Bolivian orocline.
Eocene-early Oligocene oroclinal bending was a consequence of differential tectonic shortening focused along
a mechanically weak zone of the Central Andean crust inherited from the Paleozoic. Deformation occurred
during an episode of accelerated westward absolute motion of the South American plate, which coincided with
very high rates of oceanic crust production in the eastern Pacific. The slow South American-Farallon convergence rates recorded for the Eocene-Oligocene suggest, however, that strong interplate coupling existed during that time. This permitted the transfer of horizontal stresses and large-scale deformation of the Andean margin, creating a favorable scenario for the generation and emplacement of porphyry copper magmas along the
Domeyko fault system.
The younger, Miocene-Pliocene porphyry copper deposits of central Chile-Argentina were emplaced in a
different setting, after the initiation of compressional deformation within a volcano-tectonic depression (Abanico basin) that evolved during another, late Oligocene to early Miocene, period of increased East Pacific
oceanic crust production. Nevertheless, in contrast to the Eocene-Oligocene situation in northern Chile, the
relatively stationary position of the South American plate compared to the mantle reference frame and weak
interplate coupling that permitted rapid subduction, increased volcanism, and overriding plate extension. Tectonic inversion of the basin and compressional deformation along with crustal thickening and mountain building began at around 20 m.y. ago as interplate coupling increased when the westward motion of South America
accelerated and the Nazca-South America convergence velocity decreased in the mid-Miocene. Compression
was accompanied, as during the Eocene-Oligocene in northern Chile, by slab shallowing and increased forearc subduction erosion.
In both cases, the largely structurally controlled, syn- to post-tectonic porphyry copper deposits are associated with long-lived magmatic systems that were active for more than 10 m.y. In northern Chile, the deposits
occur as parts of discrete intrusive clusters that comprise a suite of precursor plutons emplaced during multiple events since the Cretaceous. Porphyry copper mineralization is linked to multistage, amphibole-bearing intrusions of intermediate composition derived from hydrous, oxidized magmas with adakitic geochemical signatures. These intrusions appeared when crustal thickness increased to a critical threshold in the course of
deformation. Production of magmas with high metal-carrying capacity was fostered as fluids were liberated
when amphibole became unstable and was destroyed as the crust thickened. At the same time, source regions
within the mantle were contaminated by hydrated fragments of fore-arc continental crust, as the result of enhanced subduction erosion during peaks of compressional deformation.
Introduction
THE STUDY of the tectonic setting of porphyry copper deposits
is fundamental to understanding their genesis (e.g., Sillitoe,
1998; Kay and Mpodozis, 2001; Cooke et al., 2005; Sillitoe
and Perell, 2005; Richards, 2009, 2011a; Tosdal et al., 2009).
Some Cenozoic porphyry copper deposits are known to have
formed during or shortly after continent-continent, continent-island arc, or island arc-island arc collisions in the Himalayas-Tibet, the Kerman arc in Iran, and Papua New
Guinea (Solomon, 1990; Zenqiang et al., 2003; Shaifei et al.,
2009). A Paleozoic example of this type of deposit may be
Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia (Perell et al., 2001). In contrast,
other large porphyry deposits such as Bingham Canyon in the
western United States formed during the earliest stages of
Corresponding
author: e-mail, cmpodozis@aminerals.cl
Basin and Range extension in the Eocene, far inland from the
Pacific margin of North America (Kloppenburgh et al., 2010).
Noncollisional porphyry copper deposit examples in subduction-related arc settings include those from the Chagai
belt in Pakistan, the Laramide porphyry copper province of
the western United States and northern Mexico (Lang and Titley, 1998; Valencia-Moreno et al., 2007; Perell et al., 2008)
and the Central Andes province, which host some of the
largest known porphyry copper deposits in the world (Camus,
2003; Cooke et al., 2005; Sillitoe and Perell, 2005).
The Andes has long been considered as the type example of
a noncollisional orogenic system (e.g., Jordan et al., 1983),
where subduction of Pacific oceanic crust beneath South
America has been active for the past 570 m.y. (Cawood,
2005). Nevertheless, the largest porphyry copper deposits are
the result of anomalous magmatic systems that developed
329
330
MPODOZIS AND CORNEJO
during short periods at specific locations within the Andean

orogen. These include the Paleocene to early Eocene (6652
Ma) and middle Eocene to early Oligocene (4332 Ma) belts
in southern Peru and northern Chile, and the late Miocene to
early Pliocene (105 Ma) porphyry systems in central Chile
and contiguous Argentina (Perell et al., 2003a; Sillitoe and
Perell, 2005). In this contribution, with emphasis on the
Chilean belts, we will try to demonstrate how major Cenozoic
tectonic events along the central Andean convergent margin,
prompted by large-scale reorganizations of the global tectonic
system, were the main triggers for the formation of large porphyry copper deposits.
Pre-Andean History:
From Rodinia Dispersal to Pangea Breakup
The western margin of South America underwent magmatic and tectonic activity at least since the late Neoproterozoic breakup of Rodinia (800700 Ma), when the separation
of Laurentia from Gondwana produced the opening of the
proto-Pacific (Iapetus) ocean (Dalziel, 1997). East-directed
subduction of newly formed ancestral Pacific crust below
western Gondwana began at ~570 Ma and was fully active
along the proto-Andean margin by 485 to 465 Ma (Pankhurst
et al., 1998; Cawood, 2005; Chew et al., 2007). Plate convergence in the Central Andes region during the Ordovician to
Devonian included the progressive collision and accretion of
a group of tectonostratigraphic terranes of Laurentian and/or
Gondwanan affinities (e.g., Ramos et al., 1986; Astini et al.,
1995) against the western South American margin. Terrane
amalgamation contributed to the formation of the accretionary Terra Australis orogen, which extended for more than
18,000 km along the Pacific margin of Gondwana from Australia to South America (Cawood, 2005). The accretionary
stage was followed, in the Central Andes, by the buildup of a
late Carboniferous to Early Permian (320? -280 Ma) suprasubduction magmatic arc on top of the newly accreted terranes,
as well as the development of an outboard fore-arc subduction complex that extended for more than 1,000 km along the
Chilean segment of the Gondwana margin south of 27 S
(Mpodozis and Kay, 1992; Herv, 1988; Willner et al., 2005;
Chew et al., 2007).
Magmatism continued from the Permian to the Middle
Triassic (280240 Ma), when great volumes of intrusive and
mostly felsic volcanic rocks, including the Choiyoi large igneous province in Chile and Argentina and the Mitu Group in
southern Peru (Kay et al., 1989, Sempere et al., 2002), were
emplaced along the western South American margin. Although
geochronologic and geochemical data are still incomplete,
several competing hypotheses, such as normal or oblique subduction, postcollision extension-driven crustal melting, slab
breakoff or slab shallowing, have been proposed to explain
the prevailing tectonic regime along different segments of the
Andean margin at that time (Mpodozis and Kay, 1992; Kleiman
and Japas, 2009; Ramos and Folguera, 2009, and references
therein). From the Middle Triassic to earliest Jurassic (240
190 Ma), rifting associated with the incipient stages of Pangea
dispersal (e.g., Veevers, 1989), accompanied by a decreasing
volume of bimodal magmatism, seems to have occurred
along the western margin of South America (e.g., Ramos and
Kay, 1991; Franzese and Spalletti, 2001; Rosas et al., 2007).
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Diverse, yet basically subeconomic, porphyry copper deposits

formed during these events in northern Chile and along the
Frontal Cordillera in west-central Argentina (Sillitoe, 1977;
Sillitoe and Perell, 2005; Cornejo et al., 2006; Munizaga et
al., 2008).
Jurassic to Early Eocene Tectonics and
Metallogeny of the Central Andes
After the Triassic rifting event, subduction was reestablished in northern Chile and southern Peru during the Early
Jurassic when a new magmatic arc developed west of the
extinct late Paleozoic arc front. Since then, subduction has
proceeded uninterrupted to date. Initial Jurassic to Early
Cretaceous arc magmatism occurred under extensional conditions that permitted the formation of a series of interconnected back-arc basins to the east of the main arc, which were
progressively filled with marine and continental sedimentary
strata (Mpodozis and Ramos, 1989, 2008). Transpressional
deformation along the arc axis created the intra-arc Atacama
fault system in northern Chile (Scheuber and Gonzlez,
1999) and was accompanied in the Early Cretaceous by the
emplacement, in northern Chile, of some porphyry copper
deposits at ~140 to 130 Ma (e.g., Antucoya-Buey Muerto,
141139 Ma; Puntillas-Galenosa, 135132 Ma; Perell et al.,
2003b; Maksaev et al., 2006, 2010). Fast convergence rates
during the global mid Cretaceous superplume event (Larson,
1991) produced an upsurge in volcanism along the Andean
margin, accompanied by intra-arc extension and transtension
which fostered iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG)type mineralization between 120 and 100 Ma in northern Chile and southern Peru (Marschik and Fontbot, 2001; Sillitoe, 2003; Sillitoe and Perell, 2005; Chen et al., 2010). Small, low-grade,
gold-rich porphyry copper deposits such as Andacollo (104
Ma), Domeyko-Dos Amigos (108104 Ma), and Pajonales (97
Ma) were emplaced under extensional conditions during the
same general period in north-central Chile (Sillitoe and
Perell 2005; Maksaev et al., 2010).
The extensional and transtensional conditions that dominated early Andean subduction ended in the early Late Cretaceous, when the back-arc basins were tectonically inverted
(Mpodozis and Ramos, 1989; Tomlinson et al., 2001a). The
shift to a more contractional, subduction-related regime occurred together with the accelerated westward drift of South
America, in response to the final opening of the Atlantic
(Russo and Silver, 1996; Somoza and Zaffarana, 2008). Subsequently, the coastal magmatic arc was abandoned (Fig. 1b)
and the magmatic front jumped to the east in the Late Cretaceous, where it remained relatively stationary until the early
Eocene. Abrupt shifts in the magmatic front such as this has
been accompanied throughout the Andean history, by transient geochemical changes during and after arc migration
(e.g., Cornejo and Matthews, 2001; Haschke et al., 2006: Fig.
1d). Stern (1991, 2011), Kay and Mpodozis (2002), and Kay et
al. (2005) suggested that changes of this type reflect mantle
contamination from fore-arc crust removed during enhanced
subduction erosion processes associated with major contractional events along the Andean margin.
In northern Chile, the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary was
marked by another short pulse of contractional deformation,
the K-T event of Cornejo et al. (2003). Paleocene to early
330
331
CENOZOIC TECTONICS AND PORPHYRY COPPER SYSTEMS OF THE CHILEAN ANDES

0
15
WC
EC
SA
20
Modern CVZ Arc
La Paz
40
PERU
Al
tip
lan
o
80
SA
CHILE
100
Salar de
Atacama
EC
Mid - Cretaceous arc
120
Antofagasta
Puna
25
140
EN
TI
NA
FA
Late CretaceousEocene arc
60
20
AGE (Ma)
Arica
Jurassic - Early Cretaceous

arcs
160
Distal tuffs/reset ages
SP
70
AR
WC
65
180
Longitude ( W )
(a)
(b)
200
71
70
69
68
67
66
65
Post Incaic intrusions
10
Incaic Event
Sm/Yb
20
26 Ma
30
AGE (Ma)
40
Late Cretaceous
Peruvian Event
Porphyry Cu
deposits
Volcanic and
intrusive rocks
Ignimbrites
50
60
72
ANTOFAGASTA
TRANSEC T
(20 - 23S)
71
70
Eoc-E Olig.
Incaic intrusions
KT
Event
(c)
Longitude ( W )
69
68
67
66
65
(d)
90
64
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
AGE (Ma)
FIG. 1. (a). Main morphotectonic units of the central Andes, between 15 and 30 S. FA = modern fore-arc zone, including the Coastal Range and, farther to the east, the Precordillera (or Cordillera de Domeyko) shown in Figure 2; WC =
Western Cordillera which, north of 27 S, is essentially formed by the active magmatic arc of the Central Andean volcanic
zone (CVZ); EC = Eastern Cordillera; SP = Sierras Pampeanas; SA = sub-Andean fold-and-thrust belt. (b). Relationship between age and longitude (distance to the trench) for <200 Ma volcanic and intrusive rocks of the Central Andes (1928 S;
Haschke et al., 2002, CVZ = modern Central volcanic zone of the Andes). (c). Longitude vs. age for Cenozoic intrusive and
volcanic rocks at 20 to 23 S (Iquique to Antofagasta transect; Trumbull et al., 2006). The ~32 to 26 Ma gap may be related
to a transient episode of flat subduction produced as a consequence of the Incaic tectonic episode. The east to west migration of the magmatic front during the Miocene is considered to record late-stage slab steepening (Kay et al., 1999; Kay and
Coira, 2009). (d). Geochemical changes since the Late Cretaceous near 26 S (Copiap-El Salvador region; data from
Cornejo and Mathews, 2001). Note the short-lived peaks in the Sm/Yb ratio during major tectonic events, superimposed over
a more subdued long-term trend to increased values. Peak values may reflect contamination of the mantle magma source regions as a result of massive removal of fore-arc continental crust during periods of enhanced subduction erosion (Kay and
Mpodozis, 2002; Kay et al., 2011).
Eocene magmatism included the emplacement of a porphyry

copper belt between southern Peru (Cerro Verde, 61 Ma;
Quellaveco, 54 Ma; Cuajone, 52 Ma) and Cerro Colorado (52
Ma), Spence (57 Ma), and Relincho (61 Ma) in northern Chile
(Sillitoe and Perell, 2005). Structural and geochemical data
gathered by the authors suggest that these deposits in northern Chile formed in a neutral stress to mildly extensional arc
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built on a relatively thin crust over a steep subduction zone.

