Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sempere, T. Articles by Swisher, C. C. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Stratigraphy and chronology of Upper Cretaceous–lower Paleogene strata in Bolivia and northwest Argentina

¹ Département T.O.A., Orstom, 213 rue Lafayette, 75010 Paris, France
² Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
³ Institute of Human Origins, 1288 9th Street, Berkeley, California 94710
⁴ Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, California 94709

Integration of sequence stratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, Ar/Ar dating, and paleontology considerably advances knowledge of the Late Cretaceous–early Paleogene chronostratigraphy and tectonic evolution of Bolivia and adjacent areas. The partly restricted marine El Molino Formation spans the Maastrichtian and Danian (°73–60.0 Ma). Deposition of the alluvial to lacustrine Santa Lucia Formation occurred between 60.0 and 58.2 Ma. The widespread erosional unconformity at the base of the Cayara Formation is 58.2 Ma. This unconformity separates the Upper Puca and Corocoro supersequences in Bolivia, and is thus coeval with the Zuni-Tejas sequence boundary of North America. The thick overlying Potoco and Camargo formations represent a late Paleocene–Oligocene foreland fill.

The onset of shortening along the Pacific margin at °89 Ma initially produced rifting in the distal foreland. Santonian–Campanian eastward-onlapping deposits indicate subsequent waning of tectonic activity along the margin. Significant tectonism and magmatism resumed along the margin at °73 Ma and produced an abrupt increase in subsidence rate and other related phenomena in the basin. Subsidence was maximum between °71 and °66 Ma. Due to the early Maastrichtian global sea-level high, marine waters ingressed from the northwest into this underfilled basin. Subsidence decreased during the Late Maastrichtian and was low during the Danian. It increased again in the latest Danian, for which a slight transgression is recorded, and peaked in the early Selandian. Tectonism between 59.5 and 58.2 Ma produced a variety of deformational and sedimentary effects in the basin and correlates with the end of emplacement of the Coastal batholith. The subsequent 58.2 Ma major unconformity marks the onset of continental foreland basin development, which extended into Andean Bolivia during the late Paleocene–Oligocene interval. This basin underwent internal deformation as early as Eocene time in the Altiplano and Cordillera Oriental. These early structures, previously assigned to the late Oligocene–early Miocene orogeny, probably accommodated observed tectonic rotations in the Eocene–Oligocene.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. N. Garzione, G. D. Hoke, J. C. Libarkin, S. Withers, B. MacFadden, J. Eiler, P. Ghosh, and A. Mulch Rise of the Andes Science, June 6, 2008; 320(5881): 1304 - 1307. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P.G. DeCelles, B. Carrapa, and G.E. Gehrels Detrital zircon U-Pb ages provide provenance and chronostratigraphic information from Eocene synorogenic deposits in northwestern Argentina Geology, April 1, 2007; 35(4): 323 - 326. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Perez-Losada, G. Bond-Buckup, C. G. Jara, and K. A. Crandall Molecular Systematics and Biogeography of the Southern South American Freshwater "Crabs" Aegla (Decapoda: Anomura: Aeglidae) Using Multiple Heuristic Tree Search Approaches Syst Biol, October 1, 2004; 53(5): 767 - 780. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Perello, J. Perello, V. Carlotto, A. Zarate, P. Ramos, H. Posso, C. Neyra, A. Caballero, N. Fuster, and R. Muhr Porphyry-Style Alteration and Mineralization of the Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene Andahuaylas-Yauri Belt, Cuzco Region, Peru Economic Geology, December 1, 2003; 98(8): 1575 - 1605. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. M. Jacques and JohnM. Jacques A tectonostratigraphic synthesis of the Sub-Andean basins: implications for the geotectonic segmentation of the Andean Belt Journal of the Geological Society, September 1, 2003; 160(5): 687 - 701. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. M. Jacques and JohnM. Jacques A tectonostratigraphic synthesis of the Sub-Andean basins: inferences on the position of South American intraplate accommodation zones and their control on South Atlantic opening Journal of the Geological Society, September 1, 2003; 160(5): 703 - 717. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. M. Davila, R. A. Astini, and C. J. Schmidt Unraveling 470 m.y. of shortening in the Central Andes and documentation of Type 0 superposed folding Geology, March 1, 2003; 31(3): 275 - 278. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. G. DeCelles and B. K. Horton Early to middle Tertiary foreland basin development and the history of Andean crustal shortening in Bolivia Geological Society of America Bulletin, January 1, 2003; 115(1): 58 - 77. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Tertiary Provenance History of the Northern and Central Altiplano (Central Andes, Bolivia): A Detrital Record of Plateau-Margin Tectonics Journal of Sedimentary Research, September 1, 2002; 72(5): 711 - 726.

				B.K. Horton, B.A. Hampton, and G.L. Waanders Paleogene synorogenic sedimentation in the Altiplano plateau and implications for initial mountain building in the central Andes Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1, 2001; 113(11): 1387 - 1400. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J.H. Reynolds, C.I. Galli, R.M. Hernandez, B.D. Idleman, J.M. Kotila, R.V. Hilliard, and C.W. Naeser Middle Miocene tectonic development of the Transition Zone, Salta Province, northwest Argentina: Magnetic stratigraphy from the Metan Subgroup, Sierra de Gonzalez Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1, 2000; 112(11): 1736 - 1751. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. M. Gregory-Wodzicki and K. M. Gregory-Wodzicki Uplift history of the Central and Northern Andes: A review Geological Society of America Bulletin, July 1, 2000; 112(7): 1091 - 1105. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. F. Kay, R. H. Madden, M. G. Vucetich, A. A. Carlini, M. M. Mazzoni, G. H. Re, M. Heizler, and H. Sandeman Revised geochronology of the Casamayoran South American Land Mammal Age: Climatic and biotic implications PNAS, November 9, 1999; 96(23): 13235 - 13240. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]