Calc-alkaline and shoshonitic lavas from five Andean volcanoes (between latitudes 21° 45′ and 24°30′S) and the distribution of the Plio-Quaternary volcanism of the south-central and southern Andes

The Plio-Quaternary volcanic rocks of the south-central Andes (southward from latitude 18°S) contain two associations: calc-alkaline and shoshonitic which coincide with seismic belts as geographically distinct zones aligned parallel to the oceanic trench. There is a continuous gradation from calc-alkaline to shoshonitic associations. The shoshonitic association appears to the north of latitude 26°S; southwards, the calc-alkaline association directly abuts against the continental (Argentinian) alkaline association.Thirty-one lavas from the Plio-Quaternary calc-alkaline Socompa, Lascar, Sairecabur and Tocorpuri and shoshonitic Sierra de Lipez volcanoes were studied. The lavas are porphyric with abundant glass. The distribution and the nature of the phenocrysts vary according to the chemistry of the calc-alkaline lavas. Petrographic evidence for crystal fractionation has been observed. Occasional phenocrysts of alkali feldspars occur in the shoshonitic lavas. The K₂O and SiO₂ contents increase from calc-alkaline to shoshonitic lavas with distance away from the oceanic trench. In lavas from Socompa, Lascar, Sairecabur and Tocorpuri calc-alkaline volcanoes, K₂O, Li and Rb increase and K/Rb and Sr decrease with increasing SiO₂; Ba increases with decreasing Sr, probably as a result of plagioclase fractionation. In lavas from Sierra de Lípez shoshonitic volcano, SiO₂ is high, K₂O is high and rather constant and Li, Rb, Ba and Sr increase with increasing SiO₂. Bolivian shoshonitic lavas appear to be genetically related to the calc-alkaline suite.The calc-alkaline lavas may be derived by crystal fractionation from a parental magma of andesitic nature that originated in or above the subjacent Benioff zone.