This is consistent with the very low rates of and oblique convergence between the South American and Farallon plates
(Pardo-Casas and Molnar, 1987), and also with within-plate
geochemical signatures of Paleocene to early Eocene rocks in
the Inca de Oro-El Salvador region (Cornejo and Matthews,
2001).
331
332
Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene Tectonics

of the Central Andes
The Domeyko fault system
One of the most relevant tectonic and metallogenic
episodes in the Central Andes correlates with the middle
Eocene to early Oligocene (4533 Ma) Incaic tectonic event
(Noble et al., 1979; Maksaev and Zentilli, 1988; Mpodozis and
Perell, 2003; Sillitoe and Perell, 2005); during this period,
bending of the continental margin generated the Bolivian
orocline and the Domeyko fault system along the Precordillera of northern Chile. The Domeyko fault system (Fig.
2) is a >1,000-km-long, 40- to 60-km-wide, orogen-parallel
zone of deformation composed of a complex array of strikeslip, normal, and reverse faults, together with thin- and thickskinned folds and thrusts, which extends along the Cordillera
de Domeyko (also known as Precordillera) in northern Chile
between 20 and 27 S (e.g., Reutter et al., 1991, 1996;
Cornejo et al., 1997). Some authors (e.g., Amilibia and
Skarmeta, 2003; Amilibia et al., 2008) proposed that most of
these faults and folds initiated during Late Cretaceous as a
consequence of the inversion of normal faults inherited from
the Mesozoic back-arc extension. However, others (e.g., Tomlinson et al., 2001a; Mpodozis et al., 2005) interpreted that
the Andean back-arc basins were first inverted during the
early Late Cretaceous to form a proto-Cordillera de
Domeyko, while a second main tectonic pulse along the
Domeyko fault system, coincident with the Incaic event, produced its final uplift (Reutter et al., 1991, 1996; Scheuber and
Reutter 1992; Tomlinson et al., 1993; Maksaev and Zentilli,
1999). Parts of the Domeyko fault system were subsequently
reactivated during the Oligocene and the Quaternary (Tomlinson and Blanco, 1997a, b; Audin et al., 2003; Soto et al.,
2005).
The kinematics of the middle Eocene to early Oligocene
deformation along the Domeyko fault system is a matter of
controversy; evidence for both left- and right-lateral displacements, including reversal in the sense of shear, has been reported along different parts of the faulted domain (Reutter et
al., 1996; Dilles et al., 1997; Tomlinson and Blanco 1997a, b;
Hoffman-Rothe et al., 2004; Niemeyer and Urrutia, 2009).
Fission-track age data show that the Cordillera de Domeyko
was exhumed between 40 and 30 m.y. ago (Maksaev and
Zentilli, 1999; Nalpas et al., 2005) in association with surface
tectonic uplift and profound erosion, the products of which
accumulated in syntectonic basins east and west of the area of
deformation (Mpodozis et al., 2005; Hong et al., 2007; Wotzlaw et al., 2011).
Origin of the Domeyko fault system
At first glance, the Domeyko fault system could be considered as a trench-linked fault system (Woodcock, 1986) that
nucleated in the thermally weakened crust of the middle
Eocene to early Oligocene magmatic arc of northern Chile
during a period of suggested fast Eocene oblique convergence between the Farallon and South America plates (PardoCasas and Molnar, 1987; Somoza, 1998). However, when recent paleomagnetic and structural studies are taken into
account it becomes apparent that tectonic activation of the
Domeyko fault system during the Incaic episode is essentially
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a consequence of the formation of the sharp bend of the western South American margin, known as the Arica elbow or Bolivian orocline (Fig. 3). Paleomagnetic studies have been essential in obtaining a more constrained view of the
deformational history of this segment of the Central Andes
and support the tectonic model for orocline formation first
proposed by Isacks (1988).
Figure 3a is a simplified regional map showing the distribution of paleomagnetic (declination) vectors measured for the
Central Andes. Importantly, independent of age, Mesozoic
and Paleogene rocks have been rotated up to 50. In contrast,
rotations measured in Miocene and younger rocks (<1811
Ma in northern Chile; <20 Ma in southern Peru) are negligible, suggesting that most of the rotations were acquired during a single Paleogene episode of deformation (Roperch et al.,
2006, 2011; Arriagada et al., 2008, and references therein).
Rotations are counterclockwise in southern Peru (Domain B;
Fig. 3a), clockwise in northern Chile south of Antofagasta
(domain D), and almost nonexistent in the intermediate region (domain C) between Antofagasta and Arica (Taylor et al.,
2005; Arriagada et al., 2008). The magnitude of the counterclockwise rotations decreases significantly at the Abancay Deflection in central Peru (domain A; Fig. 3a), the latter break
being interpreted as a zone of intense Eocene-early Oligocene
left-lateral shear along the boundary between the Arequipa
and Paracas basement terranes (Ramos, 2009; Roperch et al.,
2011; Fig. 4b). In northern Chile, clockwise rotations decrease progressively south of Antofagasta and essentially disappear near Vallenar (2830' S) upon entering the essentially
nonrotated domain E (Fig. 3a), which extends southward to
the latitude of Santiago (33 S).
In his landmark paper, Isacks (1988) proposed that the observed paleomagnetic rotations and the formation of the seaward concave Bolivian orocline are related to along-strike
variations in the amount of late Cenozoic shortening produced during contractional deformation focused along a
mechanically and thermally weakened zone located in the
overriding South American plate. Recent structural studies
indicate, however, that the bulk of the shortening (~60%), at
and near the Arica bend (1319 S; Fig. 3), is pre-Neogene
in age and occurred between 40 and 20 Ma (Lamb, 2001;
Mller et al., 2002; Kley et al., 2005; McQuarrie, 2006). Incaic shortening concentrated within the Eastern Cordillera of
Bolivia where >12 km of terrigenous sedimentary strata accumulated in a Paleozoic marine basin above highly attenuated
continental crust (Figs. 1, 3). The amount of horizontal shortening reaches a maximum near the axis of the orocline, where
the Paleozoic sedimentary sequence is thickest, and decreases
symmetrically along-strike (Oncken et al., 2006; Gotberg et
al., 2010, and references therein, Fig. 4a) as the Paleozoic
sedimentary rocks of the Eastern Cordillera become thinner
and give way to metamorphic and crystalline rocks in both
Peru (Cordillera de Maran) and northwest Argentina (Sierras Pampeanas, see Fig. 3).
Arriagada et al. (2008) attempted to remove the combined
effects of accumulated horizontal shortening and block rotations. Figure 3b shows their preferred solution for the restored
shape of the continental margin (Peru-Chile trench) at 45
Ma, before the formation of the Bolivian orocline. As shown
in Figure 4b, the ca. 30 E azimuth of the Farallon-South
332
7030'
La Planada
YP
6730'
N
Copaquire
Rosario (Collahuasi) (36-35)
Ujina (36-35)
Quebrada Blanca (37-35)
QC
21
21
Salar de Ascotn
El Abra (38-37)
Conchi
Radomiro Tomic (36-34)
CA
Chuquicamata (36-32)
Alejandro Hales (39-36)
Miranda (38-37)
Toki (39)
Opache (38-37)
2230'
IV
OL
IA
2230'
CALAMA
EsperanzaTelgrafo (42-40)
Caracoles (42-41)
Gaby (42)
CE
Salar
de
Atacama
Centinela (45-44)
Polo Sur (42-41)
ANTOFAGASTA
Chimborazo (41)
Zaldvar (38-37)
Escondida (38-37)
24
LE
24
Escondida Este (36-35)
Sierra Juncal (40)
2530'
SE
PS
2530'
Exploradora (35)
Sierra del Jardn (42)
El Salvador (42-41)
AR
GE
NT
IN
Salar de Punta
Negra
Salar de
Pedernales
Potrerillos
(36)
Middle Eocene to early Oligocene porphyry Cu + Mo+ Au deposits

Eocene plutons (48-38 Ma)
Paleozoic basement
Reverse fault
Normal or strike-slip fault
Salar de
Maricunga
27
COPIAPO
Salars
27
100km
RF
7030'
69
6730'
FIG. 2. Sketch map of the Cordillera de Domeyko (or Precordillera) and the Domeyko fault system, showing main faults
traces, exposures of Paleozoic basement, clusters of Eocene plutonic rocks (YP = Yabricoya-La Planada intrusive cluster;
QBC = Quebrada Blanca-Collahuasi; CA = Chuquicamata-El Abra; CE = Centinela, LE = La Escondida; SE = Sierra Exploradora-Juncal; PS = Potrerillos- El Salvador; RF = Ro Figueroa) and the locations and ages (in parentheses, Ma) of
Eocene-early Oligocene porphyry copper deposits. More detailed maps of CA, LE, and CE clusters are shown in Figures 5,
7, and 8. Based on the 1:1,000,000 geologic map of Chile (SERNAGEOMIN, 2002).
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333
333
10
Pe
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334
h
nc
Tre
(a)
Sierras
Pampeanas
26
250 km
Total displacement vectors

(45-0 Ma)
70
66
FIG. 3. (a). Paleomagnetic declination data for the Central Andes in northern Chile and southern Peru that indicate the Central Andean rotation pattern. Data from
Arriagada et al. (2006, 2008), Roperch et al. (2006, 2011), Taylor et al. (2005), and references cited therein. Distribution of lower Paleozoic sediments of the Bolivian
basin and crystalline and metamorphic rocks modified from Ramos and Dalla Salda (2011; Fig. 1). Also shown are the main Eocene-Oligocene porphyry copper deposits
of the Central Andean belt (Perell et al., 2003a). Rotation domains designated A to E are discussed in the text. (b). Position of the plate boundary (Peru-Chile trench)
at 45 Ma and total (Paleogene to present) displacement vectors for material points on the South American margin according to the two-dimensional restoration model
of Arriagada et al. (2008).
El Morro
22
74
62
(b)
AN
LI
ZI LD
A
IE
BR SH
250 km
Paleomagnetic declination vector
Copiap
INA
NT
GE
AR
Jujuy
Middle-Eocene to early Oligocene

porphyry copper belt
La Escondida
18
Lower Paleozoic (Neoproterozoic?)

metamorphic and intrusive rocks
Lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks
Antofagasta
Chuquicamata
Collahuasi
Santa Cruz
14
10
78
f
no
o
i
sit a
po 45 M
d
re at
sto nch
e
R tre
D Paleomagnetic domain
22
hil
C
u-
Arica
AN
LI
ZI LD
A
E
I
BR SH
18
La Paz
VI
LI
BO
62
ONLas Bambas
66
Pe
FL
Y DE
NCA
ECTI
70
hil
C
u-
ABA
Lima
PERU
74
Cordillera de
Maran
nc
Tre
14
78
334
335
(a)
10
15
20
25
30
35
(b)
S
CA E
RA AN
PA E RR
T
Latitude (S)
400
st
aT
re
nc
200
3a
100
Initial (non rotated)

Domeyko fault
system
1500
1000
500
500
1000
Mechanically
weak crust
(Paleozoic
sedimentary
rocks
al
on
og ence
h
t
Or verg
n
co
3b
Distance from orocline axis
Be lt
300
Fo
ld
A
TE RE
R R QU
AN IPA
E
ru
Th
Brazilian
Shield
d
an
l
na e
go
tho rgenc
r
O ve
n
co
h
nc
Tre
Ma
45
Tectonic shortening (km)
ng
alo
ne ndary
o
z
u
ear bo
Sh rane
terr
1500 km
21S
Domeyko
fault system
e
liqu ce
Ob ergen
v
n
co
FIG. 4. (a). Different horizontal tectonic shortening estimates for the Central Andes, showing how values decrease symmetrically north and south of the orocline axis. 1 = Neogene deformation in the Subandean belt (Oncken et al., 2006); 2 =
total shortening (Peloegene + Neogene, Oncken et al., 2006); 3a = shortening needed to accommodate crustal area assuming initial crustal thickness of 40 km; 3b = same, but considering 35 km as initial thickness (Gotberg et al., 2010); 4 = shortening needed to balance paleomagnetically determined rotations (Arriagada et al., 2008). (b). Tectonic sketch showing how
oblique convergence along the southern limb of the orocline may drive strike-slip displacements along the Domeyko fault
system at the beginning of the Incaic event. The general scheme comes from figures taken from Isacks (1988) and Lamb
(2001). Reverse faults prevailed north of 21 S as a consequence of the original N-NW trend of the continental margin. Note
left-lateral shear along the Abancay Deflection along the boundary between the Arequipa and Paracas terranes.
America Eocene to Oligocene convergence vector calculated

by Somoza (1998, Fig. 4b) was nearly orthogonal to the (restored) NW-SEtrending section of the margin along the
center and northern limb of the Bolivian orocline. Nevertheless plate convergence was, at the same time, highly oblique
along the southern limb of the orocline fostering marginparallel shear, and (theoretically dextral) strike-slip faulting in
northern Chile where the Domeyko fault system was formed
(Fig. 4b). Bending of the margin seems to have been accompanied at the southern limb of the Bolivian orocline by wholesale NE-directed crustal flow (Fig. 3b), which is also required
to explain the excess orogenic volume and crustal thickness
below the Altiplano-Puna reported by Kley and Monaldi
(1998) and Hindle et al. (2005).
Mass transfer, likely associated with lower crustal flow toward the center of the orocline (Hindle et al., 2005), increases
the possibility of strike-slip faulting along the Domeyko fault
system. Continued displacement was likely initially blocked
near the orocline axis where deformation was dominated by
margin-normal contraction (Figs. 3b, 4b). As suggested by
McQuarrie (2002) and Boutelier and Oncken (2010), mass
transfer toward the core of the orocline implies crustal thinning and stretching in central Chile, which may have inhibited mountain building south of 28 S. Crustal thinning and a
more extensional tectonic regime prevailed in that region
(south of 28 S) during the Eocene to early Miocene (e.g.,
Jordan et al., 2001; Charrier et al., 2002). These contrasts
help to explain the termination of the Incaic porphyry copper
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
belt at approximately 30 S and the possibly segmented nature of the belt along its strike length between southern Peru
and central Chile (Mpodozis and Perell, 2003; see below).
Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene Porphyry Copper
Province of Northern Chile
Overview
Middle Eocene to early Oligocene porphyry copper deposits of the Central Andes were emplaced contemporaneously with the Incaic tectonic event, when the entire Andean
margin was being reshaped during the formation of the Arica
bend. Mineralized centers occur in Peru near the eastern end
of the Abancay Deflection (Andahuaylas-Yauri cluster; Perell
et al., 2003a; Fig. 3a), although the vast majority are located
in Chile along the Domeyko fault system (Sillitoe and Perell,
2005; Figs. 2, 3a). El Morro, the southernmost porphyry
copper-gold deposit of economic importance (Perell et al.,
1996), is located where the rotated and thickened southern
limb of the Bolivian orocline (domain D; Fig. 3a) terminates
and merges with the nonrotated central Chile domain E (see
below). Most porphyry copper deposits were emplaced along
the Domeyko fault system at long-lived zones of focused magmatism, which in some cases were active well before the
Eocene. They occur as parts of discrete intrusive clusters
separated by large barren areas where only the Paleozoic
basement and back-arc basin sedimentary cover is exposed
(Fig. 2).
335
336
The structural control of the porphyry systems is strikingly

