Sedimentological response of an alluvial system to Neogene thrust tectonics, Atacama Desert, northern Chile

The Llano de la Paciencia is a thrust sheet top basin in which the sedimentological and topographic evolution can be linked to thrust tip propagation. It is an elongate gravel plain which borders the Salar de Atacama, a major intermontane basin in the Andean forearc of northern Chile. The Llano is bounded to the west by the Cerros de Purilactis a Cretaceous–Paleocene sequence uplifted by the Frontal Domeyko Thrust. The eastern margin of the Llano is formed by the Cordillera de la Sal which was uplifted by a linked back thrust-frontal thrust system. The Salar de Atacama is thus divided into a number of discrete sub-basins: the Llano de la Paciencia, the Pampa Visachita and the western sub-Llano which from east-west are bounded by the Cordillera de la Sal, the northern imbricates and the ignimbrite back thrust. Two phases of sedimentological evolution can be distinguished within the Llano on the basis of Quaternary to Recent sediment dispersal patterns. Initially, Phase 1 alluvial fan lobes prograded eastwards into the main Salar de Atacama basin. Subsequently, uplift of the Cordillera de la Sal deflected drainage systems southwards parallel to the structural strike. These Phase 2 alluvial deposits drain into the Salar de Atacama at the lateral termination of the Cordillera de la Sal frontal thrust. In places where thrust tip ramps are emergent within the Llano, gullies have been incised into the drainage pathways. This has resulted in the reworking of the early Phase 1 gravels and progradation of the Phase 2 fan lobes. The evolution of the Llano de la Paciencia illustrates the close link between topography and syntectonic alluvial drainage patterns in an arid intermontane basin.