Intra-plate deformation during Gondwana breakup: a study of the Jurassic units of the Cañadón Asfalto Basin (extra-Andean Patagonia, Argentina)

Abstract

Summary In this study, we present the results of palaeomagnetic research conducted on Jurassic units of the Cañadón Asfalto Basin (CAB) in Patagonia, formed during Gondwana breakup. This basin is a key locality for understanding intra-plate deformation within Patagonia during the Jurassic. The nature of this basin has been a subject of debate, based on the dynamics of the blocks that constitute its depocentres. In this context, the palaeomagnetic study of the Jurassic units of this basin provides a unique methodology to characterise the tectonic motions of its crustal blocks during its formation and development. To achieve this, we collected 350 samples from 53 sites in the sedimentary units of Las Leoneras (ca. 189 Ma) and Cañadón Calcáreo Formations (ca. 160 Ma – 157 Ma), as well as the volcanic Lonco Trapial Group (ca. 185 Ma – 172 Ma). The palaeomagnetic results from the sedimentary units show a regional remagnetisation due to hydrothermal activity that obliterated the original remanence and overprinted a new one, simultaneously imprinting a secondary remanence in the volcanic units of the Lonco Trapial Group. When comparing the direction of the palaeomagnetic pole obtained from the remagnetised units with respect to average poles of equivalent ages, it is observed that the remagnetisation must have occurred during the Late Jurassic (ca. 145 Ma). The age range in which this process occurred (Oxfordian to Aptian) and the direction of the calculated pole dispute a monster polar shift postulated for Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous times. In addition, the primary magnetisation recorded in the units of the Lonco Trapial Group indicates a counterclockwise rotation of the studied crustal blocks between 21º and 11º, which, in line with previous studies, refutes large-scale dextral motion along the Gastre Fault System since the Jurassic. Similar counterclockwise rotations of equivalent magnitudes are found along the units overlying the Palaeozoic Central Patagonian Igneous-Metamorphic Belt, which represents the opposite shear sense compared to the Jurassic units beyond this belt. This is interpreted as a reactivation of the Palaeozoic belt structures in the opposite sense, from transpressive during the Palaeozoic to transtensive during the Mesozoic.