The Cenozoic history

of the southern Atacama Desert, Chile

CEDRIC MORTIMER

CONTENTS
x Landscape evolution . . . . . 509
(A) The landscape of the Interior Zone 509
(B) The landscape of the Cordilleran Zone 5 t6
(e) The landscape of the Coastal Zone 5 x7
(D) Landscape evolution in the S. Atacama Desert compared with the
rest of N. Chile . 5 x9
2 Wider significance of the deduced chronology 520
(A) Andean uplift 520
(t3) An exploration guide for copper deposits 522
3 References 523

SUMMARY
Four episodes of landscape evolution are Erosional landforms in the high Andes are
recognized, each of which has led to the often blanketed by constructional volcanic
features and the migration of eruptive centres
development of a regional erosion surface. The
first phase began upon elevation of northern since Miocene times has displaced the con-
tinental watershed to the east.
Chile above sea level in the late Mesozoic, and
each subsequent phase commenced with a Tectonically induced relative sea level
major incision of drainage into the precedingchanges have caused late Tertiary transgressive
landscape. Radiometric dating of pyroclastic deposits in the littoral region to have been
flows shows that the earliest elements of theterraced during an irregular marine regression.
present topography already existed in the The landscape history which spans the whole
Lower Eocene, and that most landforms had of the Tertiary indicates that Andean relief
developed by the Middle-Upper Miocene. generation has been a prolonged pulsative
Deep canyon formation characterized the process.
latest erosional phase which commenced in the Supergene enrichment of the copper deposits
Upper Miocene and is still continuing. took place under the older erosion surfaces
Tectonic elevation of the Cordillera de labetween the Lower Eocene and the Upper
Costa in relation to the longitudinal depres-Miocene, and the economic viability of a
sions seems to have occurred early in the prospective mine can be largely predicted from
landscape history, though later remobilizationthe overlying topography.
along major structures has since taken place.

CHILE is physiographically divided into three by the Cordillera de la Costa in

the west, the Valle Longitudinal or Central and the Cordillera de los Andes in
the east. In the southern Atacama Desert however, the Valle Longitudinal is
discontinuous and is represented by two elongate alluvial depressions (Fig. I)"
the Llano de Travesia in the south, and the area made up by the Llano de
Varas, the Llano de San Pedro and the Pampa Austral in the north. The topog-
raphy in the area lying between these two basins is continuously mountainous
from the Andes to the sea.
The high Andes in the eastern part of the region are delimited in the Chilean
sector by two approximately north-south, largely volcanic, mountain chains which
Jl geol. Soc. Lond. vol. x29, I973. pp. 505-526, 6 figs., Printed in Northern Ireland.
4
 506 C. Mortimer

merge to the south into one non-volcanic range (Fig. i). The eastern range, the
Alta Cordillera, reaches a maximum height of 6880 m, whereas the western
chain, the Cordillera Domeyko, is somewhat lower. Between the two principal
ranges occurs the Cordillera Claudio Gay. The drainage is east-west and thus
transverse to the dominant physiographic and geological grain of the country.
In the western flank of the Andean chain the formations run north-south
reflecting geosynclinal and structural trends (Cecioni ~97o; Ruiz z965). Base-
ment formations occur as isolated inliers. Precambrian metasediments lie east of
Vallenar (Aguirre, in Ruiz, I965) , Ordovician quartzites occur north of Huasco
(Moraga, pers. comm.), Permo-Carboniferous sediments outcrop near Chanaral,
and Permo-Triassic deposits occur east of Vallenar and east of Copiapo (Seger-
strom I 9 5 9 , i962 ). The Jurassic Toarcian Lautaro Formation (Segerstrom I 9 5 9 ,
~962) was followed by argillaceous sediments and limestones of the Lower
Cretaceous Chanarcillo Group (Segerstrom I967) which interfingers with the
contemporaneous extrusive volcanic Bandurrias Formation (Segerstrom z967).
-- ~ ~.~.~.:<-:~:.',:~.'~--~:.:-:':-:':..':--'~-,~-;" /i w "' t~ ' t "26
=- -_~_- ~_ . II I:~< ........ +~.+. :~J (.?:.:.:.:.x, 50?o , , w o , , ~ / ~ , ~ i ~.. A,

- - - ~'~ ~ Pue~blo :~.:::<~:~:-" -"':':::::~' I ....

= ~~ = P:&::::' :" ;t40 ..:.:.:::

":::::::::~ :':':': w- "" ~: /I

-~-----= .' I$.~D~0~ ,~ YE "~" I Z \ ca

~ " $?.'.2" ~so , ,-

~ t .... :"i:~.~.:: P~" *~ ' O S.ae -- C~./.~.

'!~.:. 3~.0 A ' rh ~

-,., "....:<.:..... ~ %)

~ ~ / i ~'~,,.~ Z . . . . ~o/~ 0J,,*, -~

.? ~ F ~ i . ,~,o<,~ ~ "~__.'~ _ I , .,
/ ~ ,,,,,,',>, I/%qo,o, \ / ( " ~.
1~ 'v C=~aft', (
,

." ,~-~,. , = ~ - W. ~ ' ~ 1"~% ~ :~.,.*,*,~/ v

LoS s / \
I .... / /-" ,
_~/

Carrizal :
o
~-.".~..:.:~

..............
I ltl Trir'~:lUe Lautaro
/ jr I ~
I
I
" LEGEND
8ajot Coast/interior..~
Zone boundary "" '
el ..i:i:~8~:!:]:!:::
:~C ha ~r Interior/Cordilleran. .--~
Zone boundary ~'~
Alluviated longitudinalb a s i n s : ~
Salt lake/marsh:

Age determination samples: 67.19(~

VALLENAJ~'~_ ),a "w Settlements:

Principal peaks (rnetres)~
L i n e of s e c t i o n ( f i g . 2 )

Kilomcttcs 0 50 100
U~ ~ 2g I I I I I
70

F Io. I. Location map of the southern Atacama Desert.

