Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17 – 28

www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto

Shape and intrusion style of the Coastal Batholith, Peru

Mike Haederle, Michael P. Atherton *
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK
Received 30 March 2000; received in revised form 23 March 2001; accepted 23 March 2001

Abstract

The Coastal Batholith of Peru extends over 1600 km parallel to the coast along the Andean trend. Gravity profiles on three
traverses across the batholith indicate the geometry is essentially that of a flat slab with average thickness from 2.0 – 3.2 km, and a
thick root 4 – 10 km wide to the west. Granitic material does not extend to depths greater than 3 km below sea level datum. This
study supports recent gravity work which indicates plutons are commonly thin, 5 km or less in thickness. Detailed mapping in the
Lima segment of the Coastal Batholith reveals thin plutons where space was made dominantly by downward displacement via
floor depression. However, early roof uplift also created some space. Stoping occurs but is not a major space maker. Floor
depression may be modelled by cantilever or piston mechanisms and although the strong marginal deformation with mylonites,
tuffisites, microbreccia, faults and shear zones suggests the piston model best describes the mechanism of emplacement of much
of the Coastal Batholith some space was probably made by a cantilever mechanism. In brief, space making processes involved
early roof uplift and regional doming, then floor depression mainly by piston and probably subsidiary cantilever mechanisms and,
finally, local stoping producing the cut-out rectilinear nature of the batholith. The Coastal Batholith formed on shallow partial
melting of hydrous basaltic marginal basin rocks between 5 and 10 km. Floor depression occurred as the crustal column
foundered into an actively deflating layer of partial melt. This is an efficient space making process and is limited here to shallow
levels of the upper crust only. The melts ascended to within 2 or 3 km of the surface, up dyke-like conduits then spread
horizontally to form tabular plutons. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Batholith shape; Gravity profile; Emplacement mechanism; Peru

1. Introduction continental crust. A major problem involves the three-

Granite batholith emplacement in the upper crust is
the final stage in a large scale exchange of energy and
mass which started with generation and segregation of
melt, then magma ascent and finally intrusion of
magma to form the assemblage of plutons that make
up the batholith. In spite of much discussion there is
still no consensus on how space is made for magmas in
*
Corresponding author. Fax: +44-151-794-5196.
E-mail address: mikea@liv.ac.uk (M.P. Atherton).
dimensional shape/geometry and in particular evi-
dence of the floors of plutons which are curiously
rarely observed. Furthermore, prejudices are common
with regard to where melt originates and how it
ascends to the high levels at which batholiths are
commonly emplaced. The shape of plutons is also
important in modelling high-level evolution of mag-
mas and in understanding magma chamber dynamics.
Here, the shape of the Coastal Batholith in Peru
determined from gravity modelling is described,
together with some evidence for the form of the
magma conduits. This is integrated with field, geo-

0040-1951/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 4 0 - 1 9 5 1 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 2 0 4 - 9
18 M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28
physical and geochemical modelling to help constrain
possible emplacement mechanisms and limits to the
energy/mass exchange.
2. The Coastal Batholith, Peru
The Coastal Batholith is the major plutonic phase of
Mesozoic magmatism in Peru. This lineament-con-
strained multiple Batholith extends over 1600 km
parallel to the coast, with up to 1000 plutons, grouped
into superunits, cropping out mainly within the com-
posite Huarmey/Cañete marginal basin (Atherton et
al., 1983). Its extension to the north and south is
markedly attenuated so that over 70% of the Batholith
lies within the exposed Albian basaltic basinal rocks.
The basin formed by splitting/rifting of continental
crust (with large crustal dilation) as shown by major
basaltic dyke swarms which typically produced an
anomalous high heatflow indicated by metamorphic
thermal gradients in excess of 300 BC km 1 (Ather-
ton, 1990). The thermal structure within the rift, which
is controlled by the dykes, induced shallow melting
(5– 10 km) of the ‘new crust’ basaltic rocks at the
bottom of the basin to form the magmas of the Coastal
Batholith immediately after basin inversion. Atherton
(1984) thought that the rapidly produced large
amounts of magma were quickly intruded up axial
fractures (parallel to the plutonic lineament) then
horizontally to form thin tabular intrusions near the
surface, within an envelope of marginal basin basaltic
rocks.
3. Gravity survey
Gravity modelling of the Batholith and its envelope
along three orthogonal transverses (Fig. 1), approx-
imately 100 km apart, north of Lima (10B30’S –
8B30’S) supplemented by land and marine gravity
work (e.g. Kulm et al., 1981; Bussell and Wilson,
1985) confirms the simple geometry suggested by the
above model, showing the Batholith has a thin, tabular
shape.
