The relationship of the orogeny with theAchala andCerro Asperobatholiths of central Argentina is not fully understood. These Devonian batholiths are possibly of post-orogenic character.[5][6]
The Famatinian orogen's mainoutcrops lie inSierras Pampeanas innorthwestern Argentina.[1][7] Only the western part of Sierras Pampeanas bears evidence of the Famatinian orogeny; the eastern parts appear to have been largely unaffected.[1] Innorthern Chile theBelén Metamorphic Complex is thought to have been subject to metamorphism that was "time-equivalent" to the Famatinian orogeny in the early Paleozoic.[7] It can this be considered part of the orogen in a broad sense.[7] To the south inLa Pampa Province, outcrops associated with the orogeny are scarce since most of that region has become blanketed by much more recentQuaternarysediments.[8]
In Peru'sCordillera Oriental a "Famatinian" orogeny exists which is coeval with the classical Famatinian orogeny found further south. In the time-span from 480 Ma to 435 Ma (Late Cambrian to Silurian) rocks of Cordillera Oriental were deformed and a magmatic arc developed.[9]
Towards what is now the east of the Famatinian magmatic arc aPrecambriansedimentary basin developed into aback-arc basin during theOrdovician. This basin went from Peru, through Bolivia to northwestern Argentina. The basin collected sediments from the Famatinian orogen and arc and while it did not containoceanic crust it was a marine basin.[10]
It has been suggested that the coevalAppalachianTaconic orogeny is the "northward" continuation of the Famatinian orogeny.[note 2] This has been explained by adding that the continentLaurentia could havecollided withGondwana (at what is today western South America) in early Paleozoic times due to theclosure of theIapetus Ocean.[13] Supporting this hypothesis is the suggestion that the orogens have "truncated ends" that can be matched and that both share the commonality of havingcarbonateplatformsediments at what is today their western side.[13][14] Further, in the mentioned sediments both orogens host similarOlenellid trilobite faunas, something that is not expected to be unless both orogens had some sort of contact.[13] This is because trilobites are unable to cross deepocean basins.[15] According to this view theCuyaniaterrane would be anallochthonous block of Laurentian origin that was left in Gondwana after the continents went apart. But such views are not unchallenged since Cuyania is alternatively suggested to have drifted across Iapetus Ocean as amicrocontinent starting in Laurentia andaccreting then to Gondwana. Further a third model claims Cuyania ispara-autochthonous and arrived at its current place bystrike-slip fault movements starting not from Laurentia but from another region of Gondwana.[12] The fact that Precordillera terrane has many trilobitegenera in common with Laurentia but many species are endemic have led to somediffering interpretations on what paleogeographic and tectonic history conditions are plausible explanations for this biogeography.[15]
^All coordinates in this article are in relation to present-day geography andnot to the past disposition of continents,terranes and oceans.
^In other words: what is at present the northern end of the Famatinian orogen would have been connected with what is currently the southern end of the Taconic orogen.
^Lira, Raúl; Kirschbaum, Alicia M. (1990). "Geochemical evolution of granites". In Mahlburg Kay, Suzanne; Rapela, Carlos W. (eds.).Plutonism from Antarctica to Alaska. Geological Society of America Special Paper. Vol. 241. pp. 67–76.
^abcHervé, Francisco; Faundez, Victor; Calderón, Mauricio; Massonne, Hans-Joachim; Willner, Arne P. (2006). "2. Metamorphic and plutonic basement complexes". In Moreno, Teresa; Gibbons, Wes (eds.).Geology of Chile. Geological Society of London. pp. 5–19.ISBN978-1-86239-219-9.
^abChernicoff, Carlos J.; Zappettini, Eduardo O.; Santos, João O.S.; Allchurch, Shelley; McNaughton, Neal J. (2010). "The southern segment of the Famatinian magmatic arc, La Pampa Province, Argentina".Gondwana Research.17 (4):662–675.Bibcode:2010GondR..17..662C.doi:10.1016/j.gr.2009.10.008.
^Bahlburg, Heinrich; Vervoort, Jeffrey D.; DeFrane, S. Andrew; Carlotto, Victor; Reimann, Cornelia; Cárdenas, José (2011). "The U-Pb and Hf isotope evidence of detrital zircons of the Ordovician Ollantaytambo Formation, southern Peru, and the Ordovician provenance and paleogeography of southern Peru and northern Bolivia".Journal of South American Earth Sciences.32 (3):196–209.Bibcode:2011JSAES..32..196B.doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2011.07.002.
^Dalla Salda, Luis H.; López de Luchi, Mónica.; Cingolani, Carlos A.; Varela, Ricardo (1998). "Laurentia-Gondwana collision: the origin of the Famatinian-Appalachian Orogenic Belt (a review)". InPankhurst, R.J.; Rapela, C.W. (eds.).The Proto-Andean Margin of Gondwana. Vol. 142. Geological Society, London, Special Publications. pp. 219–234.
