A catastrophic landslide near Rampac Grande in the Cordillera Negra, northern Peru

This paper provides a detailed account of the landslide that took place between 09:00 and 10:00 am on April 25, 2009, near the village of Rampac Grande in northern Peru (department of Ancash). Lives were lost and property destroyed during the event. Archive information, remotely sensed data, and detailed field investigations including sampling were applied to describe the events. Historically, landslides have been a common problem in this region with recorded events dating as far back as the 1800s. The landslide is considered as a deep-seated composite rotational–translational earth slide–earth flow. The local community suspected that a mining company had triggered the landslide as it prospected for precious metals. No evidence was found to suggest that anthropogenic activity caused the landslide. Instead, it was likely caused by the considerable amount of cumulative precipitation during the annual rainy season. Several possible sources of future landslide reactivation have been identified. Finally, a poster has been produced for the local community providing basic information about the event and how to manage the potential future landslide hazard. It is hoped that this simple method of knowledge dissemination will provide a fundamental bridge between the efforts of research scientists and the needs of the local community.     

Internal vein texture and vein evolution of the epithermal Shila-Paula district,southern Peru

The epithermal Shila-Paula Au–Ag district is characterized by numerous veins hosted in Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Western Cordillera (southern Peru). Field studies of the ore bodies reveal a systematic association of a main E–W vein with secondary N55–60°W veins—two directions that are also reflected by the orientation of fluid-inclusion planes in quartz crystals of the host rock. In areas where this pattern is not recognized, such as the Apacheta sector, vein emplacement seems to have been guided by regional N40°E and N40°W fractures. Two main vein-filling stages are identified. stage 1 is a quartz–adularia–pyrite–galena–sphalerite–chalcopyrite–electrum–Mn silicate–carbonate assemblage that fills the main E–W veins. stage 2, which contains most of the precious-metal mineralization, is divided into pre-bonanza and bonanza substages. The pre-bonanza substage consists of a quartz–adularia–carbonate assemblage that is observed within the secondary N45–60°W veins, in veinlets that cut the stage 1 assemblage, and in final open-space fillings. The two latter structures are finally filled by the bonanza substage characterized by a Fe-poor sphalerite–chalcopyrite–pyrite–galena–tennantite–tetrahedrite–polybasite–pearceite–electrum assemblage. The ore in the main veins is systematically brecciated, whereas the ore in the secondary veins and geodes is characteristic of open-space crystallization. Microthermometric measurements on sphalerite from both stages and on quartz and calcite from stage 2 indicate a salinity range of 0 to 15.5 wt% NaCl equivalent and homogenization temperatures bracketed between 200 and 330°C. Secondary CO₂-, N₂- and H₂S-bearing fluid inclusions are also identified. The age of vein emplacement, based on ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages obtained on adularia of different veins, is estimated at around 11 Ma, with some overlap between adularia of stage 1 (11.4±0.4 Ma) and of stage 2 (10.8±0.3 Ma). A three-phase tectonic model has been constructed to explain the vein formation. Phase 1 corresponds to the assumed development of E–W sinistral shear zones and associated N60°W cleavages under the effects of a NE–SW shortening direction that is recognized at Andean scale. These structures contain the stage 1 ore assemblage that was brecciated during ongoing deformation. Phase 2 is a reactivation of earlier structures under a NW–SE shortening direction that allowed the reopening of the preexisting schistosity and the formation of scarce N50°E-striking S2-cleavage planes filled by the stage 2 pre-bonanza minerals. Phase 3 coincides with the bonanza ore emplacement in the secondary N45–60°W veins and also in open-space in the core of the main E–W veins. Our combined tectonic, textural, mineralogical, fluid-inclusion, and geochronological study presents a complete model of vein formation in which the reactivation of previously formed tectonic structures plays a significant role in ore formation.     

Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) graptolite faunas of the Sandia Region,southern Peru

Ordovician graptolite faunas of Peru are restricted to a short interval in the Middle to basal Upper Ordovician, found in three regions of the country. All Peruvian graptolite faunas are strongly dominated by shallow water elements of the Atlantic Faunal Realm, represented largely by Didymograptus s. str. and Aulograptus, but a number of faunal elements of the pandemic isograptid biofacies have recently been discovered in the Sandia Region of SE Peru. Peruvian graptolite faunas are reviewed and the new records from the Sandia Region are discussed in detail. The faunas from the Purumpata and Iparo members of the San José Formation range in age approximately from the Undulograptus austrodentatus Biozone to the Holmograptus lentus Biozone (early to middle Darriwilian). The faunas provide a better understanding of faunal composition and diversity in this region and help to correlate shallow water and deeper water graptolite faunas from this time interval. Biserial graptolites are rare in most samples and usually indeterminable, but a single identifiable specimen of Undulograptus austrodentatus was found, indicating a level close to the base of the Darriwilian. A number of specimens of the genera Isograptus and Arienigraptus from the Sandia Region represent pandemic graptolite faunas of the isograptid biofacies, described for the first time from this region. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Soil liquefaction during the Arequipa Mw 8.4, June 23, 2001 earthquake, southern coastal Peru

The Arequipa June 23, 2001, earthquake with a moment magnitude of Mw 8.4 struck southern Peru, northern Chile and western Bolivia. This shallow (29 km deep) interplate event, occurring in the coupled zone of the Nazca subduction next to the southeast of the subducting Nazca ridge, triggered very localized but widely outspread soil liquefaction. Although sand blows and lateral spreading of river banks and road bridge abutments were observed 390 km away from the epicenter in the southeast direction (nearing the town of Tacna, close to the Chile border), liquefaction features were only observed in major river valleys and delta and coastal plains in the meizoseismal area. This was strongly controlled by the aridity along the coastal strip of Southern Peru. From the sand blow distribution along the coastal area, a first relationship of isolated sand blow diameter versus epicentral distance for a single event is ever proposed. The most significant outcome from this liquefaction field reconnaissance is that energy propagation during the main June 23, 2001, event is further supported by the distribution and size of the isolated sand blows in the meizoseismal area. The sand blows are larger to the southeast of the epicenter than its northwestern equivalents. This can be stated in other words as well. The area affected by liquefaction to the northwest is less spread out than to the southeast. Implications of these results in future paleoliquefaction investigations for earthquake magnitude and epicentral determinations are extremely important. In cases of highly asymmetrical distribution of liquefaction features such as this one, where rupture propagation tends to be mono-directional, it can be reliably determined an epicentral distance (between earthquake and liquefaction evidence) and an earthquake magnitude only if the largest sand blow is found. Therefore, magnitude estimation using this uneven liquefaction occurrence will surely lead to underrating if only the shortest side of the meizoseismal area is unluckily studied, which can eventually be the only part exhibiting liquefaction evidence, depending on the earthquake location and the distribution of liquefaction-prone environments.     

Sedimentology, palaeontology, biostratigraphy and correlation of the Late Cretaceous Vilquechico Group of southern Peru

Detailed analysis of the Late Cretaceous Vilquechico Group (formerly Vilquechico Formation) of the Southern Andes allows the recognition of three major sedimentary sequences, defining Lower, Middle and Upper Vilquechico lithologic formations (LVF, MVF and UVF respectively). Some of them (MVF and UVF) include in turn minor sedimentary sequences. In addition to dinosaur trackways, they contain a marine fauna (selachians, actinopterygians, molluscs) in their transgressive basal parts, and lacustrine fossils (charophytes, ostracods, gastropods) in their regressive continental upper parts. Two charophyte biozones characterize the MVF and the UVF respectively. The lithologic and sedimentary features of the major sequences, as well as their palaeontological contents allow large-scale correlations with other Andean series. Such correlations permit us to tentatively ascribe the unfossiliferous LVF to the Coniacian-early Santonian (?) time-span, and the MVF to the Santonian late Campanian interval. The UVF is of latest Campanian-late Maastrichtian age. As a consequence, the assumed correlations between the Vilquechico Group and some of the vertebrate-bearing Andean localities are revised.     

Sedimentation,tectonism and volcanism relationships in two Andean basins of southern Peru

The intermontane basins of the Central Andes, formed from the first episode of the andine tectonic (peruvian phase, Santonian), are characterized by a clastic continental sedimentation, settled in a compressive tectonic context and containing volcanic intercalations. The two basins presented in this paper, have distinct ages and a different geodynamic context, each:

1. The Cuzco-Sicuam Basin, Maestrichtian-Paleocene in age, is a back-arc basin. A coarse grained red bed sedimentation appeared at the same time as the synsedimentary tectonic and volcanic activity increased in the source area.
2. The Moquegua Basin, Oligocene in age, is a fore-arc basin. After a compressive phase, the northeastern border of the basin shows high mobility, characterized by superposed alluvial fans. Within the basin, the coarse grained sediments are associated with volcanic tuffs.

