Ring complexes of the Peruvian Coastal Batholith:

a long-standing subvolcanic regimel

Department of Geology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside, England L693BX

A special feature of the composite Coastal Batholith of Peru is the presence of ring complexes,
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which suggests a very high-level crustal environment and a direct connection between the
magmas of the constituent plutons and caldera-centred volcanicity. The nature of four such
complexes is commented on in detail, especially the high degree of structural control of emplace-
ment, the association of mylonites and tuffisites with ring-fractures, the roles of stoping,
fluidization and entrainment during the intrusion of ring-dykes, the co-existence of highly mobile
magmas, their pulsatory injection, and the connection between these and volcanics of the same
general age. Such mechanisms of cauldron subsidence located at the plutonic-volcanic interface
operated throughout much of the 70 m.y. history of the batholith.

Un caractere particulier du batholite compose de la c6te du Perou est la presence de complexes

circulaires ce qui suggere un ambient localise tres haut dans la croCite et une connexion directe
entre les magmas des plutons constituents et le volcanisme du type caldeira. La nature de quatre
de tels complexes est commente en detail, particulierement le haut degre d'influence structurale
sur la mise en place, I'association de mylonites et tufisites avec les failles circulaires, les r6les du
stoping et de la fluidisation oh les fragments des roches ont e t t entraines dans le mouvement d'un
gaz pendant I'intrusion des dykes circulaires; la coexistence des magmas tres mobiles, leur
injection pulsatoire, et la connexion entre ceux-ci et les produits volcaniques d'ige semblable. De
For personal use only.

tels mecanismes d'affaissement de cauldron, localises a I'interphase entre les niveaux plutoni-
ques et volcaniques, ont opere pendant une grande partie de I'histoire de 70 millions d'annees du
batholite.
Can. J. Earth Sci. 13, 1020-1030 (1976)

Introduction 1976), who show that this immense intrusion,

In many respects, the Coastal Batholith of
Peru is similar to other western American batho-
liths, particularly in its composite nature. One
special feature, however, is the presence of size-
able ring complexes (Fig. l), suggesting a high-
level crustal environment and a particularly
direct connection between the magmas of the
constituent plutons and caldera-centred vol-
canicity. The special characters of these centred
complexes bear on the nature of this plutonic-
volcanic interface.
The general form, setting, and age of the
Mesozoic-Cenozoic Coastal Batholith has been
described by Cobbing and Pitcher (1972a),
Cobbing (1973), Pitcher (1972, 1974), Stewart
et al. (1974), Wilson (1975)~,and Myers (1975,
'Paper presented at 13th Pacific Science Congress,
Vancouver, B.C., Canada, August 1975, in a symposium
organized by the Circum Pacific Plutonism Project of the
International Geological Correlations Programme. Publi-
cation coordinated by D. L. Tiffin and R. L. Chase.
'The age determinations that are referred to throughout
this paper were determined by the K-Ar method on bio-
tite, hornblende, and feldspar. They form but part of a n
extensive dating project (Wilson 1975) carried out in
cooperation with the Isotope Geology Unit of the Insti-
tute of Geological Sciences, London.
1600 km by up to 55 km, has been emplaced over
a period of 70 m.y. along a single, deep-seated
lineament running parallel to the present con-
tinental edge. Following the initial up-welling of
gabbroic magma, the succeeding pulses of
magma evolved in such a way as to produce a
consanguineous suite of rocks (W. McCourt,
personal communication 1975) ranging from
early diorites, through many varieties of tonalite,
to late granodiorites and granites. These types
are disposed in innumerable separate plutons,
yet with a well defined intrusion chronology
(Table 1) closely related to their magmatic evo-
lution.
In that sector of the Coastal Batholith so ad-
mirably exposed in the western cordillera to the
north of Lima (Fig. l), the younger acid rock
units occur as ring dykes and cross-cutting, cir-
cular, steep-walled and flat-roofed plutons, com-
bining to define two centred complexes of
granites of classical form and dimension (see
Fig. 2), namely the Huaura (Cobbing and Pitcher
1972a) and the Fortaleza (Knox 1974). There are
two other centres that are rather more rudi-
mentary in structure, the Chancay and Quebrada
Paros, and these involve basic rocks of such rela-
 BUSSELL ET AL. 1021

