Primitive Vascular Plants and Microfossils from the Río Seco de los Castaños Formation, San Rafael Block, Mendoza Province, Argentina

MOREL, EDUARDO M.; URIZ, NORBERTO J.; CINGOLANI, CARLOS A.; BODNAR, JOSEFINA; GANUZA, DANIEL

Pre-Carboniferous evolution of the San Rafael Block, Argentina: Implications in SW Gondwana Margin

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2017; p. 209 - 220

Abstract In this contribution we describe fossil plant remains from Río Seco delos Castaños Formation, at San Rafael Block, Mendoza Province, Argentina. The fossil plants comprise non-forked and forked axes without or with delicate lateral expansions, which are assigned to Bowerophylloides cf. mendozaensis and Hostinella sp. We refer them to primitive land plants and discuss about their systematic affiliation. Furthermore, we mention the presence of a diverse acritarch assemblage present in the same lithostratigraphic unit. On the basis of the taxonomical information and stratigraphic correlation, we could infer that Río Seco delos Castaños Formation has an Early Devonian age. The taphonomical conditions ofthis fossil association would indicate that the plants were transported some distance from their presumed coastal and riverbank habitats. Finally, studying the amount and the percentage of kaolinite within charcoal levels, warm to cool temperate paleoclimatic conditions were deduced