In the two basins, the tectonism, the volcanism and the coarse grained sedimentation occured simultaneously. The coarse grained sedimentation does not appear to be linked with climatic changes, but with the increasing mobility of the source area. The relationship between tectonic regime and volcanic activity in the basin and in the source area is considered.     

A High-K, Mantle Derived Plutonic Suite from 'Linga', near Arequipa (Peru)

The Linga Group consists of a suite of Cretaceous high-K calc-alkalinerocks intruded into 2?0 Ga old basement in S.E. Peru. The rocksrange in composition from gabbros, through diorites and grandioritesto granites. Microprobe, major and trace element and isotopedata suggest the suite evolved by fractional crystallization,with plagioclase as the dominant phase and with surprisinglylittle interaction with the pre-existing crust. The rocks yieldan Rb/Sr whole rock isochron of 68 ? 3 Ma with an initial Sr-isotoperatio 0.70516 ? 8, and from three Nd-isotope analyses initialNd = – 1?4 to – 2?0. ¹⁸ O increases from 5?0 permil in a gabbro to 7?0 per mil in a granite, and models arepresented which suggest that the suite evolved from parentalmagmas which had ¹⁸O = 5?8 to 6?0 per mil, 1.5 per cent K₂O,63 p.p.m. Rb, 582 p.p.m. Sr, 35 p.p.m. Ce, 0.38 p.p.m. Ta, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr= 0.7052, and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd = 0.51247. Trace element considerationsimply that these magmas contain contributions from incompatibleelement enriched upper mantle material and from a componentassociated with subduction. The latter is thought to reflectthe preferential mobilization of alkali and alkaline earth elementsby H₂O-rich fluids from the subducted slab, and preliminarycalculations indicate that it was responsible for {small tilde}45 per cent of the Sr and {small tilde} 80 per cent of the Kin the more primitive Linga rocks. However, the isotope datasuggest that while the fluids may be from the subducted slab,the elements in this component may also have been mobilizedfrom the overlying mantle wedge.     

Palaeomagnetic results from the Early Permian Copacabana Group, southern Peru: Implication for Pangaea palaeogeography

Samples collected from folded carbonate rocks of the Early Permian Copacabana Group exposed in the Peruvian Subandean Zone have been subjected to detailed palaeomagnetic analysis. Thermal demagnetisation of most samples yield stable high unblocking temperature directions dominantly carried by titanomagnetite minerals. This remanence, identified in 32 samples (43 specimens), is exclusively of reverse polarity consistent with the Permian–Carboniferous Reversal Superchron (PCRS). The overall directions pass the fold test at the 99% confidence level and are considered as being a pre-folding remanence acquired in Early Permian times. The Copacabana Group yields an overall mean direction of D = 166°, I = +49° (α₉₅ = 4.5°, k = 131.5, N = 9 sites) in stratigraphic coordinates and a corresponding palaeosouth pole position situated at λ = 68°S,  = 321°E (A₉₅ = 5.2°, K = 100). Combining this pole with the coeval high quality data from South America, Africa and Australia results in a mean pole for Gondwana situated at λ = 34.4°S,  = 065.6°E (A₉₅ = 4.9°, K = 73.6, N = 13 studies) in African coordinates. This pole position supports a Pangaea B palaeogeography in Early Permian times. In contrast, the combined pole for Gondwana diverges from the coeval Laurasian mean pole when assuming the Pangaea A-type configuration. Poor quality of the Gondwana dataset and inclination shallowing in sediments seem to play no role in the misfit between the Permian–Triassic poles from Gondwana and Laurasia in Pangaea A reconstruction.     

Basalts and silcretes on the coast near Ulladulla,southern New South Wales

Silcretes on the N.S.W. coast near Ulladulla have long been attributed to. a sub‐basaltic origin, but field evidence is at odds with all variations of the sub‐basaltic hypothesis, and one site shows good evidence that the basalt post‐dates the silcrete. K‐Ar ages averaging 29.7 ± 0.5 Ma from the basalts provide a minimum age for silcrete development in this area. Furthermore, the K‐Ar dates, together with evidence for an erosional rather than tectonic origin of the coastal lowland, demonstrate that the adjacent tablelands reached their present elevation prior to the mid‐Oligocene.     

