New 40Ar/39Ar dates from the Las Tazas complex, northern Chile: Tectonic significance

The Atacama Fault Zone is a major Mesozoic structure that trends along the Coastal Batholith of northern Chile. Part of the fault zone underwent a kinematic change from dip-slip to strike-slip displacement during the Early Cretaceous. The Las Tazas complex intruded the fault zone during this change. New analyses of country rock protomylonites from the edge of the complex firmly constrain the age of the change to 130 Ma and confirm that the complex was emplaced during active displacement along the fault zone. The intrusion heated its immediate country rocks and allowed localised ductile shearing during emplacement. Upper crustal intrusions like the Las Tazas complex are ideal targets for geochronological studies of major shear zones.