Economic Geology

Vol. 79 1984, pp. 172-176

AGE AND REGIONAL TECTONIC AND METALLOGENETIC IMPLICATIONS OF IGNEOUS
ACTIVITY AND MINERALIZATION IN THE ANDAHUAYLAS-YAURI
BELT OF SOUTHERN PERU
DONALD C. NOBLE,
Department of Geological Sciences, Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557
EDWIN H. MCKEE,
U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025
V. RA(3L EYZAGUIRRE,
Mauricio Hochschild y CornpaVia Ltda., S. A., Avenida Reptlblica de Panarnd 3055, Lima 27, Perd
AND REN MAROCCO
Oce de la Recherche Scientifique Outre-Mer, Mission au Pdrou, La Mariscala 115, Lima 27, Peril
Introduction
The evolution of the Andes of Peru is characterized
by a number of distinct episodes of compressional tec-
tonics, vertical movement, and igneous activity (M/-
gard, 1978; Noble et al., 1974) that provide evidence
about the nature of subduction beneath the continent
at various times in the past. One important pulse of
igneous activity is represented by voluminous inter-
mediate to silicic volcanic rocks of late Eocene and
early Oligocene age that overlie the post-Incaic ero-
sional surface in central Peru (Noble et al., 1979b). In
this paper we present radiometric ages that, in con-
junction with other data, suggest that the late Eocene-
early Oligocene volcanic arc of central Peru continues
to the southeast as the Andahuaylas-Yauri belt, a chain
of high-level stocks and batholiths characterized by
the presence of Cu-Fe skarn mineralization at least in
part of early Oligocene age. We also discuss some
tectonic implications of the fact that the Andahuaylas-
Yauri belt lies at least 100 km farther inland from the
present trench than does the coeval magmatic arc in
central Peru.
Andahuaylas-Yauri Belt
Geologic setting
More than two dozen mineral districts located west,
south, and southwest of Cuzco, Peru, define an elongate
province extending for more than $00 km from An-
dahuaylas in the northwest to southeast of Yauri (Fig.
1) and covering an area of some 25,000 km 2 (Terrones
L., 1958; Bellido et al., 1972; Santa Cruz et al., 1979).
We refer to this province as the Andahuaylas-Yauri
belt, following the usage of Bellido et al. (1972).
Mineralization within the Andahuaylas-Yauri belt
consists mainly of copper-bearing skarn bodies and a
smaller number of iron skarns. They are not porphyry
copper deposits, as stated in many papers and books
published in English. Important and better known dis-
tricts include Tintaya, Sulfobamba, Charcas, Chalco-
bamba, Ferrobamba, Katanga, Atalaya, Corocco-
huayco, Quechua, and Huancabamba. At least five
base and precious metal vein districts also are located
within the Andahuaylas-Yauri belt, and zones of base
and precious metal vein mineralization define a south-
east extension of the belt (Bellido et al., 1972).
The skarn deposits mostly occur at or near the contact
of quartz monzonite plutons with carbonate-bearing
strata of Late Jurassic and Cretaceous ages. Appreciable
volumes of diorite and granodiorite also are present
but are not generally associated with skarn deposits.
On the geologic map of Peru (Instituto de Geologla y
Minerla del Per6, 1975) these granitic rocks are shown
as of Cretaceous and/or early Tertiary age.
Age of igneous activity and rnineralization at
Tintaya and Chalcobarnba
The geology and mineral deposits of the Tintaya
and Chalcobamba districts (Fig. 1) are described by
Terrones L. (1958) and Santa Cruz et al. (1979). Cop-
per-bearing mineralization of skarn type is spatially
related to irregular bodies of quartz monzonite that,
along with older but probably closely related diorite
and granodiorite plutons, intrude limestone of the Up-
per Cretaceous Ferrobamba Formation. In most places
the quartz monzonite has undergone pervasive potas-
sium-silicate alteration and carries variable amounts
of pyrite and copper-bearing sulfide minerals. Halite-
bearing fluid inclusions are common. Proven reserves
at Tintaya consist of 50 million metric tons of ore with
2.3 percent Cu, mainly as hypogene chalcopyrite and
bornite.