TABLE 1. Chronological relationships of the main elements of the Coastal Batholith, north of Lima. Relative chronol-
ogy after Cobbing and Pitcher (1972a) and Myers (1975). Suggested time ranges are derived from stratigraphical con-
siderations and the K-Ar radiometric age determinations reported by Stewart et al. (1974) and Wilson (1975)

Rock unit Age

Pativilca unit ca. 34 m.y.
(granites)
Sayin and Caiias units ca. 61 m.y.
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(granites)
Puscao and San Jeronimo units ca. 65-66 m.y.
(granites, microgranites, granophyres)
La Mina unit ca. 66 m.y.
(tonalite and granodiorite)
Santa Rosa dyke swarm ca. 72-68 m.y.
Santa Rosa super-unit Range 95-72 m.y.
(quartz diorites, tonalites, granites; possibly includes Vista Alegre unit) (with main tonalites 95-84 m.y.)
Paccho super-unit, etc. > 95 m.y.
(pyroxene diorites, tonalites)
Patap super-unit > 95 < 105 m.y.
(gabbros, meladiorites)

(Bussell 1976). Major and minor fractures pro-

vided the paths for the magma, determined the
For personal use only.

form of the contacts, controlled the spalling-off

of material during the stoping process, and lo-
cated the outlines of the subsiding blocks within
the cauldrons.
The country rocks of the batholith are largely
of volcanic origin (Bellido 1969; Cobbing 1974;
Myers 1974) and have a span of ages comparable
to that of the batholith itself, i.e. mid-Cretaceous
to early Tertiary. Such rocks form part of a thick
Mesozoic cover to a basement constructed of
deformed Palaeozoic strata resting on a very old
gneiss complex (Cobbing and Pitcher 1972b).
Within the strata presently exposed, there are
two main stratigraphic elements. A thick series
of marine, andesitic volcaniclastics and flows,
relatively gently folded, constitutes the Casma
Group and is assigned to the Albian (100-106
m.y. according to the Geological Society of
London time-scale, 1964). In its uppermost part,
FIG.1. The location of four ring-dyke complexes terrestrial flows and pyroclastic deposits appear
within the Coastal Batholith of Peru. F-Fortaleza; and these have been assigned to a Pararin For-
P-Paros; H-Huaura; C-Chancay. mation. This is overlain unconformably by a
'plateau' of terrestrial lavas and pyroclastics,
tively early date in the evolution of the batholith predominantly andesites and dacites, which,
as to suggest that the formation of such centred though presently included in a Calipuy Group
ring complexes, and therefore possibly of cal- of presumed Lower Tertiary age, is likely to in-
deras, spanned the whole period of its emplace- clude several facies groups ranging over a con-
ment. siderable span of Tertiary time. One basal flow,
The linear arrangement of these four centres, however, has provided a minimum age of 52.5
evenly spaced and in a central position in the m.y.
batholith (Fig. 2), is a gross measure of the high The all-important age relationships between
degree of structural control of emplacement the batholith and its envelope are not yet exactly
 1022 CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 13, 1976
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FIG.2. Distribution of ring complexes within the
Coastal Batholith of Peru between the Rios Chancay
and Fortaleza. After Pitcher (1972), with revision.
known. The gabbros cut folds in the Casma For-
mation, yet were locally deformed before being
intruded by tonalites with K-Ar ages as old as
95 m.y. Whereas certain representatives of the
batholith intrude basal sequences of the Calipuy
volcanics, other sequences unconformably over-
lie batholithic rocks. Such stratigraphic relation-
ships have yet to be confirmed, but a considerable
overlap of volcanic and plutonic activity seems
likely, particularly between the late granite ring-
dykes and plutons, and the Tertiary volcanics.
In what follows, the special features of the
ring complexes are commented on with em-
phasis on their sub-volcanic environment, mode
of emplacement, and possible contribution to
the volcanic pile.
The Quebrada Paros Complex
This relatively simple centre (cf. Cobbing
1973), wholly emplaced within the volcanics of
the Casma Group, consists essentially of a cres-
cent-shaped multiple intrusion of diorite and
granite separated by a country-rock screen from
two centrally placed, late granitic stocks (Fig.
3a). One of these internal stocks, a porphyritic
microgranite assigned to the San Jeronimo unit
(Table I), is only revealed by deep erosion along
the canyon of the Quebrada Paros, where the
volcanics of the screen form an arching roof;
the other, a La Mina type granodiorite-tonalite
(Table I), intrudes this San Jeronimo pluton,
cutting, with vertical contacts, through this roof.
The external intrusion, a partial ring-dyke, is
composed of a simple crescent of quartz diorite
encasing a complex intrusion breccia (generally
designated as Puscao Granodiorite in Fig. 3a),
in which hornblende meladiorite first formed the
host to sheets of a porphyritic microgranite of
San Jeronimo type. Both were then shattered,
net-veined, and partially entrained in a granitic
magma of Puscao type (Table I), and a mix of
contaminated rocks and intrusion breccias has
resulted. The exact sequence of events is not easy
to establish, but it is envisaged that, as with the
Chancay Complex described below, the external
contacts of an original arcuate intrusion of mela-
diorite provided the locus for the emplacement
of the more leucocratic diorite member. During
the later phase of acid activity, the internal mela-
diorite was partially stoped away and entrained
in the new intrusions.
The principal point illustrated by this complex
is that the early diorites and even more basic
rocks do occur as arcuate bodies, and that ring
fractures were formed at a relatively early date,
i.e. possibly in the 90-95 m.y. age range; also
that once such a centre was initiated, it could
serve as the site for acid intrusions of much later
date (ca. 62 m.y.). That this is more generally
the case is illustrated by the relationships existing
within the Chancay Complex.
 BUSSELL ET AL. 1023
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Contaminated Puscao Granodiorite

