| Abstract: | The Taitao ophiolite of southern Chile lies 10 km from the buried extension of the Peru-Chile trench, and less than 50 km from the present position of the Nazca/South America/Antarctica triple junction. Plio-Pleistocene radiometric and paleontologic ages indicate its formation during ridge subduction, and an ultramafic rock, gabbro, sheeted dike, volcanic and sedimentary rock psuedostratigraphy suggests formation by typical accretionary processes for oceanic lithosphere. Yet major and trace element data show that mafic dikes and volcanic units are transitional from MORB to IAT, and there are abundant silicic volcanic units of calc-alkaline character that have high LIL element and light REE concentrations relative to oceanic plagiogranites. Sr and Nd isotopic data are consistent with that of modern oceanic suites, even though having a greater internal variability. Silicic volcanic units show the more enriched Sr and depleted Nd isotopic ratios relative to dike and gabbro samples. In addition to chemical distinctions, paleobathymetric data support a shallow water origin for some of the upper volcanic units and, assuming local compensation, suggest crustal thicknesses of continental proportion. In the vicinity of the Taitao ophiolite, and extending some 40 km landward of the plate margin, are a series of silicic stocks, sills, and plutons that were intruded into the forearc at the time of ridge collision and ophiolite generation. These calc-alkaline I-type granitoids are light REE enriched and have Sr and Nd isotopic compositions similar to those of the main volcanic chain 200 km landward. Chemically, some of the silicic intrusions are indistinguishable from volcanic units of the ophiolite. In general, major, trace, REE, and isotopic variations of both the ophiolite and the distributed intrusions are atypical of simple fractionation trends for basaltic liquids. Intermediate to silicic units lie along mixing hyperbolae between Taitao gabbro and either forearc sediment or metamorphic basement on a Nd---Sr correlation diagram, and these two crustal components support, respectively, either a 10–25% or 5–10% assimilation. Shutdown of magmatism, and therefore probably partial melting as well, appears to occur within 40 km of the trench, roughly spanning the depth interval for the disappearance of the plagioclase-lherzolite stability field as the zone of mantle upwelling is overridden by an increasing thickness of continental lithosphere. A deeper and more landward absence of partial melt related to the subducted ridge is supported by the correlation of the shutoff and re-initiation of arc volcanism over the northern and southern trailing edges of the postulated subcontinental asthenospheric window. Here, as well as elsewhere in the circum-Pacific, the general restriction of magmatism related to ridge subduction to near-trench settings supports a shallow (0 to 15 km) shutoff mechanism for adiabatic decompressive melting and a rather abrupt return to single-phase (solid) convective rise of mantle into an evolving asthenospheric window. |