061-0128/84/269/172-552.50 172
SCIENTIFIC COMM UNICA TIONS 178
FiG. 1. Map showing location of selected magmatic arcs in central and southern Peru. The Andahuaylas-
Yauri belt is outlined by a dot-dashed line. Middle to late Miocene magmatic arc and Cretaceous-Paleocene
coastal batholith are indicated by stipple and cross patterns, respectively. The long dashed line indicates
Quaternary volcanic arc.
Dikes of biotite- and hornblende-bearing dacite,
probably closely related to the quartz monzonite, are
exposed in the southern part of the Tintaya district.
These dikes, essentially unaltered at the southernmost
ends, become progressively more altered toward the
central part of the district.
Potassium-argon age determinations have been ob-
tained on fresh magmatic hornblende from one of the
prealteration dacite dikes at Tintaya and on secondary
biotite from quartz monzonite that has undergone po-
tassium silicate alteration; this latter sample was ob-
tained from drill core from two holes that passed
through the skarn mineralization. The secondary biotite
appears fresh but the mineral separates dated contain
some intergrown chlorite. The radiometric ages of 825
_+_ 1, 88.4 _ 1, 88.7 _+_ 1, and 84.7 _+_ i m.y. (Table 1),
identical within the limits of analytic reproducibility,
show that the quartz monzonite and dacite were em-
placed, and the skarn mineralization formed, about 88
to 84 m.y. ago.
We have also obtained a single age of $2.6 _+_ I m.y.
on biotite from a specimen of quartz monzonite por-
phyry from Chalcobamba (Table 1). This specimen,
containing phenocrysts of plagioclase, quartz, alkali
feldspar, biotite, and amphibole in a fine-grained aplitic
matrix, has undergone potassium-silicate alteration.
Sulfide grains are common and the quartz phenocry.sts
contain numerous hypersaline fluid inclusions.
No ages were obtained on the bodies of diorite and
granodiorite at Tintaya and Chalcobamba tFat are cut
by the dated units of quartz monzonite and dacite.
These plutons may have been emplaced as much as
several million years or more earlier.
Age of igneous activity of the
Andahuaylas-Yauri belt
Many plutonic provinces and volcanic fields in the
interior of western North America of comparable size
to the Andahuaylas-Yauri belt were active over a period
of about 10 m.y. or less. Examples include the southwest
porphyry province of Arizona, New Mexico, and So-
nora, Mexico (Livingston, 1978), the San Juan volcanic
field of southwestern Colorado (Steven and Lipman,
1976), and the Boulder batholith of Montana (Tilling,
1974). Drawing on these and similar examples--par-
ticularly the southwest porphyry province--as ana-
1ogues, it is reasonable to conclude that the bulk of
the granitic rocks of the Andahuaylas-Yauri belt were
emplaced between late Eocene and middle Oligocene
time.
An early Oligocene age is supported by geologic
relations seen about 50 km south of Cuzco, where
plutons within the Andahuaylas-Yauri belt cut coarse
conglomerates deposited after Eocene Incaic tectonism
(Marocco, 1978a, b). Provisionally correlative strata
within the Puno Group in southernmost Peru have
been dated as Oligocene on the basis of fossil evidence
(Chanove et al., 1969), and conglomerates overlying
the post-Incaic unconformity in central Peru are over-
lain by volcanic rocks as old as 40 to 41 m.y. (Noble
et al., 1979b). The batholith is in turn overlain un-
conformably by volcanic rocks of probable early Mio-
cene age.
