TY - JOUR A1 - Guzman, Silvina A1 - Strecker, Manfred A1 - Marti, Joan A1 - Petrinovic, Ivan A. A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Grosse, Pablo A1 - Montero-Lopez, Carolina A1 - Neri, Marco A1 - Carniel, Roberto A1 - D. Hongn, Fernando A1 - Muruaga, Claudia A1 - Sudo, Masafumi T1 - Construction and degradation of a broad volcanic massif: The Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex, southern Central Andes, NW Argentina JF - Geological Society of America bulletin N2 - The Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex, at the SE edge of the arid Puna Plateau of the Central Andes, records the interplay between volcanic construction and degra-dational processes. The low-sloping Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex, with a 1200-m-deep, southeastward-opening depression, was previously interpreted as a collapse caldera based on morphological considerations. However, characteristic features associated with collapse calderas do not exist, and close inspection instead suggests that the Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex is a strongly eroded, broad, massif-type composite volcano of mainly basaltic to trachyandesitic composition. Construction of the Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex occurred during two distinct cycles separated by the development of the depression. The first and main cycle took place at ca. 12 Ma and was dominated by lava flows and subordinate scoria cones and domes. The second cycle, possibly late Miocene in age, affected the SW portion of the depression with the emplacement of domes. We interpret the central depression as the result of a possible sector collapse and subsequent intense fluvial erosion during middle to late Miocene time, facilitated by faulting, steepened topography, and wetter climate conditions compared to today. We estimate that similar to 65% of the initial edifice of similar to 240 km(3) was degraded. The efficiency of degradation processes for removing mass from the Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex is surprising, considering that today the region is arid, and the stream channels within the complex are predominantly transport limited, forming a series of coalesced, aggraded alluvial fans and eolian infill. Hence, the Vicuna Pampa volcanic complex records the effects of past degradation efficiency that differs substantially from that of today. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1130/B31631.1 SN - 0016-7606 SN - 1943-2674 VL - 129 SP - 750 EP - 766 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Boulder ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Montero-Lopez, Carolina A1 - Strecker, Manfred A1 - Schildgen, Taylor F. A1 - Hongn, Fernando D. A1 - Guzman, Silvina A1 - Bookhagen, Bodo A1 - Sudo, Masafumi T1 - Local high relief at the southern margin of the Andean plateau by 9 Ma: evidence from ignimbritic valley fills and river incision JF - Terra nova N2 - A valley-filling ignimbrite re-exposed through subsequent river incision at the southern margin of the Andean (Puna) plateau preserves pristine geological evidence of pre-late Miocene palaeotopography in the north western Argentine Andes. Our new Ar-40/(39) Ar dating of the Las Papas Ignimbrites yields a plateau age of 9.24 +/- 0.03 Ma, indicating valley-relief and orographic-barrier conditions comparable to the present-day. A later infill of Plio-Pleistocene coarse conglomerates has been linked to wetter conditions, but resulted in no additional net incision of the Las Papas valley, considering that the base of the ignimbrite remains unexposed in the valley bottom. Our observations indicate that at least 550 m of local plateau margin relief (and likely > 2 km) existed by 9 Ma at the southern Puna margin, which likely aided the efficiency of the orographic barrier to rainfall along the eastern and south eastern flanks of the Puna and causes aridity in the plateau interior. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/ter.12120 SN - 0954-4879 SN - 1365-3121 VL - 26 IS - 6 SP - 454 EP - 460 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER -