Abstract The Tambores alluvial fan is located within the hyper-arid Atacama Desert of northern Chile. We examine evidence of the range of flow processes operative in this environment from a combination of Pleistocene–Holocene fan deposits and a recent (2001) flood event (16 m 3 s –1 ) in the fan feeder channel and upper alluvial-fan area. The field evidence suggests that peak flows recorded in the older deposits generated extensive sheetflood events dominated by antidune deposition in the upper fan area. These extreme, supercritical flows were generated by floods with sustained high sediment and water discharges and high stream power. Easily erodable alluvial source materials ensured high sediment discharge could be maintained within flood events. High stream power was ensured as a function of the tectonically exacerbated gradients within the source area. The 2001 event indicates the rapid rheological changes that can occur within an individual flood event, ranging from hyperconcentrated streamflow to mudflow. The flow deposits vary little in maximum clast size either between the varying flood events in the upper fan area, or down the fan gradient. This is due to a limited calibre of sediment being produced from the source area. The study highlights: (1) the range of flow rheologies that can be generated from a hyper-arid catchment both within and between flood events of varying magnitude and the associated difficulties in generating a reliable stratigraphy from the resultant deposits; (2) the high stream power and sediment discharge associated with major flood events and thus the nature of flood hazard in the catchment and on the fan; and (3) the limitations of sedimentological information such as maximum clast size as an indicator of peak flow characteristics in ancient deposits.

The dynamics of the erosive central Andean forearc vary significantly along strike. In northern Chile at 20°S–27°S, and particularly at 22°S–25°S, the forearc in the Coastal Cordillera has been undergoing extension since at least the Pliocene, reactivating steep E-dipping faults of the Mesozoic Atacama fault system. This has been explained by forearc uplift driven by underplating, shallow slab dip, subduction of bathymetric features, and elastic rebound during the earthquake cycle. These processes, however, are active over a much wider area of the central Andean forearc than Coastal Cordillera extension and therefore cannot explain why extension is localized to the northern Chilean onshore outer forearc. We compiled crustal seismicity and the depth of lithospheric boundaries from existing studies to investigate other possible explanations for onshore forearc extension. At 22°S–25°S, seismicity increases above the background subduction-related level present to the north and south. Extensional focal mechanisms, consistent with steep E-dipping faults active at depths up to ~40 km, are also present onshore within this latitude range, but absent to the north and south; this is consistent with the distribution of mapped active fault scarps. The Salar de Atacama crust is seismically active at depths up to ~40 km. Thick lithosphere is present beneath the forearc, and the longitudinal axis of thickest lithosphere is deflected to the east at the latitude of the Salar de Atacama. To the east, the Puna Plateau lithosphere has been thinned by lithospheric removal events. The most robust correlation with onshore forearc extension is the thick, cold, strong crust and mantle lithosphere beneath the anomalous Salar de Atacama in the inner forearc of northern Chile. The combination of underplating-driven outer forearc uplift, the presence of the preexisting structure of the Atacama fault system favorable for reactivation, and the negative buoyancy beneath the Salar de Atacama is inferred to drive Coastal Cordillera normal faulting at this latitude. Recent (<10 Ma) lithospheric removal beneath the Puna Plateau to the east may have enhanced the effect of the negatively buoyant Salar de Atacama lithosphere on the forearc. This implies that both preexisting lithospheric structure and lithospheric processes in the hinterland may influence forearc dynamics.

Abstract Lithium is a critical and technologically important element that has widespread use, particularly in batteries for hybrid cars and portable electronic devices. Global demand for lithium has been on the rise since the mid-1900s and is projected to continue to increase. Lithium is found in three main deposit types: (1) pegmatites, (2) continental brines, and (3) hydrothermally altered clays. Continental brines provide approximately three-fourths of the world’s Li production due to their relatively low production cost. The Li-rich brine systems addressed here share six common characteristics that provide clues to deposit genesis while also serving as exploration guidelines. These are as follows: (1) arid climate; (2) closed basin containing a salar (salt crust), a salt lake, or both; (3) associated igneous and/or geothermal activity; (4) tectonically driven subsidence; (5) suitable lithium sources; and (6) sufficient time to concentrate brine. Two detailed case studies of Li-rich brines are presented; one on the longest produced lithium brine at Clayton Valley, Nevada, and the other on the world’s largest producing lithium brine at the Salar de Atacama, Chile.

The Precordillera of the Cordón de Lila/Sierra Almeida area south of the Salar de Atacama (25°S68°W) was the center of continuous magmatic activity from Early Ordovician to Early Permian time. Various plutonic units form a basement that is overlain by Paleozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary and volcanic sequences. A continental tholeiitic series of komatiitic and tholeiitic pillow basalts, andesitic to plagidacitic lavas, and pyroclastic flows occurs along the north-central portion of this tectonic horst and is a key example for the early Paleozoic development of the central Andes. The lavas are intercalated with hemipelatic to very shallow marine clastic sediments. The sequence is solely affected by weak deformation and burial metamorphism of its stratigraphically lowest part. Geochemical data suggest formation of parental liquids in a lherzolitic upper-mantle source, followed by low-pressure tholeiitic differentiation through combined FC and AFC processes at two distinct crustal levels. The discharge of these lavas and the accompanying flysch-type sedimentation was triggered by crustal extension during Ordovician time, which resulted in a highly segmented, horst and graben-type geodynamic environment.