San Jeronimo Granite
La Mina Granodiorite
[r Intrusive breccia and tuffisites

Diorites of the ring complexes

Meladiorite and hornblende gabbro
Volcanics
-
FIG. 3. Generalized geological maps of the four ring complexes shown in Fig. 2. (a) Quadra
Paros; (b) Chancay; (c) Huaura; (d) Fortaleza. Data partly from Cobbingand Pitcher (1972a), Cobbing
(1973), and Knox (1974), with personal coamunications from W. P. Taylor (1975) and G . Mason
(1976). Designation 'diorites' includes a variety of dioritic rock types.
 1024 CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 13, 1976

The Chancay Complex multi-component ring-dyke, the northern half

Central to the batholith in the valley of the
Chancay, a single, steep-sided stock of granite
is intruded into a complex arcuate belt of dio-
ritic rocks (Cobbing and Pitcher 1972a; W.
Taylor, personal communication 1975), an asso-
ciation that might be considered to be fortuitous,
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of which has been obliterated by a second,
crudely centred complex of granites. The rocks
involved include most of the units of this par-
ticular sector of the batholith, a fact that pro-
vides the first clue as to the long (40 m . ~ . )dura-
tion of activity, albeit episodic, in this centre.

yet which seems to provide further evidence for
the early initiation of cauldron mechanisms.
One of the two basic members concerned (Fig.
3b), the earlier hornblende gabbro-meladiorite,
again represents a fragment of the earliest basic
rocks of the batholith and is assigned to the
Patap super-unit (Table 1). The intruding biotite-
bearing quartz diorite probably represents an
early basic phase of the Santa Rosa super-unit.
The age relationships between these and the
tonalites external to this rudimentary centre are
complex, but a comparison with the situation
pertaining in the Quebrada Paros suggests that
the quartz diorite originally formed a partial
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Within the cauldron, repeated subsidence and
intrusion has led to the progressive obliteration
of the initial stages of its evolution, resulting in
the rocks concerned, the volcanics and horn-
blende gabbros, being preserved only as rem-
nants. However, from their distribution and on
the basis of the evidence provided by the other
centres, it can be deduced that volcanics of the
Casma Group (ca. 105 m.y.) were intruded by
the gabbros (assigned to the Patap unit, >95
m.y.) and then along early ring fractures by a
quartz diorite similar to that of the Paros Com-
plex (the Vista Alegre unit of Fig. 4). Together
these rocks subsequently foundered into a tona-
lite pluton (assigned to the Santa Rosa super-