Fig. 1. Map showing the gravity traverses (black arrows) across the Coastal Batholith, Lima segment, central Peru. The traverse Huaura-Sayan
was completed by Bussell and Wilson (1985). Insert shows the areal extent and position of the Santa Rosa superunit and the younger superunits.
The Batholith is intruded into the Albian volcanogenic marginal basin rocks and is covered by Tertiary volcanic rocks.
The methodology involved the use of a La Coste
and Romberg gravimeter (error < 0.01 mgal), cali-
brated at three main sites including Jorje Chavey
airport. Elevations were determined by benchmark,
geodetic survey (US) and barometric levelling.
After corrections for latitude, elevation and top-
ography the data yielded the free Bouger anomaly,
indicating the Bouger gravity field is parallel to the
coast and the axis of the Batholith. It is essentially
regular, linear with very steep gradients ( 4 to 5
mgal km 1) from the coast to 90 km inland, a total
drop of 400 mgal. The Coastal Batholith component
was determined by the removal of the regional com-
ponent to give the residual anomalies representing the
gravitational signature of the batholith and its enve-
lope (Fig. 2). Details of the gravity survey and data
reduction are given in Haederle et al. (in preparation).
A major feature of the three profiles are the
positive anomalies over the granitic rocks of the
batholith implying the existence of relatively dense
rocks at shallow depth.
4. The shape of the Coastal Batholith
The final model for the Batholith, incorporating
known geology which puts the dense basaltic rocks of
the basin underneath the batholith, indicates the three
sections across the Batholith share similar features.
The geometry is essentially that of a flat slab, with
varying thickness, which is anchored along the west-
ern margin by a relatively deep root of light granitic
material (Fig. 3). The flat slab dimensions are as
follows:
(a) Chimbote-Huallanca profile: 2.4 km (average)
thick by 35 km wide.
(b) Casma-Huaraz profile: 3.2 km (average) thick
by 60 km wide.
(c) Pativilca-Conococha profile: 2.0 km (average)
thick, over 28 km wide.
The thick roots to the west are all 10 km to the base
and are 6, 4 and 10 km wide, respectively, at the base
M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28 19
20 M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28

Fig. 2. Final residual anomalies for the three gravity profiles after the removal of linear regional fields of slope 3.9 mgal/km (Chimbote-
Huallanca), 4.6 mgal/km (Casma-Huaraz), and 4.4 mgal/km (Pativilca-Conococha). The sharp negative peak at the western edge of the
Chimbote-Huallanca and Pativilca-Conococha profiles marks the contact of the Santa Rosa superunit of the Batholith with the marginal basin
basaltic country rocks. Arrows towards the eastern edge of the profile show the eastern limit of the exposed Batholith. The contact in the Casma-
Huaraz profile lies to the west of the traverse data. Note the similarity of profiles (a) and (c) and the difference to (b), and the strong positive
gradients marking the western part of the Batholith on all profiles.

(Fig. 3). The western edge of the Batholith (negative
anomaly) is marked by the Santa Rosa tonalite (2.66 g
cm-3) which is the most extensive superunit in this
segment, making up nearly two thirds of the batholith
and which crops out in all three profiles (Fig. 1).
Apart from the western margin, ‘granitic’ material
does not extend to depths greater than 3 km below sea
level datum in any of the profiles modelled. Indeed, in
the Pativilca-Conococha profile, no granitic material
is present below the datum line in the central part of
 M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28 21

Fig. 3. Final two-dimensional gravity models of the Coastal Batholith and its envelope for the three profiles shown in Fig. 2, including
geological cross-section of the material above the datum plane (sea level). Note in the Pativilca-Conochocha section there is no material below
sea level datum in the central part of the Batholith. Symbols as in Fig. 1.

the batholith. Even in the other two sections, dense,
basaltic material of the marginal basin comes very
close to the surface in places. On a crustal scale it is
apparent that the Batholith forms a thin veneer at the
top of the continental crust.
5. Uniqueness of the modelled profiles
In the absence of good constraints on the model-
ling, gravity anomalies are notoriously open to a wide
range of interpretations. Here four constraints provide
some confidence in the sensibility of the profiles.
(1) Surface geology indicates that outer pluton
contacts are all steep or vertical (Myers, 1975; Bus-
sell, 1976) so have been traced vertically down to the
sea level datum-plane.
(2) Surface density values from rock material
collected and optimised determination of densities
using graphical and mathematical techniques were
ascribed to the various relevant rock units at the datum
plane. Thus, the top of the profile is fixed.
22 M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28
(3) The various bodies in the profile can have
densities between 2.6 and 3.0 g cm 3 to be geo-
logically sensible. This is an important constraint
especially in the Pativilca-Conococha profile as the
regional anomaly consists of very large positive and
negative peaks and large density contrasts must be
assumed to model it.