 The Cenozoic history of the S. Atacama desert, Chile 507

Continental sediments with volcanic flows make the Cerrillos Formation (of un-
known age) which was deposited unconformably on the Chanarcillo Group (Seger-
strom & Parker 1959). The Hornitos Formation of continental conglomerates and
lenticular ash beds lies unconformably above the Cerrillos Formation (Segerstrom
1959) and is Upper Cretaceous. Folding and intrusion affected the Hornitos For-
mation prior to the deposition of Tertiary to Recent sediments and volcanic flows.
Tertiary to Recent dominantly andesitic stratovolcanoes are associated with
rhyolitic flows in the high Andes, and small outcrops of the flows occur further
to the west (Clark et al. 1967a ).
Farrar et al. (I97O) showed that five episodes of granitic intrusion occurred
between the Permian and the Upper Eocene, and they confirmed earlier hypo-
theses of eastward movement of intrusive centres in post Paleozoic time (Ruiz
1965). Metamorphosed rocks are uncommon and the batholith has only a vestige
of surrounding alteration but magnetite within a skarn is commercially exploited.
Copper is associated with the intrusive rocks of all ages. Manto deposits, which
are disseminations of copper minerals in Mesozoic stratified lavas are of problem-
atic origin (Ruiz et al. I97I ). Silver veins are in the limestones of the Chanarcillo
Group (Whitehead 1919).
Cretaceous and Tertiary fold axes trend north-south but older axes are pro-
gressively more east-west with age (Frutos I97O ). Tight folding and thrusting
are uncommon. Faults are abundant, the major faults being generally associated
with the trend of the folds. Some of the faults are Tertiary to Recent and have
had a direct influence on the topography (Segerstrom 1968; Cooke & Mortimer
I971).
The Tertiary volcanicflows

Tertiary to Recent volcanism in north Chile is an association of extrusive

rhyolitic to rhyodacitic pyroclastic flows (Zeil & Pichler 1967) with intermediate
stratovolcanoes of latite andesite to rhyodacitic composition (Pichler & Zeil
1969). Such stratovolcanoes, both extinct and active, are restricted to the high
Andes, but the pyroclastic flows cover large areas west of the Andean watershed.
In the southern Atacama Desert, pyroclastic flows both in the Andean region
and further west are less common than in northernmost Chile (Hollingworth &
Rutland 1968; Guest 1969; Zeil & Pichler I967), though most of the rhyolitic
sheets conform in type with their northern counterparts and are similarly ignim-
britic. The southern Atacama Desert ignimbritic rocks are all poorly if at all
welded. Other volcanic rocks of similar composition are probably vent agglomer-
ates and lava flows.
Despite their restricted preservation, volcanic deposits occur in geomorphologic-
ally significant situations, and when radiometrically dated establish a partial
denudation chronology. K - A t age determinations (Table I) of acidic volcanic
flows were carried out on mica phenocrysts, the sources of which are in Fig. I,
by Dr. N. J. Snelling of IGS. Preliminary interpretations have been made by
Clark et al. (I967b) and Sillitoe et al. (I968) ; the former paper gives the ages of
9"5 -t- o'5 my. for sample 67:x9; 9'o 4- o'3 for 67:44; II'5 4- o'5 for 67:45 and
12-6 4- o. 5 my. for sample 67:4 o.
5o8 C. Mortimer

TABLE I : Potassium-argon age determinations

Vol. of radiogenetic
argon -- 4 c.c./g, of
Specimen Specimen % Potassium sample, S.T.P. or Age and Error
No. location (biotite) p.p.m. ( x xoe yr.)

I.G.S.68:44 28o2 ' lat.S 6"75 o'r45 X 10 .4 53.0 :k 2-0

700o8 ' long.W
Cerro Blanco
I.G.S.68 : 116 27037 ' lat.S 6"02 o'02355 p.p.m. 55"0 + 2-0
69054 ' long.W
Cerro Carrizalillo
I.G.S.68:Ix7 26021 ' lat.S 5-x5 o-oo2~6 p.p.m. 6.o nk 3"0
69 14' Iong.W
Pedernales
I.G.S.68: x x8 26053 ' lat.S 6.5i o.ooi38 p.p.m. 3"o :t: o-2
593 o' long.W
Laguna Verde
I.G.S.68 : 127 27047 ' lat.S 6-74 o'0254 p.p.m. 52"5 4- 2.o
700o2 ' long.W
Lomas Bayas

Both the ages and the positions of the dated volcanic rocks divide them into
two groups. One group, erupted in the Lower Eocene, lies in the centre of the
region. The other group of Middle Miocene to Pliocene age is in the east. The
time scale used throughout is that of Berggren (I969).
Segerstrom (i 967 and 1959) first mapped the older Tertiary volcanic succession,
and recognized that this was unconformable above the Hornitos and Cerrillos
formations. In the absence of any isotopic age data however, he understandably
equated the volcanic flows with the Altos de Pica Formation. This latter rock-
unit, a local representative of the Liparitica Formation of Bruggen (I95o), was
established by Galli and Dingman (I962) for a late Tertiary ignimbrite sequence
in Tarapaca Province about I ooo km north of Copiapo.
The Lower Eocene volcanic rocks cannot be included in the Liparitica
Formation because of their antiquity, and they have been named the Cerro de la
Peineta Formation (Sillitoe et al. I968 ). However, those ignimbrite flows from
the southern desert that have been dated as Miocene to Pliocene fall within the
age range of the Liparitica Formation and, on both this and lithological grounds,
these lava flows and the associated gravel deposits may be included in this
formation.
In view of the distance from their more northerly counterparts, it may be
advantageous to give the upper Tertiary ignimbrites and their associated gravel
deposits a distinct formation name. Segerstrom (I968) has used the term Negro
Francisco Formation for these deposits in the high Andes. Others (Clark et al.
i967a ) have suggested the name San Andres Formation for those lava flows on
the Andean flanks sampled for potassium-argon dating.
 The Cenozoic history of the S. Atacama desert, Chile 509

I. Landscape evolution
The area has been divided into three arbitrarily defined provinces for geomor-
phological study but which bear little relationship to the relief divisions. The
provinces (Fig. I) are:
I. The Coastal Zone: that part of the littoral area that is characterized by
marine abrasion terraces and associated deposits.
2. The Interior Zone: all that area east of the Coastal Zone, extending to the
Cordillera Domeyko.
3. The Cordilleran Zone: includes the centripetal drainage basins and the
volcanoes of the high Andes, and extends from the Cordillera Domeyko
to the Argentine frontier on the continental watershed.
Four distinct episodes of landscape evolution are recognized within the Interior
Zone. Landforms of the other two zones may be correlated with the Interior
Zone phases although the earliest two cannot be distinguished in either the
Coastal or the Cordilleran zones. Phases of landform evolution are numbered
chronologically and their end products, the resulting hierarchy of erosion surfaces,
named. Previous provisional nomenclature, (Clark et al. I967a, b; Sillitoe et al.
1968; Mortimer et al. I97I), has been revised for this paper.

