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Fault gouge analyses: K–Ar illite dating, clay mineralogy and tectonic significance—a study from the Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina

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Abstract

We introduce a method for the detailed interpretation of K–Ar illite fine-fraction ages of fault gouges from non-sedimentary host rocks. Ages are cross-evaluated with several independent parameters, e.g. illite crystallinity, illite polytype quantification, grain size, mineralogical observations, K–Ar muscovite and biotite host-rock cooling ages as well as low-temperature thermochronological data (AFT, AHe, ZHe). This interpretation approach is applied to a regional study in order to constrain the ‘deformation path’ of the Eastern Sierras Pampeanas in NW Argentina. In the course of this study, a large number of gouge-bearing fault zones were systematically sampled and analysed. Obtained K–Ar illite fine-fraction ages range from Devonian to Cretaceous times, documenting a long-lasting brittle fault activity in this region. Ages >320 Ma are synchronous with a period of intra-Carboniferous compressional tectonism, whereas Permo-Triassic ages are contemporaneous to a flat-slab subduction episode of the Farallon plate beneath the South American plate. Middle to Late Permian and Early Triassic ages as well as Early Jurassic to Middle Cretaceous ages correlate with extensional tectonics in this region. Additionally, K–Ar illite ages reveal a propagation of brittle deformation from north to south in the Sierras de Córdoba and San Luis. Data integrity and consistency with other chronometers and geological evidence show that the here suggested interpretation is valid and can provide a powerful tool to evaluate cooling and deformation histories. Despite of that, we could show that the reliability of fault gouge data strongly depends on the regional cooling.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dennis Harries who gave us the possibility to perform TEM analyses. Furthermore, the authors are grateful to Reiner Dohrmann and Stephan Kaufhold for CEC, IR, XRF and DTA analyses. For the careful sample preparation, we are thankful to Annette Süssenberger. The help of Emilio Ahumada and Mónica López de Luchi, alleviating our stay in Argentina, as well as André Steenken and Juan Antonio Palavecino assisting in the field was highly appreciated. This research project is financed by the German Science Foundation (DFG project SI 438/31-1). Field work done by FB was financially supported by the DAAD (project number D/08/48018).

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  1. Geoscience Centre, University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstr. 3, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Frithjof A. Bense, Klaus Wemmer, Stefan Löbens & Siegfried Siegesmund

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  1. Frithjof A. Bense
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  2. Klaus Wemmer
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  4. Siegfried Siegesmund
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Correspondence to Frithjof A. Bense.

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Bense, F.A., Wemmer, K., Löbens, S. et al. Fault gouge analyses: K–Ar illite dating, clay mineralogy and tectonic significance—a study from the Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 103, 189–218 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-013-0956-7

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