Norberto Javier Uriz

Silurian (Llandovery) monograptids from the Vargas Peña Formation (Paraná Basin, Eastern Paraguay)

The Itacurubi Group is a siliciclastic Silurian sequence exposed in eastern Paraguay (Parana Basin). It includes from bottom to top the Eusebio Ayala, Vargas Pena and Cariy formations. The entire sedimentary group has yielded a rich association of invertebrates, ichnofossils and palynomorphs. The low-diversity graptolite fauna found within the uppermost beds of the Vargas Pena Formation is described herein. The monograptids comprising this fauna are Stimulograptus aff. sedgwickii (PORTLOCK), Monograptus aff. priodon (BRONN) and ?Demirastrites sp. These taxa confirm the presence of late Aeronian-early Telychian deposits. The accompanying fossil assemblage also suggests a Mid-Llandovery age for this unit. The recognized graptolite biozones allow us to correlate the Vargas Pena Formation with other Silurian units in South America. From the palaeoenvironmental point of view this sector of the Parana Basin reflects a shallow shelf with high tolerance to oxygen invertebrates association.

Ascocerid cephalopods from the Hirnantian?–Llandovery stages of the southern Paraná Basin (Paraguay, South America): first record from high paleolatitudes

Abstract. Ascocerid cephalopods are described for the first time from high paleolatitudes of Gondwana. Studied material was collected from the Hirnantian?–Llandovery strata of the Eusebio Ayala and Vargas Peña formations, Paraná Basin, southeastern Paraguay. The specimens are poorly preserved and were questionably assigned to the subfamily Probillingsitinae Flower, 1941, being undetermined at genus and species rank because diagnostic characters are not visible. A particular feature seen in our material is the presence of both parts of the ascocerid conch (the juvenile or cyrtocone and the mature or brevicone) joined together, which is a very rare condition in the known paleontological record. The specimens are interpreted as at a subadult stage of development because fully grown ascocerids would have lost the juvenile shell. A planktonic vertical migrant mode of life with a subvertical attitude is proposed for the juvenile, and a horizontal demersal nektonic mode for the adult form, as has been previously suggested. A subvertical orientation near the bottom is proposed for the subadult stage. We suggest that the immigration of ascocerids to southwestern Gondwana was possible through ocean currents that would carry the planktonic juveniles from low to high latitudes during the end-Ordovician postglacial transgression that flooded the intracratonic basins of the region.

Lower Paleozoic ‘El Nihuil Dolerites’: Geochemical and Isotopic Constraints of Mafic Magmatism in an Extensional Setting of the San Rafael Block, Mendoza, Argentina

The ‘El Nihuil Mafic Unit’ is exposed at the Loma Alta region northwards of the El Nihuil dam. This igneous body consists mainly of mafic rocks assigned to the Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic according to different authors. The mafic unit shows an elongated shape with a NNE–SSW orientation on the western side of the San Rafael Block (SRB), developed for a length of 17.5 km and with a maximum width of 4.2 km and is composed of deformed gabbros, amphibolites, and tonalites that represent the Mesoproterozoic continental crust, and dykes and sills of undeformed Lower Paleozoic porphyritic dolerites. We present the petrology, geochemistry, isotope data, and determinations of emplacement conditions of the dolerites that could represent a sliver of Cuyania-Chilenia terranes suture. The dolerites show classical porphyritic texture, with elongated subhedral plagioclase (andesine) and clinopyroxene phenocrysts. Geochemical analyses of El Nihuil Dolerite samples indicate that the rocks are MORB-type basalts. In the P2O5 versus Zr diagram, the dolerites plot in the tholeiitic field similarly to western Cuyania basalts, and in the Th–Hf/3–Ta tectonic discrimination diagram the dolerite dykes plot mainly as E-MORB. Dolerite samples were dated by K–Ar (whole rock) systematic and the ages are 448.5 ± 10 and 434.2 ± 10 Ma (Upper Ordovician and close to the Lower Silurian boundary). The dolerites represent the unique Lower Paleozoic mafic rock outcrops within the SRB. Nd(TDM) ages are in between 0.51 and 0.80 Ga; eNd(0) record positive values ranging from +3.85 and +7.84; eNd(t) record +4.27 to +12.42. 87Sr/86Sr ratios are in between 0.7032 and 0.7050 in agreement with values for ocean ridge tholeiites. These mafic rocks are interpreted as a part of a dismembered ‘Famatinian ophiolite belt’ emplaced during the Lower Paleozoic extensional environment within a thinned Mesoproterozoic continental crust on western Cuyania terrane.

