Geochemical indicators of metalliferous fertility in the Carboniferous San Blas pluton, Sierra de Velasco, Argentina

In the Sierra de Velasco, northwestern Argentina, undeformed Lower Carboniferous granitoids (350–334 Ma) intrude deformed Lower Ordovician granites and have been emplaced by passive mechanisms, typical of tensional environments. The semi-elliptic, about 300 km shallow-emplaced San Blas pluton is 340–330 Ma old, with 1Ndt between 21.3 and 21.8 which indicates that, different from the nearby Famatinian–Ordovician granitoids, the San Blas pluton had a relatively brief crustal residence, with an interaction between asthenospheric material and greywackes. The cupola of the pluton was almost totally eroded down during the Upper