The Carboniferous onset of subduction at SW Gondwana revisited: Sedimentation and deformation processes along the late Paleozoic forearc of north Chile (21°–33° S)

The geological record of late Paleozoic rocks is ubiquitous along the north to central Chile (21°–33° S). The most accepted evolutionary model proposes that the SW-Gondwana margin in northern Chile (north of 28° S) evolved from a passive margin setting in the Devonian to late Carboniferous that switched to an active margin setting during the early to late Carboniferous and continued during the Permian. South of 28° S, the accretion of an allochtonous terrane (Chilenia) took place during the mid or late Devonian and during the Carboniferous subduction was renewed along the western margin of the accreted terrane. In light of a large amount of new data recently published for Paleozoic rocks between 21° and 33° S, we evaluate these models in order to understand the geodynamic processes that lead to the formation of the late Paleozoic active margin (Gondwanan Orogenic cycle) and attempt to decipher processes that controlled subduction initiation during those times.