Carbonatites are rather uncommon rocks, the origin of which still stands a subject of debate, especially
regarding if they crystallize from primary carbonatitic melts from the mantle, or if they are generated, by
some magmatic differentiation process, from an alkaline-silicate parent magma. The Esquinzo-Agua Salada
carbonatites are associated, both in space and time, to an ensemble of alkaline silicate lithologies comprising,
from ultramafic-mafic (perovskite-clinopyroxenites-ijolitic rocks) to felsic (nepheline-syenites) types. In this
work, field relationships between both groups of lithologies as well as the main geochemical characteristics
of the carbonatites, which are compared to those of the alkaline silicate rocks, are presented. Both aspects
seem to indicate an origin for the carbonatites by liquid immiscibility, from a CO2-rich, alkaline silicate
parental magma