Elsevier

Sedimentary Geology

Volume 405, 15 July 2020, 105704
Sedimentary Geology

Invited research article
Recognizing drainage reorganization in the stratigraphic record of the Neogene foreland basin of the Central Andes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2020.105704Get rights and content

Abstract

Changes in drainage basin reorganization as preserved in the stratigraphic record have direct implications for the composition, organization, and scaling relationships of sedimentary systems. However, isolating the stratigraphic signature of drainage basin reorganization in response to tectonic and/or climatic drivers can be challenging. In the Neogene foreland basin of the southern Central Andes between 28°–31°S, the tectonically-controlled reorganization of basin catchment area has been cited as an important control on the basin stratigraphy. To resolve the signature of drainage basin reorganization in the Central Andean foreland, we conducted a basin-scale study integrating detailed sedimentology from four measured sections with multi-method provenance analysis to reconstruct foreland sediment routing pathways between 28°–31°S. Our regional synthesis suggests that the foreland basin has been connected by an axial sediment routing system since the early Miocene. Statistical analysis and graphical comparison using multidimensional scaling of new and published detrital zircon data from 45 samples resolves tectonically controlled changes in the catchment area in the late Miocene, including an eastward shift of the Andean drainage divide. This study provides the first evidence for expansion of the catchment area east of the basin draining the emerging basement-cored highlands of the Sierras Pampeanas. This study demonstrates that, when combined, provenance and detailed sedimentologic data sets provide a powerful tool to recognize and interpret drainage basin reorganization in the stratigraphic record and thus reconstruct the tectono-climatic and paleogeographic evolution of sedimentary systems.

Introduction

Understanding the evolution of drainage networks and the processes responsible for sediment distribution and of paleo depositional environments provides important insight into tectonic and geodynamic processes (Beaumont et al., 1992; Willett et al., 2014; Forte et al., 2015; Andrés-Martínez et al., 2019), resource presence and potential (Sharman et al., 2017), and changes in regional and global climate patterns (Bonnet, 2009; Whipple, 2009; Shugar et al., 2017). From a sedimentological perspective, the geometry of the catchment area is thought to have a primary control on sediment grain size, sediment architecture, and sediment volume in the sediment basin sink (Heller and Paola, 1996; Sheets et al., 2002; Allen et al., 2013). Consequently, data and observations gleaned from ancient deposits of sedimentary rocks should offer unique insight into the organization and evolution of paleo-drainage networks. This logic, drawn in large part from observations of modern analogues and numerical models, has been deemed sufficient to support instances of drainage basin reorganization in the stratigraphic record (e.g., Leeder, 1997; Clevis et al., 2003). However, in many cases, the stratigraphic evidence of drainage basin reorganization is complicated by competing signals, and interpretations based on sedimentologic observations alone may remain inconclusive (Flemings and Jordan, 1989; Heller and Paola, 1996, Heller and Paola, 1992; Leeder, 1997; Armitage et al., 2011; Viaplana-Muzas et al., 2019).

More recently, the use of provenance tools such as detrital zircon geochronology in conjunction with more traditional provenance methods such as sandstone modal analysis and conglomerate clast counts has resolved regional and even continental-scale drainage reorganization across deep time, >107 yrs (e.g., Clift et al., 2006; Blum and Pecha, 2014; Lawton, 2014; Sharman et al., 2017; Snedden et al., 2018; Chapman and Laskowski, 2019; Leary et al., 2020). In particular, the ability to use statistical tools and multidimensional scaling to evaluate trends across large datasets has improved the ability to recognize and reconstruct changes in sediment routing pathways (Vermeesch, 2013, Vermeesch, 2018). In particular, the integration of sedimentology with provenance analysis offers an opportunity to: (1) evaluate the ability of different approaches to resolve drainage basin reorganization in deep time; and (2) document sedimentary facies sequences that are potentially diagnostic of changes in depositional environment in response to drainage reorganization.

