U-Pb zircon constraints on the age and provenance of the rocas verdes basin fill, tierra del fuego, argentina

Abstract

The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Rocas Verdes basin constitutes one of the most poorly understood components of the southernmost Andes. As a result, accurate reconstructions and interpretations of deformation associated with the Andean orogeny and the kinematics of Scotia arc development also remain poorly constrained. In this data brief, we report U-Pb zircon ages from sandstones of the Rocas Verdes basin fill and from a crosscutting pluton in the southernmost Andes of Argentine Tierra del Fuego. Derrital samples contain predominant Early to early Middle Cretaceous (circa 130-105 Ma) U-Pb zircon age populations, with very small or single-grain middle Mesozoic and Proterozoic subpopulations. A very small subpopulation of Late Cretaceous ages in one sample raises the unlikely possibility that parts of the Rocas Verdes basin are younger than perceived. A sample from a crosscutting syenitic pegmatite yields a crystallization age of 74.7 +2.2/-2.0 Ma. The data presented herein encourage further geochronologic evaluation of the Rocas Verdes basin in order to better constrain the depositional ages and provenance of its contents. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.