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Geology

Oligocene−Miocene age of aridity in the Atacama Desert revealed by exposure

dating of erosion-sensitive landforms
Tibor J. Dunai, Gabriel A. González López and Joaquim Juez-Larré

Geology 2005;33;321-324
doi: 10.1130/G21184.1

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 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on November 29, 2013
Oligocene–Miocene age of aridity in the Atacama Desert revealed
by exposure dating of erosion-sensitive landforms
Tibor J. Dunai Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Gabriel A. González López Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Facultad de Ingenierı́a y Ciencias Geológicas,
Universidad Católica del Norte, Avenida Angamos 0610, Antofagasta, Chile
Joaquim Juez-Larré Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam,
The Netherlands

ABSTRACT and southernmost Peru was near sea level in

The age of onset of hyperaridity in the Atacama Desert, Chile, which is needed to late Oligocene–early Miocene time (Noble et
validate geological and climatological concepts, has been heretofore uncertain. Measure- al., 1985; Tosdal et al., 1984). In this period,
ment of cosmogenic 21Ne in clasts from erosion-sensitive sediment surfaces in northern regional erosion formed the rounded-planate
Chile shows that these surfaces have been barely affected by erosion since 25 Ma. Surface summits of the Coastal Cordillera with sedi-
exposure ages of sediment clasts give replicate values at 25, 20, and 14 Ma and individual ments grading from sand to cobble conglom-
values at 37 and 9 Ma. Predominantly hyperarid conditions are required to preserve these erate filling the valleys in a coastal plain set-
oldest continuously exposed surfaces on Earth. Our findings are compatible with the hy-
pothesis that the onset of aridity in the Atacama Desert could be the reason for, rather
than the consequence of, uplift of the high Andes.

Keywords: Atacama Desert, Andes, desertification, climate change, erosion, exposure age.

INTRODUCTION lies on two lines of evidence. One is the tim-

The Atacama Desert is one of the major hy-
perarid deserts on Earth. It represents an ex-
treme habitat for life on Earth and serves as
an analogue for dry conditions on Mars (Mc-
Kay et al., 2003). Aridity in the Atacama De-
sert is primarily caused by the cold water of
the Humboldt Current running parallel to the
Chilean and southern Peruvian coast, prevent-
ing precipitation in the coastal areas (Houston
and Hartley, 2003). The aridity is intensified
by the pronounced rain-shadow effect of the
Andes to the east, which effectively block
moisture transfer from the Amazon Basin
(Houston and Hartley, 2003).
The onset of aridity in the Atacama Desert
and changes in its intensity were governed by
the onset and fluctuations in strength of the
proto-Humboldt Currents and the timing and
rate of uplift of the Andes (Lamb and Davis,
2003). In turn, the arid climate in the Atacama
Desert influences the rates and patterns of up-
lift and denudation of the Andes (Lamb and
Davis, 2003). It has been suggested that the
arid conditions of the Atacama Desert are the
cause rather than the result of the uplift of the
high Andes (Lamb and Davis, 2003). The
driving force would be the climate-controlled
sediment starvation in the Peru-Chile trench,
causing high shear stress, focusing the plate
boundary stresses that support the high Andes
(Lamb and Davis, 2003). In order to test the
possibility of this causal link, reliable infor-
mation on the timing of aridification of the
Atacama Desert is required.
AGE OF ARIDITY IN THE ATACAMA
DESERT
Our present knowledge of the timing of de-
sertification of the Atacama Desert mostly re-
ing of cessation of supergene alteration of
orebodies in the Precordillera (Alpers and
Brimhall, 1988; Sillitoe and McKee, 1996)
(Fig. 1), the other is the nature and timing of
changes of sediment input into the Central De-
pression (Hartley and Chong, 2002). The ter-
mination of supergene enrichment of orebod-
ies points to an early regional desiccation,
starting ca. 35 Ma and completed by ca. 14
Ma, whereas the sedimentological evidence
points to a relatively recent change from semi-
arid to hyperarid conditions ca. 3 Ma. Both
lines of evidence are derived from investiga-
tion of areas mostly more than 100 km inland.
The rare precipitation in the Atacama, how-
ever, comes from the east and reaches the up-
per regions (.3500 m) of the western flank
of the Precordillera (Houston and Hartley,
2003). Even in the present-day hyperarid con-
ditions in the central Atacama, discharge from
the Precordillera into the Central Depression
occurs, both occasionally as sheetflows on
vast alluvial fans and continuously by rivers
that have their headwaters deep in the Precor-
dillera (e.g., Rı
´o Loa). No measurable precip-
itation is observed in the elevated regions of
the Coastal Cordillera. Therefore it is possible
that previously used records might overesti- Figure 1. Geographic setting of study area
in Atacama Desert (digital elevation model
mate past precipitation and underestimate the
based on GTOPO30). Black circles with
age of aridity in the Atacama Desert in general
numbers give locations and K-Ar ages of su-
and specifically in the Coastal Cordillera, the pergene alteration products of orebodies
coastal desert proper. (Alpers and Brimhall, 1988; Bouzari and
Here we assess the age of cessation of ero- Clark, 2002; Sillitoe and McKee, 1996). Large
sion, as a consequence of aridification, on dark gray circles indicate sedimentary de-
erosion-sensitive landforms in the Coastal posits used for paleoclimatic studies (Har-
tley and Chong, 2002). Dashed lines give cal-
Cordillera. The large-scale morphostructural culated mean annual precipitation based on
units in the study area (Figs. 1 and 2) formed topographic elevation (Houston and Hartley,
when the coastal region of northernmost Chile 2003).