diverse (cf. Sillitoe and Perell, 2005). At Chuquicamata, porphyry copper-related intrusions were syntectonically emplaced
along an extensional jog in an active dextral strike-slip fault
system (Lindsay et al., 1995); at Potrerillos, intrusions related
to porphyry copper deposits ascended along subvertical, leftlateral strike-slip faults and migrated laterally near the surface
along an active low-angle thrust (Tomlinson et al., 1993;
Niemeyer and Munizaga, 2008). In contrast, porphyry stocks
related to mineralization at Escondida or El Abra-Fortuna
were emplaced along premineralization reverse and strike-slip
faults formed during earlier stages of the Incaic event (Dilles
et al., 2011; Herv et al., 2012). Other mineralized intrusions
were cut and displaced by late-stage faults (Esperanza-Telgrafo, Chuquicamata; Dilles et al., 1997; Tomlinson et al.,
1997a, b).
Not all porphyry copper deposits are, however, obviously
related to major Domeyko fault splays (Sillitoe and Perell,
2005), although the deposits of the Collahuasi-Quebrada
Blanca cluster, which crop out to the east of the main fault
system (Fig. 2), seem to have been emplaced over a basement
discontinuity marked by regional isotopic changes in Neogene magmatic rocks (Mamani et al., 2010). At El Salvador
and Polo Sur, 42 to 41 Ma porphyry copper-related intrusions
are encapsulated in preexisting, up to 10-m.y. older, calderarelated rhyolite domes, indicating that the middle Eocene to
early Oligocene magmas effectively reused the same conduits
(Cornejo et al., 1997).
These differences in the structural controls of porphyry
copper deposits can be attributed to the changing tectonic
conditions along different segments of the Domeyko fault
system during the >10-m.y. Incaic event. Camus (2003) recognized three temporal groupings of mineralized intrusions
along the Domeyko fault system at 43 to 42, 39 to 37, and 36
to 33 Ma.
In the Chuquicamata, El Abra, and Quebrada Blanca-Collahuasi districts, where the three generations of intrusions
occur, only the two youngest were fertile in copper (Campbell
et al., 2006; Maksaev et al., 2009; Dilles et al., 2011), whereas
in the Escondida district all three events are related to
mineralization (Herv et al., 2012). In contrast, most of the
copper-bearing intrusions recognized in the Centinela district
seem to have been emplaced during the early event. In order
to illustrate the changing nature of the diverse porphyry clusters and explore the links between mineralized centers and
the evolution of the Domeyko fault system, the salient geologic features of three porphyry copper districts, Chuquicamata-El Abra, Escondida, and Centinela (Figs. 2, 5), are examined below.
Chuquicamata-El Abra
The Chuquicamata-El Abra intrusive cluster (Fig. 5a) is situated along the northern Domeyko fault system, near the
boundary between paleomagnetic domains C and D (Fig. 3a).
The geology of the region records superimposed tectonic and
magmatic events beginning in the Mesozoic. In this region,
the Precordillera (Cordillera de Domeyko) is formed by two
fault-bounded, N-Strending basement ranges. The western
range, Sierra de Moreno, is a thick-skinned block uplifted in
the early Late Cretaceous (~8584 Ma), during the inversion
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
of the Mesozoic back-arc basin (Ladino et al., 1997; Tomlinson et al., 2001a). It is bounded to the west by high-angle,
west-vergent reverse faults that place Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic basement units on top of Jurassic sedimentary strata
(Fig. 5a). The east-vergent Arca reverse fault that bounds the
eastern side of the Sierra de Moreno (Fig. 5a) has been interpreted as a reactivated normal fault, which formed near
the eastern edge of the Mesozoic back-arc basin (Tomlinson
et al., 2001a; Fig. 5a). Syn- to post-tectonic red beds (Tolar
and Tambillos Formations; Fig. 5a) were shed to the east and
west of the uplifting block during the Late Cretaceous. After
deformation, volcanic rocks, which unconformably cover the
basement units and Mesozoic sedimentary strata at Sierra de
Moreno, developed in two separate episodes during the latest
Cretaceous (Cerro Empexa and Quebrada Mala Formations)
and early to middle Eocene (Icanche Formation; Fig. 5a;
Tomlinson et al., 2001a, 2010).
The eastern, Sierra del Medio basement block (Fig. 5a) was
uplifted between 43 and 38 Ma during the Incaic event (Tomlinson et al., 1997a) along a new set of west- and east-vergent,
high-angle reverse faults. As in other regions of northern
Chile, volcanism in the Chuquicamata-El Abra region sharply
diminished at this time; however, a syntectonic sedimentary
sequence (Sichal Formation; Fig. 5a) that accumulated in a
narrow basin between Sierra de Moreno and Sierra del
Medio contains a few intercalations of tuffs and volcanic breccias that yield K-Ar and Ar/Ar ages between 43 and 36 Ma
(Tomlinson et al., 2001a). The Incaic deformation also includes
a strike-slip component that produced segmented N-NE to
NE-trending, dextral strike-slip faults (e.g., the Mesabi fault
in Fig. 5a; Tomlinson et al., 1997a). These faults became
more important in the southern part of the area near
Chuquicamata (Fig. 5a), in accordance with increasing plate
convergence obliquity to the south along the Andean margin
during the Eocene (Fig. 4b).
As shown in Figure 5, the region between Chuquicamata
and El Abra is one of the anomalous zones along the Cordillera de Domeyko (Fig. 2), where magmatism was recurrent
since the Late Cretaceous. Despite lacking evidence for large
volumes of middle Eocene to early Oligocene volcanic products, intrusive magmatism of this age is well recorded. A large
(>500 km2), composite intrusive complex (Fortuna-El Abra)
was emplaced syntectonically between 45 and 38 Ma near the
southern termination of the Sierra de Moreno (Tomlinson et
al., 2001a, 2010; Dillles et al., 2011). Figure 5b shows the restored shape of the Fortuna-El Abra batholith before being
severely dismembered by left-lateral displacements along the
West fault (Tomlinson et al., 2007a; Dilles et al., 2011). Field
relationships indicate that the batholith was intruded along
the trace of the Quetena reverse fault, an inverted normal
fault inherited from Mesozoic back-arc extension. A flattening
foliation in metaclastic rocks in the contact aureole is consistent with emplacement during regional Incaic E-W shortening (Tomlinson and Blanco, 1997a).
The Fortuna-El Abra batholith, described by Dilles et al.
(1997) as a porphyry copper batholith, is a long-lived, composite magmatic system that contains intrusive phases emplaced during different stages of the Incaic event; it is similar
to the Andahuaylas-Yauri batholith of southern Peru, described by Perell et al. (2003a). The batholith comprises an
336
337
(a)
Cretaceous reverse fault
69
Los Picos
Complex
(45-42 Ma)
Cretaceous reverse fault

with Eocene reactivation
Lower to Middle
Eocene volcanic
rocks
(Icanche fm)
Pajonal Diorite
(b)
+
+ +
+
+ ++
+ + +
+ +
Upper Cretaceous
sedimentary rocks
(Tolar fm)
+
+ + + +
+ +
+
+ +
El Abra
+
+ + +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + +
+
Conchi Viejo
+ + + + + + +
+ + +
+
+ + +
+
+ +
+ + + + +
+ + + + +
+ + + +
2200'
+ +
+
+ + + + + ++
Clara Granodiorite
+ +
+
+ + + +
+
+ +
+ + +
Eocene reverse fault

related to EW shortening
DEL M
EDIO
10
20km
San Lorenzo
porphyry
dikes
DE
SIE
RRA
+
+
2130'
Antena
Granodiorite
(39.5-39 Ma)
SIERR
A
MO
R
ENO
Small copper
prospects
Arca fault
+
+
+
+
+
+ + + +
+ + + +
+ + + +
+ +
Early Abra-Antena
Ganodiorite
Upper Cretaceous volcanic rocks
(Quebrada Mala fm.)
Alejandro Hales
Toki
Miranda
Co. Jaspe
Quetena
fault
Opache
Porphyry Cu deposits
under post mineral cover
(Toki Cluster)
0
Future
West Fault
10km
Chuquicamata Porphyry Complex (36-33 Ma)

Eocene (45-37 Ma) monzodiorites to granodiorites (including
Fortuna El Abra batholith)
Upper Eocene-Oligocene, syntectonic, sedimentary rocks (Sichal
and Calama formations)
Lower to Middle Eocene volcanic rocks (Icanche formation)
El Abra
22
+ +
Paleocene intrusive rocks

Upper Cretaceous volcanosedimentary sequences (Cerro Empexa
and Quebrada Mala formation)
Cretaceous intrusive rocks
Upper Cretaceous, syntectonic, red beds (Tambillos and Tolar
formations)
Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous, back-arc, sedimentary sequences
R. Tomic
Mesabi Fault
Chuquicamata
+
+ +
+ + +
+ +
+
Llareta Granodiorite
+
+ +
+ + +
+ +
Fiesta Granodiorite
(38-37.5 Ma)
WEST FAULT
Quetena
Genoveva
+ +
Triassic intrusive rocks (ca. 230 Ma; Elena granodiorite)
Alejandro Hales
Triassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks
Toki
Quetena Fault
Sierra del Medio basement block (Upper Paleozoic)
CALAMA
69
Sierra de Moreno basement block (Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic)
2230'
FIG. 5. (a). Simplified geologic map of the El Abra-Chuquicamata region, indicating age of faults (based on Tomlinson et
al., 2001). (b). Restored map of the El Abra-Fortuna batholith after removal of 35 km of Oligocene-early Miocene left-lateral motion on the West fault, showing main intrusive phases and mineralized centers (Dilles et al., 2011). Names of intrusive units east of the future trace of the West fault follow the nomenclature that has been employed for intrusive phases near
El Abra.
older group of intrusions, namely the Los Picos complex and

Pajonal diorite, emplaced between ~45 and 42 Ma (Tomlinson et al., 2001a; Campbell et al., 2006), which include predominantly mafic pyroxene- and biotite-bearing quartz monzodiorites, monzodiorites, and quartz monzonites that are
copper barren (Fig. 5b). The second intrusive group includes
the Fortuna-El Abra granodiorite complex and is largely composed of two hornblende-bearing granodioritic phases (Antena, 39.539.0 Ma and Fiesta, 3837.5 Ma) as well as porphyritic components (San Lorenzo porphyries; Fig. 5b). The
Fortuna-El Abra Complex intrusions, derived from hydrous,
oxidized, and sulfur-rich magmas (Dilles et al., 2011), are associated with large porphyry copper deposits with U-Pb ages
between 39 and 36 Ma (El Abra, 3837 Ma; the Toki cluster
including Toki, 39 Ma and Opache, 3837 Ma; Alejandro
Hales, 3936 Ma; Conchi, 36 Ma; Perell, 2003; Campbell et
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
al., 2006; Boric et al., 2009; Marquardt et al., 2009; Barra,

2011; Fig. 5b).
The youngest intrusive event in the Chuquicamata cluster
was related to the emplacement, beyond the southern limits of
the Fortuna-El Abra batholith, of the Chuquicamata (3632
Ma) and Radomiro Tomic (3634 Ma) porphyry copper deposits (Lindsay et al., 1995; Reutter et al., 1996; Ballard et al.,
2001; Ossandn et al., 2001; Campbell et al., 2006; Barra, 2011;
Fig. 5). Sibson (1987), who relied on maps of Perry (1952), interpreted the Chuquicamata porphyry copper deposit to have
been emplaced syntectonically, following an extensional
stepover linking two separate but overlapping, parallel, dextral
strike-slip faults. Alternatively, Lindsay et al. (1995) favored a
model in which the required space for magma emplacement
coincided with a releasing bend (cf. Cunningham and Mann,
2007) along a single, continuously linked dextral fault.
337
338
After porphyry emplacement at the Chuquicamata and

Radomiro Tomic, to the south of their present location, the
deposits were displaced as a consequence of late Oligocene to
early Miocene (31.016.3 Ma) left-lateral movements along
the throughgoing regional West fault or West Fissure. Displacement along the West fault, which includes, at Chuquicamata, according to McInnes et al. (1999), a 600 100 m west
sideup vertical displacement component (contested by Tomlinson et al., 2001b), was able to offset the Fortuna-El Abra
batholith 35 to 37 km in a left-lateral sense (Dilles et al., 1997;
Tomlinson and Blanco, 1997b; Tomlinson at al., 2001a; Fig.
5). South of Chuquicamata, at least part of the strike-slip displacement component was transferred to a set of normal
faults that bound the Cenozoic Calama extensional and/or
transtensional basin (Blanco, 2008; Blanco and Tomlinson,
2009). Seismic data reveal that a buried normal fault with 1to 1.5-km down-to-the-east displacement limits the northwestern margin of the basin, where up to 2,500 m of siliciclastic continental strata accumulated between the Oligocene
and Miocene (Jordan et al., 2004; Blanco, 2008).
The West fault forms, at present, the sharp western limit of
the Chuquicamata orebody. Nevertheless, structural interpretations by Sibson (1987) and Lindsay et al. (1995) considered that the internal architecture of second-order faults and
veins indicates that the deposit is essentially intact. According
to Lindsay et al. (1995), the Oligocene to early Miocene West
fault propagated northward, along the western edge of the
porphyry complex (previously emplaced at 3633 Ma), without displacing the mineralized intrusive units within the former dextral releasing bend and/or stepover.
Escondida
Despite also being along the Domeyko fault system, the
tectonic history of the Escondida region (Fig. 2) is markedly
different, highlighting the significant changes in tectonic
styles along the >1,000-km strike of the fault system. Deformation in this area seems to have been dominated by tectonic
escape linked to passive rotation and transport of brittle
upper crustal blocks over hot and ductile lower crust in a way
similar to the so-called orogenic float or clutch tectonics models discussed by Oldow et al. (1990), Lamb (1994), and Tikoff
et al. (2002; see below). At this latitude, the Cordillera de
Domeyko appears as a discontinuous mountain range formed
by a group of discrete basement blocks bounded to the west
by a 150-km-long shear lens (Escondida shear lens) developed between the regional Sierra de Varas and Escondida
faults (Figs. 6a, 7). To the east, the Domeyko range abuts the
Salar de Atacama depression, which is a deep subsiding basin
filled by >9 km of Cretaceous to Tertiary continental sedimentary strata (Pananont et al., 2004; Mpodozis et al., 2005).
The basin was built on top of a large positive gravimetric
anomaly (Central Andean Gravity High; Gtze and Krausse,
2002; Fig. 6b), which indicates the occurrence, at depth, of
dense crustal rocks that may help to explain its long-lived subsidence basin history, recorded at least since the Cretaceous.
The isolated basement blocks that form the core of the
range are separated by small, triangular basins, with interior
drainage (Fig. 6a). The southern rhomboid-shaped blocks
(e.g., San Carlos and Imilac; Fig. 6a) are bounded along their
northwestern margins by high-angle, SE-dipping reverse faults.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
The blocks at Quimal, Los Morros, and Mariposas are limited to the west and north by left-lateral strike-slip faults
(Mpodozis et al., 1993a, b). Along the El Bordo Escarpment,
the eastern margin of the Imilac and Mariposas blocks are
thrust over the sedimentary fill of the Salar de Atacama basin
(Fig. 6a), which includes, among other units, a 2,500-m-thick
sequence of Eocene to early Oligocene continental conglomerates and poorly consolidated gravels. Internal progressive unconformities and Ar/Ar ages between 44 and 43
Ma from a tuffaceous horizon just above the base of this sequence (Loma Amarilla Formation) indicate that these
strata-accumulated syntectonically during the regional Incaic
deformation (Hammerschmidt et al., 1992; Mpodozis et al.,
2005).
The tectonics of this segment of the Cordillera de Domeyko
(Fig. 6a) can be interpreted as a result of the displacement of
a 250- 50-km basement sliver that was transported northward during the Incaic deformation. According to Mpodozis
et al. (1993a, b), the continuous northward shift of the displaced block was impeded by a buttress located to the north
of the moving sliver as the displacement was transferred to
the east by tectonic escape (cf. Mann, 1997) toward the
deeply subsiding Salar de Atacama basin. In this model, the
Salar de Punta Negra depression (Fig. 6c) would have formed
as an extensional basin at the trailing edge of the displaced
block. Displacement transfer seems to have occurred by
clockwise rotation of small detached blocks, which in turn
generated the local triangular-shaped extensional basins between the rotating blocks as well as contractional deformation
in their northeastern corners where basement was thrust over
the Salar de Atacama basin fill (Fig. 6c). Mpodozis et al.
(1993a, b) located this buttress at Sierra de Limn Verde,
which is a N-plunging basement half dome that attains one of
the highest elevations (3,500 m.a.s.l.) in the Cordillera de
Domeyko (Fig. 6a). However, if along-strike changes in local
stresses resulting from the formation of the Bolivian orocline
are considered, the buttressing effect may have been provided by the nonrotated paleomagnetic domain C, located
north of Calama (Fig. 3), where initial Eocene deformation
was taken up by pure east-west shortening (Tomlinson et al.,
2001a; see Figs. 3, 4).
Figure 7 is a more detailed map showing the geologic setting and distribution of the barren and mineralized intrusions
that form part of the Escondida cluster (labeled LE, Fig. 2).
The area encompasses the widest part of the regional Escondida shear lens, which is separated to the east from the Sierra
Imilac and Sierra San Carlos basement blocks by the Escondida fault (the Panadero-Portezuelo fault is an alternative
name used by Herv et al., 2012). These two blocks were then
separated by the intervening triangular Salar de Hamburgo
depression (Fig. 7). Drilling shows that the Salar de Hamburgo fill includes >1,200 m of red beds, lahars, and pyroclastic rocks with U-Pb zircon ages of 38 Ma (San Carlos
Strata, Fig. 7; Marinovic et al., 1995; Urza, 2009; Herv et
al., 2012); therefore, these units are equivalent to the upper
portion of the syntectonic Loma Amarilla Formation in the
Salar de Atacama. The Hamburgo fault is a NE-trending,
high-angle reverse fault that places the late Paleozoic basement of the San Carlos block over the sedimentary sequences
of the Salar de Hamburgo (Fig. 7).
338
339
er
Si e
r ra
fault
Toro
s
Fortuna-El Abra
batholith
pa m
El Bo rdo Esca
r
Bo
CALAMA
Thrusts
r'
Salar de
Atacama
Paleozoic
basement
blocks
24
Rotated
Domain D
s f
au l
Salar de
Hamburgo
nc
rra
de
Bar r a
Sie
25
in
tina
Free face
Salar
de
Punta Negra
Boundary
fault
La Escondida shear lens (ESL )