174 SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS
TABLE 1. K-Ar Age Determinations on Rocks from Tintaya and Chalcobamba, Peru
Sample Field K20 4Ar* Age
number number Mineral dated (wt %) (mole/gm X 10 -) Ar*/2Ar (m.y._ r)
1 CHB-75-75 Biotite 6.41 3.2332 0.69 34.7 _ 1.0
2 INF-613-75 Biotite 6.26 3.0663 0.63 33.7 _ 1.0
3 TIN-D1 Hornblende 1.015 0.4796 0.44 32.5 _ 1.0
Hornblende (impure) 2.37 1.1480 0.51 33.4 _ 1.0
4 CHALCOB Biotite 9.32 4.4187 0.62 32.6 _ 1.0
Specimens: (1) potassium silicate-altered quartz monzonite, drill hole 75-75, Chabuca zone, Tintaya, depth 127 to 131 m; (2) potassium
silicate-altered quartz monzonite, drill hole 613-75, Inflexi6n zone, Tintaya, depth 159 to 164 m; (3) unaltered dike of hornblende- and
biotite-bearing dacite, Tintaya, surface sample, district coordinates 437, 510 N, 233, 790 E; (4) potassium silicate-altered quartz monzonite
porphyry, Chalcobama, surface sample
Constants: 4K = 0.581 X 10-/yr; K o = 4.962 X 10-1/yr; atomic abundance K = 1.167 X 10 -4
* Indicates radiogenic argon
Accepting the above interpretation, the many skarn
and associated vein deposits of the Andahuaylas-Yauri
belt represent a newly recognized period of middle
Cenozoic mineralization in the Andes of Peru. Almost
all mineral districts previously dated have belonged
to one of two age groups: an older group of Paleocene
age, which includes the major porphyry deposits of
southern Peru, and a younger group that includes de-
posits ranging in age from middle Miocene to Qua-
ternary (e.g., McKee et al., 1979, and references cited
therein; E. H. McKee and D.C. Noble, unpub. data).
Relation of the Andahuaylas-auri Belt to
Contemporaneous Volcanic Activity
in Central Peru
The presence and position of calc-alkalic igneous
activity in active margin settings is conventionally in-
terpreted as being related to the geometry of the sub-
ducting plate and its interaction with the aestheno-
sphere and/or the overlying plate. The absence of ig-
neous activity along active margins may relate to shal-
low-subhorizontal subduction with little or no aes-
thenosphere present between the two plates (Mgard
and Philip, 1976; Dickinson and Snyder, 1978). Ig-
neous activity at relatively great distances from the
trench implies that a shallowly subducting plate has
reached sufficient depth to trigger magma generation,
that a subhorizontally moving plate has--at some point
inland from the trench--bent and descended at a
steeper angle, or that the igneous activity is unrelated
to subduction. In the first two models, a shift in the
locus of igneous activity relative to the trench implies
a change in the geometry of the subducting plate.
The Andahuaylas-Yauri belt lies 150 to 200 km in-
land (northeast) from the Cretaceous-Paleocene coastal
batholith and approximately 150 km inland from the
presently active volcanic chain (Fig. 1). The belt is
located about 100 km farther inland from the trench
than the axis of middle to late Miocene (10_+ m.y.)
igneous activity in central Peru (Fig. 1) (Noble et al.,
1975; McKee et al., 1979; McKee and Noble, 1982).
Nevertheless, it seems reasonable, because of its marked
elongation parallel to the trench, its calc-alkalic char-
acter, and because of abundant evidence for variable
subduction geometries in the central Andes (Stauder,
1975; Mgard and Philip, 1976; Barazangi and Isacks,
1976; 1979; Noble and McKee, 1977; Hasagawa and
Sachs, 1981) to interpret the belt as related to sub-
duction (cf., e.g., Sillitoe, 1975).
Several lines of evidence, including the radiometric
ages obtained at Tintaya and Chalcobamba, the strati-
graphic constraints on the age of plutonic activity south
of Cuzco, and the geologic similarity of the igneous
rocks and mineralization throughout the Andahuaylas-
Yauri belt, suggest that the belt is a southeast contin-
uation of the late Eocene-early Oligocene volcanic arc
recognized in central Peru (Noble et al., 1979b). Al-
though the vents from which the late Eocene-early
Oligocene volcanic rocks in central Peru were erupted
are not known, facies relations and the absence of
volcanic and intrusive rocks of this age to the northeast
indicate that the vents for the thick volcanic section
that mantles the post-Incaic erosion surface are located
between the axis of middle to late Miocene igneous
activity and the coastal batholith (Fig. 1). This is at
least 100 km closer to the trench than the Andahuaylas-
Yauri belt. Volcanic rocks of Eocene and Oligocene
age are absent along the western margin of the high
Andes south of lat 14 S (Noble et al., 1979a; Tosdal
et al., 1981), and it is reasonable to place the locus of
igneous activity at this latitude appreciably farther
inland (Noble et al., 1979a).
