Invasiones y tragedias en el Mar Rocanense: la historia que cuentan los fósiles de la Barda Norte

CASADÍO, S.

General Roca

Otro; Reunión Anual de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina; 2012

Asociación Paleontológica Argentina

The late Maastrichtian (Zone CC26) molluscan fauna of the Neuquén Basin includes species of characteristically austral genera (e.g. Neilo, Australoneilo, Lahillia, Austrotrigonia and Pacitrigonia), supporting the northward extension – into Northern Patagonia – of the range of some elements of the Weddellian Province during the late Maastrichtian. Concheyro and Villa (1996) recorded the presence of calcareous nannofossil taxa typical of high latitudes and suggested that this could be related to a northward expansion of the Falkland Plateau Bioprovince – as defined by Wind (1979) – which would have reached north to 36ºS during Chron 30N. Similarly, Gasparini et al. (2003) pointed out that the northern Patagonian Maastrichtian elasmosaurids are closely related to those of the same age from the Antarctic Peninsula and New Zealand, they supporting the hypothesis of a southern Gondwana distribution for some pelagic reptiles (Novas et al., 2002). This contradicts Olivero et al. (1990), who believed that the Northern Patagonian Masssif acted as a paleogeographic barrier restricting the connection between the Chubut River area and the area north of the Colorado River....