A) THE LANDSCAPE OF THE INTERIOR ZONE

(i) Phase z
Phase i began after the uplift of northern Chile above sea level in the Lower
Cretaceous. The formation occurred of the oldest part of the topography, the
Cumbre Surface (the 'Summit Surface' of Sillitoe et al. 1968). This is recognized
on two well-separated mountain areas in the west central part of the Interior
Zone. Firstly the group of mountains that reach a maximum o f 3 I o 9 m a.s.1, on
Cerro de la Peineta, and secondly Cerro Carrizalillo 3266 m. The mountains in
these areas are capped by up to IOOOm of rhyolitic lavas, agglomerates and tufts
and the volcanic rocks preserve beneath them small remnants of a previous
landscape.
Volcanic rocks from this sequence were dated (Table I) from i oo m below the
peak of Cerro Blanco (specimen 68:44) the central peak of the Cerro de la
Peineta group, and from the summit of Cerro Carrizalillo (68: I 16). A specimen
(68: I~7) was also taken from Cerro Santa Cruz in the Lomas Bayas district. This
mountain is the remains of one of several feeders for the extrusive rocks of the
Cerro de la Peineta Formation.
The three Lower Eocene dates are virtually identical and allow the correlation
of the volcanic succession retained on the Cumbre Surface remnants between
and including Cerro de la Peineta and Cerro Carrizalillo. The dated rocks
indicate that the topography underlying them was in existence in the Lower
Eocene.
The Cumbre Surface is the oldest landscape in the present topography and
must have been much more extensive (Fig. 2). Since erosion in the stated instances
 51 o C. Mortimer

has not destroyed the early Tertiary landscape, it is thought that other high peaks
in the Interior Zone, even if somewhat eroded, may be reasonably close to at
least the approximate attitude of the Cumbre Surface. This landscape decreases
in summit altitude towards the coast (Fig. 3). In the Cordillera de la Costa south
of Copiapo there is a marked horizontal accordance of high summits which are
assigned to the Cumbre Surface. In the higher eastern parts of the Interior Zone
the Cumbre Surface has been completely eroded.

(ii) Phase 2
Concordant ridges bordering the trunk valleys in their lower and middle
courses are the remains of the Sierra Checo del Cobre Surface ('Intermediate
Surface' of Sillitoe et al. 1968 ) that developed at the end of Phase 2. After the
volcanic flows on the Cumbre Surface in the Eocene there followed a predomi-
nantly erosional episode for which no radiometric ages have been found. Phase 2
commenced with drainage incision into the Cumbre Surface, and the descending
spurs are the eroded remnants of a topography which evolved in the resulting
degradation. The Sierra Checo del Cobre Surface has been considerably affected
by erosion in later times and the Phase 2 bevel has tended to persist in more
competent bedrock. Ridges representing this surface now bound deep amphi-
theatres formed during later erosion.
In the valley of the Rio Salado the Sierra Checo del Cobre Surface is at 3oo-
4oo m near the coast. Away from the coastal region the old landscape loses height
in relation to the landforms of the later phases and disappears on the western
edge of the Pampa Austral at around 7oo m (Fig. 3).
Within the Copiapo Valley the break of slope below the Sierra Cheeo del
Cobre Surface occurs at 4oo m just inland from Monte Amargo, to I45O m above
Nantoco (Fig. 3). Upstream of Nantoco later erosion has precluded the postive
identification of Phase 2 landforms.

Feeder dykes
FIG. 2. Disposition of the volcanic cap on the
Cumbre Surface in the Cerro de la Peineta mountain -~ Hornitos 8 Cerrillos Finns.
group.
Volconic flows
Co. Co. Co,
Lo Peinelo Blonco Oicho$o

310Ore.

-7-
N

O 5 tO
Krn$
 The Cenozoic history of the S. Atacama desert, Chile 511

Adjacent to the Q.uebrada Carrizal the Sierra Checo del Cobre Surface is at
300 m near the coast and maintains this altitude inland, thus converging with
younger river profiles towards the Llano de Travesia (Fig. 3).
In the Huasco Valley the surface near the coast is at about 500 m. Further
upstream dissection has destroyed positive evidence of the surface, but it appears
to remain at about 50o m and to merge with the later valley profiles towards
the central depression. It has not been recognized east of Vallenar.
(iii) Phase 3
The landforms of Phase 3 are, unlike those of earlier phases, both depositional
and erosional, and they make the greater proportion of the present day topography.
Phase 3 was initiated as an incision of drainage into the Sierra Checo del Cobre
Surface and left the latter as a valley bench above the rivers in a new cycle of
erosion. Pedimentation following the drainage incision caused widespread valley-
side retreat, and the resulting landscape has been called the Atacama Pediplain
(Sillitoe et al. 1968 ).
The pediplain, either as a bare rock surface or associated with its alluvial
spread termed the Atacama Gravels, is preserved as a high terrace above the
rivers and is a single surface throughout the southern desert. Planation of Phase 3
is better developed towards the eastern part of the Interior Zone, but its de-
positional equivalent, the Atacama Gravels, is recognizeable as far west as the
coast. Such gravels form the greater part of the infiU of the longitudinal depres-
sions and dominate much of the modern landscape.

iltrt!
400O
RIo SALADO 3~<
! . ..... ~-" 3o0o

600 ~_ 2
200 I" J' 0
4 ' '

RIO COPIAPO
Puerlo Monte ~ Redra ~ ~ ~ ~ Ho.~s LosLoms
~jo An~go Co~ Cd~
i i ! M.V.,
i i i ~ ---I~
Metres i i - - . ~.,.,,.~ 1 ' /
2000 ; . . ~ ~ ~ 3,.42000

1000 4" 10(0)

(I00 ..
2OO |:) 2-- /- -0 '
Fault

Carrtz~~jo Camtodt~t~a
._QUEBRADA CARRIZAL :i l ~tr-,
: 1" - - 1 0 0 0

9 s 1o is -,,o,r..
' , 3 200

FIG. 3. Landscape profiles adjacent to the principal studied river valleys.

