Neogene Micropaleontology and Stratigraphy of Argentina: The Chaco-Paranense Basin and the Península de Valdés

228 Pages·2015·11.05 MB·English

by  Hugo Marengo (auth.)

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCES
SOUTH AMERICA AND THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Hugo Marengo
Neogene
Micropaleontology
and Stratigraphy
of Argentina
The Chaco-Paranense
Basin and the
Península de Valdés
SpringerBriefs in Earth System Sciences
South America and the Southern Hemisphere
Series editors
Jorge Rabassa, Ushuaia, Argentina
Gerrit Lohmann, Bremen, Germany
Justus Notholt, Bremen, Germany
Lawrence A. Mysak, Montreal, Canada
Vikram Unnithan, Bremen, Germany
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10032
Hugo Marengo
Neogene Micropaleontology
and Stratigraphy
of Argentina
The Chaco-Paranense Basin
í é
and the Pen nsula de Vald s
123
Hugo Marengo
SEGEMAR
Mendoza
Argentina
ISSN 2191-589X ISSN 2191-5903 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs inEarth System Sciences
ISBN 978-3-319-12813-9 ISBN 978-3-319-12814-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-12814-6
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2014960141
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
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…itwasallaSeafromaboveMemphistothe
Ethiopian Mountains, and likewise from the
plains of Arabia. It was Sea also about Ilium,
and all Teuthrania; and where the River
Meander now runneth by Meadows. There be
Lands also that are produced after another
manner, and emerge on a sudden in some
Sea: as if Nature struck a Balance with
herself, by giving again in one place that
which her gaping Gulfs had swallowed up
in another.
Pliny, Natural History, II, 85–86 (trans.
Philemon Holland. The Wernerian Club,
1847–48. London)
—The ground of the pampa, Bernini
insisted, is a marine formation. The entire
pampa is the vast floor of an ocean that at
one time lapped up against the Andes until it
withdrew…
Vacillating between indignation and
respect, the High Priest Bernini asked how
he had erred. By inventing a marine origin
for the pampa’s topsoil deposits, came the
Glyptodon’s response.
—And what proof is there to the contrary?
challenged Bernini.
—The absence of horizontal strata left by
any transgression or regression of the sea.
LeopoldoMarechal,AdánBuenosayres,III,
1 (trans. Norman Cheadle. McGill-Queen’s
University Press 2014. pp. 167–168.
Montreal)
Preface
DuringtheMiocene,twohugeAtlantictransgressionsfloodedthePatagoniancoast
and much of the Argentine continental interior, covering more than 1 million km2
and reaching poorly known areas of southern Paraguay and Bolivia and western
Uruguay. The deposits of both transgressions are micropalaeontologically rich,
which allowed the first reliable estimates of their ages and provided knowledge
of the main environmental changes that occurred in the different regions involved.
The knowledge of these transgressions coincided with the birth of geological
science in Argentina, from the pioneering observations by Alcide d’Orbigny and
Charles Darwin. However, few works have attempted a comprehensive study
of these deposits from a modern perspective.
ThefirstofthesetransgressionsisknownasthePatagonienseonthePatagonian
coast, but it was virtually unknown in the Chacoparanense Basin, where it was
erroneously assigned to the Maastrichtian; this is called the Laguna Paiva Trans-
gression (TLP), which started during the Early Aquitanian (Early Miocene). The
second transgression occurred between the Middle Miocene and the early Late
Miocene; it is known by various names but is referred to in this work as the
Entrerriense-ParanenseTransgression(TEP).Thedatingofbothevents,aswellas
their correlation with global eustatic changes and with the moments of greater
convergence between the South American and Nazca plates, is useful to consis-
tently explain the origin of the two transgressions. They were mainly produced by
the complex interaction of changes in sea level and the distal subsidence that
occurred in the eastern margin of southern South America, related to Neogene
Andean tectonics.
This book organizes and updates the most significant advances of the last two
centuries and presents an unpublished micropaleontological study of more than 20
stratigraphic sections. This information is supplemented by numerous sedimento-
logical observations and analyses, which allow the proposal of a new lithostrati-
graphic framework for the Neogene of the Chacoparanense Basin. This book is
structured to facilitate fluent reading. A complete review of the knowledge of
transgressions in Argentina and similar transgressions in other countries of South
Americaisfirstdiscussed,alongwiththestateoftheartofdifferentaspectsrelevant
vii
viii Preface
to these topics (age, paleoenvironment, micropaleontology, etc.). Then, the main
findings for the TLP and TEP of the Chacoparanense Basin and the TEP of
Península de Valdés are presented. Finally, the complete stratigraphic Profiles
(Appendix A), Mineralogical Analysis (Appendix B), Distribution Charts
(Appendix C), Systematics (Appendix D), and Plates (Appendix E) are presented.
Acknowledgments
I wish to acknowledge Roberto Scasso for encouraging me to overcome obstacles
and promoting my curiosity. Gratitude is also extended to Adelma Bayarsky for
hundreds of hours spent helping me make this work, Andrea Concheyro for the
assistance in the study of calcareous nannoplankton, and Alicia Echeverría for
the invaluable help in the study of ostracods. Special thanks to Jorge Rabassa for
the thorough review and invaluable encouragement. This work was carried out in
the laboratories of SEGEMAR (the Geological Survey of Argentina), using
borehole samples from its repository; I am thoroughly grateful to this institution.
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