THE PATAGONIAN OROCLINE - NEW PALEOMAGNETIC DATA FROM THE ANDEAN MAGMATIC ARC IN TIERRA-DEL-FUEGO, CHILE

The Hardy Formation is a 1300-m-thick succession of Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks interbedded with lava flows on Hoste Island at the southernmost tip of South America (55.5-degrees-S, 291.8-degrees-E). The strata are gently folded and metamorphosed to the prehnite-pumpellyite grade. A well-defined characteristic direction of magnetization, carried by magnetite, was readily identified in 95 samples from seven sites. At a given site, the directions group slightly better without structural correction. However, the means of the seven sites cluster better without tilt correction at the 99% significance level, implying that the magnetization postdates the folding event. It is most likely that the magnetization was acquired during the mid-to Late Cretaceous Andean orogeny that involved the folding and emplacement of the Patagonian Batholith. The fact that all samples are normally magnetized supports this age assignment. The pole position of 42.9-degrees-N, 156.6-degrees-E, alpha-95 = 3.3-degrees implies that the sampling area has rotated counterclockwise relative to cratonic South America by 90.1 +/- 11.9-degrees with no significant flattening of inclination (F = 1.9 +/- 3.7-degrees). Geologic considerations indicate that the rotation involved the entire Andean magmatic arc in Tierra Del Fuego. The results support interpretation of the Hardy Formation as part of the Andean magmatic arc deposited on the Pacific side of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Rocas Verdes marginal basin. Oroclinal bending of the arc in southernmost South America accompanied inversion of the marginal basin and the development of a Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic left-lateral transform system (South America-Antarctica) that later developed into the North Scotia Ridge.