In the foreland basin of the southern Central Andes at 28°–31°S (Fig. 1), tectonically controlled drainage basin reorganization has been proposed in response to migration of the Precordilleran thrust belt located to the west of the foreland basin (Zapata and Allmendinger, 1996; Allmendinger and Judge, 2014; Fosdick et al., 2015), as well as to uplift of the Sierras Pampeanas ranges in the eastern foreland basin throughout the Miocene and Pliocene (Perucca et al., 2018; Reat and Fosdick, 2018; Stevens Goddard et al., 2018; Lemos-Santos et al., 2019). Resolving the primary controls on drainage basin reorganization and the expansion and/or segmentation of paleo-drainage patterns in the foreland basin of the Central Andes between ~28° and 31°S requires disentangling from the sedimentology the competing effects of climatic fluctuations (Latorre et al., 1997; Ruskin and Jordan, 2007; Amidon et al., 2017; Stevens Goddard and Carrapa, 2018a) as well as tectonics (Jordan et al., 2001; Allmendinger and Judge, 2014; Fosdick et al., 2015; Viaplana-Muzas et al., 2015, Viaplana-Muzas et al., 2019).

The challenge of effectively recognizing the signature of drainage basin reorganization using the stratigraphic record is a common problem across tectonically active regions; however, in the southern Central Andes, the time-rich foreland basin stratigraphy complemented by independent geologic constraints on local and regional deformation (Jordan et al., 1993; Allmendinger and Judge, 2014; Fosdick et al., 2015) and climate (Latorre et al., 1997; Ruskin and Jordan, 2007; Amidon et al., 2017) provide the opportunity to resolve the stratigraphic evidence of drainage reorganization in deep time. Well-preserved outcrops of foreland basin stratigraphy proximal and distal to the orogenic front (Fig. 1) have been the subjects of detailed stratigraphic, geochronological, and provenance studies at major foreland depocenters between 28° and 31°S (Reynolds et al., 1990; Malizia et al., 1995; Limarino et al., 2001; Ciccioli et al., 2014a, Ciccioli et al., 2014b; Collo et al., 2014; Levina et al., 2014; Fosdick et al., 2015; Amidon et al., 2016; Val et al., 2016; Fosdick et al., 2017; Reat and Fosdick, 2018; Lemos-Santos et al., 2019; Mackaman-Lofland et al., 2020). These studies have focused primarily on describing and interpreting the regional geologic history at individual depocenters including in the Bermejo, the Ischigualasto, and the Vinchina basins (Fig. 1), and suggest that these depocenters – that may even have extended even farther north to ~27.5°S (Dávila, 2010) – were part of a well-connected sediment routing system (Reynolds et al., 1990; Jordan et al., 2001) throughout the Neogene.

This study capitalizes on the ability of this interconnected system– hereafter referred to as the Greater Bermejo Basin – to resolve both the local and regional signature of drainage basin reorganization in the stratigraphic record. Specifically, this study will use new and existing provenance datasets – including detrital zircon geochronology, sandstone modal analysis, and conglomerate clast counts – together with statistical tools such as multidimensional scaling analysis to provide the first regional synthesis and statistical analysis of evolving Neogene sediment routing pathways in the southern Central Andean foreland. This approach enables us to document previously unresolved modifications to the Neogene sediment routing system within the context of new detailed stratigraphic analysis of over 15 km of exposed foreland basin stratigraphy across four stratigraphic sections between ~28° and ~29.5°S.

Section snippets

Geologic setting

The foreland basin of the southern Central Andes formed as a flexural response to development of the Precordilleran thrust belt (Cardozo and Jordan, 2001; Stevens Goddard and Carrapa, 2018b) along the boundary of a Paleozoic suture between the Famatinian terrane to the east and the Cuyanian terrane to the west (Thomas and Astini, 1996; Ramos, 2010) (Fig. 1). The timing and magnitude of deformation in the Precordillera thrust belt is well constrained by field and chronometric data with major

Methods

We targeted four stratigraphic sections in the proximal foreland basin of the southern Central Andes between 28° and 29.5°S for sedimentological and provenance analyses (Fig. 1). Sedimentary strata were measured using a Jacob staff at the decimeter scale for facies analysis. Sampling for provenance analysis (detrital zircon geochronology and sandstone modal analysis) was completed in context of the measured stratigraphic section. The southern-most sedimentary section called the La Flecha

