{"id":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","oai_identifier":"oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/82537"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/toronto-retro/oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/82537","repository":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","name":"University of Toronto","base_url":"https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Regional Deformation and Dynamic Processes of the Southern Puna Plateau, Central Andes","abstract":"The southern Puna Plateau of the central Andes offers an excellent opportunity to (1) advance our understanding in orogenic models for non-collisional mountain belts, (2) test Earth’s upper-crustal responses to lower lithospheric processes, and (3) explore uses of low-temperature thermochronology in studying landscape evolution. This thesis provides important constraints on regional deformation and landscape evolution for the southern Puna Plateau since the late Paleozoic, and focuses on reconstructing its Cenozoic history in detail, using field, laboratory and numerical methods. Sedimentary data, sandstone modal composition, detrital zircon U-Pb geochronological and detrital apatite fission-track thermochronological data suggest that the oldest sedimentary units on the SE (southeastern) and SW (southwestern) Puna Plateau belong to upper Eocene to lower Oligocene, defining a regional sedimentary basin across the plateau region during ~38-28 Ma. Provenance analysis suggests that this basin was sourced from active orogenic front to the west and re-activated relict landscape to the east. During the late Oligocene (~25 Ma) to mid-late Miocene (~8 Ma), the southern Puna Plateau started to be compartmentalized by several major, ~N-S-trending intervening ranges, such as the Sierra de Calalaste and Sierra Laguna Blanca, documented by bedrock apatite fission-track and (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology. Field mapping, structural analysis, zircon U-Pb and whole-rock 40Ar/39Ar dating reveal that the southernmost Puna Plateau experienced upper-crustal contraction during the late Miocene (~12-8 Ma). Before the late Eocene, the region of the southern Puna Plateau was home to several episodes of exhumation and related topographic highs. Using bedrock apatite fission-track and zircon and apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology and modeling, this thesis documents evidence for major topographic highs during the late Paleozoic and the late Cretaceous, and refines paleogeographical models for the southern central Andes. Particularly, the late Cretaceous exhumation related to the development of rift shoulders has caused larger amounts of exhumation compared to that introduced by Cenozoic mountain building processes.","abstract_html":"The southern Puna Plateau of the central Andes offers an excellent opportunity to (1) advance our understanding in orogenic models for non-collisional mountain belts, (2) test Earth’s upper-crustal responses to lower lithospheric processes, and (3) explore uses of low-temperature thermochronology in studying landscape evolution. This thesis provides important constraints on regional deformation and landscape evolution for the southern Puna Plateau since the late Paleozoic, and focuses on reconstructing its Cenozoic history in detail, using field, laboratory and numerical methods. Sedimentary data, sandstone modal composition, detrital zircon U-Pb geochronological and detrital apatite fission-track thermochronological data suggest that the oldest sedimentary units on the SE (southeastern) and SW (southwestern) Puna Plateau belong to upper Eocene to lower Oligocene, defining a regional sedimentary basin across the plateau region during ~38-28 Ma. Provenance analysis suggests that this basin was sourced from active orogenic front to the west and re-activated relict landscape to the east. During the late Oligocene (~25 Ma) to mid-late Miocene (~8 Ma), the southern Puna Plateau started to be compartmentalized by several major, ~N-S-trending intervening ranges, such as the Sierra de Calalaste and Sierra Laguna Blanca, documented by bedrock apatite fission-track and (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology. Field mapping, structural analysis, zircon U-Pb and whole-rock 40Ar/39Ar dating reveal that the southernmost Puna Plateau experienced upper-crustal contraction during the late Miocene (~12-8 Ma). Before the late Eocene, the region of the southern Puna Plateau was home to several episodes of exhumation and related topographic highs. Using bedrock apatite fission-track and zircon and apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology and modeling, this thesis documents evidence for major topographic highs during the late Paleozoic and the late Cretaceous, and refines paleogeographical models for the southern central Andes. Particularly, the late Cretaceous exhumation related to the development of rift shoulders has caused larger amounts of exhumation compared to that introduced by Cenozoic mountain building processes.