The Peltetec ophiolitic belt (Ecuador): a window to the tectonic evolution of the Triassic margin of western Gondwana

Abstract

New field and petrographic observations, whole-rock major- and trace-element geochemical data, Nd and Sr isotope systematics and U-Pb SHRIMP zircon ages of the Peltetec metaophiolite and related rocks (Ecuador) allow the characterization of the igneous and sedimentary protoliths and the evaluation of the geodynamic evolution of the active western margin of Gondwana during the Mesozoic. The Peltetec ophiolitic belt, exposed along the western margin of the Cordillera Real (Ecuador) and previously considered of Cretaceous age, comprises slices of metamorphosed (greenschist facies) and variably deformed peridotites, gabbros (locally cumulate), basaltic lavas and dykes, hydrothermal breccias and sedimentary rocks. The geochemical characteristics of the tholeiitic basaltic rocks indicate a Sr-Nd isotope depleted mantle source with variable imprint of subduction zone-derived or continental crust-assimilated components, as indicated by enrichment in Th, negative anomaly of Nb and relative depletion in high field strength elements (HFSE). Geochemical diversity allows defining different groups of noncumulate igneous rocks with oceanic island arc and NMORB-like back-arc affinities. U-Pb zircon ages from a metabasite yielded 228.1 ± 1.7 Ma, interpreted as the crystallization age of the magma. These data allow proposing the generation of the Peltetec ophiolite in a back-arc setting as a consequence of late Triassic extension of the western continental margin of Gondwana. Granites located at the western margin of the Peltetec Unit with S-type affinity and equal Triassic age (U-Pb age of 228.2 ± 0.8 Ma) document coeval anatexis of the continental crust as a consequence of heating associated with the same extensional event that originated the ophiolite. Geologic correlation allows enlarging such tectonic scenario to include ophiolitic units of similar age in Colombia.