q 2005 Geological Society of America. For permission to copy, contact Copyright Permissions, GSA, or editing@geosociety.org.
Geology; April 2005; v. 33; no. 4; p. 321–324; doi: 10.1130/G21184.1; 4 figures; Data Repository item 2005053. 321
 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on November 29, 2013

1000 m isoline (Fig. 3). Due to the slightly

Figure 2. Enlarged portion of Landsat ETM image (panchromatic band,
P002R073p7P20000329) showing sampling sites and geographic features of study
area. Major fault scarps and gravitational collapse structures are indicated. WSW-
ENE-trending reverse fault is expression of trench-parallel shortening of Coastal
Cordillera (Allmendinger et al., 2005). Ephemeral rivers have deeply incised into
Coastal Cordillera. Valleys and fault scarps protect areas around sampling sites
A–C from runoff from precipitation in Precordillera to east. Quebrada is canyon or
valley; oficina indicates (nitrate) plant.
ting (Tosdal et al., 1984). The sources of these
sediments are in the Precordillera and/or the
Coastal Cordillera. In northern Chile these
sediments belong to the Azapa Formation
(Wörner et al., 2002); their equivalents in Peru
belong to the Moquegua Formation (Tosdal et
al., 1984; Wörner et al., 2002). Regionally,
sedimentation ended at the latest ca. 18 Ma
(Tosdal et al., 1984), the bulk occurring be-
tween 22 and 25 Ma (Mortimer et al., 1974;
Tosdal et al., 1984; Wörner et al., 2002). Sed-
imentation in our study area (Figs. 1 and 2)
ended shortly after 21.8 6 0.3 Ma (Mortimer
et al., 1974). For the present study we chose
depositional surfaces on Azapa sediments that
have been effectively protected from runoff
from the Precordillera since their deposition
(Figs. 2 and 3). Consequently these surfaces
have been exclusively affected by local pre-
cipitation since deposition of the Azapa For-
mation. The traces of fluvial transport and ero-
sion on these surfaces therefore record pluvial
episodes in the coastal desert since 25 Ma.
SAMPLES
Here we report exposure ages of quartz
clasts collected from a sediment surface just
inland of Pisagua (Fig. 2). Photographs and
descriptions of sampling sites are provided in
GSA Data Repository1. The surface is at ele-
vations between 910 m and ;1000 m (Fig. 3)
and is dissected by the Quebrada de Tiliviche
1GSA Data Repository item 2005053, Table DR1
and Figure DR1, cosmogenic isotope data and im-
ages of the study area, is available online at
www.geosociety.org/pubs/ft2005.htm, or on request
from editing@geosociety.org or Documents Secre-
tary, GSA, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO 80301–
9140, USA.
convex form of the area around site A (Fig.
3), it is well protected from runoff, erosion,
and/or deposition of material from higher
areas.
Sites B and C are located at the axis of a
wide topographic low. Hence most runoff
from the surface to the south of the Quebrada
de Jazpampa will flow across these two sites.
Therefore, in contrast to site A, sites B and C
are very sensitive to erosion and/or deposition
by runoff from higher areas (Fig. 2).
Site B is at the bottom of one of the first in
a series of steep-walled salt-karst depressions,
mostly ;2 m deep, that occur between site B
and the Quebrada de Jazpampa. These depres-
sions act as a perfect sediment trap for debris
carried by runoff from higher areas (Fig. 3).
The salt karst is formed in old evaporites that
were deposited in a salina-mudflat setting,
when Azapa sediment surfaces were still at or
close to sea level (Tosdal et al., 1984). The
quartz clasts collected at this site were lying
on salt (mostly halite) in the karst pit. The
clasts are probably not residual material from
and the Quebrada de Jazpampa (quebrada dissolved evaporites, but were carried by run-
means canyon or valley). The deeply incised off from higher up in the catchment onto the
valleys provide a local low base level for ero- evaporites (Fig. 3). The rock clasts found in
sion (Figs. 2 and 3). The gradient on the sed- the karst pits are indistinguishable from clasts
iment surface (Fig. 3) would be conducive to found on surfaces adjacent to the karst pits.
fluvial sediment transport of sand and cobbles Site C is on a flat, undulating (decimeter
of the Azapa Formation, if running water were scale) surface. All runoff that will eventually
available. end up in the karst pits around site B must
We collected samples at three sites that are cross the area around site C (Fig. 3). Site C
indicative of erosion processes. Site A, located can be affected by runoff erosion and is the
between the two quebradas, is protected from location of (temporary) deposition of clasts
hillslope runoff by a 10–20-m-deep depres- from higher up in the catchment.
sion parallel to and at the foot of the NW-SE- In addition to the sediment surface de-
trending fault scarp in Azapa sediments (Fig. scribed here, we collected quartz clasts in the
2). In the current setting, site A is only af- Quebrada de Jazpampa (site D) and on an al-
fected by runoff from precipitation below the luvial fan (site E) situated on tectonically
Figure 3. Elevation con-
tour plot based on Shut-
tle Radar Topography
Mission (SRTM) 90 m
data showing hydro-
graphic situation of sites
A, B, and C. Below 900 m
only 50 m contours are
shown; above 900 m, 10
m contours are provided.
White areas in steep sec-
tion in NW corner indi-
cate missing data. Sites
B and C are on axis of
wide topographic low
draining to Quebrada de
Jazpampa. Runoff of all
precipitation in this
catchment will cross
these sites.

