Cuyo Basin

34°15′S 68°34′W / 34.250°S 68.567°W / -34.250; -68.567EtymologyCuyo RiverCountry ArgentinaState(s)Mendoza, San JuanCitiesMendozaCharacteristicsOn/OffshoreOnshoreBoundariesAndesPart ofAndean foreland basinsArea~30,000 km² (12,000 sq mi)HydrologyRiver(s)Cuyo RiverGeologyBasin typeForeland basinPlateSouth AmericanOrogenyAndeanAgeTriassic-PlioceneStratigraphyStratigraphyField(s)Tupungato

Cuyo Basin (Spanish: Cuenca Cuyana) is a sedimentary basin in Mendoza Province, western Argentina. The Cuyo Basin has a NNW-SSE elongated shape and is limited to the west by the Sierra Pintada System and to the east by the Pampean pericraton. To the north the basin reaches the area around the city of Mendoza.^[1]

Description

The Cuyo Basin has an approximate area of 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi).^[2] It has two major sub-basins: Cacheuta (Spanish: Subcuenca Cacheuta) in the north and Alvear (Spanish: Subcuenca Alvear) in the south. The northern fringes of Cacheuta sub-basin reaches into San Juan Province. The basin existed already during the Triassic but its current shape is derivative of the Andean orogeny.^[1]

The basin originated as a rift basin in the context of extensional tectonics and crustal thinning that followed the Paleozoic Gondwanide orogeny.^{[note 1]}

Stratigraphy

The stratigraphy of the Cuyo Basin comprises the following formations:

Age bold is SALMA type	Group	Formation	Lithologies	Depositional environment	Notes
Pleistocene		Tunuyán			[4]
Mio-Pliocene Huayquerian		Huayquerías	Mudstones, sandstones, tuff	Fluvial	[5]
Miocene		Mogotes		Alluvial	[6]
Miocene		La Pilona	Shales and sandstones	Alluvial	[6]
Middle Miocene Laventan		Mariño	Sandstones	Alluvial and eolian	[6]
Late Oligocene Deseadan
Early Oligocene	Hiatus				[6]
Priabonian
Bartonian Divisaderan		Divisadero Largo		Fluvial	[6]
Lutetian		Papagayos		Fluvial	[6]
Early Eocene	Hiatus				[6]
Paleocene
Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous		Punta de las Bardas	Basalts	Volcanic	[6]
Late Jurassic
		Barrancas	Sandstones and conglomerates	Alluvial to fluvial	[6]
Rhaetian	Uspallata	Río Blanco		Fluvial-deltaic	[6][3]
Norian
Carnian		Cacheuta	Black shales	Lacustrine	[6][7]
		Potrerillos	Tuffs, conglomerates, sandstones, shales	Alluvial to fluvial	[6][7][8]
Ladinian		Cerro de las Cabras	Mudstones and conglomerates		[6][7]
Anisian
Olenekian		Río Mendoza	Volcaniclastic conglomerates		[6][7]
Induan
Late Permian	Choiyoi Group				[3]
Carboniferous	Hiatus				[9][10]
Devonian
Early Paleozoic	Cuyania				[9][10]

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

General

• Spalletti, L.A.; C.M. Fanning, and C.W. Rapela. 2008. Dating the Triassic continental rift in the southern Andes: the Potrerillos Formation, Cuyo Basin, Argentina. Geologica Acta 6(3). 267–283. Accessed 2020-07-14.
• Zencich, Silvia; Héctor J. Villar, and Daniel Boggetti. 2008. Sistema petrolero Cacheuta-Barrancas de la Cuenca Cuyana, Provincia de Mendoza, Argentina, 109–134. Sistemas Petroleros de las Cuencas Andinas. Accessed 2017-08-21.
• Finney, S.C. 2007. The parautochthonous Gonwanan origin of the Cuyania (greater Precordillera) terrane of Argentina: A re-evaluation of evidence used to support an allochthonous Laurentian origin. Geologica Acta 5. 127–158. Accessed 2020-07-14.
• Spalletti, L.; E. Morel; A. Artabe; A. Zavattieri, and D. Ganuza. 2005. Stratigraphy, sedimentary facies and palaeoflora of the Potrerillos Triassic succession, Mendoza, Republic of Argentina. Revista Geológica de Chile 32. 249–272. Accessed 2020-07-14.
• Keller, M.; W. Buggisch, and O. Lehnert. 1998. The stratigraphical record of the Argentine Precordillera and its plate-tectonic background. The Proto-Andean Margin of Gondwana. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 142. 35–56. Accessed 2020-07-14.
• Yrigoyen, Marcelo R. 1993. Revisión estratigráfica del Neogeno de las Huayquerías de Mendoza septentrional, Argentina. Ameghiniana 31. 125–138. Accessed 2019-03-08.

Divisadero Largo Formation

• Simpson, G.G.; J.L. Minoprio, and B. Patterson. 1962. The mammalian fauna of the Divisadero Largo Formation, Mendoza, Argentina. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 127. 239–293. Accessed 2019-02-15.

Huayquerías Formation

• Forasiepi, Analía M.; Ross D.E. MacPhee; Santiago Hernández del Pino; Gabriela I. Schmidt; Eli Amson, and Camille Grohé. 2016. Exceptional skull of Huayqueriana (Mammalia, Litopterna, Macraucheniidae) from the Late Miocene of Argentina: anatomy, systematics and paleobiological implications. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 404. 1–76. Accessed 2018-10-01.
• Garrido, Alberto C.; Ricardo Bonini, and David L. Barbeau. 2017. Paleoambiente, edad y vertebrados de la Formación Huayquerías, Mioceno tardio, Provincia de Mendoza, Republica Argentina, 50–55. XX Congreso Geológico Argentino. Accessed 2018-09-10.

Mariño Formation

• Cerdeño, Esperanza; Bárbara Vera, and Ana María Combina. 2018. A new early Miocene Mesotheriidae (Notoungulata) from the Mariño Formation (Argentina): Taxonomic and biostratigraphic implications. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 88. 118–131. Accessed 2019-02-11.
• Cerdeño, Esperanza, and M. Guiomar Vucetich. 2007. The first rodent from the Mariño Formation (Miocene) at Divisadero Largo (Mendoza, Argentina) and its biochronological implications. Andean Geology 34. 199–207. Accessed 2017-10-23.

Further reading

• Bally, A.W., and S. Snelson. 1980. Realms of subsidence. Canadian Society for Petroleum Geology Memoir 6. 9–94. .
• Kingston, D.R.; C.P. Dishroon, and P.A. Williams. 1983. Global Basin Classification System. AAPG Bulletin 67. 2175–2193. Accessed 2017-06-23.
• Klemme, H.D. 1980. Petroleum Basins - Classifications and Characteristics. Journal of Petroleum Geology 3. 187–207. Accessed 2017-06-23.