ring-dyke here within a gabbro host. Later these

rocks became the roof to a tonalitic pluton, unit, ca. 95-84 m.y. BP). These events were fol-
when a roughly circular block, breaking away lowed by the injection of an important dyke
along fractures guided by the form of the early swarm (72-68 m.y.), after which granites and
ring-dyke, foundered into the new magma. microgranites (ca. 62 m.y.) were emplaced in the
Finally the Lumbre granite, representing a very form of bell-jar plutons and ring-dykes disposed
late stage in the differentiation of the Santa Rosa in a beautifully symmetrical pattern within the
super-unit (yet providing a minimum age of 65 margins of the gabbro - volcanic remanent. In
m.y.), was emplaced by the foundering of a block turn, these were partly stoped away (Fig. 6) by
of similar dimensions, isolated by fractures, the great granite plutons now forming the north-
located by the same old lines of weakness. ern segment of the complex, a process accom-
Thus, repeated cauldron subsidence led to the panied by a gentle updoming (Taylor 1976).
formation of the Chancay centre during the early These granites provide two groups of ages, viz.
stages in the history of the batholith, i.e. within 61 and 43 m.y.
an age span of ca. 95 to ca. 65 m.y. BP.
Evidence of an Early Ring Structure
The Huaura Com~lex Even within the isolated remnants of country
This spectacular centred complex holds the key rocks, the hornfelsed pillow lavas, quartzites,
to both the mode of emplacement of the Coastal and cherts seem little disturbed, and low dips
Batholith and the regional relationship between are the rule (Fig. 4). The gabbroic rocks, which
volcanicity and plutonism. Briefly described by relate to the great Huaral gabbro body locally
Cobbing and Pitcher (1972~)on the basis of forming the western flank of the batholith, oc-
regional mapping by Cobbing et al. (1971), it cur not only external to the centre but internally,
has recently been redescribed in structural, as remnants and partial screens within the ring
geochemical, and radiometric detail by Bussell dyke, and also as inliers within the central plu-
(1975), Taylor (1976), W. McCourt (personal ton, thereby revealing the foundered central
communication 1975), and Wilson (1975). block. The distribution of such outcrops sug-
gests the former presence of an arcuate pattern,
Structure an observation that applies even more strongly
The essential elements of the structure (Fig., to outcrops of the quartz diorite (the Vista
3c) are those of a cauldron, consisting of a cen- Alegre diorite of Fig. 4).
trally placed granitic pluton enclosed within a The absence of tonalites within the central
 BUSSELL ET AL. 102.5

+ + I + *
+ + + f 7 + + + + + '
+ + + + + + + +

+ + + + +

+ + + + + * +
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+ + + + + + *
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> Younging direction

San Jeronimo Granite -I- o 4 Inclination of contact
L lnclination of xenolith swarm
+
- Horizontal xenolith swarm
Inclination of bedding

FIG.4. Simplified map of the southern part of the Huaura Centred Ring Complex. Inclination of
contacts shown as vertical, horizontal, and dipping.