322 GEOLOGY, April 2005

 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on November 29, 2013
Figure 4. Cumulative
probability plot of clast
exposure ages. Individu-
al ages of clasts are also
indicated, as is age of
amalgamated sample
from site A. Minimum
and maximum deposition
ages indicated are inde-
pendent age constraints
for onset and cessation
of sedimentation of Aza-
pa sediments in study
area (Mortimer et al.,
1974; Tosdal et al., 1984,
1981; Wörner et al.,
2002).
downfaulted sediments of the surface sampled
in sites A–C (Fig. 2). The Quebrada de Jaz-
pampa is the only overflow of the Pampa Ta-
marugal (Fig. 1), and records spilling events
from this large salt pan that serves as a local
base level for all discharge from the Precor-
dillera for the next ;200 km to the south. The
435 m elevation of site E on the coastal cliff
is in the elevation range of 300–1000 m,
where rain is occasionally observed along the
coastal cliff, e.g., in major El Niño events.
Consequently sites D and E record the last ge-
omorphologically relevant precipitation in the
Precordillera and on the coastal cliff,
respectively.
EXPOSURE AGES
Exposure ages were determined from the
concentration of in situ–produced cosmogenic
21Ne in quartz clasts. Details on the samples,
experimental procedure, age calculation, and
the isotope data are provided in Table DR1
(see footnote one). The exposure ages of the
clasts from the sediment surface are generally
very old. From sites A, B, and C, 4 individual
clasts were analyzed per site along with 1
amalgamated sample (Repka et al., 1997) of
24 clasts from site A. The majority of the ages
are older than 19 Ma (n 5 9) with clusters at
20 Ma (n 5 3) and 25 Ma (n 5 5) (Fig. 4).
One clast yielded an exposure age of ca. 37
Ma. Few clasts are younger: one age is ca. 9
Ma, and two identical ages are ca. 14 Ma. The
site best protected from runoff erosion (A)
yielded no clasts younger than 19 Ma and con-
tained the oldest clast. The amalgamated sam-
ple gives a mean age of 23.3 6 0.2 Ma (61s)
for site A. The samples of the other two sites
(B and C) contain the three younger clasts,
together with five clasts of ages indistinguish-
able from those of site A. The samples from
the riverbed of the Quebrada de Jazpampa (D)
and the alluvial fan (E) both give ages ca.
120 ka.
When dating sedimentary deposits accu-
mulation of cosmogenic nuclides at the source
area or during transport has to be considered.
GEOLOGY, April 2005
At sites A, B, and C it was impractical to ob-
tain shielded samples to correct for this pre-
exposure (Repka et al., 1997). We use the
samples from site D to assess preexposure of
quartz clasts in the Azapa Formation; the sed-
iments in the riverbed are recycled Azapa sed-
iments that were cannibalized from the valley
flanks that are cut into the Azapa Formation.
The two amalgamated samples from this site
indicate that average clasts from the Azapa
Formation have no significant preexposure.
The 21Ne concentration found in these sam-
ples is in agreement with a single-stage ex-
posure for ;120 k.y. at the surface and at 90
cm depth, respectively. This finding does not
exclude the possibility that individual clasts
have significant preexposure, as suggested by
the oldest clast age of ca. 37 Ma. However,
based on the rather tight clustering of the re-
maining clasts—ca. 14, ca. 20, and ca. 25
Ma—we judge that it is unlikely that these
clasts had a significant, necessarily random,
preexposure exceeding 1 Ma.
The source regions of the quartz clasts an-
alyzed are in magmatic rocks and medium to
high-grade metamorphic rocks. Any preexpo-
sure would have occurred during erosion of
these rocks and not during previous sedimen-
tary cycles, as could be the case if sedimen-
tary rocks were the source of the clasts. In
order to mimic an exposure age of 1 Ma by
preexposure, erosion rates in the higher source
areas in the Precordillera (1500 m elevation at
