Madre de Dios Terrane is a distinct fragment of Earth's crust in southwestern

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

. Subduction made the Madre de Dios Terrane collide and accrete to Patagonia (then part of Gondwana) in the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

. This accretion is thought to have happened at a different location than today and the current location of the terrane is would be the result of displacement along dextral faults. The terrane is made up of three distinct units: *Denaro Complex *Torlton Limestone *Duque de York Complex is made up of

pelite A pelite ( Greek: ''pelos'', "clay") or metapelite is a metamorphosed fine-grained sedimentary rock, i.e. mudstone or siltstone. The term was earlier used by geologists to describe a clay-rich, fine-grained clastic sediment or sedimentary rock, ...

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke (German ''grauwacke'', signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lit ...

s and conglomerates. All these sediments are thought to be derived from a continent or microcontinent. Duque de York Complex was

metamorphosed Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

before the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

intrusions of the South Patagonian Batholith, as is also likely the case of the two other units.

References

Geology of Magallanes Region category:terranes Última Esperanza Province Geology of the Andes {{Geology of Chile