ABSTRACT:Turbidites have captioned the attention of sedimentologists during the last decades due their importance as hydrocarbon reservoirs. However, their relationship to delta systems still deserves further studies. This paper presents examples from a late deglacial to early post-glacial deltaic and turbidite strata exposed in the surroundings of Vidal Ramos (Santa Catarina State, Brazil), southern portion of the Paraná Basin. There, the uppermost part of the Mafra Formation and the Rio do Sul Formation onlap the Proterozoic basement and comprises an up to 360 m thick package. It includes (base to top) black shales, mass transport deposits (MTD) and sandy turbidites (Mafra Formation) as well as thin bedded turbidites (tbt), including one interval of black shales and sandy turbidites, overlain by proximal delta front sandstones (Rio do Sul Formation). The analysis of the succession shows two more than 150 m thick coarsening-upwards deltaic successions composed of turbidite sand sheets at their base (prodelta), followed by partially collapsed thin bedded turbidites (delta slope wedge) and delta front sandstones. Both turbidite sand-sheets abruptly overlay black shale intervals related to maximum flooding surfaces and therefore record correlative conformities. A detailed stratigraphic section elaborated from the correlation of four logs (1/100) suggests that distal delta front sands includes both thin bedded turbidites and wave reworked sands whereas the proximal delta front was dominated by long-lived underflows (hyperpycnal flows). The succession suggests that the most expressive turbidite beds (base of the delta systems) have resulted from relative sea-level falls (early lowstand) whereas the thin-bedded turbidites were related to the development of the late lowstand wedge. Black shales represent the transgressive systems tract and HST were not deposited or preserved in the area. High sediment supply associated with lowstand tracts could explain the occasional (Vidal Ramos) to common occurrence of slope failures (slumps and diamictites) involving thin bedded turbidites and delta front sandstones. This situation is quite logical in terms of deglacial periods, and resulting high sediment supply, within a long-term icehouse context, with prevalence of lowstand to transgressive settings.

Central Patagonia is traversed by a belt of Early to Middle Jurassic calc-alkaline intermediate volcanic rocks interspersed with more felsic volcanic rocks which are associated with the widespread magmatism that took place during Gondwana break-up times. This work uses K-Ar and Ar-Ar dating and whole-rock and phenocryst (plagioclase, amphibole, clinopyroxene and titanomagnetite) compositional data to refine the age, geochemical signature and reservoir conditions of these volcanic rocks, which are known as Lonco Trapial Formation. The andesites, dacites and trachydacites which were the object of this study have either amphibole or clinopyroxene as the main

No abstract

A paleomagnetic pole and a new Ar-Ar date of 156.08 ± 0.05 Ma are reported for the Chon Aike Formation, an extensive plateau of ignimbrites, outcropping in the Deseado Massif (southern Patagonia, Argentina). The geographic coordinates and statistical parameters for the paleomagnetic pole, validated by a reversal test, are: Lat. = 84.3°S, Long. = 191.3°E, A 95 = 8.6°, K = 13.3, N = 23. This pole shows a complete coherence with Late Jurassic and Early to mid-Cretaceous poles of South America, obtained exclusively from igneous rocks, avoiding any potential inclination shallowing. It is suggested that; a) southern Patagonia was an integral part of South America in the Late Jurassic; b) any reported vertical axis tectonic rotations must pre-date the Late Jurassic in this region; c) according to updated paleomagnetic data from igneous rocks, South America had very limited latitudinal drift between about 160 and 140 Ma; and, therefore, d) its apparent polar wander (APW) path, when compared with global apparent polar wander paths, does not support a large global shift or true polar wander (TPW) between 160 and 140 Ma.