(4) Continuity along strike is obtained by using the
same steps in modelling all three profiles.
It is pertinent to review alternate approaches or
modifications.
Increasing the density of the material underlying
the batholith is possible, i.e. from 2.93 to 3.00 g cm-3.
This would extend the thickness of the lighter granitic
bodies by a small amount, but the overall structure
would remain the same.
It is possible within the constraints to insert an
intermediate density layer between the granitic rocks
and the underlying dense material, but this would not
alter the overall geometry, but merely insert a package
between the two major components. However, there is
no room for an intermediate layer along the western
margin in any profile, and there are problems in
accommodating it in other areas. Furthermore, as there
is no geological evidence for such a layer it seems
unwise to postulate one.
An important result relates to the western edge of the
batholith which was modelled using Santa Rosa tona-
lite which outcrops at the surface in all three profiles. It
has a density of 2.65– 2.67 g cm 3. Even if lower
density material were used it would have to be an exotic
acid rock of exceptionally low density, for which there
is no evidence, to affect the profile significantly.
The model indicates the batholith is essentially a
thin, tabular, composite body notwithstanding its very
extensive surface outcrop. Despite the flat roof and the
dissected terrain with a relief of up to 4500 m the
bottom of the batholith is not seen.
6. Nature of the material underlying the batholith
The positive anomaly over the batholith reflects the
existence of dense material (modelled with a density
of 2.93 g cm 3) underlying the batholith. In this
segment, the batholith lies essentially within the
marginal basin with a fill of basaltic lavas, sills,
hyaloclastites, turbidites and gabbros (Atherton and
Webb, 1989). The dense material may therefore be of
volcanogenic origin, the density is certainly compat-
ible with this. It is also possible that the dense material
is crystalline residues from differentiation producing
the granitic rocks of the Coastal Batholith. This would
also have similar density. However, a close look at the
residual gravity anomaly in the Casma-Huarez profile
for instance indicates that the eastern limit of the
positive anomaly corresponds to the eastern limit of
the deep basaltic facies of the marginal basin. Granites
emplaced to the east of this are marked by a negative
anomaly. In the Pativilca-Conococha profile, the pos-
itive anomaly also drops over the most eastern plutons
implying it is not directly related to the batholith. In
the Chimbote-Huallanca profile, the positive anomaly
stretches further east than the Batholith into the plat-
form sediments which here have been thrust onto the
marginal basin (M.A. Bussell and E.J. Cobbing, pers.
commun., 2000).
The inference from these observed correlations
between the positive anomaly and the marginal basin
is that the dense material directly underlying the
batholith is in the main marginal basin fill.
7. General modelling of batholiths — three-dimen-
sional shape of granitic intrusions
The structure of the Coastal Batholith presented
here is that of a thin, composite tabular body. Taking
the batholith as a whole, the width/thickness ratios (to
sea level datum) vary from 35:2 to 28:1.3, i.e. aspect
ratios of 17.5 to 21.5, respectively.
Comparison with the Sierra Nevada Batholith
(Oliver, 1977) is of interest. Over a distance of 350
km, from SE to NE through Fresno, thicknesses based
on gravity modelling vary from about 0.8 to 12 km,
with an average aspect ratio of 18 and 11 for the Sierra
Nevada and Coast Ranges, respectively. This is com-
patible with the classic views of Hamilton and Myers
(1967) for the Sierra Nevada and Boulder Batholiths.
Results of Lynn et al. (1981) using seismic reflection
in batholithic terranes in the Western USA show the
presence of reflectors at 6– 10 km underlying seismi-
cally homogenous batholiths, supporting the tabular
model. In Maine, the Katarhdin Batholith is 2 km
thick and has a maximum width of 55 km (Hodge et
al., 1982).
 M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28
Individual plutons in the Coastal Batholith range
from 1.0 to 5.6 km in thickness with an average of 2.6
km, very close to the maximum thickness of ca. 2.5
km for a single intrusion event when total magma
pressure is unlikely to be greater than 100 MPa (Price
and Cosgrove, 1990). Sea level aspect ratios for
individual plutons average about 5. These values are
very similar to those of Vigneresse (1983) from
gravity inversion over individual Hercynian sheet-like
‘granites’ in the Armorican Massif of France which
are 3 –5 km deep and 18– 24 km elliptical length with
aspect ratios of 5 – 6. These granites were all emplaced
during deformation, so the final shape results from the
effects of both intrusion and regional deformation.
