Tobífera Formation
Stratigraphic range: Mid-Late Jurassic
TypeGeological formation
Sub-unitsBasal Clastic Complex
UnderliesZapata, Springhill, Pampa Rincón & Chon Aike Formations
OverliesTierra del Fuego Igneous and Metamorphic Complex
Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex
Lithology
PrimarySilicic pyroclastic rocks (including tuff)
OtherBlack shale, silicic intrusions, conglomerate, sandstone
Location
Coordinates52°00′S 73°12′W / 52.0°S 73.2°W / -52.0; -73.2
RegionSanta Cruz Province
Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region
Country Argentina
 Chile
ExtentRocas Verdes Basin
 Magallanes & Malvinas Basins
Type section
Named forSpanish for "tuffaceous"
Tobífera Formation is located in Chile
Tobífera Formation
Tobífera Formation (Chile)

Tobífera Formation (Spanish: Formación Tobífera) is a volcano-sedimentary formation of Middle to Late Jurassic age. The formation is crops out in the Magallanes Region in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego of Chile, the Santa Cruz Province of southern Argentina, and in the subsurface of the Malvinas Basin offshore Argentina and the Falkland Islands.

Description

The bulk of the formation originates from silicic pyroclastic material during a period of bimodal volcanism in Rocas Verdes Basin, a rift basin.[1] The Tobífera Formation is grouped together with other formations of similar age in Patagonia in the Chon Aike Province an extraordinarily large province of silicic volcanism.[2]

Except for some western and southern exposures most of the formation is buried and known only from boreholes in the Magallanes and Malvinas Basins. The formation is equivalent to El Quemado and Ibañez Formations.[2] Tobífera Formation has an up to 80 metres (260 ft) thick Basal Clastic Complex, a sub-unit made up of conglomerate and sandstone. Tobífera Formation unconformably overlies metamorphic and igneous basement complexes of Cambrian age.[1][3]

Deformation and metamorphism

Much of the formation is folded and faulted as consequence of the Andean orogeny.[1] At Última Esperanza Province the formation metamorphosed first under greenschist facies and then under prehnite-pumpellyite facies conditions.[4] Some rhyolites of Tobífera Formation were incorporated into Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex. The incorporation of part of Tobífera Formation in the metamorphic complex was accompanied by deformation and metamorphism and occurred in the context of the Andean orogeny in the Cretaceous.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Fildani, Andrea, Romans, B.W., Fosdick, J.C., Crane, W.H., and Hubbard, S.M. (2008). Orogenesis of the Patagonian Andes as reflected by basin evolution in southernmost South America, in Spencer, J.E., and Titley, S.R., eds., Ores and orogenesis: Circum-Pacific tectonics, geologic evolution, and ore deposits: Arizona Geological Society Digest 22: 259-268.
  2. 1 2 Pankhurst, R.J.; Riley, T.R.; Fanning, C.M.; Kelley, S.P. (2000). "Episodic silicic volcanism in Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula: chronology of magmatism associated with the break-up of Gondwana". Journal of Petrology. 41 (5): 605–625. Bibcode:2000JPet...41..605P. doi:10.1093/petrology/41.5.605.
  3. 1 2 Hervé, F.; Fanning, C.M.; Pankhurst, R.J.; Mpodozis, C.; Klepeis, K.; Calderón, M.; Thomson, S.N. (2010). "Detrital zircon SHRIMP U–Pb age study of the Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex of Tierra del Fuego: sedimentary sources and implications for the evolution of the Pacific margin of Gondwana" (PDF). Journal of the Geological Society, London. 167 (3): 555–568. Bibcode:2010JGSoc.167..555H. doi:10.1144/0016-76492009-124. S2CID 129413187.
  4. ↑ Galaz, Gonzalo; Hervé, Francisco; Calderón, Mauricio (2005). "Metamorfismo y deformación de la Formación Tobífera en la cordillera Riesco, región de Magallanes, Chile: evidencias para su evolución tectónica". Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina (in Spanish). 60 (4): 762–774. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
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