Late Pleistocene fans and terraces in the Majes valley, southern Peru, and their relation to climatic variations

This study investigates the connection between sediment aggradation, erosion and climate in a desert environment of the Majes valley, southern Peru. Luminescence dating of terraces and fans shows that sediment aggradation correlates with wet time intervals on the Altiplano, suggesting a climatic influence on the aggradation–degradation cycles. Major periods of aggradation occurred between ~110–100, ~60–50 and 12–8 ka. More precipitation in the Majes catchment resulted in increased erosion and transportation of sediment from the hillslopes into the trunk river. As a result, the sediment loads exceeded the transport capacity of the Majes River and aggradation started in the lower reaches where the river gradient is less. Depletion of the hillslope sediment reservoirs caused a relative increase in the capacity of the trunk river to entrain and transport sediment, resulting in erosion of the previously deposited sediment. Consequently, although climate change may initiate a phase of sediment accumulation, degradation can be triggered by an autocyclic negative feedback and does not have to be driven by climatic change.     

Nine requirements for the origin of Earth's life:Not at the hydrothermal vent,but in a nuclear geyser system

The origin of life on Earth remains enigmatic with diverse models and debates.Here we discuss essential requirements for the first emergence of life on our planet and propose the following nine requirements:(1)an energy source(ionizing radiation and thermal energy);(2)a supply of nutrients(P.K.REE.etc.);(3)a supply of life-constituting major elements;(4)a high concentration of reduced gases such as CH_4,HCN and NH_3;(5)dry-wet cycles to create membranes and polymerize RNA;(6)a non-toxic aqueous environment;(7)Na-poor water;(8)highly diversified environments,and(9)cyclic conditions,such as dayto-night,hot-to-cold etc.Based on these nine requirements,we evaluate previously proposed locations for the origin of Earth's life,including:(1)Darwin's "warm little pond",leading to a "prebiotic soup" for life;(2)panspermia or Neo-panspermia(succession model of panspermia);(3)transportation from/through Mars;(4)a deepsea hydrothermal system;(5)an on-land subduct ion-zone hot spring,and(6)a geyser systems driven by a natural nuclear reactor.We conclude that location(6)is the most ideal candidate for the o rigin point for Earth's life because of its efficiency in continuously supplying both the energy and the necessary materials for life,thereby maintaining the essential "cradle" for its initial development.We also emphasize that falsifiable working hypothesis provides an important tool to evaluate one of the biggest mysteries of the universe-the origin of life.     

Rare earth element distribution in Plio-Quaternary volcanic rocks from southern Peru

Rare-earth element abundances of calc-alkaline andesitic rocks from southern Peru show that these rocks cannot be produceed by a single stage process. The high content of LILE, particularly LREE requires their derivation from a source already enriched in these elements and having a distinctly fractionated REE pattern. It is suggested that ascending hydrous fluids, released from the subducted oceanic lithosphere, enriched the upper mantle in LILE by zone refining. The partial melting of such an enriched upper mantle, followed by fractional crystallization, could produce andesitic rocks. REE data indicate that shoshonitic rocks from southern Peru can be derived from an unfractionated garnet-bearing peridotite by a low degree of partial melting.     

Petrology and new data on the geochemistry of the Andahua volcanic group (Central Andes,southern Peru)

The Quaternary Andahua volcanic group is located within the Central Volcanic Zone in Southern Peru. The author presents new data on major and trace elements and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios for Andahua rocks from all regions with volcanic centres. The TAS data identify the Andahua lavas as trachyandesites, basaltic trachyandesites and dacites. The phenocrysts are represented mainly by plagioclase, but olivine, clinopyroxene and hornblende are also present. In some cases the trachyandesites show Ca enrichment and their plagioclases have an andesine–bytownite composition. The plagioclase phenocrysts show a slight normal and occasionally reverse zonation. Their basaltic parental magmas were enriched in fluids derived from dehydration of the subducted oceanic crust. The chemical content of the Andahua volcanic rocks shows some similarity to both the slightly older and the contemporaneous and widespread Barroso Group rocks in this region.     