25 Ma; Lamb and Davis, 2003) would have
been ,1 m/m.y. Denudation rates during the
pluvial episode in the emerging Precordillera
that led to the deposition of the Azapa For-
mation were, however, probably much higher
(Lamb and Davis, 2003; Tosdal et al., 1984).
The sediments forming the depositional sur-
face investigated in this study were deposited
at the end of this pluvial episode. By this time
most relicts of older landscape surfaces prob-
ably had vanished by erosion.
We use an average uplift rate of 40 m/m.y.
to calculate time-integrated 21Ne production
rates, since the sediments sampled at ;950 m
were deposited near sea level (Noble et al.,
1985; Tosdal et al., 1984). If the uplift was
decelerating or accelerating, and was not con-
stant as we assume for our age calculation, the
corresponding exposure ages would decrease
or increase, respectively. For example, ages
would change by ;10% if the uplift rate de-
creased/increased fourfold after half the ex-
posure time.
OLIGOCENE–MIOCENE ONSET OF
ARIDITY IN THE ATACAMA DESERT
The majority of clasts sampled on the ge-
omorphologically old sediment surface have
exposure ages that are indistinguishable from
the sediment deposition age, 22–25 Ma, or are
slightly (;10%) younger. The age of the
amalgamated sample from the best-protected
surface (site A) is 23 Ma. The concordant ex-
posure and deposition ages (Fig. 4) leave little
chance for erosive modification of this sedi-
ment surface since their deposition in the early
Miocene. The sediment surface sampled is by
far the oldest continuously exposed geomor-
phologic surface on Earth, being about twice
as old as ancient surfaces in Antarctica (e.g.,
Schäfer et al., 1999; van der Wateren et al.,
1999, and references therein).
The events that led to the deposition of the
younger clasts at site B and C did not signif-
icantly erode this region, otherwise the older
clasts present at site C would have been re-
moved. It is likely that the younger clasts
come from the higher areas surrounding sites
B and C (Figs. 2 and 3). We interpret the ages
of the younger clasts as evidence for pluvial
episodes ca. 20 Ma, ca. 14 Ma, and ca. 9 Ma.
The runoff that drained through the trough
axis at sites B and C (Fig. 3) was able to lo-
cally dissolve ;2 m of evaporites to form the
salt karst at site B and farther north. Given the
;25 m.y. period available to dissolve the salt,
we conclude that only marginal precipitation
has occurred since that time.
Generally the climate must have resembled
the present-day hyperarid climate for most of
the past 25 m.y. The proposal of a semiarid
climate in the central Atacama Desert until 3
Ma (Hartley and Chong, 2002) is clearly in-
compatible with our findings. Our findings
are, however, in agreement with an estimate
of 21 Ma for the end of supergene weathering
in the Coastal Cordillera, as may be inferred
from the only orebody dated in a climatic set-
ting equivalent to that of our study area (Fig.
1; Sillitoe and McKee, 1996), i.e., the coastal
desert proper. Based on the large-scale causes
for the regional climate, we assume that the
roughly coast- and/or orogen-parallel zoning
in precipitation (Fig. 1) also existed in the
past. Thus, noting the absence of conditions
conducive to a special microclimate in our
study area, we infer that the long-term prev-
323
 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on November 29, 2013
alence of hyperarid climatic conditions we
find in our study area is probably valid for
most of the hyperarid portion of the present-
day Atacama Desert.
The oldest exposure age of ca. 37 Ma, ob-
tained from a single clast, gives evidence of
the existence of remnants of old surfaces in
the source region of the Azapa sediments at
the time of deposition. This is in line with the
fact that regionally the oldest supergene
weathering ages of ca. 34–35 Ma were ob-
tained in an orebody to the east of our study