An obvious difference between the Andahuaylas-
Yauri belt and the late Eocene-early Oligocene volcanic
belt in central Peru is the absence of known miner-
alization within the latter. Possible explanations include
exposure--no intrusive bodies of this age are known
in central Peru--and a change in eruptive style and/
or magma chemistry along the magmatic arc.
Although a well-defined volcanic belt of early Neo-
SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS 175
gene age is known in central Bolivia (Grant et al.,
1979), the middle Cenozoic magmatic arc does not
appear to remain inland south of Lake Titicaca. Al-
though not known in southermost Peru, rocks of latest
Eocene-early Oligocene age are present in northern-
most Chile only 250 to $00 km inland from the trench
(Sillitoe, 1981).
Available evidence also suggests that the magmatic
arc was located inland during early Eocene and perhaps
Paleocene time. Early Eocene igneous activity east of
the Andahuaylas-Yauri belt is documented by a po-
tassium-argon age of 52.7 _ 2 m.y. obtained on the
granite of La Raya (E. Audebaud, pers. commun., 1981)
and by ages on uranium mineralization in the Cor-
dillera Vilcabamba northeast of Cuzco (Lenz and
Wendt, 1969). The inland location of these rocks con-
trasts with the near-coast position of Paleocene-early
Eocene igneous activity in central and southernmost
Peru (Pitcher, 1978; Stewart et al., 1974).
Implications for Paleogene Subduerion
The interpretation presented here requires a sig-
nificant difference in subduction geometry from central
to southern Peru during middle and possibly early
Cenozoic time. Subduction in northern Peru would
have been of inclined geometry. In southern Peru the
plate may have descended at a low angle from the
trench inland, although the relatively narrow nature
of the Andahuaylas-Yauri belt suggests that subhori-
zontal subduction toward the trench gave way at some
point inland to a steeper mode of subduction (cf. Has-
agawa and Sachs, 1981, fig. 11). A warp in the sub-
ducting plate, comparable to those recognized in the
Tonga-Kermadec subduction zone (Davies, 1980) and
today in central and southern Peru (Hasagawa and
Sachs, 1981), could have existed. Assuming that the
Incaic tectonic phase reflected a change in the rate
and/or direction of subduction and/or the integrity of
the subducting plate, onset of igneous activity in the
Andahuaylas-Yauri belt as much as several million years
later than in central Peru (about 41 m.y. ago) may
have been caused by the greater time required for
lithosphere to reach the depth beneath the belt nec-
essary to trigger magmatic activity (cf. Noble and
McKee, 1977).
In southern Peru there was a shift of igneous activity
of about 150 km or more toward the trench through
middle and late Cenozoic time after an even larger
northeastward shift during the early Tertiary. In central
Peru, on the other hand, Cretaceous through Neogene
igneous activity has almost entirely been constrained
to a belt less than 100 km wide. We find it significant
that the inland shift of late Eocene-early Oligocene,
and probably older, magmatic activity took place at
approximately the same latitude because (1) the high
Andean plateau, the zone of Cenozoic igneous activity,
the continental crust below 50 km, and the negative
Bouguer gravity anomaly all widen markedly (Instituto
de Geologla y MinerVa del Per6, 1975: James, 1971);
(2) folds and other structural features in Paleozoic and
younger rocks change to an east-west trend at the
Abancay deflection (Marocco, 1978a, 1978b, 1979);
and ($) a regional electrical conductivity anomaly shifts
inland (Schmucker et al., 1966).
The correspondence among crustal features and
patterns of subduction and magmatic activity leads to
the speculation that long-established features of the
continental lithosphere may have influenced the be-
havior of oceanic plates subducting beneath them, as
discussed by Mgard (1978). Such control, if present,
apparently was incomplete, for Paleogene igneous ac-
tivity in southernmost Peru and northern Chile appears
to have been localized near the coast.
