Geodynamic evolution of southern Costa Rica related to low-angle subduction of the Cocos Ridge:: constraints from thermochronology

The Late Tertiary shallow subduction of the Cocos ridge under the Caribbean plate controlled the evolution of the Cordillera de Talamanca in southeast Costa Rica, which is a mountain range that consists mainly of granitoids formed in a volcanic are setting. Fission track thermochronology using zircon and apatite, as well as 40Ar-39Ar and Rb-Sr age data of amphibole and biotite in granitoid rocks constrain the thermal history of the Cordillera de Talamanca and the age of onset of subduction of the Cocos ridge. Shallow intrusion of granitoid melts resulted in fast and isobaric cooling. A weighted mean zircon fission track age (13 analyses) and Rb-Sr biotite ages of about 10 Ma suggest rapid cooling and give minimum ages for granitoid emplacement. In some cases 40Ar-39Ar and Rb-Sr apparent ages of amphibole and biotite are younger than the zircon fission track ages, which can be attributed to partial resetting by hydrothermal alteration. Apatite fission track ages range from 4.8 to 1.7 Ma but show no correlation with the 3090-m elevation span over which they were sampled. The apatite ages seem to indicate rapid exhumation caused by tectonic and isostatic processes. The combination of the apatite fission track ages with subduction parameters of the Cocos plate such as subduction angle, plate convergence rate and distance of the Cordillera de Talamanca to the trench implies that the Cocos ridge entered the Middle America Trench between 5.5 and 3.5 Ma. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.