Cuyo Basin

Not to be confused with Cuyania.

Cuyo Basin (Spanish: Cuenca Cuyana) is a sedimentary basin in Mendoza Province, western Argentina. The Cuyo Basin has a NNW-SSE elongated shape and is limited to the west by the Sierra Pintada System and to the east by the Pampean pericraton. To the north the basin reaches the area around the city of Mendoza.^[1]

Cuyo Basin
Cuenca Cuyana
Location of the basin in Argentina
Coordinates	34°15′S 68°34′W
Etymology	Cuyo River
Country	Argentina
State(s)	Mendoza, San Juan
Cities	Mendoza
Characteristics
On/Offshore	Onshore
Boundaries	Andes
Part of	Andean foreland basins
Area	~30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi)
Hydrology
River(s)	Cuyo River
Geology
Basin type	Foreland basin
Plate	South American
Orogeny	Andean
Age	Triassic-Pliocene
Stratigraphy	Stratigraphy
Field(s)	Tupungato

Description

The Cuyo Basin has an approximate area of 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi).^[2] It has two major sub-basins: Cacheuta (Spanish: Subcuenca Cacheuta) in the north and Alvear (Spanish: Subcuenca Alvear) in the south. The northern fringes of Cacheuta sub-basin reaches into San Juan Province. The basin existed already during the Triassic but its current shape is derivative of the Andean orogeny.^[1]

The basin originated as a rift basin in the context of extensional tectonics and crustal thinning that followed the Paleozoic Gondwanide orogeny.^{[note 1]}

Stratigraphy

The stratigraphy of the Cuyo Basin comprises the following formations:

Age bold is SALMA type	Group	Formation	Lithologies	Depositional environment	Notes
Pleistocene		Tunuyán			[4]
Mio-Pliocene Huayquerian		Huayquerías	Mudstones, sandstones, tuff	Fluvial	[5]
Miocene		Mogotes		Alluvial	[6]
Miocene		La Pilona	Shales and sandstones	Alluvial	[6]
Middle Miocene Laventan		Mariño	Sandstones	Alluvial and eolian	[6]
Late Oligocene Deseadan
Early Oligocene	Hiatus				[6]
Priabonian
Bartonian Divisaderan		Divisadero Largo		Fluvial	[6]
Lutetian		Papagayos		Fluvial	[6]
Early Eocene	Hiatus				[6]
Paleocene
Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous		Punta de las Bardas	Basalts	Volcanic	[6]
Late Jurassic
		Barrancas	Sandstones and conglomerates	Alluvial to fluvial	[6]
Rhaetian	Uspallata	Río Blanco		Fluvial-deltaic	[6][3]
Norian
Carnian		Cacheuta	Black shales	Lacustrine	[6][7]
		Potrerillos	Tuffs, conglomerates, sandstones, shales	Alluvial to fluvial	[6][7][8]
Ladinian		Cerro de las Cabras	Mudstones and conglomerates		[6][7]
Anisian
Olenekian		Río Mendoza	Volcaniclastic conglomerates		[6][7]
Induan
Late Permian	Choiyoi Group				[3]
Carboniferous	Hiatus				[9][10]
Devonian
Early Paleozoic	Cuyania				[9][10]

See also

• Geological history of the Precordillera terrane
• Colorado Basin, basin to the southeast of Cuyo Basin
• Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin, Triassic rift basin to the north of Cuyo Basin
• Neuquén Basin, Mesozoic rift basin to the south of Cuyo Basin
• Paraná Basin, basin to the northeast of Cuyo Basin
• Salta Basin, Mesozoic rift basin to the north of Cuyo Basin

Notes and references

Notes

1. These tectonics are not related to the break-up of Gondwana later in the Mesozoic.^[3]

References

1. "Cuenca Cuyana". Secretaría de Energía (in Spanish). Government of Argentina. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
2. Zencich et al., 2008, p.110
3. Spalletti et al., 2008, p.270
4. Yrigoyen, 1993
5. Garrido et al, 2017, p.51
6. Zencich et al., 2008, p.112
7. Spalletti et al., 2008, p.269
8. Spalletti et al., 2005
9. Finney, 2007
10. Keller et al., 1998

