Kinematic link between episodic trapdoor collapse of the Negra Muerta Caldera and motion on the Olacapato-El Toro Fault Zone, southern central Andes

A combined geochronological and structural analysis of the Miocene Negra Muerta Caldera was designed to better understand caldera formation associated with prominent faults on the central Andean plateau. Rb–Sr ages of the caldera outflow facies indicate that caldera formation occurred in two volcano-tectonic episodes. The first episode commenced with explosive eruption of the 9.0±0.1 Ma andesitic Acay Ignimbrite followed by a period of volcanic quiescence and moderate tectonic activity. Dominant volcanic and tectonic activity occurred during the second episode, which is bracketed by eruption of the 7.6±0.1 Ma rhyolitic Toba 1 Ignimbrite and effusive discharge of the 7.3±0.1 Ma rhyodacitic to andesitic lava flows. Structural relationships between rocks of the Negra Muerta Volcanic Complex and collapse-induced normal faults, notably NE-striking normal faults, agree with simultaneous volcanic activity and floor subsidence of the caldera during the second episode. Floor subsidence was achieved by tilting on an outward dipping reverse fault to the northwest of the caldera floor around a hinge zone located south of the caldera floor. This induced horizontal extension of the caldera floor and was accomplished by fragmentation of, and intrusion of dikes into, the floor. Collapse-induced and post-collapse fault populations of the caldera do not differ significantly in the directions of their axes of maximum extension and are in this respect kinematically compatible with left-lateral slip on the nearby Olacapato-El Toro Fault Zone. This furnishes evidence for a kinematic control by prominent faults on the formation of collapse calderas in the central Andes. The structural analysis of the Negra Muerta Caldera shows that collapse calderas can serve as deformation markers that contribute in elucidating the regional kinematic regime and the time of activity of prominent dislocations genetically related to collapse calderas.