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Insights on the controls on floodplain-dominated fluvial successions: A perspective from the early–middle miocene santa cruz formation in río chalía (patagonia, argentina)

Publication ,  Journal Article
Cuitiño, JI; Raigemborn, MS; Bargo, MS; Vizcaíno, SF; Muñoz, NA; Kohn, MJ; Kay, RF
Published in: Journal of the Geological Society
January 1, 2021

The Santa Cruz Formation (SCF) in Río Chalía (Austral Basin, Patagonia, Argentina) is a well-exposed fluvial succession with abundant and diverse fossil vertebrates accumulated during the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO). Using facies analysis, characterization of stratigraphic architecture, U–Pb geochronology and vertebrate palaeontology, we assess the timing and interplay of controlling factors on the sedimentation, including tectonics, global sea level, climate and sediment supply. Throughout the succession, there occurred a constant aggradation of the floodplain-dominated fluvial system. Seven zircon U–Pb ages constrain the time of accumulation between c. 18 and 15.2 Ma, under a relatively constant sedimentation rate of 150 ± 50 m myr–1 . The large number of fossil vertebrates indicates a Santacrucian fauna, showing no recognizable changes through the section. The basin-scale, low-gradient anastomosed fluvial system of the SCF records a period of about 3 myr of relatively constant environmental conditions controlled by continuous basin subsidence and high sediment supply conditioned by explosive volcanism together with weathering of uplifting terrains in the Andes. In addition, the system was influenced by a temperate to warm and subhumid climate favoured by the MCO before the onset of the Andean rain shadow, together to high global sea levels.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Journal of the Geological Society

DOI

ISSN

0016-7649

Publication Date

January 1, 2021

Volume

178

Issue

4

Related Subject Headings

  • Geology
  • 3705 Geology
  • 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
  • 0404 Geophysics
  • 0403 Geology
 

Citation

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Cuitiño, J. I., Raigemborn, M. S., Bargo, M. S., Vizcaíno, S. F., Muñoz, N. A., Kohn, M. J., & Kay, R. F. (2021). Insights on the controls on floodplain-dominated fluvial successions: A perspective from the early–middle miocene santa cruz formation in río chalía (patagonia, argentina). Journal of the Geological Society, 178(4). https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-188
Cuitiño, J. I., M. S. Raigemborn, M. S. Bargo, S. F. Vizcaíno, N. A. Muñoz, M. J. Kohn, and R. F. Kay. “Insights on the controls on floodplain-dominated fluvial successions: A perspective from the early–middle miocene santa cruz formation in río chalía (patagonia, argentina).” Journal of the Geological Society 178, no. 4 (January 1, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2020-188.
Cuitiño JI, Raigemborn MS, Bargo MS, Vizcaíno SF, Muñoz NA, Kohn MJ, et al. Insights on the controls on floodplain-dominated fluvial successions: A perspective from the early–middle miocene santa cruz formation in río chalía (patagonia, argentina). Journal of the Geological Society. 2021 Jan 1;178(4).
Cuitiño, J. I., et al. “Insights on the controls on floodplain-dominated fluvial successions: A perspective from the early–middle miocene santa cruz formation in río chalía (patagonia, argentina).” Journal of the Geological Society, vol. 178, no. 4, Jan. 2021. Scopus, doi:10.1144/jgs2020-188.
Cuitiño JI, Raigemborn MS, Bargo MS, Vizcaíno SF, Muñoz NA, Kohn MJ, Kay RF. Insights on the controls on floodplain-dominated fluvial successions: A perspective from the early–middle miocene santa cruz formation in río chalía (patagonia, argentina). Journal of the Geological Society. 2021 Jan 1;178(4).

Published In

Journal of the Geological Society

DOI

ISSN

0016-7649

Publication Date

January 1, 2021

Volume

178

Issue

4

Related Subject Headings

  • Geology
  • 3705 Geology
  • 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
  • 0404 Geophysics
  • 0403 Geology