Acknowledgments
This study was partly supported by grants from the
National Science Foundation. MINERO-PERU pro-
vided logistical support for the work at Tintaya. We
thank Ings. Mariano Iberico, Jos Me]ia, and Elmer
Vidal for facilitating this phase of the project. Francois
Migard and Ulrich Petersen offered helpful comments
on an early draft of the manuscript.
April 6, 1983
REFERENCES
Barazangi, M., and Isacks, B., 1976, Spatial distribution of earthquakes
and subduction of the Nazca plate beneath South America: Geology,
v. 4, p. 686-692.
-- 1979, Subduction of the Nazca plate beneath Peru: Evidence
from spatial distribution of earthquakes: Geophys. Jour. Royal Astron.
Soc., v. 57, p. 557-555.
Bellido, E., Girard, D., and Paredes, J., 1972, Mapa metallogenico
del Per6: Peru, Servicio Geol. y Minerla.
Chanove, G., Mattauer, M., and Mgard, F., 1969, Precisions sur la
tectonique tangentielle des terraines secondaires du massif Pirin
(nord-ouest du lac Titicaca, Prou): Acad. Sci. [Paris], Comptes
Rendus, ser. D, v. 368, p. 1698-1701.
Davies, G. F., 1980. Mechanics of subducted lithosphere: Jour. Geophys.
Research, v. 85, p. 6g04-6518.
Dickinson, W. R., and Snyder, W. S., 1978, Plate tectonics of the
Laramide orogeny: Geol. Soc. America Mem. 151, p. 355-366.
Grant, J. N., Halls, C., Avila Salinas, W., and Snelling, N.J., 1979,
K-Ar ages of igneous rocks and mineralization in parts of the Bolivian
tin belt: ECON. GEOL., v. 74, p. 858-851.
Hasagawa, A., and Sachs, I. S., 1981, Subduction of the Nazca plate
beneath Peru, determined from seismic observations: Jour. Geophys.
Research, v. 86, p. 4971-4986.
Instituto de Geologla y Minerla del Per6, 1975, Mapa geol(gico del
Per6: Peru, Ministerio Energia y Minas.
James, D. E., 1971, Andean crustal and upper mantle structure: Jour.
Geophys. Research, v. 85, p. $246-8271.
Lenz, H., and Wendt, J., 1969, Pb/U-Altersbestimmungen an per-
uanischen Uran-Erzen aus dem Gebiet yon Vilcabamba, Provinz
Convencion, Peru: Zeitschr. Deutsch. Geol. Gesell. Jahrgang 1966,
p. 368-376.
Livingston, D. E., 1975, A plate tectonic hypothesis for the genesis
of porphyry copper deposits of the southern Basin and Range prov-
ince: Earth Planet. Sci. Letters, v. 20, p. 171-179.
176 SCIENTIFIC COMM UNICA TIONS
Marocco, R., 1978a, Un segment E-W de la chane des Andes l-
ruviennes: la defiexion d'Abancay. Etude gologique de la Cordill're
oriental des hauts plateaux entre Cuzco et San Miguel. Sud du
Pros (1230'S a 1400'S): France, Office Recherche Sci. Tech.
Outre-Mer., Traveaux Docs., 195 p.
-- 1978b, Estudio geolgico de la Cordillera de Vilcabamba: Inst.
Geologla y Minerla del Per6, Bol. 4, set. D (Estudios Especiales),
157 p.
-- 1979, Corte estructural de la cordillera de los Andes Peruanos
al nivel de la defiexibn de Abancay. Ensayo de interpretacibn de
esta defiexin: Soc. Geol. Per6 Bol., v. 63, p. 51-68.
McKee, E. H., and Noble, D.C., 1982, Miocene volcanism and de-
formation in the Western Cordillera and high plateaus of south-
central Peru: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 93, p. 657-662.
