The Tithonian chrono-biostratigraphy of the Neuquén Basin, Argentine Andes: a review and update

AGUIRRE-URRETA, B.; LESCANO, M.; NAIPAUER, M.; VENNARI, V.; CONCHEYRO, A.; LÓPEZ-MARTÍNEZ, R.; LENA, L.; RAMOS, V.A.

San Luis, Potosi

Congreso; 10 International Congress on the Jurassic System; 2018

The Tithonian of the Neuquén Basin of western Argentina is mostly represented by the marine rocks of the Vaca Muerta Formation, deposited after a period dominated by the accumulation of non-marine clastics (Tordillo Formation and equivalents). In the initial stages of this widespread transgression from the Paleo-Pacific across an active volcanic arc, the waters remained shallow and slightly hypersaline and the Neuquén embayment was covered by a thin stromatolitic zone. Upwards the common rocks are dark bituminous shales and marls reaching several hundred meters thick. Meanwhile the eastern and southeastern sides of the Neuquén Embayment record mixed carbonate siliciclastics assemblages represented by the Picún Leufú and other time-equivalent formations (Legarreta and Uliana, 1991, 1996). As Vaca Muerta is today one of the biggest non-conventional reservoirs in the world, its knowledge is based not only in studies on its extensive outcrops but also as result of wells exploration and development activity performed by oil companies.