FIG.5. Composite cross section of the southern part of the Huaura Centred Ring Complex. Fig. 4
shows section lines.
 1026 CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 13. 1976
area points to the former presence of a continu-
ous block of basic rocks representing the original
roof, so that again it seems that an arcuate struc-
ture once existed comparable to those of the
Quebrada Paros and Chancay, and that the pres-
ent centre occupies the site of an earlier ring
structure along which an intact block of roof,
isolated by established fractures, foundered into
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the tonalitic magma.
Several periods of movement occurred along a
medial fault that transects the present centre;
one of these movements pre-dated emplacement
of the tonalite. It is thus likely that the whole re-
gional system of master faults was active at this
early date and markedly controlled subsidence
of blocks of the roof.
The Huaura Cauldron
The foundered block provided the structural
locus for the establishment of the Huaura Caul-
dron proper. The distribution and form of the
several acid intrusions involved is depicted in
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Fig. 4, the history of development being domi-
nated by interplay of two distinct units, the
granites of San Jeronimo and Puscao. As ex-
pected, these young granites have totally reset
the K-Ar 'clocks' of the adjacent earlier units so
that the ages of these have had to be gauged from
their outcrops well away from the centres.
The earliest evidence of the San Jeronimo
phase of activity is recorded by preserved rem-
nants of a hornblende monzonite within the
rather variable, hornblende bearing, equigran-
ular monzogranite of the ring-dyke. A screen
intervenes between this and inner circular pluton
consisting of a more homogeneous, biotite
bearing, porphyritic granophyre; these two in-
trusions are thought to be continuous at depth.
Along parts of its outcrop, the ring-dyke con-
sists simply of a broad dyke, up to 1 km in width,
accompanied by minor sheets of granophyre
along its contacts; elsewhere, it is represented by
a network of minor intrusions of this same mate-
rial.
The outer contact of the central pluton with
the intervening screen is complicated by having
formed the locus of later intrusions; but within
the pluton, deep canyon erosion reveals the flat-
lying contact between the granophyre forming
the arch of the bell-jar, and the underlying gab-
bro of the foundered block (Fig. 5).
The rocks of the Puscao phase form an even
more inhomogeneous suite including, in chrono-
logical order of intrusion, a microdiorite with a
trachytic texture, a distinctive tuffisite packed
with angular xenoliths and fractured xenocrysts,
an aplogranite phase, and a biotite-hornblende
granite. Generally the granite is packed with
xenoliths, mostly of volcanics representing
spalled-off pieces of the roof and walls, though
there are others representing a more viscous and
semi-consolidated early facies of the same in-
trusive suite; also very large angular blocks of the
San Jeronimo-type granophyre are present.
Despite gradational contacts, chaotic mixtures,
and an intimate intermingling of facies on the
local scale, it is possible to identify two separate
ring-dykes, one highly variable and largely frag-
mental in character, the other a xenolithic gran-
ite. These run together for part of their course
(Figs. 4 and 5) following the already-established
ring fracture and thereby injecting and breaking
up the earlier San Jeronimo ring-dyke and its
screen. The granite dyke, however, does break
out from this structure into the central vluton,
where it is emplaced partly along the medial
fault referred to above. The complex relation-
ships within the eastern part of this pluton, with
additional shallow-dipping contacts between
gabbro and underlying granite (Fig. 5), result
from this particular xenolithic ring dyke turning
downwards into an underlying pluton of Puscao
type (Fig. 6 ) . A second phase of cauldron sub-
sidence is thus identified.
Despite this clear indication of the order of
intrusion, the relationship between the Puscao
and San Jeronimo suites is so highly contradic-
tory in detail, including back-veining and com-
posite intrusion, that it seems likely that the
San Jeronimo material was only semi-consoli-
dated when emplacement of the Puscao magmas
took place. Indeed, so close in time are the in-
trusive~that it is not possible to resolve separate
intrusive phases by the K-Ar method.
In the Huaura complex overlapping of intru-
sive events is the rule, coexistence of magmas is
normal, and the marvellous complexity of the
ring dyke reveals a history of pulsatory intrusion
of magma and crystal mush of varying fluidity,
composition, and crystallinity.
Mylonites and TufSsites
Other features of this ring-complex are com-
mon to this class of phenomena the world over.
 BUSSELL ET AL.

Thus the ring fault is marked by flinty crush

rocks, i.e. ultramylonites, and the field relations
point to the contemporaneity of cataclasis and
the injection of fragmental material of tuffisitic
character (cf. Myers 1975). A complex process of
brecciation of both country rocks and semi-con-
krn lo
solidated magma is revealed that may have been 0
[I