McKee, E. H., Noble, D. C., Scherkenbach, D. A., Drexler, J. w.,
Mendoza, Jos, and Eyzaguirre, V. R., 1979, Age of porphyry in-
trusion, potassic alteration, and related skarn mineralization, An-
tamina district, northern Peru: ECON. GEOL., v. 74, p. 928-930.
Mgard, F., 1978, Etude gologique des Andes du Prou central:
France, Office Recherche Sci. Tech. Outre-Mer Mem. 86, 310 p.
Mgard, F., and Philip, H., 1976, Plio-Quaternary tectonic-magmatic
zonation and plate tectonics in the central Andes: Earth Planet.
Sci. Letters, v. 33, p. 231-238.
Noble, D.C., and McKee, E. H., 1977, Spatial distribution of earth-
quakes and subduction beneath South America: Comment: Geology,
v. 5, p. 576-579.
Noble, D.C., McKee, E. H., Farrar, E., and Petersen, U., 1974,
Episodic Cenozoic volcanism and tectonism in the Andes of Peru:
Earth Planet. Sci. Letters, v. 21, p. 213-221.
Noble, D.C., Bowman, H. R., Hebert, A. J., Silberman, M. L., Her-
opoulos, C. E., Fabbi, B. P., and Hedge, C. E., 1975, Chemical
and isotopic constraints on the origin of low-silica latite and andesite
from the Andes of central Peru: Geology, v. 3, p. 501-504.
Noble, D.C., Farrat, E., and Cobbing, E. J., 1979a, The Nazca Group
of south-central Peru: Age, source, and regional volcano-tectonic
significance: Earth. Planet. Sci. Letters, v. 45, p. 80-86.
Noble, D.C., McKee, E. H., and Mgard, F., 1979b, Early Tertiary
"Incaic" tectonism, uplift, and volcanic activity, Andes of central
Peru: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 90, p. 903-907.
Pitcher, W. S., 1978, The anatomy of a batholith: Geol. Soc. London
Jour., v. 135, p. 157-182.
Santa Cruz, S., Guerrero, T., Castilia, F., Caro, E., and Candiotti, H.,
1979, Geologla de yacimientos de cobre en "skarn" en la region
sur-oriental del Per6: Soc. Geol. Per6 Bol., v. 60, p. 153-174.
Schmucker, U., Forbush, S., Hartmann, O., Giesecke, A., Casaverde,
M., Castillo, J., Salgueiro, R., and Del Pozo, S., 1966, Electrical
conductivity anomaly under the Andes: Carnegie Inst. Washington,
Year Book 65, p. 11-28.
Sillitoe, R. H., 1975, Subduction and porphyry copper deposits in
southwestern North America; a reply to recent obiections: ECON.
GEOL., v. 70, p. 1474-1477.
-- 1981, Regional aspects of the Andean porphyry copper belt in
Chile and Argentina: Inst. Mining Metallurgy Trans., v. 90, sec.
B, p. B15-B36.
Stauder, W., 1975, Subduction of the Nazca plate under Peru as
evidenced by focal mechanisms and by seismicity: Jour. Geophys.
Research, v. 81, p. 1053-1064.
Steven, T. A., and Lipman, P. W., 1976, Calderas of the San Juan
volcanic field, southwestern Colorado: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof.
Paper 958, 35 p.
Stewart, J. w., Evernden, J. F., and Snelling, N.J., 1974, Age de-
terminations from Andean Peru--a reconnaissance survey: Geol.
Soc. America Bull., v. 85, p. 1107-1116.
Terrones L., A. J., 1958, Structural control of contact metasomatic
deposits in the Peruvian cordillera: Am. Inst. Mining Metall. Pe-
troleum Engineers, v. 211, p. 365-372.
Tilling, R. I., 1974, Composition and time relations of plutonic and
associated volcanic rocks, Boulder batholith region, Montana: Geol.
Soc. America Bull., v. 85, p. 1925-1930.
Tosdal, R. M., Farrar, E., and Clark, A.M., 1981, K-Ar geochronology
of the late Cenozoic volcanic rocks of the Cordillera Occidental,
southernmost Peru: Jour. Volcanol. Geotherm. Research, v. 10, p.
157-174.