They also correspond to values determined from
Maine and New Hampshire (Hodge et al., 1982),
where thicknesses of less than 1 km were found with
an overall range of 0.5 to 2.5 km for individual
plutons and from the Bays-of-Maine Batholith which
has plutons interpreted to be 3– 7 km thick and areal
extents approaching 1600 km2 (Sweeney, 1976). Sim-
ilar values are found for the Lake District Granite
(Evans et al., 1994) which is made up of a package of
ca. 1-km-thick tabular sheets. In a review of gravity
studies worldwide which Vigneresse (1995) consid-
ered to be the most consistent method of determining
the three-dimensional shape of plutons, thicknesses
were found to be in the region of 5 km.
McCaffrey and Petford (1997) using published
data on 135 laccolith and 21 granitic intrusions found
length and thickness relations typical of scale invar-
iant tabular sheet geometries; plutons in the Coastal
Batholith fit the power law relationship defined by
these authors having aspect ratios for individual
plutons of about 5.
8. Discussion and conclusions
The gravity survey and geology indicates the
Coastal Batholith has a thin tabular shape with a
well-defined floor. On a crustal scale it forms a thin
veneer at the top of the crust. There is no evidence of
cylindrical forms extending deep into the crust
although there is a dyke-like root at the western
margin extending to depths of up to 10 km.
On the scale of the individual component parts of
the batholith, the final three-dimensional shape of
23
individual plutons is important as it may record the
manner in which space is created on arrival of
granitic magma at high levels in the crust. Detailed
mapping of the Coastal Batholith indicates many of
the numerous plutons making up the batholith have a
rectangular or subrectangular shape elongated along
the batholith axis and Andean trend (NNW –SSE).
Flat roofs and steep walls are common, and dome-
shaped outcrops are seen in deep sections through the
larger plutons. Some plutons form ring dykes which
may pass upwards into a tabular pluton (Myers, 1975;
Bussell, 1976). Although some plutons are sill-like
bodies or steeply dipping sheets, many appear to
coalesce or form dykes at depth (Myers, 1975).
Floors to plutons are rarely exposed, the considerable
vertical exposure often revealing only roofs. There
are no exposures of the batholith lying on the
marginal basin volcanic rocks into which the bath-
olith was intruded.
An important feature is the ‘‘lack of distortion of
the envelope particularly the lack of vertical and
lateral compression of roof rocks’’ (Myers, 1975, p.
1216), e.g. pluton margin synformal and bending
down structures are noticeably absent. This led
Myers (1975, p. 1216) to propose the plutons ‘‘were
neither emplaced by dilation nor by lifting their
roof—they replaced the rocks which previously occu-
pied their sites by exchange downward’’. Direct
evidence of roof subsidence is common and can be
seen for instance in the Patorumi pluton, (Fig. 1
northeast of Pativilca) where roof rocks have sub-
sided 1500 m relative to the same country rock
outside the pluton (Myers, 1975). Flat lying micro-
diorite granophyre sills and sags are abundant in the
older units of some of the plutons and are testimony
to further subsidence during pluton emplacement
(Myers, 1975).
However, block uplift was considered an important
component of pluton emplacement by Cobbing and
Pitcher (1972) and local doming on uprise of magma
was demonstrated by Taylor (1976). Within the
Huaura ring complex there is no doubt early central
uplift occurred. Reverse faults along crush breccias
and mylonites contemporaneous with ring dyke
emplacement show shear fabrics and microfolds con-
sistent with movement of a central block upwards, then
major downward movement within the ring fault
producing central collapse into a magma chamber,
24 M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28
according to Bussell (1975). However, elsewhere
evidence of movement direction is not so clear due
to radical reworking of pluton contacts.
On a regional scale, dips of the volcanic country
rocks away from the batholith indicated to Cobbing
and Pitcher (1972) some large scale doming may
have been important in producing space. Nonetheless,
Pitcher in his latest summary of batholith evolution,
considered the dominant intrusion mechanism was
cauldron subsidence. He envisaged ‘‘nested arrays of
multipulse plutons extending downwards as a stack
of foundered blocks and interconnected cauldrons
that reach deep into the crust’’ (Pitcher, 1997, p.
174).
We can conclude that although roof uplift and
regional scale doming certainly occurred early in
the intrusion history, later, large scale foundering/
subsidence of rectangular and arcuate country rock
blocks was the major process producing space now
occupied by the batholith (Myers, 1975; Bussell,
1976).
The detailed and complex nature of the intrusion
sequence was considered by Bussell (1975) to be
epitomised by the Cauthuy Grande pluton near Huar-
mey (Fig. 1), which he thought is the only pluton to
show the deeper levels of intrusion of a typical bath-
olith pluton.