Cordillera de Domeyko clockwise rotated
basement blocks (Q: Quimal, LM: Los Morros,
M: Mariposas, I: Imilac, SC: San Carlos)
A lm
eid
a
as
Salar de
Punta Negra
50 km
Gravity
High
de V ar as fault
24
Sie r r a
n de L
ila
Cordo
ANTOFAGASTA
ESCONDIDA
ESL
Extensional
(rotational)
basins
Salar
de
Atacama
Deep Bas
Salar de los
Morros
SC
Sierra Limn Verde
Argen
Salar
de Elvira
Blanc
a
fault
A'
a
ivi
Transition zone betwen

C and D domains
faul
Escondida
en
Salar
Vernica
Va r as
de
BUTTRESS ZONE
GABY
LM
Sierra
(c)
23
Lo s
Cen
tine
Ce
ntilanefaul
la tFault
68
Non-rotated
Domain C
de
ESPERANZATELEGRAFO
70
(b)
imn V
Sier r a d e l Medio
69
(a)
20 40 km
Cordn de Lila-Sierra de
Almeida stable domain
Mesozoic to Paleocene strata of

the Centinela District
Reverse faults
Strike-Slip faults
Outcrops of Lower Cretaceous

to Upper Oligocene continental
clastic strata of the Salar de
Atacama basin
Normal faults
FIG. 6. (a). Main structural elements of the Cordillera de Domeyko (between Escondida and Sierra Limn Verde and
Salar de Punta Negra (22 3025 S; see location in Fig. 2). Note the large shear lens (Escondida shear lens) flanked by the
Escondida and Sierra de Varas strike-slip faults along the western edge of the range and the discontinuous basement blocks
(labeled with letters) forming the core of the range. (b). Tectonic sketch of the Cordillera de Domeyko between 21 and 25
S, indicating major Eocene-Oligocene Incaic structures (Tomlinson and Blanco, 1997a). Note contrast between clockwiserotated blocks in rotated domain D (Fig. 3) and deformation associated with reverse faults in nonrotated domain C. (c).
Model of lateral transfer of displacement of a tectonic sliver bounded by a buttress and a free face moving northward along
a left-lateral strike-slip fault system. Displacement is impeded, as shown, by a buttress at the leading edge of the block, and
transferred toward the right by means of clockwise block rotations. Note extensional basins created between the rotating
blocks. A-A' and r-r = position of points and lines before and after rotation ( = rotation angle). Adapted from Beck et al.
(1993).
A protracted, >40-m.y. Cretaceous to Tertiary history of

magmatism is recorded in the Escondida region. The oldest
intrusive events produced Late Cretaceous (8171 Ma; Fig.
7) tholeiitic to alkaline pyroxene gabbros and diorites as well
as hornblende-pyroxene monzodiorites and diorites, in addition to early Paleocene (6664 Ma) pyroxene diorites. These
rocks intruded the sedimentary strata of the Mesozoic backarc basin in the Escondida shear lens to the south and west of
Escondida (Fig. 7); Paleocene to early Eocene volcanic rocks
(5953 Ma) are also present in the area (Marinovic et al.,
1995; Richards et al., 2001; Urza, 2009). All of this focused
and recurrent magmatic activity took place east of the Andean
arc front, which during the Late Cretaceous to early Paleocene (8550 Ma) was located farther west, in the Central
depression of the Antofagasta region (Boric et al., 1990).
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Incaic magmatism in the Escondida cluster began in the

middle Eocene (~44 Ma), when left-lateral displacements
along the Escondida fault and differential rotation between
the San Carlos and Imilac blocks created the triangular Salar
de Hamburgo depression (Fig. 7). The oldest intrusions are a
group of 44 to 41 Ma pyroxene-biotite monzodiorites and
pyroxene-hornblende granodiorites, emplaced within the Escondida shear lens to the north of Escondida (Marinovic et al.,
1995; Richards et al., 2001; Urza, 2009). Together, they likely
represent the roof of an underlying, partially eroded pluton
nearly 20 km in diameter (Fig. 7). Most of these rocks, like the
Los Picos complex and Pajonal diorite of the ChuquicamataEl Abra region, are barren, although geochronologic data and
relationships between intrusive phases in the vicinity of the
Chimborazo porphyry copper deposit indicate, according to
339
340
lt
69
Sie rra
Sie
de
rra
V aras
de
Imi
lac
f au
24
Chimborazo (41)
Escondida Norte (38-37)

Baker (38-37)
Zaldivar (38-37)
Imila
c f au
lt
Pampa Escondida (36-34.5)

Escondida Este
(36-34.5)
t
Salar de
l
u
Hamburgo
fa
o
rg
bu
am
H
Sa S
n ierr
Ca a
rlo
s
La Escondida fault
Pinta Verde
Escondida
(38-37)
Salar de
Punta Negra
Lower Paleocene (66-64 Ma) px diorites
10 km
2430'
Upper Eocene (42?-36 Ma) sedimentary-volcanic

sequence (San Carlos strata)
Upper Eocene (38-35 Ma) dacitic to granodioritic
mineralized porphyry intrusions (Escondida cluster)
Upper Cretaceous (74-70 Ma) rhyolitic ignimbrites

Upper Cretaceous (81-72 Ma) gabbro-diorites and hb-px
diorites
Upper Triassic-Lower Cretaceous sedimentary sequences
Upper Eocene (39-38 Ma) hb dioritic porphyry intrusions

Eocene (44-41 Ma) px-bt monzodiorites and px-hb
granodiorites
Upper Paleocene to Lower Eocene (59-53 Ma) volcanic
sequences
Triassic (240-220 Ma) intrusive rocks

Upper Paleozoic (300-270 Ma) basement
FIG. 7. Simplified geologic map of the area around Escondida, highlighting major regional faults and the different intrusive phases that form part of the Escondida intrusive cluster. Compiled and adapted from Marinovic et al. (1995),
Richards et al. (2001), Urza (2009), Herv et al. (2012), and field data from the authors (px = pyroxene, hb = hornblende,
bt = biotite).
Herv et al. (2012 ), that an early phase of copper mineralization probably occurred at ~41 Ma.
The second episode of Eocene-Oligocene magmatism
began with the emplacement of a closely spaced group of
small intrusions distributed across the Escondida fault (Fig.
7). These more evolved, amphibole-bearing dioritic stocks,
with U-Pb zircon ages of 39 to 38 Ma (Richards et al., 2001;
Urza, 2009), intrude both the late Paleocene to early
Oligocene volcanic rocks of the Escondida shear lens and the
late Paleozoic basement units of the Imilac block (Fig. 7).
Their distribution suggests that they could be apophyses of a
larger pluton at depth that intruded along the Escondida
fault. The slightly younger group of porphyry copper stocks
include a series of multiphase, NE- to N-NEtrending, dikelike intrusions that were emplaced at or near the Escondida
fault at 38 to 37 Ma; these include the deposits at Zaldvar,
Escondida Norte, Escondida, and Pinta Verde, and, farther
away, at Baker (Richards et al., 2001; Urza, 2009; Herv et
al., 2012; Fig. 7).
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
The final event of Incaic magmatism in the Escondida cluster was related to the emplacement of the Escondida Este
and Pampa Escondida deposits, immediately to the east of
the Escondida fault (Fig. 7), between 36.0 and 34.5 Ma
(Herv et al., 2012). The mineralized porphyries of the Escondida cluster, with the exception, perhaps, of Chimborazo,
postdate the earlier phase of sinistral faulting and block rotations along this segment of the Cordillera de Domeyko. Deformation seems to have begun at ~42 Ma (age of the base of
the Loma Amarilla Formation; see above), although the lack
of offset on any of the porphyry intrusions across the local
fault strands (Panadero-Portezuelo fault) of the larger Escondida fault indicates that major along-strike fault activity had
ceased by 38 Ma, as shown by the across-fault 3837 Ma porphyry dikes (Herv et al., 2012).
Centinela
Porphyry copper mineralization in the Centinela district (labeled CE, Fig. 2) occurs within a 25-km-wide, fault-bounded
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341
belt of Late Cretaceous to early Eocene volcanic rocks, located between the Paleozoic basement exposures of the
Cordillera de Domeyko to the east and an early Cretaceous
volcanic sequence in the Coastal Range to the west (Fig. 8).
The Centinela district hosts one of the more recently discovered porphyry copper clusters in northern Chile. Although
the occurrence of exotic copper mineralization at El Tesoro
was known for a long time, the full potential of the district
only began to be assessed in the mid-1990s (Perell et al.,
2010, and references therein).
The district records again, a lengthy history (almost 80 m.y.)
of magmatic activity, from the Early Cretaceous to the Eocene.
The oldest plutonic rocks emplaced within the confines of the
Centinela cluster comprise a group of Early Cretaceous
olivine-pyroxene gabbros and hornblende-bearing quartz diorites, with U-Pb zircon and K-Ar ages between 124 and 100
Ma (Mpodozis et al., 1993b; Marinovic and Garca, 1999).
These rocks, emplaced within Jurassic marine limestones of

the northern Chile back-arc basin (Fig. 8), are almost 100 km
east of the Early Cretaceous magmatic front, which, as noted
above, was situated at that time in the Coastal Range (Boric
et al., 1990). Younger volcanic and intrusive events occurred
in the Late Cretaceous, when a volcanic sequence (Quebrada
Mala Formation) and a group of coeval 70 to 66 Ma pyroxene
diorites to rhyolite porphyries and flow domes, dated (U-Pb
zircon) between 70 and 66 Ma, were generated after the Andean arc front migrated eastward into the Centinela region
(see Figs. 1b, 8). Volcanism continued after the CretaceousTertiary boundary deformation event, with eruptions from
stratovolcanoes and small collapse calderas that were active
between the early Paleocene (64 Ma) and the early Eocene
(53 Ma). During this interval, a diverse group of epizonal intrusions composed mainly of pyroxene-biotite quartz diorite
to monzodiorite (60 Ma) and hornblende-biotite granodiorite
Sierra Limn Verde
6900
Orin (44-41)
as
Mirador (41-39)
Llano (41)
Esperanza (42-40)
Llano fault
Telgrafo (42-40)
Caracoles (42-41)
Esperanza fault
Centinela (45-44)
ra e
er lc
Si Du
ua
Ag
23
Coronado fault
Penacho Blanco (42)
Los
Toro
s
ult
fault
Las Lomas fault
Centinela
Sierr
a de
Sherezade (44-43)
l Buit
re fa
Las Lomas
duplex
fault
Pilar (43)
Polo Sur (42-41)
10 km
Upper Eocene (44-40 Ma) syntectonic, sedimentary and

volcanic rocks
Undifferentiated Cretaceous granitoids

Upper Cretaceous (78-66 Ma) sedimentary and
volcanic sequences (Quebrada Mala fomation)
Eocene (44-40 Ma) px-hb monzodioritic to hb-bt

granodioritic stocks and mineralized dacitic porphyry
intrusions (Esperanza-Telgrafo and Centinela-Polo Sur)
Paleocene (60-56 Ma) px-bt monzodiorites and
rhyolitic porphyry intrusions
Paleocene to Lower Eocene (64-53 Ma) volcanic rocks
(Cinchado formation )
Lower Paleocene (65-64 Ma) diorites and dacitic porphyry
intrusions
Lower Cretaceous (?) volcanic rocks

