RECONSTRUCTING THE LATE MIOCENE PALEOENVIRONMENT OF NORTHWESTERN ARGENTINA: NEW SEDIMENTOLOGICAL AND FAUNISTIC EVIDENCE FROM THE PALO PINTADO FORMATION

ROBLEDO, JUAN M.; BARASOAIN, DANIEL; QUIÑONES, SOFÍA I.; LANDA RAMIREZ, ENZO M.; ZURITA, ALFREDO E.; GALLI, CLAUDIA I.

RIVISTA ITALIANA DI PALEONTOLOGIA E STRATIGRAFIA

UNIV STUDI MILANO

Año: 2023 vol. 129

0035-6883

The sedimentological characteristics and fossil vertebrates studies are notoriously increasing in theearth sciences field, as a way to infer reliable information about the biota and the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimaticcontext. In this framework, we establish relationships among the flora, fauna and the depositional environmentduring the Late Miocene in Northwestern Argentina. The sedimentology features are described in detail from sedimentscollected in the Quebrada Salta section, and the Xenarthra Cingulata Kraglievichia paranensis (Pampatheriidae) andCranithlastus xibiensis (Glyptodontidae) are recorded for the first time in the Palo Pintado Formation (Salta Province,Argentina). The sedimentary observations support the presence of a sinuous sandy-gravel fluvial system with swampsand lacustrine, under a wet tropical climate. In this environment, the vertebrates here described would have inhabitedopen zones close to these freshwater bodies, predominated by xeric vegetation, mainly represented by grasses andsedges with scarce arboreous elements.