Mio-Pliocene adakite generation related to flat subduction in southern Ecuador: the Quimsacocha volcanic center

New geochemical and geochronological data on the Miocene-Pliocene Quimsacocha volcanic center (QVC) have led to the recognition of adakitic lavas generated by slab melting related to the flat slab subduction in southern Ecuador and northern Peru. The QVC. located in the presently inactive southern part of the Ecuadorian arc, was built up during three distinctive volcanic phases. The first phase generated a basal edifice with mainly andesitic lava flows, while the second phase is characterized by the emplacement of cryptodomes, domes and related outflow breccias comprised of andesites and some dacites. The last phase released rhyolitic ignimbrites associated with the formation of a large caldera, which was later partly filled by dacitic-rhyolitic domes. Geochemical data for the QVC indicate higher Al2O3, TiO2, Na2O, Zr and Sr contents and lower Fe2O3*, MgO, Y, MREE and HREE abundances, compared to other eruptive rocks of the Plio-Quaternary volcanic front of Ecuador. Such geochemical features, as well as the frequent presence of an associated epithermal gold deposit, are characteristic of the involvement of slab melts, also known as adakites [1,2], in the generation of these magmas. After a calc-alkaline arc magmatism phase, slab horizontalization - in response to the subduction of a buoyant oceanic plateau - results in increased involvement of a slab melting component in the magmas produced. However, pristine adakites were generated and emplaced during a relatively short period, as indicated by zircon fission-track ages. Then volcanic activity stopped and a volcanic gap formed. The identification of these adakites, their location and age support a model of slab melting associated with flat slab subduction [M.A. Gutscher et al., Geology 28 (2000) 535-538]. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.