Lower Cretaceous (124-100 Ma) ol-px gabbros to
diorites and hb granodioritic porphyry intrusions
Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous back-arc sedimentary
and volcanic rocks
Upper Triassic (210-200 Ma) volcanic and sedimentary
rocks
Upper Paleozoic (290-270 Ma) basement
Upper Cretaceous (78-68 Ma) px diorites and (minor)

rhyolitic porphyry intrusions
FIG. 8. Regional geologic map of the Centinela cluster area. Note the 35-km-long NNE trend of 4240 Ma porphyry copper deposits emplaced during earlier stages of the Incaic event. Multiple superimposed intrusive pulses and volcanic
episodes between 120 and 40 Ma show a remarkable recurrence of magmatic events for >80 m.y. All ages are based on recently acquired U-Pb zircon data. (p = prospects, ol = olivine, bt = biotite, px = pyroxene).
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
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(5857 Ma) plus andesitic to dioritic porphyritic intrusions,

were emplaced into the Mesozoic units and Paleogene volcanic edifices.
Incaic magmatism and mineralization in the Centinela district occurred between 45 and 39 Ma (Mpodozis et al., 2009a;
Perell et al., 2010) and began, as revealed by numerous new
U-Pb zircon ages in the intrusive rocks and Re-Os ages in
molybdenite, ~12 to 10 m.y. after the termination of volcanism in the early Eocene.
This event coincides with the mostly copper-barren early
phase of Incaic intrusions at Chuquicamata-El Abra (4542
Ma) and Escondida (4441 Ma). The oldest Incaic intrusive
rocks include a small group of 45 Ma pyroxene-biotite and
quartz diorites yet, in contrast to Chuquicamata-El Abra and
Escondida, at Centinela, numerous mineralized porphyry
centers were emplaced between 44 and 39 Ma. They form,
together with some barren stocks, a 40-km-long, N- to NEtrending belt, which includes at least 10 discrete intrusive
complexes (Fig. 8). A syntectonic sequence of conglomerates
and volcaniclastic sandstones, which accumulated at the same
time as porphyry copper emplacement, comprises interbedded layers of dacitic block-and-ash deposits and tuffs with UPb zircon ages between 42 and 39 Ma.
The oldest porphyry systems (4543 Ma) occur along the
southwest end of the belt, and the age decreases systematically
to the northeast until reaching 39 Ma at the northeast edge of
the porphyry trend (Fig. 8). The geometry of the porphyry
complexes is controlled by their position relative to the main
structural feature of the district, a 3- to 5-km-wide, N-Strending fault zone that cuts obliquely across the porphyry belt. This
zone of intense deformation constitute to the northern termination of the Sierra de Varas fault, which stretches for >250
km along the western border of the Cordillera de Domeyko
(Mpodozis et al., 1993b; Soto et al., 2005; Figs. 2, 6a), and was
active both during and after porphyry emplacement (Fig. 8).
Porphyry deposits located west and east of this zone of concentrated deformation are largely undeformed. Copper mineralization in mineralized porphyry systems, located west of the
fault zone, are related to subvertical, hornblende-biotite dacites
dike swarms intruded into Paleocene volcanic/subvolcanic units
(e.g., Centinela) or early Eocene rhyolitic dome complexes
(Polo Sur, Perell et al., 2010). The oldest deposits where emplaced at 45 to 44 Ma (Centinela) and 44 to 43 Ma (Shererezade) to be followed by the intrusion by several barren pyroxene-hornblende dioritic stocks and lacoliths dated at 43 Ma,
although a porphyry copper system with the same age has been
also recognized at Pilar. A new pulse of copper-bearing intrusions occurred, finally, between 42 to 41 Ma, at Polo Sur, while
dacitic porphyries with a similar age (42 Ma) but apparently
barren have been documented at Penacho Blanco (Fig. 8).
Mirador, the youngest porphyry deposit recognized so far in the
district (4139 Ma; Mora et al., 2009) and located east of the
fault zone (Fig. 8), is also structurally undisturbed. The copper
mineralization, hosted within Jurassic marine limestones and
evaporites (Mora et al., 2009) is associated with a group of
multiphase, W- to NW-trending intrusions that, as in the older
Centinela and Polo Sur deposits, appear to be subvertical.
By contrast, deposits emplaced along the fault zone (Fig. 8)
have intermediate ages of 42 to 40 Ma (Caracoles, 4241 Ma;
Telgrafo, 4240 Ma; Esperanza, 4240 Ma; Llano, 41 Ma;
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Perell et al., 2004, 2010; Bisso et al., 2009; Mnchmeyer and

Valenzuela, 2009; Swaneck et al., 2009); they are all associated with tilted porphyry dike swarms. These deposits are
emplaced into moderately to steeply dipping strata, which are
disrupted by major postmineral faults that exhibit reverse,
normal, and strike-slip displacement components (Figs. 8, 9).
Although the widespread gravel cover makes it difficult to
satisfactorily resolve the structural relationships within the
whole district, the regional structure around the Esperanza
and Telgrafo deposits (Fig. 8) comprises a long-wavelength,
asymmetric, basement-cored anticline, bounded to the west
by a moderately E-dipping yet unexposed thrust fault that
was discovered during exploration drilling (Telgrafo fault;
Perell et al., 2004, 2010; Bisso et al., 2009; Mnchmeyer
and Valenzuela, 2009; Fig. 9). The hinge zone of the anticline
is, in turn, sliced by two subvertical faults (Coronado and
Llano faults; Figs. 8, 9) linked to the N-Strending regional
fault zone. Figure 9 includes a west-east structural section
across the Esperanza deposit, where mineralization is associated with a group of easterly inclined porphyry dikes emplaced within the ~40 to 50 W-dipping Triassic to Upper
Cretaceous strata that form the frontal limb of the anticline.
This panel, containing in part mineralized and altered host
rocks to the porphyry deposits, is upthrown to the west,
along the Telgrafo fault, over barren, unaltered mid-Eocene
(4239 Ma) sedimentary and volcanic rocks that accumulated when porphyry intrusions were being emplaced at depth.
The tilted, frontal-limb panel of the anticline is, in turn,
bounded to the east by the subvertical Esperanza fault (Fig.
9) that places Jurassic limestones over Late Upper Cretaceous strata. The rectilinear fault trace and the mismatch of
the lithology and age of the Late Cretaceous volcanic rocks
across the Esperanza fault show it includes an important
component of strike-slip movement, although the precise
age of deformation and genetic links between both faults remain to be determined. The Llano and Coronado faults are,
however, as shown in Figure 9, younger faults that are superimposed over the Telgrafo-Esperanza system, which exhibits both left-lateral and large, down-to-the-east components of displacement, part of which has a late Miocene or
younger (<10 Ma) age.
Structural relationships at Caracoles, in spite of being only
10 km to the south, are entirely different and difficult to
match with those observed at Esperanza-Telgrafo. In the
southern part of the district (Fig. 8), the fault zone is displaced to the west, out of strike with the fault zone to the
north, and includes a strike-slip duplex (Las Lomas duplex)
bounded by two N-Strending subvertical faults (Las Lomas
and Centinela faults; Fig. 8). Kinematic indicators show evidence for an episode of left-lateral displacement, even if the
internal geometry of the duplex is compatible with an earlier
(Late Cretaceous?) event of dextral shear (Marinovic and
Garca, 1999; Mpodozis et al., 2009a). The Caracoles deposit
(4240 Ma, Swaneck et al., 2009) is hosted in early Paleocene
(6460 Ma) volcaniclastic rocks beneath the gravel cover.
Copper mineralization is linked to a steeply SE-dipping
swarm of thin dacite porphyry dikes that follow the internal
structural trends of the Las Lomas duplex; this is consistent
with emplacement of the porphyry along a zone of (earlier or
synmineral?) strike-slip deformation.
342
343
49000
49200
49400
UTM (E )
m.a.s.l.
49600
Esperanza
fault
Coronado
fault
Llano fault
Mi-Pl
Pal
Ol
3200
2800
Mi-Pl
Ks
Jur
Ep
2400
Ks
2000
Ks
Trv
1600
Ks
Eo
1200
Ep
Pal
Ks
Esperanza copper porphyry intrusions
(41-40 Ma)
Jur
Jurassic marine sedimentary sequences
Trv
Upper Triassic volcanic rocks (210-200 Ma)
1 km
Telgrafo
fault
Lower Paleocene dacitic domes (64-63 Ma)

Upper Cretaceous volcanic rocks (Quebrada Mala
formation, 70-66 Ma)
0.5
Mi-Pl
800
Miocene to Pliocene gravels
Ol
Oligocene sedimentary rocks
Eo
Eocene sedimentary and volcanic strata
Left-lateral displacement on faults
0.5% CuT
FIG. 9. Schematic structural section across the Esperanza porphyry Cu deposit, Centinela district. The Esperanza orebody is part of a W-dipping sliver of Jurassic and Late Cretaceous strata intruded by Eocene porphyry dikes (4140 Ma),
thrust to the west (Telgrafo fault) on top of Eocene (4237 Ma) sedimentary and pyroclastic sequences. The Esperanza and
Coronado faults have a complex and younger displacement history, including strike-slip components. The down-to-the-east
displacement shown along the Coronado and Llano faults corresponds only to the youngest (late Miocene-Pliocene?) episode
of deformation. Location of section shown in Figure 8.
Long-lived intrusive clusters and porphyry deposits:

What is the relationship?
As discussed above, Eocene to Oligocene porphyry copper
deposits in northern Chile are located in districts of focused
and long-lived magmatic activity distributed along the Cordillera de Domeyko (Fig. 2). In some districts, magmatism
was active for 50 m.y. (Chuquicamata-El Abra, Escondida) or
even 80 m.y. (Centinela). Magmatism began in a back-arc setting while the arc front was located much farther west in the
Coastal Range or Central depression (Boric et al., 1990); to
date, the cause of these zones of long-term magmatism is uncertain. Yaez and Maksaev (1994) suggested that porphyry
spacing may be related to Rayleigh-Taylor diapirism along the
mid Eocene-early Oligocene arc. Behn et al. (2001) noted
that a correlation exists between the location of porphyry copper deposits and regional E-Wtrending negative magnetic
anomalies that extend from the coast to the modern Andean
arc, and which may represent crustal structures favorable for
magma ascent as the arc migrated eastward since the Jurassic.
Richards (2003) speculated that porphyry copper deposits
were emplaced at the intersections of the Domeyko fault system with NW-trending transcordilleran crustal-scale structures, yet with the exception of Potrerillos (Fig. 2), none of
these has been documented on the western (Chilean) side of
the Andes. To address these observations, Tomlinson and
Cornejo (2012) proposed a hybrid model to explain porphyry
spacing, which combines Rayleigh-Taylor diapirism with
crustal-scale structural control.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Even if these models explain porphyry spacing, they do not

elucidate why clustered magmatism began long before the
Eocene. As more data are gathered, an even more striking
spatial relationship is emerging in several districts (Escondida, Centinela, Chuquicamata, Quebrada Blanca-Collahuasi,
Sierra Exploradora; Figs. 5, 7, 8), between extended, Cretaceous and younger magmatic activity, porphyry copper deposits, and Triassic intrusions which, near Escondida and Collahuasi, show evidence of weakly developed porphyry-style
copper mineralization (Cornejo et al., 2006; Munizaga et al.,
2008). In addition, indistinguishable geochemical signatures
reported in a pilot study by Wilson et al. (2011), which compared Triassic granodiorites to mineralized Eocene porphyry
deposits at Alejandro Hales (Fig. 5), may suggest tapping of a
common source region at depth. The problem remains open.
Neogene Tectonic Province of Central Chile
and Argentina
Late Eocene (?) to early Miocene extension and
the Abanico intra-arc basin
The tectonic evolution of the Andean orogen in central
Chile (3134 S) and contiguous Argentina differs from that
of northern Chile in that the main deformation events are
younger, the tectonic style is different, and the principal age
of porphyry copper mineralization is much younger (late
Miocene to early Pliocene). At present, a zone of flat subduction (Central Chile or Pampean flat-slab region; Cahill and
Isacks, 1992; Kay and Mpodozis, 2002; Ramos et al., 2002;
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344
Fig. 10) that was formed by progressive slab shallowing, beginning in the early Miocene (Kay et al., 1987), extends from 27
to 33 S. As in northern Chile, the Coastal Range is formed by
the volcanic and intrusive remnants of a Jurassic to Cretaceous
arc system. From 32 S southward, a thick sequence of coeval
marine and terrestrial sedimentary rocks exposed along the
eastern slope of the Cordillera Principal corresponds to sediments that accumulated within the Mesozoic Neuqun backarc basin (Mpodozis and Ramos, 2008; Figs. 1012).
The most notable geologic feature, however, is a several
kilometer-thick volcano-sedimentary sequence that forms
most of the western part of the Cordillera Principal between
32 and 37 S (Figs. 10b, 11, 12), which has been traditionally
80
(a)
PERU
75
assigned to the Abanico, Coya-Machal, and Cura-Malln Formations (e.g., Charrier et al., 1996, 2002; Jordan et al., 2001;
Kay et al., 2005; Faras et al., 2008). These sequences accumulated in extensional volcano-tectonic depressions or intraarc basins that are referred to as the Abanico basin; Ar/Ar
ages at the latitude of Santiago (33 S) range from latest
Eocene to early Miocene (3521 Ma; Muoz et al., 2006).
Volcanic rocks are calc-alkaline to tholeiitic in composition,
and the overall geochemical signature suggests that volcanic
activity occurred over a relatively thin crust (<35 km; Kay et
al., 2005; Muoz et al., 2006).
Equivalent units extend for more than 1,500 km to the
south along the crest of the Andean range into the northern
73
(b)
71
IA
V
LI
h
Per- Chile Trenc
Oroc
lin
e
35
Per-Ch
INA
ENT
INA
ENT
39
e - Ofq
ui fau
lt
ARG
Ma
ile trench
30
ARG
Flat-slab
Region
Cen
tral
Val
le
Peru-C
hile tre
nc
37
Range
Ma
Figure 11
Concepcin
ge
Santiago
Concepcin
Somuncur
Plateau
20
Liqui
SVZ
40
Maip
o
32
CVZ
ez Rid
ernnd
Juan F
33
Santiago
Coastal
40
Antofagasta
3.4 cm/yr
30
una
Altiplano-P
BO
20
69
Aconcagua
a
M
Bariloche
Oligocene to Miocene intrusive rocks
41
Puerto Montt
Middle and upper Miocene volcanic

rocks (with major sedimentary
participation in the south)
Oligocene to middle Miocene volcanic
sequences and interbedded
sedimentary strata
43
Late Oligocene to middle Miocene

continental strata
0
Late Oligocene to middle Miocene

Somuncur plateau volcanic rocks
100 km
Isla
Magdalena
Eocene volcanic and intrusive rocks
FIG. 10. (a). Map showing position of the Chilean-Pampean flat-slab region and the distribution of Quaternary volcanoes
(CVZ = Central Andean volcanic zone, SVZ = Southern Andes volcanic zone). Light-colored area shows region with elevations >3 km. (b). Simplified geologic map showing the distribution of Oligocene-Miocene volcanic and sedimentary strata in
south-central Argentina and Chile from 32 to 45 S. Based on the compilation by Jordan et al. (2001) and the 1:1,000,000
geologic map of Chile (SERNAGEOMIN, 2002). Arrows north and south of the Maipo orocline (or Maipo mega kink;
Arriagada, et al., 2009) indicate the average values of paleomagnetically determined block rotations (Arriagada et al., 2009).
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345
CHILE
71
ARGENTINA
L A
TA R
N LE
O IL
FR RD
O
C
Los Andes
33
69
Valparaso
Mendoza
RIO BLANCO LOS BRONCES
CO
A
NG
E
Rancagua
P R
I N
C
I P
A L
ST
AL
RA
34
Tupungato
Santiago
A
San Jos
EL TENIENTE
Maipo
ORO
CL IN
SYM
E
MET
RY A
XIS
C O
D I
L
L E
R A
Curic
35
MA I
PO
M
0
Early Cretaceous sedimentary strata