Sedimentary Provenance Analysis of the Ordovician Ponón Trehué Formation, San Rafael Block, Mendoza-Argentina

The present chapter deals with provenance analysis of a carbonate-siliciclastic Ordovician sedimentary unit of the San Rafael block, named the Ponon Trehue Formation (Darriwilian to Sandbian). This is the only sequence which exhibits a direct contact with the Mesoproterozoic basement through an unconformity, not only within the San Rafael block, but rather for the entire Cuyania terrane. When combining different provenance proxies, such as petrography, whole-rock geochemistry, Sm–Nd data, Pb–Pb analyses, and detrital zircon dating, it can be deduced that the source rocks are characterized by: (i) an upper continental crust composition, (ii) a subordinated influence of a more depleted composition, (iii) a dominantly Mesoproterozoic age, (iv) sedimentary recycling did not conspicuously affected the detrital source, and (v) weathering was relatively strong. All these characteristics point to the Mesoproterozoic Cerro La Ventana Formation basement as a main source of detritus to a restricted basin infilled during the Ordovician.

Silurian-Devonian Land–Sea Interaction within the San Rafael Block, Argentina: Provenance of the Río Seco de los Castaños Formation

The Rio Seco de los Castanos Formation (RSC) is one of the ‘pre-Carboniferous units’ outcropping within the San Rafael Block assigned to Upper Silurian–Lower Devonian age. We review the provenance data obtained by petrography and geochemical-isotope analyses as well as the U–Pb detrital zircon ages. Comparison with La Horqueta Formation is also discussed. The main components of this marine fine-grained siliciclastic platform are sandstones and mudstones. The conglomerates are restricted to channel fill deposits developed mainly at the Lomitas Negras location. A low anchizone for the RSC was indicated by illite crystallinity index. From the geochemical proxies described above (Manassero et al. in Devonian Change: Case studies in Palaeogeography and Palaeoecology. Geological Society, 2009) a provenance from an unrecycled crust with an average composition similar to depleted compared with average Upper Continental Crust is suggested. TDM ages are within the range of the Mesoproterozoic basement and Palaeozoic supracrustal rocks of the Precordillera-Cuyania terrane. eNd values of the RSC are similar to those from sedimentary rocks from the Lower Palaeozoic carbonate-siliciclastic platform of the San Rafael Block. These data suggest an Early Carboniferous (Mississipian) low-metamorphic (anchizone) event for the unit. It is correlated with the ‘Chanic’ tectonic phase that affected the Precordillera-Cuyania terrane and also linked to the collision of the Chilenia terrane in the western pre-Andean Gondwana margin. As final remarks we can comment that the studied RSC samples show dominant source derivation from Famatinian (Late Cambrian-Devonian) and Pampean-Brasiliano (Neoproterozoic-Early Cambrian) cycles. Detritus derived from the Mesoproterozoic basement are scarce. U–Pb data constrain the maximum sedimentation age of the RSC to the Silurian–Early Devonian.