due to the erosive character of gases provided by

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a vesiculating magma, and the entrainment of the FIG.6. Schematic section across the Huaura Complex
with present topography shown as dashed line. Symbols:
fragments in the gas. However, the lack of tex- v-Casma Formation; c-Calipuy Formation; black-
tural evidence of vesiculation and hydrothermal gabbro and diorite of Patap super-unit; pa-Paccho
alteration is a problem when applying ideas of super-unit; sa-Santa Rosa super-unit; p-Puscao unit;
conventional fluidization mechanisms, and it j-San Jeronimo unit; s-Sayin unit; ca-Cafias unit.
may be that shock-wave vaporization effects,
similar to those proposed by Bennet (1971, derlying magma chamber, presumably at dif-
1974), could equally well have played a part in ferent times in the development of the ring-dykes
the fragmentation of wall rocks adjacent to ac- and possibly as a response to pulsatory changes
tive ring faults. Whatever the cause of the brec- in magma pressure.
ciation, the occurrence of intrusive breccias with The underlying magma chambers into which
strong platy fabrics suggests that turbulent mag- the block foundered are exposed in the dissected
mas suffered increasing protoclastic deformation mountainous divide between the Huaura and
in the ring-fault environment as they lost mobil- Supe valleys (Cobbing and Pitcher 1972a). In
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ity, cooled, and consolidated on rising towards particular, that of Puscao is shown in actual sec-
the surface; such rocks may even be intruded tion as a layered pluton varying progressively
by fresh magma surges (cf. Curtis 1954). The over 600 m from a xenolithic, biotite-hornblende
location of such breccias along lines of repeated granodiorite at low levels to a leucocratic gran-
fault movement emphasises the mutually com- ite under a roof of volcanics. Within the former
plementary roles of both tectonic and intrusive are layers crowded with the flat-lying spalled-
phenomena in the emplacement of the Puscao off fragments of the roof volcanics, which pre-
ring. sumably settled down onto a floor of the devel-
This structural control of the form of the com- oping crystal mush (Taylor 1976). Embedded in
plex is very clear. Not only is there a marked these layers are blocks of stoped-off San Jero-
overall relationship between the fault-controlled nimo material, below which (but not above) the
geometry of the gabbro-volcanic block and the layers of xenoliths are depressed in a manner
San Jeronimo ring-dyke, but the form of the strongly suggestive of penetration by sinking
contacts was locally determined by pre-existing blocks. The appearance of plutonic chambers in
fracture patterns. Furthermore, such contacts this form completes the model of cross-cutting,
were later reworked by the Puscao intrusions, differentiating plutons lying at a high level in
one of which also followed the line of a contem- the crust and capped by ring complexes leading
porary fault. upwards, perhaps, into volcanic calderas (Fig.
6). It is thus appropriate to now refer to the
Cauldron Subsidence into Magma Chambers Fortaleza Complex, which represents an even
The flat-roofed, bell-jar form of the San Jero- higher level member of this subvolcanic denu-
nimo granite supports a cauldron subsidence dation series.
model for emplacement of the ring-dykes and
central plutons. Pulsatory intrusion was asso- The Fortaleza Complex
ciated with intermittent subsidence of a central The form of the batholith in the area of Huayl-
block of pre-existing, basic rocks with a relatively lapampa and Huarmey illustrates well the epi-
high density. Along the ring fault the wall-rocks sodic nature of intrusion in which the repeated
and semi-consolidated magmas were either brec- foundering of crustal blocks has produced a
ciated, entrained in gas streams and removed complex of intersecting steep-walled and flat-
upwards, or spalled-off and stoped into the un- roofed plutons (Myers 1975). Along the Rio
 1028 CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 13, 1976

