CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The Austral-Magallanes is an oil-producing basin located in southern Argentinaand Chile, containing a siliciclastic stratigraphic record ranging from the LateJurassic to late Cenozoic. This short paper finalize the two special volumes ofthe Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis dedicated tothe basin, and aims to provide a comprehensive synthesis based on the currentknowledge about the chronology of deposition, stratigraphy, and tectonicevents that shaped this basin. During the breakup of Gondwana in the Jurassic,an extensional phase was responsible for the beginning of accumulation ofvolcaniclastic material within grabens, which subsequently were covered bywidespread Lower Cretaceous shallow and deep marine deposits that conformsthe main hydrocarbon system. From Late Cretaceous onward, the subductionrelatedcompressive regime associated to Andean uplift and fold and thrustbelt migration was responsible for the onset of the foreland stage. During theLate Cretaceous, the foredeep zone accumulated a thick pile of deep marinedeposits that graded upward to shallow marine and terrestrial deposits. Duringthe Cenozoic, the foredeep was less marked and shallow marine and terrestrialsediments accumulated in wide areas, punctuated by important unconformitiesassociated to foreland uplift. Future developments should focus on: i) improvingthe age-controlled stratigraphy; ii) joining the information provided by subsurfaceand outcrop studies; and iii) developing source to sink models to address theAndean impact in the sedimentation of the basin

enviar mensaje