It was forcibly emplaced with concentric foliation
parallel to the contact. Wall rocks show ductile dis-
placement, outward beneath the pluton and lifting of
the roof. The foliation is vertical in the centre of the
pluton and inwardly dipping towards the margin. No
movement sense was found in the marginal mylonite
zones (Bussell, 1976). In this model, the extensive
undeformed Santa Rosa plutons formed tabular bodies
above narrow, cone-shaped stems such as that seen in
the Cauthuy Grande Pluton.
Similar geometries seem to be common, thus
detailed gravity work (see Vigneresse, 1995) often
reveals deep, asymmetric root zones with vertical
lineations and foliations which are interpreted as
magma feeder zones. Floor dips decrease markedly
away from these root zones which are about 10 – 30
times less in area than the exposed plutons. Vigneresse
(1995) considered these features reflected lateral
spreading of magma from a feeder conduit or root.
From a compiled data set, Vigneresse (1995) con-
cluded that the maximum volume of magma from a
single root could range from 1000 to 1500 km3,
corresponding to 400 km2 outcrop. This is slightly
larger than the average pluton size of the Coastal
Batholith (Pitcher, 1997).
A good example of the relation of pluton to root
size determined by gravity, comparable to plutons in
the Coastal Batholith, is the late Hercynian Fichtelge-
birge pluton in the northwest Bohemian massif (see
Vigneresse, 1995). It has a length of 52 km, and
maximum width of 10 km and a root zone at the
extreme eastern end, which at 10 km depth is 3.3 km
wide, similar to that in the Casma Huaraz profile (Fig.
3) of the Coastal Batholith.
The exact nature of the roots is unclear, but in the
Coastal Batholith where magma conduits are very
frequently dyke-like, i.e. the Baranda dykes of Myers
(1975) or ring dykes and narrow stems to plutons of
Bussell (1976), it seems probable the batholith was
dyke fed at the level exposed and the root zone is
made up of a multiple dyke system along an NNW
trend compatible with the prevailing Andean-normal
tension which was responsible for the production of
the earlier marginal basin and the later synplutonic
dyke swarms where dilation factors can be as high as
13% (Bussell, 1976). It may be compared with the
dyke array seen feeding the Gangotri plutons in the
Himalayas, i.e. 100 dykes of 10 to 20 m width or 1000
to 2000 m of dykes feeding a kilometric sized pluton
(Scaillet et al., 1995) and the tabular root zone of the
Bergell pluton, a 1-km-thick deformed dyke array
feeding the 11-km-wide pluton (Rosenberg et al.,
1995). The root/conduit system of the Coastal Bath-
olith intersected the shallow melt zone (Atherton,
1990) transferring large amounts of granitic material
from the source at about 10 km or less to < 2 km from
the surface (Atherton and Brenchley, 1972), where it
formed the western superunit (Santa Rosa) of the
batholith.
However, it is unlikely to be a conduit for the later
Puscao and San Jeronimo superunits which together
make up about 30% of the batholith, and lie mainly to
the east of the Santa Rosa superunit (Fig. 1). Here,
structures and magma channels were more distributed
(Fig. 4), related to regional fracture sets, and at a
higher structural level (Bussell, 1976). They are not
seen on the gravity profile partly because of lack of
resolution, thus the Puscao ring dykes are commonly
less than 2 km wide, may grade down into plutons
 M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28
Fig. 4. (a) Schematic cross-section of a composite pluton (crosses)
showing emplacement involving some regional tilting, stoping and a
combined cantilever/piston mechanism. Shear strains in the country
rock pistons acommodated by normal faults, which may with depth
be more distributed and lubricated on fluidisation, forming channels
for rising magma. The main magma conduit or root lies to the left of
the section. Non-uniform subsidence may also occur. (b) Near
vertical profile of Baranda sheets on the side of a quebrada, looking
north. In the Coastal Batholith these sheets extend up to 2 km from
pluton margins (after Myers, 1975).
which appear to have been supplied with magma by
irregular networks of Baranda-type dykes (Fig. 4).
An important implication of the geometry seen
particularly in the older Santa Rosa units is that the
bulk flow is horizontal at the level of emplacement
(cf. Cruden, 1998). Internally, away from the contacts,
magmatic state foliations have not been described.
Fabrics at the contacts are generally sub-vertical
particularly the western contacts (Myers, 1975). Fur-
25
ther study, together with AMS data is required to
determine the fabrics away from the contacts which
might indicate major horizontal flow.