512 C. Mortimer

In the Rio Salado valley the Phase 3 terrace rises from virtual coincidence
with the present river bed on the coast to a maximum above the present valley
bottom of about 35 rn near Potrerillos (Fig. 3). Above Potrerillos the profiles of
the present valley bottom and the Phase 3 terrace converge towards the Cordillera
Domeyko. A similar situation prevails in the valleys of the Rio Copiapo and its
tributaries where a low terrace representing the terminal Phase 3 landscape
slowly rises upstream in relation to the present valley bottom (Fig. 3). Within
the main valley of the Rio Copiapo the maximum valley incision into the Atacama
Pediplain is approximately I ooo m although the higher parts of the valley system
are too inaccessible for direct measurements to be taken.
In the Quebrada Carrizal the Atacama Pediplain lies at about I5o m.a.s.1.
near the coast. Upstream it converges with the present river profile near Canto
del Agua (Fig. 3) at about 4oo m. It can be seen from Fig. 2 that the profile of
the Phase 3 river valley is slightly convex.
The lower part of the Rio Huasco has been comprehensively mapped by Cooke
(M.Sc. thesis, University of London, 1964). He recognized that the aggradational
surface of the Atacama Gravels is traceable to a marine terrace of85-x Io m on the
coast. Upstream the terrace gains in height above the river and at 6o km from
the coast it lies at about 16o m above the river and continues to rise inland. The
maximum height of the Atacama Pediplain above the fiver is about 5oo m.
though no detailed study has been made of the higher valley. Cooke recognized
an older valley profile restricted to east of the longitudinal depression. This may
be equivalent to the Phase 2 landscape, but the present author is not able to
show this.
Ignimbritic flows were deposited on the Andean flanks during and after the
formation of the Atacama Pediplain and Gravels. The flows were radiometrically
dated to determine the age of the Phase 3 landforms. East of Pueblo Hundido in
the valley of the Rio Salado, 5 m of non-welded ignimbrite is interstratified in the
Atacama Gravels on the left wall of the valley (Fig. 4). Sample 67:4 was from
15 km east of Pueblo Hundido where the ignimbrite lies 47 m above the valley
floor and 5 m below the top of the Atacama Gravels. Further upstream a small
residual area of non-welded ignimbrite lies on the depositional top of the Atacama
Gravels on the right bank of the Rio Salado at Potrerillos, and 67:45 was taken
from the base of the flow.
At the time of eruption of the Pueblo Hundido ignimbrite, deposition of the
Atacama Gravels combined with aggradation of the river courses and longitudinal
depressions was in progress as a corollary to rock planation. Shortly afterwards,
when the Potrerillos ignimbrite was deposited on the surface of the alluvial fill
the aggradation process had ceased. The two ignimbrites adjacent to the Rio
Salado reflect depositional environments just before and immediately after the
end of Phase 3 aggradation, and the ages yielded by the flows are considered to
prove that Phase 3 was completed by the Middle-Upper Miocene.
Two samples came from an ignimbrite flow that lies on the valley bench of the
Atacama Pediplain in the Quebrada San Andres. The ignimbrite is irregularly
preserved for some 25 km above the valley which is a tributary of the Rio Copiapo.
The flow has a thickness of about 8o m and locally overlies patches of Atacama
 The Cenozoic history of the S. Atacama desert, Chile 513

~ v ,.. 6953 '

J "",..,.["\ ..
\ ... -
k

~
k, \ -. : ,

\ ""--..~i...
,.

' ~ ',.,

: i
".. i".
'-..,-- ".....
-!-:
: "i
-
i- , "-.":.. ''
, ,
-~ ",..

. i
: ..".... ;.

\ i . -
] "-,.,. i i f '.,

,. '.. "..,
. !
i
ij
-.:;
"
i:
*,. ." ..-
... ;:
\ -

~ o

Phose 4 alluvium Dry woshes

Contour Infervol'
Phose 3 alluvium 50 m .

Ignimbrite

kms

1200__
x
1100__

~ I000_

Fxo. 4. Position of the ignimbrite (67:4o) within the Atacama Gravels close to
Pueblo Hundido.
514 C. Mortimer

Gravels. It is apparent that the Quebrada San Andres channelled the flow from
a source somewhere in the Cordillera Domeyko. One sample (67:I9) came from
the right bank of the stream 3 km northeast of its junction with the Quebrada
Paipote. The other (67:44) came from the base of the flow at the junction of the
quebradas San Andres and Paipote (Fig. 5).
Deposition of the San Andres ignimbrite clearly took place after the cessation
of Phase 3, yet prior to the cutting of the deep Phase 4 canyon. Nevertheless, at
the base of the ignimbrite in the higher parts of the Q uebrada San Andres,
partial erosion of the lava has revealed ir, cipient Phase 4 drainage incision into
the sub-flow topography. Hence from the K-Ar ages the Phase 3 planation and
aggradation episode must have terminated by the Upper Miocene, and in the
headwaters of the Rio Copiapo basin at least, Phase 4 incision had commenced
in the Upper Miocene.

Phose 4
olluvium
Ignimbrite
l t phose3
olluvium
~ Bedrock
( Lo Temero Formotion )

500 ~a_ . T : , ~/~ 0 n 1 lira~

Krn$
FxG. 5- Position of the ignimbrite (67:44) at the junction oft_he Quebrada Paipote
and the Quebrada San ~ctr~s.
 The Cenozoic history of the S. Atacama desert, Chile 515

(iv) Phase 4
Phase 4 was heralded by the latest major drainage rejuvenation, and canyon
development throughout the southern Atacama Desert was accompanied by
terracing in the Rio Huasco (Cooke, op. cit.) and Q uebrada Carrizal. Phase 4 led
to the development of the present landscape; the Copiapo Surface, and landforms
are considered to be still evolving within this latest erosional episode.
Maximum incision of drainage during Phase 4 has occurred in the valleys in
the Andean flanks (see above) with gullying of the Atacama Pediplain and
Gravels. Locally, subsequent to the Phase 4 incision of drainage, the rivers
regraded slightly, and local aggradation has occurred in all the valleys. Later
downcutting has produced terraces in the younger valley fill, particularly in the
lower Rio Copiapo (Mortimer et al. 1971 ). Bed profiles of the Rio Salado and
Rio Copiapo are gently concave, however, the present valley floor of the Ouebrada
Carrizal is convex like its Phase 3 equivalent (Fig. 3)-

(v) Interpretation of river profiles

In the valleys of the Rio Salado, Quebrada Carrizal and probably the Rio
Huasco, the Sierra Checo del Cobre Surface converges upstream with the younger
valley profiles towards the western edge of the longitudinal depressions. The floor
of the longitudinal depressions is topographically much lower than the Cumbre
Surface remnants as seen in the coastal mountains, yet the bedrock floor of the
depressions is apparently an eastward extension of the Sierra Checo del Cobre
Surface when the latter is traced inland from the coast. Rivers must, therefore,
have been established in channels crossing the Cordillera de la Costa by the end
of Phase 2. Tectonic dislocation of the Cumbre Surface probably formed the
basic longitudinal relief units, and occurred before the final Phase 2 fiver
profiles were developed. The rivers must have maintained their courses
antecedently across the uplifting coastal mountains to produce the observed
profiles.
The Rio Copiapo does not cross an alluvial depression and the profiles of the
various erosion surfaces adjacent to the river merely reflect a history of progressive
bed incision. Convergence of the profiles of phases 3 and 4 between Caseron and
Piedra Colgada in the lower Rio Copiapo is here considered to reflect differing
hydraulic conditions combined with differing bed lengths between phases 3 and
4, rather than direct tectonic disturbance of the river terraces as Tricart (1965)
suggested.
The Quebrada Carrizal is the shortest of the studied streams and is confined
to the Cordillera de la Costa, consequently it derives little water from the
relatively pluvial Andean flanks. Although an antecedent channel existed across
the coastal mountains prior to Phase 3 as shown by the profiles of the earlier
landscapes, the attainment of channel equilibrium during phases 3 and 4 is
thought to have been inhibited by the lack of water in the extremely arid coastal
zone, thereby leading to convexity of the river profiles. Almeyda (i 949) showed
that the town of Copiapo had an annual average rainfall of only 25 mm based on
74 years of records.
516 C. Mortimer

