Exhumation of the Neuquén Basin in the southern Central Andes (Malargüe fold and thrust belt) from field data and low-temperature thermochronology

Article

Authorship

FOLGUERA TELICHEVSKY, ANDRES ; Bottesi, G. ; Duddy, I. ; Martin Gonzalez, F. ; ORTS, DARIO LEANDRO ; SAGRIPANTI, LUCIA ; Rojas Vera, Emilio Agustin ; RAMOS, VICTOR ALBERTO

Date

2015

Publishing House and Editing Place

Elsevier

Magazine

JOURNAL OF SOUTH AMERICAN EARTH SCIENCES, vol. 64 (pp. 381-398) Elsevier

Summary Information provided by the agent in SIGEVA

Apatite fission-track analysis performed on eighteen Mesozoic sediment samples of the Neuquén Basin from the Southern Central Andes orogenic front between 35°30? and 37°S has revealed Campanian-Paleocene (75-55 Ma), late Eocene-early Oligocene (35-30 Ma) and middle Miocene (15-10 Ma) cooling episodes. Each cooling episode corresponds closely with major unconformities observed in the preserved sedimentary sequences, and is associated with kilometer-scale additional burial and subs... Apatite fission-track analysis performed on eighteen Mesozoic sediment samples of the Neuquén Basin from the Southern Central Andes orogenic front between 35°30? and 37°S has revealed Campanian-Paleocene (75-55 Ma), late Eocene-early Oligocene (35-30 Ma) and middle Miocene (15-10 Ma) cooling episodes. Each cooling episode corresponds closely with major unconformities observed in the preserved sedimentary sequences, and is associated with kilometer-scale additional burial and subsequent exhumation. A similar degree of cooling is inferred from associated vitrinite reflectance data. Late Eocene-early Oligocene exhumation is recognized only near the eastern orogenic front adjacent to the foreland in the southernmost part of the study area and may be related partly to within-plate magmatism and associated extension in the Palaoco Basin. The Campanian-Paleocene and middle Miocene cooling episodes are recognized more widely in the fold and thrust belt and appear to coincide with periods of eastward arc expansion and mountain building processes.