Sedimentology and fluvial styles of the uppermost Cretaceous continental deposits of the Austral-Magallanes Basin, Patagonia, Argentina

Camila  Tettamanti; Damián  Moyano Paz; Augusto Nicolás  Varela; David Eric  Tineo; Lucía Elena  Gómez-Peral; Daniel Gustavo  Poiré; Abril  Cereceda; Andrea Lorena  Odino Barreto

Autores/as

Camila Tettamanti Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo (UNLP - FCNyM), Calle 122 y 60 s/n, (1900) La Plata, Argentina.
Damián Moyano Paz Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas (CONICET - UNLP), Diagonal 113 275 (B1904DPK), La Plata, Argentina. Cátedra de Sedimentología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Calle 122 y 60 s/n (1900), La Plata, Argentina.
Augusto Nicolás Varela Cátedra de Micromorfología de Suelos, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Calle 122 y 60 s/n (1900), La Plata, Argentina. Y-TEC S.A. and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Av. Del Petróleo s/n (1923), Berisso, Argentina.
David Eric Tineo Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas (CONICET - UNLP), Diagonal 113 275 (B1904DPK), La Plata, Argentina. Cátedra de Geología de Combustibles, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Calle 122 y 60 s/n (1900), La Plata, Argentina.
Lucía Elena Gómez-Peral Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas (CONICET - UNLP), Diagonal 113 275 (B1904DPK), La Plata, Argentina. Cátedra de Sedimentología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Calle 122 y 60 s/n (1900), La Plata, Argentina
Daniel Gustavo Poiré Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas (CONICET - UNLP), Diagonal 113 275 (B1904DPK), La Plata, Argentina. Cátedra de Rocas Sedimentarias, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Calle 122 y 60 s/n (1900), La Plata, Argentina.
Abril Cereceda Cátedra de Rocas Sedimentarias, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Calle 122 y 60 s/n (1900), La Plata, Argentina.
Andrea Lorena Odino Barreto Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas (CONICET - UNLP), Diagonal 113 275 (B1904DPK), La Plata, Argentina. Cátedra de Rocas Sedimentarias, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Calle 122 y 60 s/n (1900), La Plata, Argentina.

Palabras clave:

Fluvial systems; Fluvial styles; Sequence stratigraphy; Austral-Magallanes Basin

Resumen

The sedimentary infill of the Austral-Magallanes Basin since the onset of its foreland stage in the Lago Argentino region is dominated by deep-marine and coastal deposits. However, during the Late Cretaceous the basin accumulated a thick and poorly known continental sedimentary succession, which has received different lithostratigraphic names. The aim of this work is to characterize the here defined Uppermost Cretaceous Continental Deposits (UCCD) from a detailed facies and architectural analysis, as well as the resulting stacking pattern. Seven Facies Associations (FAs) were discriminated in order to define the sedimentary paleoenvironments: FA1, gravelly sheet bodies; FA2, tabular bodies of conglomerates with mud rip-up clasts; FA3, complex tabular sandy bodies; FA4, simple tabular sandy bodies; FA5, tabular bodies of structureless sandstones; FA6, heterolithic deposits; and FA7, fine-grained deposits. Three different fluvial styles were recognized: meandering systems dominated by avulsion and meander abandonment processes (fluvial style a), braided systems (fluvial style b), and meandering systems dominated by overbank flood processes (fluvial style c). The stacking pattern of the FAs allowed to divide the UCCD into two major depositional stages related to the accommodation space vs sediment supply (A/S) ratio. Stage I is characterized by the alternation of fluvial styles a and b, while the Stage II is represented by the alternation of fluvial styles c and b, and the Stage III is characterized entirely by fluvial style c deposits. Although the UCCD are considered as a whole within a framework of low A/S ratio, several high frequency variations were recognized. The Stage I records seven high frequency intervals of which four are characterized by high A/S ratio interrupted by three events of low A/S. While the stage II is represented by six high frequency periods of low A/S ratio and other five high frequency events of high A/S ratio. The Stage II is considered as deposited in a relative higher A/S context in comparison with the Stage I, based on the behavior of the moderate to high sinuosity meander fluvial systems. Finally, the Stage III is represented entirely by a high frequency low A/S ratio event.

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