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zhou, Renjie"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Earth Sciences","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Schoenbohm, Lindsay M"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-11","date_published":"2015-11","updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:28:13Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1807/82537","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Schoenbohm, Lindsay M"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Earth Sciences"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Zhou, Renjie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2015-11"]},{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2018-02-19T05:00:21Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-02-19T05:00:21Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2015-11"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1807/82537"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The southern Puna Plateau of the central Andes offers an excellent opportunity to (1) advance our understanding in orogenic models for non-collisional mountain belts, (2) test Earth’s upper-crustal responses to lower lithospheric processes, and (3) explore uses of low-temperature thermochronology in studying landscape evolution. This thesis provides important constraints on regional deformation and landscape evolution for the southern Puna Plateau since the late Paleozoic, and focuses on reconstructing its Cenozoic history in detail, using field, laboratory and numerical methods. Sedimentary data, sandstone modal composition, detrital zircon U-Pb geochronological and detrital apatite fission-track thermochronological data suggest that the oldest sedimentary units on the SE (southeastern) and SW (southwestern) Puna Plateau belong to upper Eocene to lower Oligocene, defining a regional sedimentary basin across the plateau region during ~38-28 Ma. Provenance analysis suggests that this basin was sourced from active orogenic front to the west and re-activated relict landscape to the east. During the late Oligocene (~25 Ma) to mid-late Miocene (~8 Ma), the southern Puna Plateau started to be compartmentalized by several major, ~N-S-trending intervening ranges, such as the Sierra de Calalaste and Sierra Laguna Blanca, documented by bedrock apatite fission-track and (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology. Field mapping, structural analysis, zircon U-Pb and whole-rock 40Ar/39Ar dating reveal that the southernmost Puna Plateau experienced upper-crustal contraction during the late Miocene (~12-8 Ma). Before the late Eocene, the region of the southern Puna Plateau was home to several episodes of exhumation and related topographic highs. Using bedrock apatite fission-track and zircon and apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology and modeling, this thesis documents evidence for major topographic highs during the late Paleozoic and the late Cretaceous, and refines paleogeographical models for the southern central Andes. Particularly, the late Cretaceous exhumation related to the development of rift shoulders has caused larger amounts of exhumation compared to that introduced by Cenozoic mountain building processes."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Regional Deformation and Dynamic Processes of the Southern Puna Plateau, Central Andes"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Schoenbohm, Lindsay M"],"dc:contributor.department":["Earth Sciences"],"dc:creator":["Zhou, Renjie"],"dc:date":["2015-11"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2018-02-19T05:00:21Z"],"dc:date.available":["2018-02-19T05:00:21Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2015-11"],"dc:description.abstract":["The southern Puna Plateau of the central Andes offers an excellent opportunity to (1) advance our understanding in orogenic models for non-collisional mountain belts, (2) test Earth’s upper-crustal responses to lower lithospheric processes, and (3) explore uses of low-temperature thermochronology in studying landscape evolution. This thesis provides important constraints on regional deformation and landscape evolution for the southern Puna Plateau since the late Paleozoic, and focuses on reconstructing its Cenozoic history in detail, using field, laboratory and numerical methods. Sedimentary data, sandstone modal composition, detrital zircon U-Pb geochronological and detrital apatite fission-track thermochronological data suggest that the oldest sedimentary units on the SE (southeastern) and SW (southwestern) Puna Plateau belong to upper Eocene to lower Oligocene, defining a regional sedimentary basin across the plateau region during ~38-28 Ma. Provenance analysis suggests that this basin was sourced from active orogenic front to the west and re-activated relict landscape to the east. During the late Oligocene (~25 Ma) to mid-late Miocene (~8 Ma), the southern Puna Plateau started to be compartmentalized by several major, ~N-S-trending intervening ranges, such as the Sierra de Calalaste and Sierra Laguna Blanca, documented by bedrock apatite fission-track and (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology. Field mapping, structural analysis, zircon U-Pb and whole-rock 40Ar/39Ar dating reveal that the southernmost Puna Plateau experienced upper-crustal contraction during the late Miocene (~12-8 Ma). Before the late Eocene, the region of the southern Puna Plateau was home to several episodes of exhumation and related topographic highs. Using bedrock apatite fission-track and zircon and apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology and modeling, this thesis documents evidence for major topographic highs during the late Paleozoic and the late Cretaceous, and refines paleogeographical models for the southern central Andes. Particularly, the late Cretaceous exhumation related to the development of rift shoulders has caused larger amounts of exhumation compared to that introduced by Cenozoic mountain building processes."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1807/82537"],"dc:title":["Regional Deformation and Dynamic Processes of the Southern Puna Plateau, Central Andes"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:28:13Z"}