A stratigraphical-geochemical study on the Chaco Paraná continental rift basin—An approach study based on regional sedimentology and drill-hole core analyses, South América

This paper is focused on a geologic “regional rift basin system pattern” and its stratigraphical-geochemical relationship. This is mainly based on the littoral shallow marine sedimentary succession paleogeography and deposits. These successions characterize the large extensional intracratonic Chaco Paraná Basin rift system. The basin is located in South America west of the Brazilian Shield. The analyzed rift basin system evolved from the Upper Cretaceous (Late Campanian-Senonian-Maastrichtian-Early Paleocene) to Quaternary time. The siliciclastic littoral shallow marine successions were deposited from Early Senonian-Maastrichtian to Late Miocene during three main successive littoral shallow marine transgressions of continental extension.; These transgressions happened over the wide pediplanized terrains of South America. These lands exist west of the more positive areas, between the Brazilian Shield and the foreland massifs that were settled in the more westernwards areas. Later, these regional foreland massifs were coupled and raised to the Andean Orogen Belt during the last 5 million years.; The extensive intracratonic pediplanized low topographic relief areas were the reservoirs of siliciclastic littoral shallow marine succession deposits during the three successive widespread vast continental littoral shallow marine transgressions.; The first transgression began at the Latest Campanian-Senonian and/or Early Maastrichtian time. After this episode, the sedimentary depositional systems continued during the Cenozoic until the Latest Miocene. These successions constitute a major allostratigraphic unit. The limit with underlying units is the regional unconformity between the regional volcanic event (Jurassic-Cretacic and interleaved eolianite sandstones) at the base and the undifferentiated Quaternary sediments (called as the Pampeano and Post-Pampeano Formations sensu lato). Based on many facies analyses there had been checked out different levels in the eustatic sea level variations within the allostratigraphic unit.; Three major stages of extensional climax were recognized and related to the stages of conspicuous eustatical sea-level variations. They happened during the Latest Senonian-Paleocene, Eocene and Miocene.; The first transgression occurred during the Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene although the sedimentary deposits related to this event are scarce, which are only a few meters in thickness. However, the Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene succession is very well recognized in the actual pre-Andean zone in the north-west of Argentina and Bolivia (the Sierras Subandinas and the meridional imbricated fault systems just joint to the actual orogen, i.e., Quebrada de Humahuaca outcrops).; During the Eocene and Middle to Latest Miocene occurred the second and third extensive regional littoral shallow marine transgressions. They are present either in well log registers as in most widespread outcrops on the entire Southamerican continent.; The regional analysis led to the deduction of long periods of tectonic quiescence, at least three of them. They may be inferred and synchronously related with eustatic highstand sea level variations that occurred during the Late Paleocene-Early Eocene, Latest Eocene-Early to Mid Oligocene and Middle-to-Late Oligocene-Early Miocene.; The structural style is related with major extensional N-S strike faultings (regional tilted and faulting blocks). On the other hand, quite a number of strike-slip faults (mainly of regional characteristic) are present crossing the area. They have a clear influence on the accommodation and transfer zones of the rift basin system. The strike is north-west to south-east on the border of the basin, to the west, in the contact with the Pampean Ridges and the narrow-meridionally-extense Sub-Andean folded trend (mainly Paleozoic units belonging to the so-called Sierras Subandinas geological province). Also, at the western edge of thestudied area, there exist many large shear zones and upthrust faults. The strike-slip regional faults dislocated the Pampean and Sub-Andean blocks due to the interaction of crossing regional tilted and fault blocks. For this reason, an en echelon regional block model is characteristic. Incipient contaminated igneous activities were associated with this cortical weak zones.; Domes, needles and necks of volcanic and sub-volcanic origin appear as the landscape of the region. A part of the igneous activity was dated on Latest Pliocene although mainly corresponding to Pleistocene and Holocene. This deduction is obvious because their