S U M M A R YPalaeomagnetic results from Palaeozoic volcanic and sedimentary units of the Famatina Ranges, in NW Argentina (28.7 • S, 67.8 • W) are reported. A late Early to late Middle Ordovician palaeomagnetic pole was obtained from a pre-tectonic remanence carried by magnetite and isolated in volcanics of the Molles Formation and the Cerro Morado Group (MCM1, 16.7 • S, 357.2 • E, A 95 = 6.5 • , K = 38.5, N = 14 sites). This pole position is rotated 39 • clockwise respect to the coeval reference pole for Gondwana but it is consistent with previous Early Ordovician poles from the Famatina belt and the Faja Eruptiva Oriental in the Puna region of NW Argentina. The sedimentary layers of the Molles Formation, however, present a secondary magnetization carried by hematite, which is interpreted of Permian age and yields a pole position (MCM2) at 78.7 • S, 330.8 • E (A 95 = 7.2 • , K = 16.1, n = 27 samples). Two additional independent palaeomagnetic poles were obtained from the Permian De La Cuesta Formation, exposed at two different localities in the same area. While one consisted in a exclusively reverse polarity magnetization and a pole position (LC1, 76.9 • S, 345.2 • E, A 95 = 6.0 • , K = 21.1, n = 29 samples) compatible with the late Early to early Late Permian palaeomagnetic poles from South America, the other presented only normal polarities and a pole position (LC2, 74.5 • N, 275.4 • E, A 95 = 2.0 • , K = 258.3, n = 21 samples) suggestive of a Cretaceous remagnetization.These new palaeomagnetic results confirm on a much more robust database previous proposals that the Ordovician rocks of the Famatina belt have undergone a large clockwise rotation. They also constrain the rotation to pre-Permian times. Different tectonic models involving the Late Ordovician docking of a large para-authochthonous terrane or a pattern of systematic large-scale rotations in the Early Palaeozoic continental margin of Western Gondwana are discussed.

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Magnetostratigraphic and paleomagnetic studies on early Andean synorogenic strata (Del Crestón Fm.), in the Famatina Belt (28.7°S, 67.5°W) clarify details of chronology that permit calculation of sedimentation rates within the broken foreland of west Argentina. The Del Crestón Fm represents the first record of broken foreland sedimentation within the southern Central Andean belt and the earliest retroarc volcanic rocks exposed several hundred kilometers from the trench. Twenty-five out of 49 sites collected along the succession presented a primary remanence, as determined through positive fold and reversal tests. Correlation of the local magnetic polarity section with the global polarity time scale indicates that the sedimentation of Del Crestón Fm started at *16.7 Ma and continued until *14.5 Ma. The youngest strata are represented by conglomerates bearing abundant Lower Paleozoic granite boulders indicating unroofing of the crystalline basement within the NW Sierras Pampeanas. This result supports the hypothesis of an early broken foreland stage at these latitudes of the Andes, with involvement of the basement in deformation and coeval retroarc volcanism, common attributes of flat-subduction regimes. A mean site paleomagnetic direction of Dec: 6.3°, Inc: -43.6°(a95: 8.0°, N = 24) confirm our earlier intrepretation that the central part of the Famatina Belt within the Sierras Pampeanas did not undergo large vertical axes rotations since the Middle Miocene.

Early Paleozoic paleomagnetic data from NW Argentina and Northern Chile have shown large systematic rotations within two domains: one composed of the Western Puna that yields very large (up to 80°) counterclockwise rotations, and the other formed by the Famatina Ranges and the Eastern Puna that shows (*40°) clockwise rotations around vertical axes. In several locations, lack of significant rotations in younger rocks constrains this kinematic pattern to have occurred during the Paleozoic. Previous tectonic models have explained these rotations as indicative of rigid-body rotations of large para-autochthonous crustal blocks or terranes. A different but simple tectonic model that accounts for this pattern is presented in which rotations are associated to crustal shortening and tectonic escape due to the collision of the allochthonous terrane of Precordillera in the Late Ordovician. This collision should have generated dextral shear zones in the back arc region of the convergent SW Gondwana margin, where systematic domino-like clockwise rotations of small crustal blocks accommodate crustal shortening. The Western Puna block, bordering the Precordillera terrane to the north, might have rotated counterclockwise as an independent microplate due to tectonic escape processes, in a fashion similar to the present-day relationship between the Anatolia block and the Arabian microplate.

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