The Rodeo de la Bordalesa Tonalite Dykes as a Lower Devonian Magmatic Event: Geochemical and Isotopic Age Constraints

One of the ‘pre-Carboniferous units’ from the San Rafael Block is the sedimentary Rio Seco de los Castanos Formation, which is distributed in isolated outcrops within the Block. At the Rodeo de la Bordalesa area two small intrusives in the mentioned unit were mapped, composed of tonalitic rocks, lamprophyre (‘spessartite-kersantite’) and aplite dykes. We present in this paper, geochemical and isotopic data from the gray tonalitic rocks with abundant mafic enclaves and late magmatic aplite veins. The country rocks are a folded sequence of feldspathic sandstones, wackes, and shales. The Rodeo de la Bordalesa tonalite dykes are characterized by high to medium potassium concentration, with metaluminous composition and I-type calc-alkaline signature. The 401 ± 4 Ma U–Pb zircon age corresponds to the emplacement time and it is confirmed by the K–Ar biotite age. The Rb–Sr whole rocks and biotite age of 374 ± 4 Ma could be related to deformation during the ‘Chanic’ tectonic phase. Nd model ages (TDM) show an interval between 1 and 1.6 Ga, indicating Mesoproterozoic age derivation, whereas the negative e Nd is typical from crustal sources. The crystallization age for the Rodeo de la Bordalesa tonalite corresponds to a Lower Devonian time and suggests that part of the Late Famatinian magmatic event is present in the San Rafael Block . The dykes are contemporaneous with the large peraluminous batholith in Pampeanas Ranges, with the transpressional shear belts during ‘Achalian’ event and could be correlated with the Devonian magmatism present in the southern part of the Frontal Cordillera. The geochemical and geochronological data allow us to differentiate the Rodeo de la Bordalesa tonalite from the mafic rocks exposed at the El Nihuil area.

La Horqueta Formation: Geochemistry, Isotopic Data, and Provenance Analysis

La Horqueta Formation is developed from the Seco de las Penas River to Agua de la Piedra creek within the San Rafael block and was deposited in a marine environment. It comprises dominantly metasandstones, although metasiltstones, metapelites, and rare metaconglomerates are also present. The base of the succession is not exposed and it is superposed through unconformity by Upper Carboniferous units. La Horqueta Formation is folded and shows cleavage. Provenance analyses based on whole-rock geochemistry and isotope data is the main focus of the work. Whole-rock geochemical data point to a derivation from unrecycled upper continental crust, based mainly on Th/Sc, Zr/Sc, La/Th, and Th/U ratios and rare earth element (REE) patterns (including Eu anomalies). Sc, Cr, and V concentrations and low Th/Sc ratios are indicative of a source slightly less evolved than the average upper continental crust. The eNd values are within the range of variation of data from the Mesoproterozoic Cerro La Ventana Formation, which is part of the basement of the Cuyania terrane outcropping within the San Rafael block . The Rb-Sr whole-rock data indicate that the low-grade metamorphism and folding events are Devonian in age. U-Pb detrital zircon ages suggest main derivation from the Mesoproterozoic (“Grenvillian-age”) basement of the San Rafael block and the Pampean–Brasiliano cycle, as well as a detrital input from the Rio de la Plata craton and the Famatinian belt. Despite geochemical similarities, Rio Seco de los Castanos Formation display different proportions of detrital zircon ages, when compared to La Horqueta Formation .

Primitive Vascular Plants and Microfossils from the Río Seco de los Castaños Formation, San Rafael Block, Mendoza Province, Argentina

In this contribution we describe fossil plant remains from Rio Seco de los Castanos Formation, at San Rafael Block , Mendoza Province, Argentina. The fossil plants comprise non-forked and forked axes without or with delicate lateral expansions, which are assigned to Bowerophylloides cf. mendozaensis and Hostinella sp. We refer them to primitive land plants and discuss about their systematic affiliation. Furthermore, we mention the presence of a diverse acritarch assemblage present in the same lithostratigraphic unit. On the basis of the taxonomical information and stratigraphic correlation, we could infer that Rio Seco de los Castanos Formation has an Early Devonian age. The taphonomical conditions of this fossil association would indicate that the plants were transported some distance from their presumed coastal and riverbank habitats. Finally, studying the amount and the percentage of kaolinite within charcoal levels, warm to cool temperate paleoclimatic conditions were deduced.