(vi) Tectoniclandforms
In many places, particularly along the margins of the longitudinal depressions,
bedrock faulting has displaced the depositional surface of the Atacama Gravels.
Such dislocation of gravel surfaces has been active from at least the end of Phase 3
and is still active today (Cooke & Mortimer I97I ). The faulting reflected in the
alluvium is principally longitudinal (approximately NS) in trend, and the majority
of such structures are the surface expression of hidden bedrock faulting along or
near the major structures that were originally responsible for the basin and range
topography. Some faults, however, are not related to the major physiographic
divisions, as for example, those faults (Fig. 3) near the mouth of the Rio Copiapo
that dislocate the marine terraces and littoral Pliocene sediments (Cooke &
Mortimer I97~; Segerstrom ~965).
The nature of the faulting is difficult to determine because of the alluvial
mantle, but all faults are apparently high angle normal or reverse. Only in one
instance is there any suggestion of strike movement, but this is solely in alluvium
and need be no indication of fundamental bedrock movements.
The Atacama Fault is a reputed strike-slip fault of continental dimensions (St.
Amand & Allen i96o; Arabasz i968; Arabasz I97x: Ph.D. thesis, Clalifornia
Institute of Technology) that crosses the Rio Salado inland from Chanaral.
There is no evidence from the older erosion surfaces that there has been any
large scale movement along that part of the fault lying south of the Rio Salado
during the evolution of the landscape. A possible southern extension of the
Atacama Fault has, however, upthrown to the west sufficiently to have produced
a fault scarp about 2 m high in Atacama Gravels to the north of Copiapo (Seger-
strom I96o ). Even though the Atacama Fault has apparently not significantly
displaced topographic elements in the southern desert, it has nevertheless been a
zone of preferred erosion.
B) THE LANDSCAPE OF THE CORDILLERAN ZONE

By far the dominant erosional landform in the Cordillera Domeyko range is the
Atacama Pediplain. This surface may be seen to transgress the subdued divide
and slope eastwards to disappear beneath alluvium, evaporite beds and ash
deposits which infill the basins of the Salar de Pedernales and Salar de Maricunga.
The Cordillera Domeyko has a composite physiography of mountains of
erosional origin combined with constructional volcanic peaks. Many of the
stratovolcanoes have, however, been truncated during the pedimentation that
led to the Atacama Pediplain and these volcanoes are therefore Miocene, being
contemporaneous in origin with Phase 3.
East of the Pedernales and Maricunga basins the Atacama Pediplain rises
above the level of the superficial deposits and truncates the bedrock formations of
the Cordillera Claudio Gay. East of this range it falls beneath stratovolcanoes
which have been untouched by other than superficial erosion. These volcanoes
create the continental watershed.
The fine sediments and ash flows which cap the Atacama Pediplain throughout
much of the area bear a similar relationship to the planation surface as do the
Atacama Gravels to the Atacama Pediplain in the Interior Zone, and it is thought
 The Cenozoic history of the S. Atacama desert, Chile 5 x7

that the sedimentary fraction of the sequence is an aggradational feature of

Phase 3. Segerstrom (i968) has mapped these sediments in the Laguna de Negro
Francisco region.
Phase 4 dissection in the Cordilleran Zone is seen as shallow channels. Where
such channels reach the salar basins they are flooded by the salt deposits, thereby
indicating the relative youth of at least the upper part of the evaporitic sequence.
Salt deposits in the Salar de Pedernales basin show definite evidence of having
tilted to the west during their accumulation. This basin drains by sub-surface
seepage into the deep channel of the Rio de la Sal which lies to the west of the
Cordillera Domeyko, and the capture of the drainage of the basin by the river
is imminent.
Since there is no drainage connection between the Cordilleran Zone and the
tracts to the west, the Phase 4 dissection of the Atacama Pediplain in the Cordil-
leran Zone has no base level connection with the Phase 4 events of the Interior
Zone, though it is thought that they were prompted by the same positive tectonic
event.
Potassium-argon dating of an ignimbrite which lies within one of the quebradas
dissecting the eastern flank of the Cordillera Domeyko at Pedernales (68: I I7)
reveals a minimum age for the quebrada at about the Miocene-Pliocene boundary.
The high experimental error in the determination however, reflecting the small
size of the sample, precludes absolute certainty about the time of deposition of
this flow. If the result is valid the quebrada was incised into the Atacama Pediplain
in the Upper Miocene, and so Phase 4 started in the Cordilleran Zone at approxi-
mately the same time as in the eastern part of the Interior Zone.
Eruption of stratovolcanoes during Phase 4 established many enclosed drainage
basins in this part of the high Andes while more recent volcanism has been
concentrated near the present Andean crest, and such constructive activity
probably moved the continental watershed eastwards to its present position in
relatively recent times.
Despite the apparent freshness of the andesitic stratovolcanoes in the eastern
Cordilleran Zone, the youngest event dated by K - A r is a late Pliocene eruption
of rhyolitic ignimbrite (68:I I8). The ignimbrite forms the cliffed shores of the
Laguna Verde lake and the sample comes from the uppermost member of a
number of flows whose base was not seen. This ignimbrite succession overlies the
flanks of the more basic cones, and reflects the most recent major volcanic event
in the region.
In spite of the great altitude of the Cordilleran Zone, no definite evidence of
glaciation was observed, and the maximum extent of Pleistocene ice cover in
this immediate latitude was probably not far below the present summits. The
ice cover was evidently less than either to the north (Hollingworth & Guest 1967)
or to the south (Paskoff I967).
(C) T H E LANDSCAPE OF THE COASTAL ZONE

The coastline of the S. Atacama Desert is bordered by marine terraces which

have been mapped at the mouths of the Rio Salado, the Rio Copiapo and the
Q uebrada Carrizal (Mortimer I969; Ph.D. thesis, University of London). Cooke
 5z8 C. Mortimer

