Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex

Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex
Stratigraphic range: Cretaceous
TypeComplex
UnderliesTobífera Formation
Lithology
PrimaryMetasediments, metavolcanics, orthogneiss
Location
Coordinates54°45′S 69°30′W / 54.75°S 69.5°W / -54.75; -69.5
RegionMagallanes Region, Tierra del Fuego Province (Argentina)
Country Chile
 Argentina
Type section
Named forCordillera Darwin
Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex is located in Chile
Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex
Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex (Chile)

The Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex is a geologic complex composed chiefly of metamorphic rocks located in southern Tierra del Fuego. It has been suggested that the Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex is analogous to the Eastern Andes Metamorphic Complex.[1][2] The Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex is the only metamorphic complex in the southern Andes known to have amphibolite facies rocks containing kyanite and sillimanite which evidences high-grade metamorphism. High-grade metamorphism took place during the Cretaceous purportedly in association with the closure of the Rocas Verdes Basin.[2]

The protoliths of Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex are unrelated to Tierra del Fuego Igneous and Metamorphic Complex despite present-day proximity.[2]

  1. ^ Hervé, F.; Faundez, V.; Calderón, M.; Massonne, H.-J.; Willner, A.P. (2007). "Metamorphic and plutonic basement complexes". In Moreno, Teresa; Gibbons, Wes (eds.). The Geology of Chile. Geological Society of London. pp. 7–20.
  2. ^ a b c Hervé, F.; Fanning, C.M.; Pankhurst, R.J.; Mpodozis, C.; Klepeis, K.; Calderón, M.; Thomson, S.N. (2010). "Detrital zircon SHRIMP U–Pb age study of the Cordillera Darwin Metamorphic Complex of Tierra del Fuego: sedimentary sources and implications for the evolution of the Pacific margin of Gondwana" (PDF). Journal of the Geological Society, London. 167 (3): 555–568. doi:10.1144/0016-76492009-124. S2CID 129413187.