Critical elements of the pluton emplacement model
put forward by Myers (1975) and Bussell (1976)
involve the vertical movements nearly always associ-
ated with emplacement and the late downward dis-
placement of floor on already existing regional
fracture sites. Plutons are commonly fringed by dykes
and vertical sheets (5– 10 m thick or more; some are
as much as 500 m thick), many forming irregular
networks (Fig. 4), and by marginal faults and shear
zones along belts some 60 km long and 20 km wide
with Andean trend (Myers, 1975). These dykes and
sheets (the Baranda sheets of Myers, 1975) which also
occur within the plutons can also have flat lying
attitudes above plutons (Myers, 1975). Myers (1975)
considered these structures preceded the emplacement
of major plutons and marked out the future margins of
the pluton defining a framework of rectangles and less
commonly cylinders. The structures also formed dur-
ing and later than the main emplacement of plutons. In
a detailed description of the phenomena preceding and
during emplacement, Myers (1975) considered a
major pluton was emplaced by mass exchange with
a rectangular segment of its host rocks which subsided
within a framework of ‘‘Baranda sheets’’, the ‘‘central
block of older rocks subsided into a fluidized rim of
the magma as if in quicksand’’ (Myers, 1975, p.
1218). In this analysis, dilation and roof lifting were
not the major mechanisms of intrusion, most space
was made by downward displacement of material
(Myers, 1975). Such a model is consistent with the
general tectonism in the western Andes during Creta-
ceous/Tertiary times in which large scale movements
were vertical involving crustal blocks, bounded by
large transcurrent faults which were active before and
after the vertical movements (Myers, 1975; Bussell,
1976).
Myers (1975) model for the batholith was based on
mapping the very well-exposed plutons of the Puscao
superunit (second largest component in the sector). He
considered the same features were seen, albeit less
well exposed, in the earlier Santa Rosa superunit to
the west, so he thought, all plutons were formed in a
similar manner.
Although we consider most space for the large
magma volumes formed by downward transfer of
26 M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28
country rock the mechanism is uncertain (Cruden,
1998). Two main models have been considered:
cauldron subsidence into a deep, underlying and
unexposed magma chamber (Bussell, 1976) and stop-
ing (Paterson and Miller, 1998). The conceptual
problem with cauldron subsidence is in some way
similar to stoping in that space for the subsiding block
is provided by a deeper level magma chamber into
which the block founders, moving the problem out of
sight (Bonin, 1986). With regard to stoping, there
should also be a graveyard of roof rafts at the bottom
of plutons for which there is little evidence and little
vertical space.
Although passive stoping was recognised on all
scales in the Coastal Batholith and relates to rectilinear
fractures, e.g. flat roof fractures formed on pluton
collapse (Bussell, 1976), it is confined to the roof
zones and was not an important emplacement mecha-
nism but served to give the final ‘‘cut out’’ rectilinear
form of the Batholith (Myers, 1975; Bussell, 1976).
Extraction of the large amounts of magma from a
shallow source as envisaged for the Coastal Batholith
(Atherton, 1990) would induce floor depression in the
rocks overlying the source and instigate the structures
formed in a crustal column between source and
ultimate emplacement site. This column ‘‘founders’’
into an actively deflating layer of partial melt (Cruden,
1998, p. 857). Volume losses and gains in the source
and emplacement site will be nearly equal.
Two models for downward displacement via floor
depression have been put forward, viz. piston and
cantilever (Cruden, 1998). In Peru, there is good field
evidence for the piston model but as pluton floors are
rare, evidence of cantilever behaviour is difficult to
come by. Furthermore, for realistic pluton geometries
bulk finite strains in the cantilever model are predicted
to be low and may not produce distinctive fabrics
(Cruden, 1998). In contrast, during piston sinking
deformation should be localised near the column
boundaries along shear zones, etc., and distinctive
fabrics should occur whose magnitude is a function
of the size of the source and deformation zone width.
In the piston model, strain rates along the bounding
faults are considered to be fast, particularly if the
faults are lubricated with magma (Cruden, 1998). The
Baranda granodiorite sheets of the Coastal Batholith
(Myers, 1975), which extend up to 2 km or more from
pluton contacts, developed within and adjacent to
shear zones, ultra mylonite and microbreccia zones
and may pass into them and into ring dykes and
plutons. Flow banding and gneiss fabrics as well as
spalled off xenoliths are common features. These
sheets were fluidised with gas not liquid and fluid-
isation widened the Baranda sheets which became
conduits up which magmas rose. The lubication by
the fluidised granodiorite in the Baranda dykes and
the consequent high viscosity contrast with the coun-
try rock is all consistent with a dominant piston
mechanism for emplacement of large tabular and
elliptical granites which have associated bounding
‘‘faults’’, shear zones and feeder dykes (Baranda
sheets and ring dykes). Although the field evidence
suggests much of the space was produced on floor
depression by the piston mechanism, it is clear that
early updoming on a local and regional scale was
important and hybrid floor depression mechanisms
probably also occurred. Thus, there is some evidence
in the Pativilca-Conococha profile (Fig. 3) of the
Batholith floor deepening towards the ‘‘root’’ in the
west which might suggest some cantilever compo-
nent; however, it is not seen in the other two model
profiles, although this may be due to a lack of
resolution, and the way the gravity/geology was
modelled. It may be concluded that space was made
for the Coastal Batholith in a variety of ways includ-
ing regional and local uplift, limited stoping, and floor
depression including cantilever and piston mecha-
nisms, of which the latter was the dominant process.
