Petrology of the subvolcanic rocks in the Los Gemelos region, Frontal Cordillera, San Juan, Argentina

Abstract

Los Gemelos area (31°58’26’’S, 69°36’7”W) is located in the Frontal Cordillera of San Juan province, Argentina, over the southern part of the Pampean flat slab segment of the Central Andes. Petro-mineralogical studies of surface samples allowed establishing the presence of a dacitic and a dacitic-andesitic subvolcanic bodies, both hosted in Middle Permian volcaniclastic rocks. By means of a comparative geochemical study, similarities could be established between the subvolcanic rocks of the study area and Miocene rocks from Frontal and Main Cordillera, and Western Precordillera. This allowed determining that the dacitic-andesitic body (Western Intrusive) resembles the Divisadero Sur and Cerro Puntas Negras units, both assigned to the Middle Miocene. These rocks would have originated in a normal thickness crust where there was no fractionation of plagioclase due to high pH 2 O conditions. On the other hand, the dacitic body (Eastern Intrusive) shows geochemical characteristics similar to those of El Altar, Chita, Cerro Bola and Cerro Negro Upper Miocene units with an amphibole in transition to garnet residual mineralogy equilibrated under crustal thickening conditions.