Reappraisal of great historical earthquakes in the northern Chile and southern Peru seismic gaps

A critical reappraisal of great historical interplate earthquakes in the occidental margin of South America, including southern Peru and northern Chile, is carried out.A spacetime distribution of the earthquakes associated to the seismotectonics regions defined by the rupture zones of the greatest events (1868, Mw = 8.8 and 1877, Mw = 8.8) is obtained. Both regions are seismic gaps that are in the maturity state of their respective earthquake cycles. The region associated to the 1868 earthquake presents a notable seismic quiescence in the present century.     

The geosynclinal pair at the continental margin of Peru

The Andean geosynclinal pair in Peru consists of a eugeosynclinal marine andesitic volcanic trough and a miogeosynclinal sedimentary trough. Both troughs developed on a block-faulted basement of Precambrian crystalline rocks in which movement occurred along faults parallel to the continental margin. Subsidence in the eugeosyncline was most rapid during the Albian during which period about 7000 m of marine volcanics were deposited. In the miogeosyncline the greatest subsidence took place during the Tithonian but continued throughout the Cretaceous to accumulate a total thickness of about 6000 m. From the Late Cretaceous to the mid-Tertiary the Andean granitoid batholith was emplaced, mainly in the eugeosynclinal zone. A Benioff zone has been active at the continental margin from the Early Jurassic until the present so that the entire geotectonic cycle from the geosynclinal stage through to orogeny and uplift has taken place under a regime of active subduction.During the geosynclinal stage the sedimentary troughs developed in fault-bounded blocks which subsided under tension. It is possible to envisage crustal thinning within the subsident blocks by rotational movement on extensional faults or by plastic stretching of the lower crust. Stretching would be facilitated by the high geothermal gradient resulting from the emplacement of plutonics and volcanics and might be analogous to the formtion of marginal basins of western Pacific type. It is more difficult to account for the subsequent uplift for although the granites contributed to the crustal thickening, the main uplift did not occur in the granitic sector but further inland, and was moreover delayed for at least 20 m.y. after the last granites were emplaced.     

Boiling and vertical mineralization zoning: a case study from the Apacheta low-sulfidation epithermal gold-silver deposit, southern Peru

The Au-Ag (-Pb-Zn) Apacheta deposit is located in the Shila district, 600 km southeast of Lima in the Cordillera Occidental of Arequipa Province, southern Peru. The vein mineralization is found in Early to Middle Miocene calc-alkaline lava flows and volcanic breccias. Both gangue and sulfide mineralization express a typical low-sulfidation system; assay data show element zoning with base metals enriched at depth and higher concentrations of precious metals in the upper part of the veins. Three main deposition stages are observed: (1) early pyrite and base-metal sulfides with minor electrum 1 and acanthite; (2) brecciation of this mineral assemblage and cross-cutting veinlets with subhedral quartz crystals, Mn-bearing calcite and rhombic adularia crystals; and finally (3) veinlets and geodal filling of an assemblage of tennantite/tetrahedrite + colorless sphalerite 2 + galena + chalcopyrite + electrum 2. Fluid inclusions in the mineralized veins display two distinct types: aqueous-carbonic liquid-rich Lw-c inclusions, and aqueous-carbonic vapor-rich Vw-c inclusions. Microthermometric data indicate that the ore minerals were deposited between 300 and 225 °C from relatively dilute hydrothermal fluids (0.6-3.4 wt% NaCl). The physical and chemical characteristics of the hydrothermal fluids show a vertical evolution, with in particular a drop in temperature and a loss of H₂S. The presence of adularia and platy calcite and of co-existing liquid-rich and vapor-rich inclusions in the ore-stage indicates a boiling event. Strong H₂S enrichment in the Vw-c inclusions observed at -200 m, the abundance of platy calcite, and the occurrence of hydrothermal breccia at this level may indicate a zone of intense boiling. The vertical element zoning observed in the Apacheta deposit thus seems to be directly related to the vertical evolution of hydrothermal-fluid characteristics. Precious-metal deposition mainly occurred above the 200-m level below the present-day surface, in response to a liquid/vapor phase separation due to an upward boiling front.     