morphological constitution was never eroded. The volcanic aparatous are morphologically unmodified from their extrusion to present days.; All the studied successions seem to resemble a long persisting erosive, transportation and deposition episode. This phenomenon is linked to a large regional (continental) unconformity dated at Late Cretaceous. The entire analyzed sedimentary succession deposits and their siliciclastic facies associations correspond clearly to a “heterolithic facies succession” which is very common within persisting tide-dominated depositional systems (passive margins). In fact, this is what happened during Cenozoic times (Torra, 1998b, 2001a). The heterolithic Miocene facies deposits constitute one of the best continental exposed examples.; Paleogeographical evidence showed that the Paranense and Amazonic Sea transgressions had been a littoral shallow marine connection during long time from Middle to Late Miocene. During the Late Cretaceous and Eocene periods marine connections were also active in the region. This fact is strongly supported by the tectonic and geomorphological framework of the proto-Southamerican continent, fossil remains and similar sedimentary deposits.; The geochemical results showed an outstanding similarity among the three sandy-muddy successions herein studied. Both major and trace elements always show the same geochemical patterns. Specially mentioned are the elements gallium, cesium, chromium, barium, vanadium, thorium, zirconium, rubidium and strontium because they present very constant values through all successions.; The Paranense and Amazonic epicontinental seas had been connected to the Pacific Ocean during the three marine episodes. The connections were formed by narrow inter-mountain valleys, present in the pre-Andean foreland massifs. These events occurred prior to the main orogenesis elevation of the Andean orogen belt in the last 5 to 1 Ma (Pliocene-Latest Pleistocene).; This paper shows, for the first time, a synthetic stratigraphical-geochemical “regional model” for the Chaco Paraná Basin rift system which should be largely improved in later studies. The Chaco Paraná Basin carries many unexamined-unexplored natural resources which need more regional and local studies for their evaluation. This is in spite of the area that has the problem of a significative vegetation coberture and scarce good outcrops. The development of modern techniques of data acquisition will help to overcome these difficulties.

This paper is focused on a geologic ＂regional rift basin system pattern＂ and its stratigraphical-geochemical relationship. This is mainly based on the littoral shallow marine sedimentary succession paleogeography and deposits. These successions characterize the large extensional intracratonic Chaco Parana Basin rift system. The basin is located in South America west of the Brazilian Shield. The analyzed rift basin system evolved from the Upper Cretaceous （ Late Campanian-Senonian-Maastrichtian-Early Paleocene） to Quaternary time. The siliciclastic littoral shallow marine successions were deposited from Early Senonian-Maastrichtian to Late Miocene during three main successive littoral shallow marine transgressions of continental extension. These transgressions happened over the wide pediplanized terrains of South America. These lands exist west of the more positive areas, between the Brazilian Shield and the foreland massifs that were settled in the more westernwards areas. Later, these regional foreland massifs were coupled and raised to the Andean Orogen Belt during the last 5 million years. The extensive intracratonic pediplanized low topographic relief areas were the reservoirs of siliciclastic littoral shallow marine succession deposits during the three successive widespread vast continental littoral shallow marine transgressions. The first transgression began at the Latest Campanian-Senonian and/or Early Maastrichtian time. After this episode, the sedimentary depositional systems continued during the Cenozoic until the Latest Miocene.These successions constitute a major allostratigraphic unit. The limit with underlying units is the regional unconformity between the regional volcanic event （Jurassic-Cretacic and interleaved eolianite sandstones） at the base and the undifferentiated Quaternary sediments （ called as the Pampeano and Post-Pampeano Formations sensu lato）. Based on many facies analyses there had been checked out different levels in the eustatic sea level variations within the allostratigraphic unit. Three major stages of extensional climax were recognized and related to the stages of conspicuous eustatical sea-level variations. They happened during the Latest Senonian-Paleocene, Eocene and Miocene. The first transgression occurred during the Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene although the sedimentary de posits related to this event are scarce, which are only a few meters in thickness. However, the Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene succession is very well recognized in the actual pre-Andean zone in the north-west of Argentina and Bolivia （ the Sierras Subandinas and the meridional imbricated fault systems just joint to the actual orogen, i. e. , Quebrada de Humahuaca outcrops）. During the Eocene and Middle to Latest Miocene occurred the second and third extensive regional littoral shallow marine transgressions. They are present either in well log registers as in most widespread outcrops on the entire Southamerican continent. The regional analysis led to the deduction of long periods of tectonic quiescence, at least three of them. They may be inferred and synchronously related with eustatic highstand sea level variations that occurred during the Late Paleocene-Early Eocene, Latest Eocene-Early to Mid Oligocene and Middle-to-Late Oligocene-Early Miocene. The structural style is related with major extensional N-S strike faultings （ regional tilted and faulting blocks）. On the other hand, quite a number of strike-slip faults （mainly of regional characteristic） are present crossing the area. They have a clear influence on the accommodation and transfer zones of the rift basin system. The strike is north-west to south-east on the border of the basin, to the west, in the contact with the Pampean Ridges and the narrow-meridionally-extense Sub-Andean folded trend （ mainly Paleozoic units belonging to the so-called Sierras Subandinas geological province）. Also, at the western edge of the studied area, there exist many large shear zones and upthrust faults. The strike-slip regional faults dislocated the Pampean and Sub-Andean blocks due to the interaction of crossing regional tilted and fault blocks. For this reason, an en echelon regional block model is characteristic. Incipient contaminated igneous activities were associated with this cortical weak zones. Domes, needles and necks of volcanic and sub-volcanic origin appear as the landscape of the region. A part of the igneous activity was dated on Latest Pliocene although mainly corresponding to Pleistocene and Holocene. This deduction is obvious because their morphological constitution was never eroded. The volcanic aparatous are morphologically unmodified from their extrusion to present days. All the studied successions seem to resemble a long persisting erosive, transportation and deposition episode. This phenomenon is linked to a large regional （continental） unconformity dated at Late Cretaceous. The entire analyzed sedimentary succession deposits and their siliciclastic facies associations correspond clearly to a ＂heterolithic facies succession＂ which is very common within persisting tide-dominated depositional systems （passive margins）. In fact, this is what happened during Cenozoic times （Torra, 1998b, 2001 a）. The heterolithic Miocene facies deposits constitute one of the best continental exposed examples. Paleogeographical evidence showed that the Paranense and Amazonic Sea transgressions had been a littoral shallow marine connection during long time from Middle to Late Miocene. During the Late Cretaceous and Eocene periods marine connections were also active in the region. This fact is strongly supported by the tectonic and geomorphological framework of the proto-Southamerican continent, fossil remains and similar sedimentary deposits. The geochemical results showed an outstanding similarity among the three sandy-muddy successions herein studied. Both major and trace elements always show the same geochemical patterns. Specially mentioned are the elements gallium, cesium, chromium, barium, vanadium, thorium, zirconium, rubidium and strontium because they present very constant values through all successions. The Paranense and Amazonic epicontinental seas had been connected to the Pacific Ocean during the three marine episodes. The connections were formed by narrow inter-mountain valleys, present in the preAndean foreland massifs. These events occurred prior to the main orogenesis elevation of the Andean orogen belt in the last 5 to 1 Ma （Pliocene-Latest Pleistocene）. This paper shows, for the first time, a synthetic stratigraphical-geochemical ＂regional model＂ for the Chaco Parana Basin rift system which should be largely improved in later studies. The Chaco Parana Basin carries many unexamined-unexplored natural resources which need more regional and local studies for their evaluation. This is in spite of the area that has the problem of a significative vegetation coberture and scarce good outcrops. The development of modern techniques of data. acquisition will help to overcome these difficulties.