Comment on "Tethyan calpionellids in the Neuquén Basin (Argentine Andes), their significance in defining the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary and pathways for Tethyan-Eastern Pacific connections"

KIETZMANN, D.A.; IGLESIA-LLANOS, M.P.

JOURNAL OF SOUTH AMERICAN EARTH SCIENCES

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2018 vol. 84 p. 444 - 447

0895-9811

In this contribution, López-Martínez et al. (2017) state that they achieved to define the position of the Jurassic- Cretaceous (J-K) boundary from the finding of Tethyan calpionellids in the Vaca Muerta Formation at Las Loicas section, Neuquén Basin. In this contribution, the authors analyzed ten samples in a reduced interval of the Vaca Muerta Formation where the boundary would lie. Las Loicas section represents a basinal section of c. 270 m with large covered intervals (c. 90 m) bearing ammonites of the Lower Tithonian Virgatosphinctes mendozanus Zone to at least the Upper Berriasian Spiticeras damesi Zone (Aguirre-Urreta et al. 2014). The upper part is covered.We do consider that the data presented by López-Martínez et al. are important for the discussion on the J-K boundary in Argentina, provided that the knowledge of calpionellids in the Neuquén basin is very poor. The aim of this Comment is to better explain some data derived from previous biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic studies (i.e. Fernandez Carmona and Riccardi 1999, Kietzmann et al. 2011a, Kietzmann 2017, Iglesia Llanos et al. 2017) that López-Martínez et al. (2017) failed to interpret correctly.