area (Cerro Colorado; Bouzari and Clark,
2002; Sillitoe and McKee, 1996), providing
evidence that very old landforms were present
in the source region of the Azapa sediments.
The actual exposure age of the sample is prob-
ably somewhat younger than calculated for the
sampling elevation, as production rates of cos-
mogenic nuclides increase with altitude, i.e.,
the production rate during exposure of this
sample in the source region was higher. A
slowly eroding surface (;0.1 m/m.y.) that was
at 1500 m ca. 25 Ma could be a model source
for the clast with the exceptionally high ex-
posure age. Such low erosion rates usually
only occur in desert environments (van der
Wateren and Dunai, 2001), and indicate that
the region had an arid climate prior to the de-
position of the Azapa sediments. Potential
source areas in the Precordillera were at
;1500 m ca. 25 Ma (Lamb and Davis, 2003).
OROGRAPHIC RAIN SHADOW VS.
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AS
DRIVING FORCE FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN THE
ATACAMA DESERT
Most ages for the ancient pluvial phases in
the Precordillera and Coastal Cordillera, as in-
ferred from the present and previous studies
(Alpers and Brimhall, 1988; Sillitoe and
McKee, 1996; Tosdal et al., 1984) as ca. 9, ca.
14, ca. 20, and ca. 25 Ma, broadly coincide
with periods of global cooling in the mid-
dle Miocene and cool climates across the
Oligocene-Miocene boundary (Zachos et al.,
2001a, 2001b). Termination of a potential ear-
lier pluvial period ca. 34 Ma recorded in the
Precordillera (Bouzari and Clark, 2002; Silli-
toe and McKee, 1996) coincides with global
cooling shortly after the Eocene-Oligocene
boundary (Zachos et al., 2001a).
These global climate changes were the re-
sult of opening or closing of oceanic pathways
and orbital forcing (Houston and Hartley,
2003; Zachos et al., 2001a, 2001b), and influ-
enced the availability and transport of humid-
ity from the Amazon Basin to the Atacama
Desert (Houston and Hartley, 2003). This
trans-Andean transfer has been the main
source of humidity in the Atacama Desert
324
since the establishment of a proto-Humboldt
Current in conjunction with the opening of the
Tasmania-Antarctic passage ca. 33 Ma (Za-
chos et al., 2001a). The climatic connection of
these two regions is illustrated by ages of in-
ferred wetter periods in the Amazon Basin ca.
12–17, ca. 20, ca. 24, and 33–35 Ma (Vascon-
celos et al., 1994) that correspond to the plu-
vial phases in the Atacama Desert identified
in the present and previous studies (Alpers
and Brimhall, 1988; Sillitoe and McKee,
1996; Tosdal et al., 1984).
The dominantly hyperarid conditions we in-
fer for the Coastal Cordillera since ca. 25 Ma,
and prevailing arid conditions since ca. 34
Ma, are equivalent to the postulated early arid-
ity (Lamb and Davis, 2003) that is required
for the hypothesis that the onset of aridity in
the Atacama Desert is the cause (Lamb and
Davis, 2003), rather than the result of the up-
lift of the high Andes. The ensuing positive
feedback between increasing altitude of the
Andes and increasing rain shadow could cre-
ate and maintain hyperarid conditions in the
Atacama Desert. Only exceptional global cli-
matic disturbances have occasionally permit-
ted humidity transfer across the Andes into the
driest regions of this coastal desert since ca.
25 Ma.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Reviews by R. Anderson, P. Bierman, and F. Stuart
helped to improve this manuscript; Juez-Larré was sup-
ported by a Netherlands Organization for Scientific Re-
search (NWO) grant to Dunai. We thank R. van Elsas
for density separations, and B. van der Wagt for U and
Th determinations.
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Manuscript received 13 September 2004
Revised manuscript received 17 December 2004
Manuscript accepted 17 December 2004
Printed in USA
GEOLOGY, April 2005