Bibliography

General

• Spalletti, L.A.; Fanning, C.M.; Rapela, C.W. (2008), "Dating the Triassic continental rift in the southern Andes: the Potrerillos Formation, Cuyo Basin, Argentina", Geologica Acta, 6 (3): 267–283, retrieved 2020-07-14
• Zencich, Silvia; Villar, Héctor J.; Boggetti, Daniel (2008), Sistema petrolero Cacheuta-Barrancas de la Cuenca Cuyana, Provincia de Mendoza, Argentina (PDF), Sistemas Petroleros de las Cuencas Andinas, pp. 109–134, retrieved 2017-08-21
• Finney, S.C (2007), "The parautochthonous Gonwanan origin of the Cuyania (greater Precordillera) terrane of Argentina: A re-evaluation of evidence used to support an allochthonous Laurentian origin", Geologica Acta, 5: 127–158, retrieved 2020-07-14
• Spalletti, L.; Morel, E.; Artabe, A.; Zavattieri, A.; Ganuza, D. (2005), "Stratigraphy, sedimentary facies and palaeoflora of the Potrerillos Triassic succession, Mendoza, Republic of Argentina", Revista Geológica de Chile, 32: 249–272, doi:10.4067/S0716-02082005000200005, retrieved 2020-07-14
• Keller, M.; Buggisch, W.; Lehnert, O. (1998), "The stratigraphical record of the Argentine Precordillera and its plate-tectonic background. The Proto-Andean Margin of Gondwana", Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 142: 35–56, doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1998.142.01.03, retrieved 2020-07-14
• Yrigoyen, Marcelo R (1993), "Revisión estratigráfica del Neogeno de las Huayquerías de Mendoza septentrional, Argentina", Ameghiniana, 31: 125–138, retrieved 2019-03-08

Divisadero Largo Formation

• Simpson, G.G.; Minoprio, J.L.; Patterson, B. (1962), "The mammalian fauna of the Divisadero Largo Formation, Mendoza, Argentina", Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 127: 239–293, retrieved 2019-02-15

Huayquerías Formation

• Forasiepi, Analía M.; MacPhee, Ross D.E.; Hernández del Pino, Santiago; Schmidt, Gabriela I.; Amson, Eli; Grohé, Camille (2016), "Exceptional skull of Huayqueriana (Mammalia, Litopterna, Macraucheniidae) from the Late Miocene of Argentina: anatomy, systematics and paleobiological implications" (PDF), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 404: 1–76, doi:10.1206/0003-0090-404.1.1, retrieved 2018-10-01
• Garrido, Alberto C.; Bonini, Ricardo; Barbeau, David L. (2017), Paleoambiente, edad y vertebrados de la Formación Huayquerías, Mioceno tardio, Provincia de Mendoza, Republica Argentina, XX Congreso Geológico Argentino, pp. 50–55, retrieved 2018-09-10

Mariño Formation

• Cerdeño, Esperanza; Vera, Bárbara; Combina, Ana María (2018), "A new early Miocene Mesotheriidae (Notoungulata) from the Mariño Formation (Argentina): Taxonomic and biostratigraphic implications", Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 88: 118–131, Bibcode:2018JSAES..88..118C, doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2018.06.016, hdl:11336/158508, retrieved 2019-02-11
• Cerdeño, Esperanza; Guiomar Vucetich, M. (2007), "The first rodent from the Mariño Formation (Miocene) at Divisadero Largo (Mendoza, Argentina) and its biochronological implications" (PDF), Andean Geology, 34: 199–207, doi:10.5027/andgeoV34n2-a02, retrieved 2017-10-23

Further reading

• Bally, A.W.; Snelson, S. (1980), "Realms of subsidence", Canadian Society for Petroleum Geology Memoir, 6: 9–94
• Kingston, D.R.; Dishroon, C.P.; Williams, P.A. (1983), "Global Basin Classification System" (PDF), AAPG Bulletin, 67: 2175–2193, retrieved 2017-06-23
• Klemme, H.D (1980), "Petroleum Basins - Classifications and Characteristics", Journal of Petroleum Geology, 3 (2): 187–207, Bibcode:1980JPetG...3..187K, doi:10.1111/j.1747-5457.1980.tb00982.x