The model profiles showing a thin Batholith ex-
tending maximally to 4 km below sea level datum
are compatible with the geophysical evidence of a
huge arch structure beneath the basin of dense material
3.0 g cm-3 which extends upwards to within 8 km of
the surface (Jones, 1981). This material splits conti-
nental crust of 2.75 –2.80 g cm 3 density and the
marginal basin and Batholith lie within this rifted
extensional system. Jones (1981) thought the dense
material could be imbricate upthrust oceanic crust, or
deep intrusion of basic rock, or upper mantle emplaced
by thrusting of subducting lithosphere. The marginal
basin was formed directly above this arch and the
bottom of the basin lies directly on it. Melting of the
hydrated basic rocks at the bottom of the basin resulted
from the upbowed thermal structure produced on
continental crust rifting, dyking and mantle upwelling
(Atherton, 1990). The tonalitic magmas so produced
 M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28
had a shallow source, maximally about 10 km deep.
This conclusion is based on structural, thermal and
petrogenetic arguments relating to the evolution of the
extensional system responsible for the marginal basin
(Atherton, 1990).
The shallow melting in the marginal basin con-
strains the dominant exchange process, that is magma
up and floor rock down, to upper crustal domains,
notably < 10 km. It is inherently more likely than the
crustal scale exchange (over 50 km) envisaged by
Paterson and Miller (1998) and others.
Paterson and Miller (1998) in their study of plutons
in the Sierra Nevada, Cascades and Baja California
suggested host rock material is mainly transported
downwards as roofs show minimal doming, and weak
or no deformation. Discordant stepped roof contacts
and stoped blocks were thought to support stoping as
an important final process of transferring rock down-
wards. Although the work on the Coastal Batholith is
in agreement with downward displacement of material
as the major space maker, stoping is not considered to
be an important space-producing mechanism, and the
conclusion that faults are not important in the con-
struction of the Mount Stuart Batholith and by anal-
ogy other plutons in contractional arcs (Paterson and
Miller, 1998) cannot be applied to the Coastal Bath-
olith of Peru, or other Cordilleran belts where exten-
sional deformation was dominant during intrusion. A
further major difference involves host rock displace-
ment along margin parallel shear zones. Certainly, the
detailed marginal deformation described by Myers
(1975) includes shear zones but there is no evidence
of major downward displacement of the country rock
as suggested by Paterson and Miller (1998). The
piston/cantilever model is gravitationally efficient
and reasonable in that space is made by the subsi-
dence of country rock beneath the embryonic pluton
into the deflating source area along pre-existing struc-
tures and the numerous contemporaneous faults and
shear zones which are fluidised melt lubricated. The
surrounding country rock remains essentially intact,
but is depressed over the plutons.
Acknowledgements
This paper extends the geophysical work of
Michael Haederle completed during a PhD study at
27
the University of Liverpool. The emplacement models
rely very much on the fieldwork of John Myers and
Andrew Bussell completed as NERC post-doctoral
research fellow and PhD student, respectively, at
Liverpool. Thanks are due to the reviewers Nick
Petford and John Grocott and to Andrew Bussell for
thoughtful and detailed advice and comments. Thanks
are also due to Gerhard Wörner for editing this paper
and organising the symposium and to Kay Lancaster
for draughting and Karen McNally for the wordpro-
cessing.
References
Atherton, M.P., 1984. The Coastal Batholith of Peru. In: Harmon,
R.S., Barreiro, B.A. (Eds.), Andean Magmatism Chemical and
Isotopic Constraints. Shiva Publishing, Cheshire, pp. 168 – 179.
Atherton, M.P., 1990. The Coastal Batholith of Peru: the product of
rapid recycling of new crust formed within rifted continental
margin. Geol. J. 25, 335 – 349.
Atherton, M.P., Brenchley, P.J., 1972. A preliminary study of the
structure, stratigraphy and metamorphism of some contact rocks
of the western Andes, near Quebrada Venado Muerto, Peru.
Geol. J. 8, 161 – 178.
Atherton, M.P., Webb, S., 1989. Volcanic facies, structure and geo-
chemistry of the marginal basin rocks of central Peru. J. S. Am.
Earth Sci. 2, 241 – 261.
Atherton, M.P., Pitcher, W.S., Warden, V., 1983. The Mesozoic
marginal basin of Central Peru. Nature 305, 303 – 306.
