Geodynamic and climatic forcing on late-Cenozoic exhumation of the Southern Patagonian Andes (Fitz Roy and Torres del Paine massifs)
Cécile Gautheron
Institute des Sciences de la Terre (ISTerre), Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, IFSTTAR, Université Gustave Eiffel, Centre de Géologie Oisans Alpes, Université Paris Saclay, CNRS, GEOPS
Kurt M Cuffey
Institute des Sciences de la Terre (ISTerre), Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, IFSTTAR, Université Gustave Eiffel, Department of Geography, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California -Berkeley
Jean Braun
Institute des Sciences de la Terre (ISTerre), Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, IFSTTAR, Université Gustave Eiffel, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Potsdam
Abstract
High-relief glacial valleys shape the modern topography of the Southern Patagonian Andes, but their formation remains poorly understood. Two Miocene plutonic complexes in the Andean retroarc, the Fitz Roy (49°S) and Torres del Paine (51°S) massifs, were emplaced between 16.9–16.4 Ma and 12.6–12.4 Ma, respectively. Subduction of oceanic ridge segments initiated ca. 16 Ma at 54°S, leading to northward opening of a slab window with associated mantle upwelling. The onset of major glaciations caused drastic topographic changes since ca. 7 Ma. To constrain the respective contributions of tectonic-mantle dynamics and fluvio-glacial erosion to rock exhumation and landscape evolution, we perform inverse thermal modeling of a new dataset of zircon and apatite (U-Th)/He from the two massifs, complemented by apatite 4He/3He data for Torres del Paine. Our results show rapid rock exhumation recorded only in the Fitz Roy massif between 10 and 8 Ma, which we ascribe to local mantle upwelling forcing surface uplift and intensified erosion around 49°S. Both massifs record a pulse of rock exhumation between 7 and 4 Ma, which we interpret as enhanced erosion during the beginning of Patagonian glaciations. After a period of erosional and tectonic quiescence in the Pliocene, increased rock exhumation since 3-2 Ma is interpreted as the result of alpine glacial valley carving promoted by reinforced glacial-interglacial cycles. This study highlights that glacial erosion was the main driver to rock exhumation in the Patagonian retroarc since 7 Ma, but that mantle upwelling might be a driving force to rock exhumation as well.