Tectonics and Magmatism of the Gondwana Margin

The western margin of Gondwana records a prolonged history of plate convergence, terrane accretion and magmatic activity that shaped the Palaeozoic evolution of present-day South America, Antarctica, India and Australia. Beginning in the Neoproterozoic and extending through the Devonian, oceanic lithosphere was subducted beneath the continental arc, giving rise to the Famatinian magmatic belt and associated metamorphism. Subsequent orogenic pulses, including the Chanic and later Carboniferous events, were punctuated by glacial–interglacial cycles that influenced sediment transport and basin architecture. Following peak compression, a shift to an extensional regime during the Late Carboniferous and Permian led to bimodal magmatism and the development of back-arc basins. This interplay of subduction-related magmatism, crustal thickening and later extension governed crustal growth, reworking and exhumation along the Gondwana margin. Understanding these processes has global significance for models of continental assembly, resources associated with magmatic arcs and the tectonic drivers of basin evolution.

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Technical terms

Foreland basin: A sedimentary basin that forms adjacent to an orogenic belt due to crustal loading and flexure.

Detrital zircon geochronology: U–Pb dating of zircon grains in sedimentary rocks to establish sediment provenance and depositional ages.

Bimodal magmatism: The simultaneous eruption of compositionally distinct mafic and felsic magmas, indicating varying mantle input and crustal processes.

Subduction: The descent of one tectonic plate beneath another into the mantle, driving arc magmatism and metamorphism.

Back-arc: A region of extension and magmatism located on the continental side of a volcanic arc, often linked to trench rollback.

References

1. Sediment provenance and depositional systems during Paleozoic tectonic and climatic transitions in the eastern Precordillera of Argentina. Gondwana Research (2025).
2. Reworking subducted sediments in arc magmas and the isotopic diversity of the continental crust: The case of the Ordovician Famatinian crustal section, Argentina. Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2022).
3. Extensional Carboniferous magmatism at the western margin of Gondwana: Las Lozas valley, Catamarca, Argentina. Andean Geology (2016).