(Neuqun basin)
Triassic to Jurassic sedimentary strata
(Neuqun basin)
Jurassic to Cretaceous volcano-sedimentary
sequences (Coastal Codillera)
Late Paleozoic to Jurassic batholiths
(Coastal Cordillera)
Fontal Cordillera Paleozoic basement
Upper Cenozoic foreland basin strata

Miocene intrusive rocks (Principal
Cordillera)
Miocene volcanic rocks (Farellones
formation)
Cretaceous intrusive rocks
Eocene? - Early Miocene volcanosedimentary sequences (Coya - Machal/
Abanico formations)
25
50 km
Quaternary stratovolcanoes
Quaternary volcanic rocks
Plio-Pleistocene tuffs
Fore arc Miocene sedimentary strata
FIG. 11. Geologic map of the area around the Maipo orocline from 3230' to 35 30' S (location in Fig. 10). Note change
in the structural trend of the Coastal Range and Principal Cordillera across the Maipo orocline (Faras et al., 2008; Arriagada
et al., 2009), from N-S, to the north, to N-NE, to the south. A = Aconcagua fold-and-thrust belt, M = Malarge fold-andthrust belt (adapted from Faras et al., 2008). See text for more details.
Patagonian Andes (Fig. 10b). Even though the erosion level

increases and the volume of preserved volcanic products
decreases southward, these sequences define a progressively
southward-widening belt that extends from the Coastal
Range to the eastern slope of the Andes at the latitude of
Puerto Montt (41 S, Fig. 10b). The nature of interbedded
sedimentary rocks changes along strike, from continental to
lacustrine facies in the northern part of the belt to marine
facies toward the south; geochemical signatures also display
evidence for crustal thinning and extension increasing to the
south. Muoz et al. (2000) indicated that 37 to 20 Ma mafic
lavas exposed at the latitude of Puerto Montt (41 S; Fig. 10b)
and erupted in an extensional setting possess island-arc
geochemical affinities and were likely produced by deep
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
asthenospheric upwelling during a transient Oligocene to

early Miocene event of very rapid subduction. Deep mantle
upwelling has also been suggested by Kay et al. (2007a) to explain the origin of the 33 to 17 Ma basaltic flows of the large
back-arc Somuncur volcanic plateau in Patagonia (Fig. 10b).
Oligocene to Miocene submarine basaltic pillow lavas with
MORB geochemical features in the Aysn region indicate extreme crustal thinning along the arc farther south, between
43 and 46 S (Silva et al., 2003).
Miocene compressional failure of the Abanico basin
The late Eocene to early Miocene extensional period terminated at ~20 to 18 Ma, followed by compressional deformation leading to the emergence of the modern Andes in
345
346

70
Quaternary stratovolcanoes
Quaternary volcanic rocks
Upper Cenozoic foreland sedimentary
sequences
Miocene intrusive rocks
Volcanic rocks of the Abanico basin (Eocene?
to Miocene) include the Abanico,
Coya-Machali and Farellones formations
Jurassic to Cretaceous sedimentary
sequences of the Neuqun basin
Coastal Range block (Paleozoic to early
Cretaceous)
Frontal Cordillera Paleozoic basement
Chile
Argentina
Los Azules (10-8)

Rincones de Araya (9)
Piuquenes (11)
El Altar (12-10)
El Pachn (9-8)
Los Pelambres (14-10)

El Yunque (15)
Mercedario ( 13)
Cerro Mercedario
32
Cerro Bayo del Cobre

(12-10)
Amos- Andrs (9-8)
LR
Vizcachitas (11-10)
Morro Colorado
West Wall (11-9)
Pocuro fault
San Felipe
Aconcagua
Novicio (15-13)
Rio Blanco-Los Bronces

(7.7-4.7)
Valparaiso
33
Pimentn (11-9)
Los Machos (15-14)

Los Piches (14-12.5)
Los Sulfatos (7-6)
Tupungato
Santiago
San Jos
34
Rancagua
El Teniente
(6.5-4.6)
0
Maipo
50 km
M
71
70
FIG. 12. Tectonic sketch of the northern end of the Abanico intra-arc basin (3134 S), showing the location and age
(Ma, in parentheses) of Miocene to early Pliocene porphyry copper deposits of central Chile and contiguous Argentina and
the composite fold-and-thrust belt developed along the eastern margin of the basin (LR = La Ramada, A = Aconcagua, M =
Malarge fold-and-thrust belts).
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
346
347
central and southern Chile and contiguous Argentina (e.g.,

Giambiagi et al., 2003). Between 31 and 34 S, much of this
deformation was focused along the eastern border of the
Abanico basin, which finally collapsed and was inverted by compressional deformation in response to the collision between
the colder and rigid western Coastal Range and eastern

Frontal Cordillera blocks (Fig. 13). Under these conditions,
the late Eocene to early Miocene volcanic sequences were
tectonically transported to the east and juxtaposed over the
sedimentary sequences of the Neuqun back-arc basin to
Rapid Convergence
Intra-arc
Abanico basin
Weak intraplate
coupling
Coastal Range Block
Mesozoic
sedimentary wedge
Frontal Cordillera block

Moho
St
35-21 Ma
Lithosphere
ee
sl
Asthenosphere
ab
Slow Convergence
Strong intraplate
coupling
Collapsed
& inverted
Abanico basin
Farellones volcanism
Syntectonic intrusions
AconcaguaLa Ramada
FTB
Accelerating
SAM plate
Subduction erosion
Zone of partial melting
Sh
allo
12-5 Ma
win
g
sla
b
Slow Convergence
Strong intraplate
coupling
El Teniente
Los Bronces
Los Pelambres
AconcaguaLa Ramada
FTB
Frontal Cordillera
Lower crust melting and

mixing with mantle-derived magmas
Delaminated
lower crustal blocks?
10-5 Ma
FIG. 13. Schematic diagram near 33 to 34 S, showing the evolution of the Abanico intra-arc basin during the Oligocene
and Miocene (SAM = South America, FTB = fold and thrust belt). Major porphyry copper deposits began to be formed at
10 Ma when the deformation front migrated to the east and the Frontal Cordillera was uplifted as a consequence of shallowing of the subducted Nazca plate. Even though the diagrams combine geologic relationships observed at different latitudes it shows the tectonic position of the Los Pelambres intrusions along the boundary thrusts of the deformed Abanico
basin and the Ro Blanco-Los Bronces and El Teniente intrusions in the less deformed rocks near the center of the former
basin farther to the west. Red arrows below the Abanico basin show hypothetical magma paths. (SAM = South American
plate, FTB= fold and thrust belt)
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348
form the La Ramada, Aconcagua, and Malarge fold-andthrust belts (Ramos et al., 1996; Figs. 1113). In central Chile,
a sharp decrease in the volume of volcanism ensued, the arc
front migrated eastward, and the geochemical and isotopic
signatures of younger, middle to late Miocene volcanic
sequences (e.g., Farellones Formation; Figs. 1011) indicate
progressive crustal thickening as a consequence of increased
horizontal shortening (Ramos et al., 1996; Kay and Mpodozis,
2002; Stern et al., 2010).
Between 33 and 35 S, the amount of Miocene and
younger back-arc shortening decreased along strike from
north to south, as the tectonic style in the deformed back-arc
sequences changed from the narrow, thin-skinned Aconcagua
fold-and-thrust belt to the wider, mixed thin- and thickskinned style of the Malarge fold-and-thrust belt to the
south (Ramos et al., 1996, 2004; Giambiagi et al., 2011; Figs.
1112). The transition zone, at 34 S, coincides with the symmetric axis of the W-NWtrending Maipo orocline (Faras et
al., 2008; Arriagada et al., 2009), and is revealed by the
change in orientation of both the Chile trench and the main
structural trends of the Principal Cordillera, from N-S to NNE (Fig. 11). The Maipo orocline, a more subtle feature than
the Bolivian orocline (see above), is also shown in paleomagnetic studies, as the magnitude of paleomagnetic block rotations determined in all rocks older than 10 Ma changes from
4clockwise north of the orocline to 32 clockwise to the
south (Arriagada et al., 2009; see Fig. 10b). These changes coincide with a rapid fall of the absolute elevation of the Andean
range, as well as an overall decrease of crustal thickness, from
50 km at 32 S to <40 km at 36 S (Introcaso et al., 1992;
Gilbert et al., 2006; Anderson et al., 2007).
These along-strike differences seem to reflect the effect of the
more contractional conditions prevailing during the Neogene
north of latitude 33 S, as shallowing of the subducting Nazca
slab progressed. This, in turn, lead to the establishment of the
modern Chilean or Pampean flat-slab region between 28
and 33 S (e.g., Kay and Mpodozis, 2002). Slab shallowing is
generally attributed to the buoyancy effect introduced by the
subduction of the E-NEtrending Juan Fernndez Ridge
during the late Miocene (Yaez et al., 2001; Ramos et al.,
2002, and references therein), although recent analogue and
numerical experiments (e.g., Martinod et al., 2005) show that
moderate-sized, buoyant ridges that impinge on a trench are
not able to alone induce formation of flat-slab segments of the
dimensions observed in central Chile and contiguous Argentina. Other authors (Manea et al., 2012) suggest that a
combination of trenchward motion of thick cratonic lithosphere accompanied by trench retreat may better explain the
formation of the Chilean-Pampean flat slab during the
Miocene.
Late Miocene to Early Pliocene Porphyry Copper
Deposits of Central Chile and Contiguous Argentina
Overview
The major porphyry copper deposits in central Chile and
contiguous Argentina are preferentially located at or near the
transition zone between the Chilean (or Pampean) flat-slab
zone and the steeper subduction zone beneath southern
Chile. This region contains three of the worlds largest copper
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
deposits, at Los Pelambres, Ro Blanco-Los Bronces, and El

Teniente (Camus, 2003; Cooke et al., 2005; Sillitoe and Perell,
2005), as well as numerous smaller deposits and prospects
that straddle the Chile-Argentina border region from 31 to
35 S (Fig. 12). Although the first evidence of mineralization
that postdates the beginning of Miocene deformation is as old
as 15 to 13 Ma (Novicio, 1513 Ma; Los Machos, 1412.5 Ma;
Los Piches, 1412.5 Ma; Maksaev et al., 2009; Toro et al.,
2009; Fig. 12), most of the deposits north of 33 S (Los
Azules, Rincones de Araya, El Altar, Los Pelambres, El
Pachn, Vizcachitas, Amos-Andrs, Pimentn, Novicio, plus
West Wall in the San Felipe cluster) were emplaced between
12 and 8 Ma (Sillitoe and Perell, 2005; Maksaev et al., 2009;
Toro et al., 2009; Maygadn et al., 2011; Perell et al., 2012).
At this time, the E-NEtrending fragment of the Juan Fernndez Ridge began to subduct below the Los Pelambres region (Yaez et al., 2001; Kay and Mpodozis, 2002), causing
the Andean deformation front to move eastward; uplift of the
Frontal Cordillera (Fig. 11) commenced and was accommodated by regional thick-skinned faults (Ramos et al., 1996,
2004; Prez, 2001; Giambiagi et al., 2003; Fig. 12). By contrast, south of 33 S, the youngest and largest deposits, including Ro Blanco-Los Bronces and El Teniente (Maksaev et
al., 2004; Deckart et al., 2005; Maksaev et al., 2009; Fig. 12),
were emplaced from 7 to 4 Ma during a period (75 Ma) of
transient shallowing of the subducting slab below the
Neuqun basin, when volcanism with arc-like geochemical
signatures expanded up to 500 km east of the present day
Per-Chile trench (Ramos and Folguera, 2005; Kay et al.,
2006).
From a structural point of view, porphyry copper deposits
of central Chile and contiguous Argentina include a group of
stocks that postkinematically intruded regional thrusts along
the boundary between the former Abanico basin and the thinskinned La Ramada fold-and-thrust belt (Los Pelambres,
Amos-Andrs, Pimentn; Figs. 12, 14a), along the northern
part of the belt. Another, southern group (e.g., Vizcachitas,
West Wall, Ro Blanco-Los Bronces, and El Teniente; Figs.
1112) comprises intrusive complexes emplaced farther west
of the thrust belt in gently folded sequences of the Abanico
basin, with no obvious relationship to regionally significant
tectonic structures. A distinctive feature of the porphyry systems at Los Pelambres, Ro Blanco-Los Bronces, and El Teniente is the occurrence of barren and/or mineralized magmatic hydrothermal breccia complexes (Skewes and Stern,
1994).
Los Pelambres
The late Miocene Los Pelambres porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit and its smaller gold-bearing satellite, the
Frontera deposit (Fig. 12), are located in a narrow belt of intense deformation that involves Oligocene to early Miocene
(3318 Ma) volcanic rocks of the Abanico basin; these volcanic rocks, previously described as the Los Pelambres Formation, form part of the northern termination of the La Ramada fold-and-thrust belt at 3142' S (Mpodozis et al., 2009b;
Perell et al., 2012 ; Fig. 14a). The deposit is formed by multiple magmatic-hydrothermal centers with ages of 12.3 to 10.8
Ma, hosted by a precursor quartz diorite pluton (Los Pelambres stock, 13.613.0 Ma) and adjacent andesitic (Abanico
348
349
(a)
3200'
3150'
ora
Tot
7030'
El Pachn
Frontera
Chile
7020'
(b)
3312'
336'
4km
Los Piches
Ortiga
Infiernillo
Donoso
7018'
Lower Miocene (21-18 Ma) volcanic sequences
Pretectonic px diorites and granodiorites (23-21 Ma)
Los Sulfatos
La Americana
Sur Sur
Ro Blanco
Condell
7012'
Miocene volcanic rocks (Farellones

Formation)
> 0.5% Cu
San Francisco Batholith (14?-8 Ma)
Qz dioritic porphyry intrusions (ca 7 Ma)
Dacitic porphyry intrusions (5 Ma)
La Copa rhyolite-breccia complex (4 Ma)