(I964 and i965) has mapped the terraces at the mouth of the Rio Huasco. The
different sequences of events at each of these localities are local variations on an
overall similar pattern.
Evidence all along the coast points to an early fall in sea level that was con-
temporaneous with the incision of drainage initiating Phase 3. The evidence of
the first major relative fall in sea level is a buried channel beneath the present
valley floor of the lower Rio Copiapo, and as an abandoned river mouth to the
south of the present mouth of the Quebrada Carrizal. These channels were cut
from a position near the Sierra Checo del Cobre Surface to some depth below the
present sea level. This fall was a minimum of 2o0 m at the Rio Salado mouth,
4oo m in the Rio Copiapo and about 30o m at the mouth of the Quebrada
Carrizal. Cooke (z964) estimated an early fall in sea level of about 500 m at the
Rio Huasco mouth, which corresponds to the present height of the Sierra Checo
del Cobre Surface above sea level at this locality.
After the fall in sea level there was a transgression and regression (both in
Phase 4), because there is a flight of terraces with superimposed transgressive and
regressive sediments. Sediment studies by Herin (i969) have revealed oscillations
of sea level during the transgressive period, though morphological expression of
this has not been seen in the southern desert.
The terraced littoral area is locally backed by the remnants of an abandoned
cliff, behind the highest shoreline, which is a local representative of the virtually
continuous high cliff of northernmost Chile, and is considered to have formed
during the transgressive episode (Mortimer & Sarifi in press). Bruggen's (t95o)
hypothesis that this is a fault scarp cannot now be accepted in the light of mapping
along the north Chilean coast (e.g. Thomas z97o ).
The highest sea level attained during the transgressive stage is now preserved
a t differing altitudes along the coast: 5 m and 290 m at the mouths of the Rio
Salado and the Rio Copiapo respectively, t5o m at Carrizal Bajo and z25 m at
Huasco. The non-horizontality of the highest shoreline in the 245 km between
Chanaral and Huasco shows that, subsequent to the maximum encroachment
of the sea, broad differential tectonic uplift of the coastal area had taken place
and consequently the principal cause of the changing relative sea levels is con-
sidered to be tectonic.

2so~ 1250
m200~ 1,200
I~SO
100-
"~'m'.~m __ 1100
so T ~SO
i R I O COPIAPO ! S.
5
kms

Fxo. 6. Height-range diagram of the littoral terraces in an area adjacent to the

mouth of the Rio Copiapo. Inclined h i g h terraces n e a r to t h e river are considered
to h a v e h a d a fluviatile origin.
 The Cenozoic history of the S. Atacama desert, Chile 5 I9

Paskoff (e.g. I97O ) who worked between lat. 30 and 33 % concluded that
locally tectonic activity had been minimal, such that near 30% he recognized
various glacio-eustatic sea level positions in the terrace sequence. He identified
five such terraces up to 13 m cut into the transgressive sediments of the Pliocene
Coquimbo Formation. The littoral area of the southern Atacama Desert however,
exhibits a multitude of terraces, many of which are bound to coincide with
classical terrace altitudes elsewhere, whereas there are many which do not (e.g.
Fig. 6). The effects of glacio-eustatic changes of sea level on terrace development
in the littoral area of the southern desert are considered to have been lost in
overwhelming tectonic control.
An examination of ostracoda taken from the transgressive coastal sediments
(Hazel, pers. comm.) reveals a fauna with no apparent difference from modern
genera, but which has a warm water aspect: a conclusion supported by dendrophylid
corals. At present the Chilean coast is dominated by the effects of the cold Hum-
boldt Current which encourages the proliferation of cold water creatures. The
tropical aspect of the fauna of the onlap sediments is taken to be supporting
evidence that the deposits are late Tertiary in age as determined from macrofaunal
studies made by Herm (1969), and these sediments are probably Pliocene.
At the Rio Copiapo mouth is faulting which has upthrown the coastal terraces
(Fig. 3) (Segerstrom i965; Mortimer I969, op. cit.), and the relationship of the
depositional surface of the Atacama Gravels to the marine planation surfaces is
disturbed.
Near the mouths of the Rio Salado and the Quebrada Carrizal, however, the
uppermost marine level coincides with the surface of the Atacama Gravels. They
were deposited before the marine transgression reached its highest point, and
the equivalence of the marine and fluviatile surfaces can be explained by a rise
in sea level above the surface of the Miocene aggradafion. In this way there would
be no morphological expression of differing levels of marine and fluviafile infuence
since near shore aggradation in the river would rapidly adjust the bed to the
high level. Eventual relative fall in sea level would reveal a continuous surface
from the highest marine terrace into the deposifional surface of the older contin-
ental gravels.
(D) LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION IN THE S. A T A C A M A DESERT AS
COMPARED WITH THE REST OF N. CHILE

In the southern Atacama Desert the heirarchy of erosion surfaces has developed
most markedly peripheral to the main drainage channels. It is here where the
incision following each relative base level change has been greatest. The Rios
Salado, Copiapo and Huasco, and the Quebrada Carrizal all antedate the basic
relief generation into major longitudinal physiographic units, and the cross-
cutting drainage has ensured that most of the region has maintained contact with
a marine base level throughout the evolution of the landscape. So sea level
changes or tectonic movements of the region could be reflected in the erosional
histories of the river valleys.
The rivers crossing the southern desert are the northernmost long established
streams in Chile. The Rio Loa (2I36' Lat.S), and the valleys which cross the
52 C, Mortimer

Cordillera de la Costa close to Arica (I83 o' Lat.S) are wholly late Neogene in
origin (Mortimer & Sari~ in press) and have had no influence on landform
development prior to the last few million years. In consequence, in the region
lying north of the Rio Salado the landscape is predominantly tectonically deter-
mined. The lack of drainage contact with a marine base level for much of the
Tertiary has ensured that only slow degradation towards local base levels has
prevailed. Tectonic movements which have left direct topographic expressions
have punctuated the slow wastage, and distinct stages of erosion surface develop-
ment are not readily seen in the northern desert.
South of the Rio Huasco, where rainfall increases significantly, erosion has
proceeded at a greater rate, and the preservation of landscapes older than the
Pliocene rapidly decreases with distance south, though Paskoff (I97O op. cit.) has
mapped remnants of a planate landsurface between 3 0 and 33 Lat.S to which
he gives a Paleogene date. He also notes the existence of small areas protected
by lava flows of presumed Neogene age.
Coastal landforms throughout the north Chilean littoral area are similar in
aspect if not in local detail. Basic similarities also exist between the high Andes
of northernmost Chile and those of the southern desert since constructional
volcanic peaks and related landforms are associated with plateau regions through-
out the central Andes. However, the high Andes of Chile from about 28 to 33
Lat.S suffer a noticeable absence of stratovolcanoes. Andesitic peaks on the
Argentine side of the divide close a little the gap in the volcanic features, but
there is nevertheless a gap in the volcanic chain which is untypical of the Andean
range. Ignimbritic flows of presumed Tertiary age are, however, locally preserved
along the whole of this segment, and it would seem that Tertiary volcanic features
were developed in this region as elsewhere, but in view of the higher erosion
rates prevailing south of the desert they have been largely removed. Only the
very latest volcanic features have failed to develop here.
Perez & Aguire (i968) have suggested that magmatic channels have been
closed by low angle reverse faults. Such faults have, however, been active
elsewhere in northern Chile throughout the Tertiary, apparently without an
inhibiting effect on volcanic activity. The lack of recent volcanism is therefore
more probably related to variation in the closure mechanism of the South American
and Nazca lithospheric plates which has resulted in reduced magma generation.

