Pennsylvanian and Permian palynostratigraphy of the Paraná/Chacoparaná Basins in Brazil, argentina an Uruguay: An integrative analysis

SOUZA, P.A., VERGEL, M.M. , BERI, A.

Paleontology and stratigraphy of Latin America

Instituto Geominero

Lugar: Madrid; Año: 2007; p. 361 - 366

The Paraná Basin is a large intracratonic basin comprising a thick (up ca. 6,800 m) and widespread  sedimentary-magmatic sequence, which covers about 1,700,000 km2 in Central-Eastern of South  America,  mainly in Brazil (ca. 1,400,000 km2), but is also distributed in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay,  where it is known as Chacoparaná Basin. While these basins exhibit expressive surface exposures in Brazil  and Uruguay, all strata in Argentina occur in subsurface. Fossil animals, plants and palynomorphs are  recorded at distinct stratigraphical levels within the Pennsylvanian/Permian interval. However, good guide- fossils, such as cosmopolitan marine invertebrates, are scarce, preventing correlation with the international  stratigraphic scale. Furthermore, few radiometric data are available. In this context, palynology seems to be   the most efficient biostratigraphic tool for this interval in these basins, because of the abundance, diversity  and widespread distribution of spore-pollen assemblages. The main purpose of this work is to show the  palynostratigraphic schemes proposed for these basins, to discuss their similarities and discrepancies, and  their geochronological significance.