Fortaleza, these are so deeply dissected as to 2 km from ~otentialcontacts of the Anta intru-
reveal a complex of ring-dykes and plutons (Fig. sion; it seems that, as ductile deformation gave
3d) of classical centred type (Knox 1974), this way to brittle fracture (by cooling or increase in
time with an age span of 61 to 56 m.y. BP, i.e. strain rate), so microbreccias were formed in
within 5 m.y. these zones, with angular fragments of the central
Once again it is the Puscao and San Jeronimo portions mixing with others derived from less-
granites that are largely involved, the host rocks deformed margins and all included in a banded
being the various tonalites and diorites of the mylonite. Such zones can pass by gradation into
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Santa Rosa super-unit roofed by residuals of the the Baranda sheets, and in the capricious nature
volcanics of the Casma Group. Essentially two of the abrasion of the many included fragments
main ring-dykes, each approximately one km in these sheets, coupled with their disorientation
thick by 20 km in diameter, outline the Fortaleza and chaotic mixing, is seen evidence for vigor-
Complex (Fig. 3d): that of Anta-Patirumi, which ous mechanical attrition and entrainment. This
is recognisable as part of a bell-jar pluton of presumably occurred during the clearing and
Puscao type (Table 1); and that of Corcovado, a widening of the original tectonically developed
nearly complete ring-dyke of San Jeronimo type. fractures, possibly by the intrusion of gas-
The Anta-Patirumi intrusion, with its 2 km charged magma, though such effects could
thick, flat, sheet-like top, developed by permis- equally be produced, as noted above, during im-
sive intrusion around a foundering block, sub- plosion in rapidly opened fractures.
siding just the 2 km indicated. External to its Similar structures are found in association
main contacts, numerous granodioritic sheets with the Corcovado dyke (Knox 1974, p. 301),
occupy a network of fractures; these are the where the intrusive breccias are spectacular with
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Baranda sheets of Myers (1975). The contacts all the characteristic features of their type (cf.
themselves show a marked indentation, the ori- Pitcher and Berger 1972, p. 156), including tex-
ginal breaking away having been controlled by tural evidence of reciprocal chemical reaction at
early formed joints and fault-planes in the host the margins of fragments and xenocrysts.
(see Knox 1974, fig. 4); appropriately, there are The model for emplacement is of the early
some particularly fine examples of angular development of shear fractures above a rising
stoped blocks associated with such contacts. pluton, these fractures being part of a devel-
The Corcovado dyke, here representing a oping regional pattern. As plastic deformation
second phase of activity, consists of a porphyritic gave way to brittle fracturing in a regime of in-
granite grading to a granophyre in contact zones creasing gas pressure due to differentiation, in-
and marginal sheets. Belts of intrusive breccia vasion by gas led to gas-coring, entrainment,
and tuffisite occur both as bands within the main and the final intrusion of a fluidised magma.
ring-dyke or as individual dykes external to it. Myers (1975) hypothesised that "the central
During the emplacement, the central block sub- block of older rocks subsided into the fluidised
sided differentially about a horizontal hinge-line, rim of magma as if in quicksands and was cor-
now represented by a transecting fault; and roded by flow of the fluidised system around it".
from the stratigraphic relations of the flat-lying A final point of interest is that the recorded
volcanics thrown down within the ring-fault, a K-Ar ages are sufficiently different from those of
maximum subsidence of 1500 m can be deduced. equivalent units in the Huaura-56 m.y. is here
The ring dykes are essentially vertical and the recorded for the San Jeronimo type-as to sug-
space problem is again not to be solved by any gest that activity in the two centres was not syn-
geometry of subsidence. Processes of removal by chronous.
downward stoping and upward entrainment
must both have been involved, as in the Huaura
Complex, and both Knox (1974) and Myers The Association of the Fortaleza Centre with
(1975) draw special attention to the importance the Extrusives
of gas-coring, fluidisation and entrainment of There is no direct way of estimating the depth
the disrupted host rocks in the removal of coun- of burial in relation to the present erosion level,
try-rock material. Myers describes thin shear- but in the highest mountains (2710 m) the Cor-
zones developing as irregular networks up to covado ring-dyke (Fig. 3d) is still seen to have
 BUSSELL E T AL.
vertical walls against volcanics downthrown
within the ring-fault. The lower levels of these
encircled volcanics seem to correlate with the
very highest formation of the Casma Group, the
Pararin Formation as defined by Myers (1974,
p. 482), and are therefore likely to be Upper
Cretaceous in age. Knox (1974) has identified a
minor discontinuity between these andesitic lava
Can. J. Earth Sci. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CALGARY on 10/05/12
flows and a younger sequence of sub-aerial, acid
pyroclastics, among which there are pitchstone-
bearing agglomerates, welded tuffs, true ignim-
brites, and a breccia feeder-pipe, a facies assem-
blage much like that of the Lower Tertiary Cali-
puy Formation. These rocks are petrologically
equivalent to the hypabyssal facies of the San
Jeronimo unit within the ring dyke, and cannot
be much different in age, so that it is an attractive
hypothesis that the latter may have reached the
surface and there have provided ignimbritic tuffs
and lavas as a caldera-fill, as in the Glencoe