2. Wider significance of the deduced chronology

Bowman (I924) and Willis (I929) made early observations and deductions
about the topograhy of the region. Bruggen (I95O) and Munoz (I956) favoured
Pliocene formation of Andean relief by faulting or flexuring. Hollingworth (i964)
suggested early block faulting of Mesozoic sediments producing basins for Tertiary
sedimentation east of Antofagasta (2304 ' Lat.S). Galli (I967) regarded Andean
uplift as Upper Miocene.
Rutland et al. (i965) dated the Liparitica Formation in the San Bartolo area
(2205 ' Lat.S) at between io and 4"24 m.y. The lava flows of this Formation are
 The Cenozoic history of the S. Atacama desert, Chile 521

progressively more deformed with increase in age, and are said to have been
extruded over an early Tertiary erosion surface with a slope of a few degrees only
(Hollingworth & Rutland x968 ). Rutland et al. (1965) concluded that "the
tectonic activity which warped the early Tertiary planation surface began shortly
before and continued after the period of ignimbrite eruption" with post eruptive
tectonism in Pliocene to Pleistocene times. They calculated an average rate of
uplift of o"5 m m per year in the time of i o m.y. from the Miocene to the present.
Both Corvalan (i966) and Ruiz (I965) broadly agree with this scheme of north
Chilean Andean evolution.
In the southern Atacama Desert landform development reaches as far back
as the early Tertiary, and the drainage incisions were of such a magnitude that
they can only reflect tectonic movements. At least in the southern Atacama Desert
erosional change of the landscape has been principally restricted to Phase 4
canyon formation. So most of Andean relief formed prior to the late Miocene
during regional positive tectonic pulses which were reflected in the drainage
incisions at phase boundaries. The latest pulse was the Phase 4 channel incision
that formed most of local Andean erosional relief.
The major streams which head in the Andes have thalweg profiles without bed
irregularities, and the I o m.y. that have passed since the latest renewal of channel
erosion in the Upper Miocene is sufficient time for such channels to achieve
reasonable equilibrium with the erosive agencies. It is assumed, therefore, that
the amount of incision is of the same order as the positive tectonic disturbance
that led to the intensified erosion. Since the start of the last positive movements
there has been an incision of drainage of 5oo-xooo m into the late Miocene
topography, one quarter of the sub-volcano altitude of the present Andes,
less than one sixth of their total altitude, about one fifth of their Miocene
altitude.
There is growing evidence that the Andean crest has moved eastwards. Certainly
within the last IO-2O m.y. the watershed has moved at least 60 km from the
Cordillera Claudio Gay to the Alta Cordillera and may well have moved I co km
from the Cordillera Domeyko. Frutos (i97o) has observed a similar post Miocene
change in the position of the stratovolcano axis locally between 19 and 24 Lat.S
and this suggestion has appeared in Rutland (I97I), James (i97I) and Plafker
(1972). Farrar et al. (I97O) have demonstrated a post Paleozoic eastward mi-
gration of intrusive belts in the Copiapo region. The youngest and easternmost
intrusives were Upper Eocene. This intrusive belt occurs east of the Lower
Eocene lava flows preserved on the Cumbre Surface, and indicates that the
Cumbre Surface has been eroded to expose granites which were emplaced after
the formation of the oldest elements of the present landscape. Following the
model of Hamilton (1969), who suggested that the volcanic Andes are the super-
ficial signs of batholith emplacement beneath them, it could be said that the
indications both of progressively younging intrusion and volcanism towards the
east are associated phenomena, and that the volcanic and topographic crest of
the Andes has been situated above penecontemporaneous batholiths and has
moved east during post Paleozoic time and during the evolution of the present
landscape.
522 C. Mortimer

B) AN EXPLORATION GUIDE FOR COPPER DEPOSITS

During the weathering of a vertically extensive copper deposit, descending

meteoric waters near to the landsurface dissolve the hypogene mineral assemblage.
In northern Chile the original copper-bearing minerals are normally chalcopyrite
or bornite that are associated with a gangue material containing pyrite. Following
the weathering a barren leached zone remains in the upper part of the deposit,
but at lower levels some of the copper is redeposited in the form of silicates,
carbonates or sulphates in the 'oxide' zone. Around the permanent ground water
level, where there is low acidity, a replacement reaction occurs between the
hypogene ore and the copper-bearing solutions, and binary copper sulphides are
formed which are considerably richer in copper than their predecessors. Although
the resulting enriched ore is mineralogically complex (Sillitoe & Clark I969),
it can be regarded macroscopically as consisting of chalcocite and covelline.
Most of the mines in the Atacama Desert owe their commercial viability to the
existence of the enriched ore, yet prior to the work of Segerstrom (I963), Clark
et al. (I967b) and Sillitoe et al. (i968) there was no appreciation that a complex
relationship existed between the landscape evolution and the positioning of
enriched copper deposits.
Secondary enrichment has not occurred in veins lying beneath the volcanic
capping of the Cumbre Surface, however, two distinct levels of massive chalcocite
are preserved in deposits under the degraded residuals of the same landscape.
The higher of these chalcocite zones lies at the surface. The only copper deposit
to be seen on the scant remains of the Sierra Checo del Cobre Surface has a single
complete enrichment profile, but the many deposits on the Atacama Pediplain
all show a chalcocite horizon that is at, or near, landsurface. Deposits in the
Phase 4 canyons show no enrichment. The modern water table is low and bears
no relationship to any of the observed supergene ore.
Weathering of the Cumbre Surface did not start until after the local emplace-
ment of the lava cap, when leaching that occurred away from the protective cover
of volcanic rocks permitted the formation of the upper chalcocite zone now found
in the high residuals of the Cumbre Surface. Subsequent erosion removed the
leached and oxide zones of the deposits and exposed enriched ore at the land-
surface.
The second period of enrichment is considered to have occurred in relation to
a lower water table lying beneath the Sierra Checo del Cobre Surface. The
chalcocite layer corresponding to the second episode of supergene enrichment is
found near to the ground surface beneath the Atacama Pediplain, and the process
of pedimentation of Phase 3 must have removed the previously superimposed
source areas of the copper-rich solutions. In those areas away from the Cumbre
Surface erosion has been too deep for the older chalcocite blanket to have been
preserved, and canyon development during Phase 4 has completely truncated
even the younger enriched zone.
It is therefore established that important enrichment in the copper deposits
of the southern Atacama Desert had ceased by the commencement of Phase 4
in the late Miocene, although some superficial 'sooty' chalcocite seen in a number
 The Cenozoic history of the S. Atacama desert, Chile 523