Bonin, B., 1986. Ring Complex Granites and Anorogenic Magma-
tism. Studies in Geology. North Oxford Academic, Oxford, UK.
Bussell, M.A., 1975. The structural evolution of the Coastal Bath-
olith in the provinces of Ancash and Lima, central Peru. PhD
thesis, Liverpool University, UK.
Bussell, M.A., 1976. Fracture control of high level plutonic contacts
in the Coastal Batholith of Peru. Proc. Geol. Assoc. 87, 237 –
246.
Bussell, M.A., Wilson, C.D.V., 1985. A gravity traverse across the
Coastal Batholith, Peru. J. Geol. Soc. (London) 142, 633 – 641.
Cobbing, E.J., Pitcher, W.S., 1972. The Coastal Batholith of central
Peru. J. Geol. Soc. (London) 128, 421 – 460.
Cruden, A.R., 1998. On the emplacement of tabular granites. J.
Geol. Soc. (London) 155, 853 – 862.
Evans, D.J., Rowley, W.J., Chadwick, R.A., Kimbell, G.S., Mill-
ward, D., 1994. Seismic reflection data and the internal structure
of the Lake District Batholith, Cumbria, northern England. Proc.
Yorks. Geol. Soc. 50, 11 – 24.
Hamilton, W., Myers, W.B., 1967. The nature of batholiths. U.S.
Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 554-C, 30 pp.
Hodge, D.S., Abbey, D.A., Harbin, M.A., Patterson, J.L., Ring, M.J.,
Sweeney, J.F., 1982. Gravity studies of subsurface mass distri-
butions of granitic rocks in Maine and New Hampshire. Am. J.
Sci. 282, 1289 – 1324.
Jones, P.R., 1981. Crustal structure of the Peru continental margin
28 M. Haederle, M.P. Atherton / Tectonophysics 345 (2002) 17–28
and adjacent Nazca plate, 9BS latitude. In: Kulm, L.D., Dymond,
E., Dasch, J., Hussong, D.M. (Eds.), Nazca Plate: Crustal For-
mation and Andean Convergence. Mem. Geol. Soc. Am., vol.
154, pp. 423 – 444.
Kulm, L.D., Prince, R.A., French, W., Johnson, S., Masias, A.,
1981. Crustal structure and tectonics of the central Peru con-
tinental margin and trench. In: Kulm, L.D., Dymond, E.,
Dasch, J., Hussong, D.M. (Eds.), Nazca Plate: Crustal Forma-
tion and Andean Convergence. Mem. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. 154,
pp. 445 – 468.
Lynn, H.B., Hale, L.D., Thompson, G.A., 1981. Seismic reflections
from the basal contacts of Batholiths. J. Geophys. Res. 86
(B11), 10633 – 10638.
McCaffrey, K.J.W., Petford, N., 1997. Are granitic intrusions scale
invariant? J. Geol. Soc. (London) 154, 1 – 4.
Myers, J.S., 1975. Cauldron subsidence and fluidisation: mecha-
nisms of intrusion of the Coastal Batholith of Peru into its
own volcanic ejecta. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 86, 1209 – 1220.
Oliver, H.W., 1977. Gravity and magnetic investigations of the
Sierra Nevada Batholith, California. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 88,
445 – 461.
Paterson, S.R., Miller, R.B., 1998. Magma emplacement during arc-
perpendicular shortening: an example from the Cascades crys-
talline core, Washington. Tectonics 17, 571 – 586.
Pitcher, W.S., 1997. The Nature and Origin of Granite, 2nd edn.
Chapman & Hall, Glasgow.
Price, N.J., Cosgrove, J.W., 1990. Analysis of Geological Struc-
tures. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
Rosenberg, C.L., Berger, A., Schmid, S.M., 1995. Observations
from the floor of a granitoid pluton: inferences on the driving
force of final emplacement. Geology 23, 443 – 446.
Scaillet, B., Pêcher, A., Rochett, P., Champenois, M., 1995. The
Gangotri Granite (Garhwal Himalaya): laccolithic emplacement
in an extending collisional belt. J. Geophys. Res. 100, 585 – 687.
Sweeney, J.F., 1976. Subsurface distribution of granitic rocks,
south-central Maine. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 87, 241 – 249.
Taylor, W.P., 1976. Intrusion and differentiation of granitic magma
at a high level in the crust: the Puscao pluton, Lima Province,
Peru. J. Petrol. 17, 194 – 218.
Vigneresse, J.L., 1983. Enracinement des granites armoricains es-
timé d’après la gravimétre. Bull. Soc. Geol. Mineral. Bretagne
15, 1 – 15.
Vigneresse, J.L., 1995. Control of granite emplacement by regional
deformation. Tectonophysics 249, 173 – 186.