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The Belén Metamorphic Complex (Spanish: Complejo metamórfico Belén) is a group of metamorphic and igneous rocks that crops out in the western edge of the Altiplano plateau in the interior of northernmost Chile. The rocks of the complex metamorphosed during the Early Paleozoic era but the original protoliths formed in the Proterozoic eon. This make rocks of the Belén Metamorphic Complex the oldest rocks known in Chile. To the west the rocks of the Belén Metamorphic Complex thrust along Chapiquiña-Belén fault over sediments of Cenozoic age including ignimbrites of the Oxaya Formation and rocks of Lupica Formation. At their peak conditions of metamorphism rocks reached temperatures and pressures of 700 C and 7 kbar. The timing of the metamorphism matches the age of the Famatinian orogeny in the Argentine Northwest. Rocks of the Belén Metamorphic Complex were involved in one or more orogenies in the Early Paleozoic.

Rocks of the complex include foliatied amphibolite, orthogneiss, serpentinite and lesser amounts of quartz-rich mica schist.

The rocks of complex have experienced continuous exhuming during the last 15 million years as part of the ongoing Andean orogeny, with an apparent exhumation spurt 11 to 7 million years ago.

References

1. ^ "Esquistos de Belén". Geositios (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-01-12.
2. ^ García, Marcelo; Aguilar, Germán; Rodríguez, María Pía; Metcalf, James (2022). "(U-Th)/He ages of Proterozoic-Paleozoic basement rocks from northern Chile (18-19° S) and implications on the Neogene uplift history of the Western Cordillera". Andean Geology. 49 (3): 313–326. doi:10.5027/andgeoV49n3-3402. S2CID 253148429.
3. ^ Hervé, Francisco; Faundez, Victor; Calderón, Mauricio; Massonee, Hans-joachim; Willner, Arne P. (2007). "2. Metamorphic and plutonic basement complexes". In Moreno, Teresa; Gibbons, Wes (eds.). Geology of Chile. Geological Society of London. pp. 5–25. ISBN 978-1-86239-219-9.

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Sedimentary formations and groups	Cenozoic Neogene Abanico Fm. Angostura Fm. Ayacara Fm. Bahía Inglesa Fm. Caldera Beds Caleta Godoy Fm. Caleta Herradura Fm. Campanario Fm. Chaicayán Gp. Cheuquemó Fm. Cholchol Fm. Chucal Fm. Cola de Zorro Fm. Coquimbo Fm. Cura-Mallín Gp. Farellones Fm. La Cascada Fm. Lacui Fm. La Montaña Fm. La Portada Fm. Lauca Fm. Malleco Fm. Mininco Fm. Navidad Fm. Oxaya Fm. Parga Fm. Puduhuapi Fm. Pupunahue Beds Quebrada Macusa Fm. Ranquil Fm. Río Frías Fm. San Pedro Beds Santo Domingo Fm. Temuco Fm. Traiguén Fm. Trapa-Trapa Fm. Tubul Fm. Vargas Fm. Paleogene Abanico Fm. Azapa Fm. Caleta Chonos Fm. Cheuquemó Fm. Cura-Mallín Gp. La Cascada Fm. Lebu Gp. Loreto Fm. Lupica Fm. Oxaya Fm. Parga Fm. Purilactis Gp. Pupunahue Beds Temuco Fm. Vargas Fm. Mesozoic Cretaceous Baños del Flaco Fm. Cerro Colorado Fm. Chacarilla Fm. Chañarcillo Gp. Coihaique Gp. Divisadero Gp. Dorotea Fm. Hornitos Fm. La Liga Fm. Ñirehuao Fm. Punta del Cobre Fm. Purilactis Gp. Quiriquina Fm. Viñita Fm. Way Gp. Zapata Fm. Jurassic Chacarilla Fm. Coihaique Gp. Ibáñez Fm. La Liga Fm. La Negra Fm. Nacientes del Biobío Fm. Nacientes del Teno Fm. Pan de Azúcar Fm. Tobífera Fm. Triassic Canto del Agua Fm. Choiyoi Gp. Panguipulli Fm. Santa Juana Fm. Tralcán Fm. Paleozoic Llano de Chocolate Beds
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Metamorphic complexes	Bahía Mansa Belén Chañaral Choapa Chonos Cordillera Darwin Eastern Andes Mejillones Puerto Edén Punta de Choros Quebrada del Carrizo Trafún Tierra del Fuego
Faults	Atacama Fault Biobío-Aluminé Fault Cachet Fault Domeyko Fault El Arrayán Fault Futrono Fault Gastre Fault Lanalhue Fault Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Magallanes-Fagnano Fault Mocha-Villarrica Fault Pichilemu Fault Reigolil-Pirihueico Fault San Ramón Fault Valeriano Fault
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