cauldron in Scotland (Roberts 1966).
It is not clear whether volcanic material in any
For personal use only.
quantity was vented from the volcanoes now
represented by the central complexes, and not
largely from regional fissures now represented by
the great dyke swarms. However, it seems likely
that the ignimbrites intercalated with the basic
flows of the Calipuy Formation were ejected
from the volcanic centres and the general thesis
remains that some part of the volcanic material
originated directly from batholithic magmas.
The Of Form and
A comparative study of the four centred com-
plexes of Quebrada Paros, Chancay, Huaura,
and Fortaleza, shows that such centres were initi-
ated early in the emplacement history of the
batholith and continued to be rejuvenated by
repeated cauldron subsidence during the very
long period of its construction. However, in any
one centre the events were episodic with inter-
vening periods 'of quiescence, and particularly
in the later stages were likely to have been short-
lived as if activity depended on the limited life
of the feeder pluton. Throughout the entire his-
tory, the regional structure exerted a nice control
of the location and form of the intrusion.
In outline, the structural environment of the
batholith is one of simple upright folds on An-
dean trends. For the most part these are open
flexures, but they tighten locally and develop
1029
axial cleavages in narrow belts, as if responding
to master structures in the basement. The asso-
ciated brittle fractures comprise a set of strike-
slip faults oblique to the fold trend and so neatly
bisecting the two major joint directions that a
common origin in relation to a single stress sys-
tem is likely. Studies by Knox (1974), Myers
(1976), and Bussell (1975) have shown how the
detailed form of the contacts of the constituent
plutons and the trend of the dyke swarms were
controlled by this regional fracture pattern. The
way in which this was imposed on the successive
intrusions, yet was utilized during the emplace-
ment of each into the other, coupled with evi-
dence of repeated movement on associated
faults, clearly indicates an overall contempo-
raneity of fracturing and intrusion.
The possibility has already been mentioned
that the centres, evenly spaced in line along the
axis of the batholith, were located at the inter-
sections of the oblique faults with the major
Andean lineament along which the batholith
was evidently emplaced (Pitcher 1972). It seems
that magmas preferentially selected these lines
of weakness, rising along them and doming the
roof rocks, so opening pre-existing fractures,
even initiating new fractures, thus facilitating
sagging and collapse of the heavier roof rocks.
The existence of the early gabbroic centres can
be seen as an essential prerequisite for the subse-
quent cauldron subsidence sequences.
The pattern of even spacing so clearly seen in
the Chancay-Fortaleza sector is not obviously
continued outside it, certainly not to the north
where a much more diffuse battern of plutons
pertains along the batholithic lineament. This
change seems to be related to the nature of the
country rocks. Thus, the very ordered arrange-
ment is only present where the Casma Group of
volcaniclastics is especially thick and buttressed
by flows and sills, and where it is likely, on
palaeogeographic grounds, that some of the
most incompetent horizons in the Andean Meso-
zoic, including the black shales of the Carhuaz
Formation, are missing from the successions
underlying the Casma at depth (E. J. Cobbing,
personal communication 1975). Also, the strike-
slip faulting gives way northwards to a more
intense folding. The nice spacing is thus likely
to be related to the competency, homogeneity,
and thickness of the crustal carapace above the
rising plutons, a finding in some agreement with
 1030 CAN. J . EARTH SCI. VOL. 13, 1976
the suggestions of Baker (1974) in his discussion
of the spacing of Andean volcanoes.
Conclusion: Volcanicity Directly Related to the
Batholith
In many areas of the world, centred ring com-
plexes involving cauldron subsidence are so
closely associated with surface calderas that
Can. J. Earth Sci. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CALGARY on 10/05/12
there is little doubt that they together form a
natural 'denudation series' (cf. Jacobson et al.
1958) in Peru, even revealing the magma cham-
bers that sustained the surface volcanicity. The
Huaura and Fortaleza are prime examples of
their kind and their shallow-seated. sub-volcanic
environment is confirmed by the narrowness of
their aureoles, the predominance of brittle-frac-
turing phenomena, the hypabyssal nature of the
acidic members, and the importance of processes
of possibly, gas-coring and, certainly, gaseous
entrainment.
It is the present thesis that ring-fractures often
reached the surface, sometimes permitting the
For personal use only.
venting of magmas derived directly from the
plutonic chambers (Fig. 6). The evidence is most
direct in the association of the late, centred gra-
nites with sub-aerial volcanicity, but as the ring
complexes were initiated very early on in the plu-
tonic history, it is possible that the axis of the
batholith has represented a volcanic line from
the very inception of activity in the mid-Creta-
ceous. Indeed it seems likelv to us that a volcanic
chain was located on this single, deep-seated
fracture, and near the edge of the continental
plate, for much of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic.
Acknowledgments
This work forms part of a research project
financed jointly by the National Environmental
Research Council and Ministry of Overseas
Development of the U.K., and carried out under
the auspices of the Director of the Servicio
Nacional de Geologia y Mineria del Peru. The
authors are grateful for this support.
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