&workings was interpreted as a product of remobilization of copper during Phase

4- Retardation of the enrichment process during and since the Miocene is con-
sidered to be a result of chemical inactivity due to the onset of extremely arid
conditions.
The enrichment profile of an ore body can now be forecast by observing the
landform under which it has been discovered. Deposits located beneath the older
landscapes should yield enriched ore at depth, whereas deposits on the Atacama
Pediplain will have their only enriched ore at, or near, the surface. Least promising
are deposits in the canyons developed during Phase 4 since all the enriched ore
will have been eroded during valley deepening. Though early Tertiary volcanic
flows will have protected any underlying deposits from supergene processes, late
Tertiary volcanic rocks or alluvium will have been deposited after or during the
enrichment process, and copper prospects discovered to lie beneath the mantle of
Atacama Gravels and their associated ignimbrite flows should exhibit high grade
ore due to enrichment.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This study was financed by the U.K. Ministry of Overseas Development
in cooperation with the Instituto de Investigaciones Geologicas de Chile. Research grants were
provided by the University of London and the T. Witherden Batt Fund of University College
London. The counsel of Drs A. H. Clark, and R. U. Cooke was fundamental to the study that
was initiated by the late Professor S. E. Hollingworth. Other collegues at University College
London who aided in the work are Professor D. T. Donovan, Professor R. W. R. Rutland,
Dr. R.. H. Sillitoe, Mr. M. C. Kennard, Mr. M. O'Halloran, Dr. J. E. Guest, Mr. C. Stuart,
Mr. K. Stephens and Mr. M. Gray. In Chile Senor Carlos Ruiz F. and his staff of the Instituto
provided considerable advice and logistical support, and Peggy and Guillermo Millie gave
generous hospitality.

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Received 26 January 1972; revised manuscript received 6 November I972;

read i November x972.
C~DmC MORa'm~R, PH.D., F.G.S., Instituto de Invesdgaciones Geol6gicas,
Casilla no. xo465, Santiago de Chile.

DISCUSSION
MR. J. w . PALLXSTF.Rasked Dr. Mortimer if hc would explMn more fully the
double zone of e n r i c h m e n t in the m i n e r a l i z e d veins b e n e a t h t h e u p p e r m o s t
erosion surface.
T h e AUTHOR replied: T o explain this d o u b l e zone o f supergene e n r i c h m e n t the
m i n e r a l profile in the D u l c i n e a M i n e , investigated b y Dr. R . H. Sillitoe, is
described.
D u l c i n e a M i n e lies i m m e d i a t e l y b e n e a t h t h e d e g r a d e d C u m b r e Surface in a n
inclined vein t h a t outcrops on the m o u n t a i n s u m m i t with massive chalcocite a n d
m a n y oxides to a b o u t I4o m depth. F r o m I4o to 25 m t h e r e is no e n r i c h e d ore
in a zone of oxidized h y p o g e n e ore, b u t from 25o to 47 m massive chalcocite is
a g a i n p r e s e n t with oxides. Below 47 m oxidized h y p o g e n e ore occurs to 72o m
w h e r e the workings e n t e r p u r e h y p o g e n e c h a l c o p y r i t e ore a n d no m o r e changes
occur as far as, a n d b e y o n d , the w a t e r table at 8 i o m.
F o r supergene sulphides to be present at t h e o u t c r o p o f the vein, solutions
m u s t h a v e altered a m i n e r a l deposit originally a b o v e t h e p r e s e n t l a n d surface
a n d since r e m o v e d b y erosion. I n no o t h e r w a y could the b i n a r y c o p p e r sulphides
h a v e achieved such a position since t h e r e is no evidence either regionally, or
texturally, t h a t the b i n a r y sulphides are of h y p o g e n e origin. T h e r e f o r e at the time
of e n r i c h m e n t the t o p o g r a p h y m u s t h a v e stood h i g h e r t h a n it n o w does with a
g r o u n d w a t e r level a r o u n d the s u m m i t o f t h e m o u n t a i n . T h e h i g h e r zone with
t h e massive chalcocite is nevertheless over 14o m thick a n d some f l u c t u a t i o n or
526 C. Mortimer

slow fall in ground water level may have taken place during the deposition of the
secondary sulphide.
Below the upper zone of chalcocite there is over I oo m of oxidized hypogene ore
with no trace of binary sulphides ever being present. Despite its anomalous
position between two supergene sulphide zones, the oxide zone has all the
characteristics of a normally situated oxide assemblage lying above an enriched
horizon. The water table must have dropped rapidly after the formation of the
uppermost chalcocite horizon to the top of the lowermost massive enriched horizon
when it stabilized. Such a ground water change would expose fresh hypogene ore
previously beneath the uppermost supergene zone to the percolating waters and a
new enrichment cycle could begin, and the older chalcocite zone was re-exposed
to reactive solutions and was partially remobilized towards the new lower level
of enrichment. Associated with remobilization of the upper chalcocite blanket
the underlying freshly exposed hypogene ore suffered primary decomposition to
produce the oxide zone between the chalcocite horizons. Slow downward move-
ment or fluctuation of the water table probably took place during the formation
of the lower as well as the upper chalcocite zone, contemporaneously with oxidation
of the overlying parts of the deposit.
At the close of the second episode of enrichment the water table probably
continued to fall towards its present position, but the onset of extreme aridity
seems to have inhibited the formation of a third and lower chalcocite zone.
However, 'sooty' chalcocite, superficially distributed between 325 and 485 m
depth, could be a product of later remobilization and continued oxidation of the
mineral assemblage above the present water table. No supergene product appears
to have any affinity for the present water table.
This explains the mineral zonation. For more detailed mineralogy see Sillitoe
Clark (i 969).