Arrested charnockite formation at Kottavattam, southern India

Abstract At Kottavattam, southern Kerala (India), late Proterozoic homogeneous leptynitic garnet–biotite gneisses of granitic composition have been transformed on a decimetric scale into coarse-grained massive charnockite sensu stricto along a set of conjugate fractures transecting the gneissic foliation. Charnockitization post-dates the polyphase deformation, regional high-grade metamorphism and anatexis, and evidently occurred at a late stage of the Pan-African tectonothermal history. Geothermobarometric and fluid inclusion data document textural and chemical equilibration of the gneiss and charnockite assemblages at similar P_lith–T conditions (650–700°C, 5–6 kbar) in the presence of carbonic fluids internally buffered by reaction with graphite and opaque mineral phases (X_CO2= 0.7–0.6; X_H2O= 0.2–0.3; X_N2= 0.1; log f_O2= -17.5). Mineralogical zonation indicates that charnockitization of the leptynitic gneiss involved first the breakdown of biotite and oxidation of graphite in narrow, outward-migrating transition zones adjacent to the gneiss, followed by the breakdown of garnet and the neoblastesis of hypersthene in the central charnockite zone. Compared to the host gneiss, the charnockite shows higher concentrations of K, Na, Sr, Ba and Zn and lower concentrations of Mg, Fe, Ti, V, Y, Zr and the HREE, with a complementary pattern in the narrow transition zones of biotite breakdown. The P_lith–T–X_H2O data and chemical zonation patterns indicate charnockitization through subsolidus-dehydration reaction in an open system. Subsequent residence of the carbonic fluids in the charnockite resulted in low-grade alteration causing modification of the syn-charnockitic elemental distribution patterns and the properties of entrapped fluids. We favour an internally controlled process of arrested charnockitization in which, during near-isothermal uplift, the release of carbonic fluids from decrepitating inclusions in the host gneiss into simultaneously developing fracture zones led to a change in the fluid regime from ‘fluid-absent’in the gneiss to ‘fluid-present’in the fracture zones and to the development of an initial fluid-pressure gradient, triggering the dehydration reaction.     

The hot spring and geyser sinters of El Tatio, Northern Chile

The siliceous sinter deposits of El Tatio geothermal field in northern Chile have been examined petrographically and mineralogically. These sinters consist of amorphous silica (opal-A) deposited around hot springs and geysers from nearly neutral, silica-saturated, sodium chloride waters. Water cooling and evaporation to dryness are the main processes that control the opal-A deposition in both subaqueous and subaerial settings, in close spatial relation to microbial communities. All fingerprints of organisms observed in the studied sinter samples represent microbes and suggest that the microbial community is moderately diverse (cyanobacteria, green bacteria, and diatoms). The most important ecological parameter is the temperature gradient, which is closely related to the observed depositional settings: 1) Geyser setting: water temperature = 70–86 °C (boiling point at El Tatio: 4200 m a.s.l.); coarse laminated sinter macrostructure with rapid local variations; biota comprises non-photosynthetic hyperthermophilic bacteria. 2) Splash areas around geysers: water temperature = 60–75 °C; laminated spicule and column macrostructure, locally forming cupolas (< 30 cm); predominant Synechococcus-like cyanobacteria. 3) Hot spring setting: water temperature = 40–60 °C; laminated spicules and columns and subspherical oncoids characterize the sinter macrostructure; filamentous cyanobacteria Phormidium and diatoms (e.g., Synedra sp.) are the most characteristic microbes. 4) Discharge environments: water temperature = 20–40 °C; sinter composed of laminated spicules and oncoids of varied shape; cyanobacterial mats of Phormidium and Calothrix and diatoms (e.g., Synedra sp.) are abundant. El Tatio is a natural laboratory of great interest because the sedimentary macrostructures and microtextures reflect the geological and biological processes involved in the primary deposition and early diagenesis of siliceous sinters.     

A preliminary study of the structure,stratigraphy and metamorphism of some contact rocks of the western Andes,near the Quebrada Venado Muerto,Peru

The sequence and structure of the volcanic rocks of a small area lying within the main belt of plutons of the Peruvian Andes were mapped and are here described. Metamorphic zoning of the calcareous aureole minerals was shown to be similar to that described elsewhere, e.g. wollastonite, diopside, hornblende with increasing distance from the contact. The mineral assemblages and their spatial and textural character indicate rapid heating of the aureole, with only a short time at maximum temperatures. The complex mineralogy in individual rocks is interpreted in terms of changing physical conditions during the thermal event. The sequential assemblages are the result of changes in activity of CO₂, H₂O and Fe³⁺ in particular.