Magmatic-hydrothermal breccias
La Paloma
San Enrique-Monolito
Brecha Sur
ncisc o
SAN FRANCISCO
BATHOLITH
San Manuel
El Plomo
RIO BLANCO-LOS BRONCES
7024'
FIG. 14. Comparison between the geologic setting of (a) the Los Pelambres-El Pachn and (b) Ro Blanco-Los Bronces districts. Despite the difference in scale, both
porphyry complexes are associated with N-NWtrending belts of intrusions and magmatic-hydrothermal breccias emplaced during the waning stages of long-lived earlier magmatic centers (Chalinga intrusive complex, San Francisco batholith). Map of the Ro Blanco-Los Bronces region is from Irarrzaval et al. (2010).
Upper Paleozoic basement
Triassic rift strata
Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, back-arc sedimentary sequences
Cretaceous to Paleocene volcanic and sedimentary units
10 km
Chalinga Intrusive Complex and related intrusives (23-15 Ma)

Intrusive rocks associated with copper mineralization
at Los Pelambres and El Pachn (14-8 Ma)
Post tectonic monzodiorites and hb-bearing
grandiorites and dacites (16-15 Ma)
Syntectonic (?) gabbros to px monzogranites (18 Ma)
Argentina
El Yunque
ruz
Strongly deformed, Oligocene to Lower-Miocene

(33-18 Ma) volcanic unit ("Los Pelambres Formation")
Oligocene to Lower Miocene (25-21 Ma) volcanic sequences
Upper Cretaceous to Eocene intrusive rocks
R o
Cuncumn
Pocuro fault
Los Pelambres
aca fa
ult
3140'
ult
res fa
Ro Santa Cru z
Mond
CHALINGA
INTRUSIVE
COMPLEX
elamb
Los P
Fra
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Ro Sa n
S
de
ro Y r b a Loca
e
C
ra
ille
ord
aC
ant
Est
e
LOS PELAMBRES
349
350
Formation) country rocks. The precursor stock and its contained porphyry copper mineralization were postkinematically
emplaced along the high-angle, Los Pelambres reverse fault,
which constitutes the eastern limit of the above-mentioned
zone of concentrated deformation (Mpodozis et al., 2009b;
Perell et al., 2009, 2012). At a more regional scale, however,
the Los Pelambres stock appears to be a satellite intrusive
body of a much larger (>250 km2) and long-lived, multistage
pluton located a short distance to the west (Chalinga intrusive
complex; Fig. 14), which was active for at least 8 m.y. between
23 and 15 Ma. The complex includes a pretectonic (with reference to regional deformation) suite of gabbros, pyroxene
diorites, and granodiorites, with U-Pb zircon ages between 23
and 21 Ma; a group of 18 Ma syntectonic olivine gabbro-diorites and granodiorites; and a younger and larger group of
post-tectonic, 16 to 15 Ma hornblende-bearing granodiorites.
Rocks of this latter group form the eastern margin of the
Chalinga intrusive complex, where they cut the traces of regional thrust faults (Fig. 14a).
Several small granodiorite to quartz diorite stocks and
hornblende-bearing dacite porphyry intrusions, dated at 15 to
13 Ma (Fig. 14a), form a NW-SEtrending string that extends
from the eastern Chalinga intrusive complex across the international frontier to Cerro Mercedario, ~70 km to the southeast in Argentina showing a southeastward propagation of
intrusive magmatism from the Chalinga complex during the
middle to late Miocene (Figs. 12, 14a). Some of these intrusions are associated with large porphyry-related hydrothermal
alteration zones, such as El Yunque (Fig. 14a). Porphyry magmatism and copper mineralization at Los Pelambres evolved
along this trend between ~14 and 10 Ma, whereas much more
limited data suggest that El Pachn was active between 9.2
and 8.4 Ma, and the Cerro Mercedario porphyry copper deposit at ~13 Ma (Sillitoe, 1977; Bertens et al., 2006; Perell et
al., 2012).
Ro Blanco-Los Bronces
The worlds largest copper district at Ro Blanco-Los Bronces
(Serrano et al., 1996; Skewes et al., 2003; Frikken et al., 2005;
Irarrzaval et al., 2010; Toro et al., 2012), is located, farther
south, near the center of the former Abanico basin (Figs.
1112). Although younger than Los Pelambres, it also formed
during the final stages of evolution of a long-lived, >10-m.y,
magmatic system, which includes a large premineral intrusive
complex (San Francisco batholith; Fig, 14b); this is remarkably
similar to the Chalinga intrusive complex of the Los Pelambres
area and was emplaced within gently folded, early Miocene
(1815 Ma) volcanic rocks (Farellones Formation; Fig. 14b).
Deckart et al. (2005, 2012) recognized that the San Francisco batholith includes three main intrusive phases, emplaced
between12 and 8 Ma, although an older U-Pb zircon age (14.7
Ma) for pyroxene monzodiorites (Jerez, 2007; Deckart 2012)
indicates that magma emplacement began during the middle
Miocene. The main mineralization at Ro Blanco-Los Bronces
occurred along an 8-km-long, N-NWtrending corridor,
which commences in the San Francisco batholith and extends
from Ro Blanco in the northwest to Los Sulfatos in the southeast (Fig. 14b). Multiple magmatic-hydrothermal breccia
complexes associated with porphyry copper-bearing, amphibole-rich quartz diorite porphyry intrusions were emplaced
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
along this trend, beginning at 7.7 Ma, during the waning

stages of the San Francisco batholith. Intrusive activity terminated with the emplacement of late-mineral dacitic porphyry
intrusions at ~5 Ma, and the postmineral La Copa rhyolite
breccia complex at 4.7 Ma (Skewes et al., 2003; Deckart et al.,
2005, 2012; Irarrzaval et al., 2010; Toro et al., 2012; Fig.
14b).
El Teniente
El Teniente, 100 km south of Ro Blanco-Los Bronces, is
located near the axis of the Maipo orocline, at the center of
the deformed Coya-Machal (Abanico) basin and 30 km west
of the most internal thrust sheets of the Aconcagua foldand-thrust belt (Fig. 15). The deposit is hosted by gently
folded volcanic rocks of the El Teniente volcanic complex
(informal unit equivalent to the Farellones Formation),
which unconformably overlies Oligocene to early Miocene
volcanic rocks of the Coya-Machal Formation (Kay et al.,
2005; Stern et al., 2010). Mineralization at El Teniente is associated with a magmatic-hydrothermal center that records
at least 6 m.y. of continuous activity between ~9 and 3 Ma.
As at Los Pelambres and Ro Blanco-Los Bronces, magmatism at El Teniente includes a large premineral intrusive
complex containing older mafic facies (andesite intrusive
sills and olivine-pyroxene gabbros), described as the Teniente Mafic Complex, and a younger core of hydrous, hornblende-bearing intrusions (Sewell Tonalite; Cannell et al.,
2005; Stern et al., 2010; Vry et al., 2010; Fig. 15). Ages for
this group of intrusions are still not well constrained (Teniente Mafic Complex: 8.4 Ma K-Ar whole-rock; Sewell
Tonalite: 7.05 Ma total gas, Ar/Ar; Maksaev et al., 2004,
Stern et al., 2010, and references therein).
The copper mineralization at El Teniente is associated with
a >2-km-long, N-NWtrending body of dacite porphyry and
a series of small magmatic-hydrothermal breccias (Vry et al.,
2010 ), which in contrast to Los Pelambres or Ro Blanco-Los
Bronces, were emplaced within the earlier intrusions (Teniente Mafic Complex and Sewell Tonalite; Fig. 15). Detailed
U-Pb zircon, Ar/Ar, and Re-Os geochronology (Maksaev et
al., 2004) has allowed recognition of five pulses of felsic intrusions linked to mineralization emplaced between 6.5 and
4.6 Ma. Subsequently, the late-mineral 4.81 Ma Braden breccia pipe and a family of narrow, E-NEoriented olivine-hornblende lamprophyre dikes; ages from 3.9 to 2.9 Ma (Stern et
al., 2011) mark the last magmatic pulses in the district before
the magmatic front migrated ~50 km eastward to the ChileArgentine frontier to form the northernmost active volcanoes
of the modern Andean Southern volcanic zone (Fig. 12).
Origin of Miocene-Pliocene porphyry copper alignments
One of the most striking features of porphyry copper deposits in central Chile is their relationship to N-NWtrending
alignments of multiple magmatic-hydrothermal centers, emplaced during the final stages of long-lived magmatic systems
that include breccia complexes whose formation has been
considered to be triggered by decompression during rapid exhumation and tectonic uplift (Warnaars et al., 1985; Skewes
and Stern, 1994).
When the overall geometry of the porphyry alignments of
the three main centers described in this paper are considered,
350
351
6232
Laguna La Negra
( a)
(b)
Teniente Dacite Porphyry N Mine

5.280.10 Ma
Level Teniente 5
(2.284m)
1600
Laguna
La Huifa
400 km
8.91.4 Ma?
Dacitic
porphyries
6.090.18 Ma
Braden
Pipe
6228
Mafic Complex
800
Supergene zone
Braden Pipe
4.810.10 Ma
00
Marginal
Breccia
Porphyry A
5.670.19 Ma
2 km
6224
Sewell Tonalite (7.050.14 Ma)

Mafic Complex (8.914.4 Ma)
Braden Pipe (4.810.10 Ma)
Teniente Volcanic Complex
Unconsolidated deposits
Sewell Tonalite
Hydrothermal breccias
800
Latite Dike
4.820.09 Ma
400
Mafic Complex
Braden Pipe
Sewell Tonalite
Biotite breccia
Porphyry "A"
7.050.14 Ma
1200
Dacite Porphyry
Igneous breccia
Anhydrite breccia
Tourmaline breccia
Lamprophyre dykes
FIG. 15. Intrusive complexes in the area of El Teniente porphyry copper deposit (Stern et al., 2010). Note the N-NW
trend of mineralized porphyry intrusions and magmatic-hydrothermal breccias, hosted within the precursor Teniente mafic
complex and Sewell Tonalite. Late-stage lamprophyre dikes are perpendicular to the trend of the copper-bearing porphyry
deposits and breccias.
their orientation is similar and almost perpendicular to the direction of the Miocene and Pliocene plate convergence (Somoza and Ghidella, 2005). In contrast, the late lamprophyre
dikes at El Teniente (Fig. 15) are nearly parallel to the
Miocene plate convergence vector (see Fig. 16). Recent studies on the relationships between volcanism and tectonics in
the modern Southern volcanic zone of the Andes (Seplveda
et al., 2005; Cembrano and Lara, 2009) have shown that
primitive mantle-derived basalts ascend along NE-trending
fractures and faults, parallel to Hmax, which is regionally
close to the orientation of plate convergence. Nevertheless,
during the recent eruptions of southern Andes volcanoes like
Puyehue-Cordn Caulle (4030' lat S, 1960, 2011) evolved
rhyolites erupted along NW-trending basement faults that
are, in theory, severely disoriented in relationship to regional stresses to allow magma ascent. To overcome this
paradox, Seplveda et al. (2005) and Lara et al. (2006) have
suggested that coseismic or postseismic stress relaxation
during large subduction-zone earthquakes can produce
transient episodes of extension that allow ascent of evolved
magmas that otherwise would remain trapped in crustal
reservoirs. Similarly, decompression during seismic events
(see Sibson, 1987, 1994) appears to be a plausible mechanism to explain repeated cycles of breccia formation and
porphyry intrusion along now-concealed N-NW to NE-oriented faults that may have tapped the roofs of overpressured, deeper seated magma chambers during the evolution
of the central Chile porphyry coppers systems.
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Discussion
Linking geochemistry and tectonics:
the suggested adakite connection
Both the middle Eocene to early Oligocene and late Miocene
to early Pliocene porphyry copper-bearing intrusions include
intermediate rocks (SiO2 >56%) with abundant hydrous mineralogy, dominated by hornblende-bearing granodiorites and
dacites; these intrusions show geochemical and isotopic signature (SiO2 >56%, Sr >400 ppm, high Sr/Y ratios, low
HREE contents, high La /Yb ratios, 87Sr/86Sr <0.704) similar
to those described for typical adakitic rocks (cf. Defant and
Drumond, 1990; Castillo, 2012). Concave middle REE patterns in Chilean porphyry coppers indicate hornblende fractionation, whereas the lack of negative europium anomalies
denotes a high oxidation state of the magmas (see Kay et al.,
2005).
A relationship between adakites and mineralized porphyry
systems was proposed by Thiblemont et al. (1997) and Kay
and Mpodozis (2001), while some authors (e.g., Sun et al.,
2011) have suggested that the adakitic signatures of copperrich magmas are indicative of direct melting of subducted
oceanic crust. In accord with these views Oyarzn et al.
(2001) proposed that the middle Eocene to early Oligocene
porphyry copper belt of northern Chile may have been
formed when fast, oblique convergence led to flat subduction
and direct melting of the downgoing plate, whereas Reich et
al. (2003) proposed that the porphyry copper intrusions at
351
352

10
East Pacific
West Pacific
South Pacific
(a)
9
8
7
Average
preserved
half-spreading
rate
(cm/yr)
6
5
4
3
2
1
Age (Ma)
140 130 120 110 100 90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
(c)
0
15
10
(b)
4
W velocity
2
N velocity
1
Velocity (cm/yr)
1
3
(d)
Angle between
convergence vector
and
present-day
-20
South American
margin
0(E-W)
-40
Age (Ma)
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Convergence
velocity
(cm/yr)
0
4
+20
Age (Ma)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 Ma
FIG. 16. Temporal changes of critical plate parameters that can be linked to adjustments in the tectonic regime along the
Andean margin. (a). Ocean crust production (average half-spreading rates since 140 Ma) for different regions of the Pacific
basin (Conrad and Lithgow-Bertelloni, 2007). (b). Absolute velocity of the South American plate since 80 Ma, treated as an
angular velocity vector decomposed into its ~ E to W and S to N components (Silver et al., 1998). (c). Cenozoic convergence
rates between the Farallon-Nazca and South American plates. Data from: 1 = Sdrolias and Muller (2006), 2 = Pardo-Casas
and Molnar (1987), 3 = Somoza (2008), 4 = Somoza and Ghidella (2005). (d). Direction of the Farallon-Nazca plate motion,
shown as the deviation angle from the E-W path (0, north = positive, south = negative). Adapted from Somoza and Ghidella
(2005). Shaded areas in all graphics indicate the time of porphyry copper emplacement during the Eocene to Oligocene and
Miocene to Pliocene.
Los Pelambres formed by melting of the subducting eastnortheast arm of the Juan Fernndez Ridge under flat-slab
conditions. However, as noted by Kay and Kay (2002) and
Castillo (2012), thermal models for subducting plates show
that sufficiently high pressure-temperature conditions for
slab fusion can be reached only in exceptional circumstances,
including subduction of very young and hot oceanic crust, as
prevailed during emplacement of the 12 Ma Cerro Pampa
adakites near the Chile Triple Junction in Patagonia (Kay and
Kay, 2002).
Richards and Kerrich (2007) and Richards (2011b) strongly
argued against slab melts being a necessary ingredient in
porphyry copper-gold mineralization, pointing out that the
critical factors for adakite genesis include elevated water and
sulfur contents as well as high oxidation state of the magmas,
which together result in hornblende fractionation and suppression of plagioclase crystallization. Richards (2011b) considered that such hydrous, oxidized conditions are typical in
normal arc settings. Nevertheless, this view is inconsistent
with the fact that giant porphyry copper deposits are not
widespread throughout the Andean history; as we have shown
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they formed during and/or after the most important tectonic

episodes that reshaped the whole Andean margin leading to
mountain building and crustal thickening.
Kay et al. (1999) and Kay and Mpodozis (2001) argued that
part of the water content of mineralizing Andean magmas can
be derived from the exsolution of fluids during the transformation of hydrous lower crustal amphibolite to dry garnetbearing eclogite during crustal thickening. When the crust of
the arc thickens to a critical value of ~45 km, amphibole and
plagioclase break down, water is liberated, and eclogite forms.
These relationships explain why the largest porphyry copper
deposits preferentially form during contractional events, such
as the Incaic episode of southern Peru and northern Chile,
and the late Miocene to early Pliocene event in central Chile
and contiguous Argentina.
Another process that can also contribute to generation of
water-rich adakitic magmas during periods of deformation is
subduction erosion (von Heune and Scholl, 1991; Stern, 1991,
2011; Kay et al., 2005). Subduction of oceanic crust, pelagic
and terrigenous sediments, and crust tectonically eroded
from the edge of the continent into the mantle-source region
352
of Andean magmas may provide large amounts of water (e.g.,

Stern et al., 2010). Transient geochemical changes, such as
those depicted in Figure 1d, showing adakitic signatures
(Haschke et al., 2002; Kay et al., 2005) are consistent with the
loss of slivers of fore-arc crust by subduction erosion (Fig. 13)
during, or immediately following, major Mesozoic to Cenozoic deformation events. Intermittent and massive loss of
fore-arc crust is a possibility that has been recognized in recent numerical models of subduction erosion reported by
Keppie et al. (2009) and may explain the abrupt eastward
shifts of the magmatic front that punctuated the tectonic history of the Central Andes. Without ignoring other models for
adakite formation (e.g., Castillo, 2012), high Sr/Y hydrous
magmas linked to the middle Eocene to early Oligocene and
late Miocene to early Pliocene porphyry copper deposits of
northern and central Chile, respectively, are most likely attributed to a combination of melting of mantle derived magmas, including asthenosphere contaminated with pieces of
fore-arc crust that entered the mantle through subduction
erosion, that mixed with fluids derived from dehydration of
the base of thickened amphibole-rich lower crust during
these two main periods of Andean deformation (e.g., Kay et
al., 2007b).
Plate tectonics and Andean tectonic regimes
As discussed above, giant Andean porphyry copper deposits were emplaced during regional deformation events
that reshaped the entire Andean margin. Regional tectonic
and tectonomagmatic events are, ultimately, the result of
changes in plate interaction parameters that could influence
the state of stress in the overriding plate. Among these
changes on sea-floor spreading and plate convergence rates,
hot-spot activity, absolute plate velocity, and shifts in the position of the plate contact (trench roll-back), together with
variations in slab age, width, and/or dip has been considered
to strongly influence the dynamics of convergent margins
worldwide (e.g., Uyeda and Kanamori, 1979; Heuret and
Lallemand, 2005; Schellart and Rawlinson, 2010, and references therein). In recent years, variations in absolute plate
velocities (Russo and Silver, 1996; Silver et al., 1998) as well
as variations on the degree of mechanical interplate coupling (Yaez and Cembrano, 2004; Luo and Liu 2009a, b;
Iaffaldano et al., 2012) have been proposed as some of the
fundamental controls on Andean orogeny. Lamb and Davis
(2003) even suggested that differences in plate coupling are
possibly linked to along-strike differences in climate that
modulated the supply of sediments to the trench along the
Andean margin which, upon subduction, lubricated the
plate interface and, as a result, determined the degree of
mechanical coupling.
Tectonic regime: Northern Chile
Figure 16 shows time-dependent variations for some plate
tectonic parameters that can be compared with the geologic
record of the Andean margin. A correlation can be made between the Incaic compressional event and an episode of very
rapid oceanic crust production in the eastern Pacific, which
peaked in the middle Eocene at ~40 Ma (Fig. 16a; Conrad
and Lithgow-Bertelloni, 2007). At the same time the eastwest component of the absolute velocity vector of the South
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
353
American plate (Silver et al., 1998) sharply increased (Fig.

4b). However, as shown in Figure 4c these effects were not
balanced, as should have occurred, by an associated increase
in the Farallon-South America convergence rate. According
to Somoza (1998) and Somoza and Ghidella (2005), the Farallon-South America convergence velocity was rather low
(67 cm/yr) or, as alternatively suggested by Pardo-Casas and
Molnar (1987) and Sdrolias and Muller (2006), was rapidly
decreasing (Fig. 16c).
This apparent paradox can be resolved if a high degree of
coupling existed at the plate interface at that time. If this was
the case for northern Chile and southern Peru during the
Eocene, the mechanically weak margin of the Central Andes,
pushed from the east and west, may have started to bend and
contract to form the Bolivian orocline and the Domeyko fault
system. High interplate coupling may also explain the formation of a flat-slab zone and the subsequent Oligocene magmatic lull recorded in southern Peru and northern Chile (e.g.,
Sandeman et al., 1995; James and Sacks, 1999; Kay et al., 1999;
Perell et al., 2003a; Hasckhe et al., 2006; Kay and Coira,
2009). Slab flattening intensifies interplate frictional forces,
which increases the possibility of subduction erosion; this, in
turn, would promote eastward migration of the shortening and
magmatic fronts toward the Andean foreland (e.g., Espurt et
al., 2008; Keppie et al., 2009; Martinod et al., 2010). Convergence rates increased during the Oligocene and Miocene,
leading to steepening of the Incaic flat slab; accumulation of
related mafic magmas below the already thickened crust led
to the production of crustal melts and the eruption of large
volumes of ignimbrites during the inception of volcanism
along the modern Central Andean volcanic zone during the
Miocene (Kay and Coira, 2009).
Tectonic regime: Central Chile
Although the tectonic evolution of central and south-central Chile appears to be different from that of northern Chile,
it is in fact complementary and preconditioned by the formation of the Bolivian orocline. As noted above, crustal flux toward the north along the southern limb of the orocline during
the middle Eocene to early Oligocene Incaic contraction may
have caused stretching and thinning of the upper crust in central Chile, thereby facilitating the opening of the Abanico
basin (McQuarrie, 2002; Arriagada et al., 2008; Boutelier and
Oncken, 2010). The along-strike differences in tectonic style
also agree with the numerical simulations by Schellart (2008),
which show that higher compression occurs near the center of
wide subduction zones where the trench remains stationary
or advances toward the continent. Rapid trench retreat (rollback) along the lateral slab edges may explain extension in the
overriding plate and be compatible with the opening of the
Abanico basin in central Chile.
The late Eocene to Oligocene opening of the Abanico basin
occurred during a period of steady westward displacement of
the South America plate (Silver et al., 1998), a period that also
coincided with another transient episode of very rapid generation of oceanic crust in the eastern Pacific, which commenced immediately after the formation of the Nazca plate
(Conrad and Lithgow-Bertelloni, 2007; Fig. 16a). In contrast
to the situation during the Incaic event, the convergence rate
between the Nazca and South American plates reached, at
353
354
this time, a record high (15 cm/yr; Somoza, 1998; Sdrolias and
Muller, 2006; Fig. 16b). Such a disparity may be explained if
weak plate coupling permitted rapid subduction and, as a
consequence, the generation of large volumes of magma and
extension in the overriding plate during the Oligocene to
early Miocene in central Chile and contiguous Argentina.
The beginning of contraction in central Chile and contiguous Argentina at ~20 Ma coincides (as shown in Fig. 16d)
with an acceleration of the absolute motion of South America
(see discussion in Kay and Copeland, 2006), drastic decrease
in oceanic crust production in the eastern Pacific, and a drop
in plate convergence rates between the Nazca and South
American plates (Somoza, 1998; Conrad and Lithgow-Bertelloni, 2007; Fig. 16). Inversion of the Abanico basin resulted,
north of 35 S in continued deformation during the Miocene,
causing an increase in crustal thickness to >50 km (Ramos et
al., 2004) and enhanced subduction erosion. Contamination
of the asthenosphere through subduction of fore-arc crust
created favorable conditions to produce water-rich mafic
melts with high sulfur and metal contents; these melts had
the capacity to ascend and evolve within an upper crustal
magma chamber to generate large porphyry copper deposits.
Concluding Remarks
There are few studies that consider the relationships between the regional-scale tectonic evolution of the Andes and
the formation of giant Cenozoic porphyry copper deposits.
However, it is apparent that these deposits formed during
critical moments in the tectonic evolution of the Andean margin. The emplacement of the large middle Eocene to early
Oligocene porphyry copper intrusions in northern Chile
seems to be associated with the formation of the Bolivian
orocline during the Incaic event, which was the result of an
unusual combination of factors. One critical factor was the acceleration of the absolute westward motion of South America
concurrent with strong mechanical coupling between the
South American and Farallon plates at a time when the rate
of ocean-crust production in the eastern Pacific was very
high. Bending of the Chilean margin during the Incaic event
activated the Domeyko fault system in northern Chile and
triggered the accompanying crustal thickening, slab shallowing, and increased subduction erosion. Volcanism virtually
ceased and favorable tectonomagmatic conditions (i.e. enhanced, subduction erosion, crustal thickening, lower crust
dehydration) permitted the formation of fertile hydrous magmas, while the transpressional and/or compressional upper
plate tectonic regime contributed to the establishment of
long-lived, upper-crustal magma chambers from which concentrating copper evolved, mostly below the Domeyko fault
system.
Younger, late Miocene to early Pliocene porphyry copper
deposits of central Chile and contiguous Argentina were
emplaced after inversion and collapse of the extensional,
intra-arc Abanico basin. The basin evolved between the late
Eocene and early Miocene when a relatively stable position of
South America over the mantle, linked to weak interplate
coupling, permitted fast subduction of the Nazca plate under
the Andean margin. Acceleration of the westward motion of
South America relative to the mantle reference frame at 20
Ma induced contractional deformation, accompanied by
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
crustal thickening and eastward migration of the magmatic

front. At the same time, the subduction angle shallowed,
leading to the formation of a flat-slab region between 27 and
33 S as the Juan Fernndez Ridge was being subducted beneath the western edge of South America. These changes
again created favorable conditions for the formation of fertile
hydrous magmas.
The relationships described above demonstrate that the
concentration of huge porphyry copper deposits in the
Chilean Andes resulted directly from the tectonic evolution
of the margin and indicate that a tectonic trigger is essential
for the formation of giant porphyry coppers systems.
Acknowledgments
This contribution is the result of long years of work with
many colleagues at the Chilean Geological Survey, Antofagasta
Minerals, and various universities both in Chile and abroad.
We are especially grateful to Sue Kay, Andy Tomlinson, Terry
Jordan, Cesar Arriagada, Moyra Gardeweg, Rick Allmendinger,
Victor Ramos, Pierrick Roperch, Francisco Camus, Stephen
Matthews, Nicols Blanco, Francisco Herv, Reynaldo Charrier, Carlos Mnchmeyer, Ricardo Muhr, Jos Cembrano,
Carlos Arvalo, and many others who, for lack of memory, we
are here unable to mention. We thank Jeff Hedenquist, Dick
Sillitoe, Jos Perell, and Francisco Camus for pushing us
through this endeavor, and Antofagasta Minerals for providing time and support for the writing. Francisco Morales
helped with the preparation of the figures. Victor Ramos, Sue
Kay, Jos Perello, Jeff Hedenquist, and Dick Sillitoe carefully
edited the manuscript and made numerous suggestions that
helped to greatly improve earlier versions of the manuscript.
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Special Publication 16, pp. 329360

author: e-mail, cmpodozis@aminerals.cl

MPODOZIS AND CORNEJO

during short periods at specific locations within the Andean

Diverse, yet basically subeconomic, porphyry copper deposits

CENOZOIC TECTONICS AND PORPHYRY COPPER SYSTEMS OF THE CHILEAN ANDES

Modern CVZ Arc

Mid - Cretaceous arc

Late CretaceousEocene arc

Jurassic - Early Cretaceous

Distal tuffs/reset ages

Post Incaic intrusions

Eocene magmatism included the emplacement of a porphyry

built on a relatively thin crust over a steep subduction zone.

MPODOZIS AND CORNEJO

Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene Tectonics

CENOZOIC TECTONICS AND PORPHYRY COPPER SYSTEMS OF THE CHILEAN ANDES

Escondida Este (36-35)

Sierra Juncal (40)

Middle Eocene to early Oligocene porphyry Cu + Mo+ Au deposits

Total displacement vectors

Paleomagnetic declination vector

Middle-Eocene to early Oligocene

Lower Paleozoic (Neoproterozoic?)

Lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks

CENOZOIC TECTONICS AND PORPHYRY COPPER SYSTEMS OF THE CHILEAN ANDES

Initial (non rotated)

Distance from orocline axis

Tectonic shortening (km)

America Eocene to Oligocene convergence vector calculated

MPODOZIS AND CORNEJO

The structural control of the porphyry systems is strikingly

CENOZOIC TECTONICS AND PORPHYRY COPPER SYSTEMS OF THE CHILEAN ANDES

Cretaceous reverse fault

Eocene reverse fault

Chuquicamata Porphyry Complex (36-33 Ma)

Paleocene intrusive rocks

Triassic intrusive rocks (ca. 230 Ma; Elena granodiorite)

Triassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks

Sierra del Medio basement block (Upper Paleozoic)

Sierra de Moreno basement block (Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic)

older group of intrusions, namely the Los Picos complex and

al., 2006; Boric et al., 2009; Marquardt et al., 2009; Barra,

MPODOZIS AND CORNEJO

After porphyry emplacement at the Chuquicamata and

CENOZOIC TECTONICS AND PORPHYRY COPPER SYSTEMS OF THE CHILEAN ANDES

La Escondida shear lens (ESL )

Sierra Limn Verde

Transition zone betwen

Mesozoic to Paleocene strata of

Outcrops of Lower Cretaceous

A protracted, >40-m.y. Cretaceous to Tertiary history of

Incaic magmatism in the Escondida cluster began in the

MPODOZIS AND CORNEJO

Escondida Norte (38-37)

Pampa Escondida (36-34.5)

Upper Eocene (42?-36 Ma) sedimentary-volcanic

Upper Cretaceous (74-70 Ma) rhyolitic ignimbrites

Upper Eocene (39-38 Ma) hb dioritic porphyry intrusions

Triassic (240-220 Ma) intrusive rocks

CENOZOIC TECTONICS AND PORPHYRY COPPER SYSTEMS OF THE CHILEAN ANDES

These rocks, emplaced within Jurassic marine limestones of