Facies Assemblage A: eolian dominated system

Planar cross-stratified sandstone (Sp): Medium-grained reddish-brown sandstone in Facies Assemblage A exhibits planar cross-stratification with cross-sets ranging from 0.5–1.0 m thick which truncate along low-angle surfaces (Fig. 8A). In some cases, it is possible to identify grain flow tongues along the edges of these surfaces. Beds of Sp facies range from 3 to 8 m thick and display little internal variation in grain size and quartz grains commonly display a frosted surface. The occurrence of

Potential zircon sources

In the Central Andes, igneous source rocks occur in plate margin-parallel belts exposed either to the west or the east of the Greater Bermejo Basin (Fig. 1). West of the Greater Bermejo Basin, Andean arc rocks in the Frontal/Principal Cordillera (Fig. 1) yield zircons of volcanic and batholith origin with U-Pb ages that reflect active magmatism since ca. 180 Ma (Kay et al., 2005; Ramos, 2009). These Mesozoic and Cenozoic arc rocks intrude Paleozoic igneous units associated with the Choiyoi

Conclusions

Our integration of detailed sedimentology with multi-method provenance analysis produces a basin-scale reconstruction of the sediment routing pathways throughout the foreland basin of the Southern Central Andes between 28° to 31°S. The application of statistical similarity tests to regional detrital zircon datasets specifically allows us to resolve an along strike connections among depocenters for hundreds of kilometers of the foreland basin system via an axial sediment routing system that has

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This project was supported through a National Geographic Young Explorer's Grant (Award #9744-15) to ALSG, as well as student research grants from the AAPG Foundation, SEPM, and the Geological Society of America to ALSG. We appreciate the invitation from Timothy Horscroft to share these results in Sedimentary Geology and editorial handling by Jasper Knight. Reviews by Luisa Pinto Lincoñir and an anonymous reviewer significantly improved the manuscript. Conversations with Julie Fosdick, Peter

References (154)

  • J.C. Fosdick et al.

    Faulting and erosion in the Argentine Precordillera during changes in subduction regime: reconciling bedrock cooling and detrital records

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (2015)
  • P. Grosse et al.

    Across-arc variation of the Famatinian magmatic arc (NW Argentina) exemplified by I-, S- and transitional I/S-type Early Ordovician granitoids of the Sierra de Velasco

    J. S. Am. Earth Sci.

    (2011)
  • T.E. Jordan et al.

    Unsteady and spatially variable evolution of the Neogene Andean Bermejo foreland basin, Argentina

    J. S. Am. Earth Sci.

    (2001)
  • C. Latorre et al.

    The expansion of C4 grasses and global change in the late Miocene: stable isotope evidence from the Americas

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (1997)
  • D.V. Lemos-Santos et al.

    U–Pb and Sm–Nd constraints on miocene units in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión foreland basin, Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina: sedimentary provenance, landscape evolution coupling flat-slab subduction

    J. S. Am. Earth Sci.

    (2019)
  • C. Limarino et al.

    Tectonic control on the evolution of the fluvial systems of the Vinchina Formation (Miocene), northwestern Argentina

    J. S. Am. Earth Sci.

    (2001)
  • B. Makaske

    Anastomosing rivers: a review of their classification, origin and sedimentary products

    Earth Sci. Rev.

    (2001)
  • D.C. Malizia et al.

    Chronology of Neogene sedimentation, stratigraphy, and tectonism in the Campo de Talampaya region, La Rioja Province, Argentina

    Sediment. Geol.

    (1995)
  • J.R.L. Allen

    The classification of cross-stratified units. With notes on their origin

    Sedimentology

    (1963)
  • P.A. Allen et al.

    The Qsproblem: sediment volumetric balance of proximal foreland basin systems

    Sedimentology

    (2013)
  • R.W. Allmendinger et al.

    The Argentine Precordillera: a foreland thrust belt proximal to the subducted plate

    Geosphere

    (2014)
  • W.H. Amidon et al.

    Mio-Pliocene aridity in the south-central Andes associated with Southern Hemisphere cold periods

    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.

    (2017)
  • M. Andrés-Martínez et al.

    Thermo-mechanical implications of sediment transport for the architecture and evolution of continental rifts and margins

    Tectonics

    (2019)
  • J.J. Armitage et al.

    Transformation of tectonic and climatic signals from source to sedimentary archive

    Nat. Geosci.

    (2011)
  • G.M. Ashley et al.

    Deposition of climbing-ripple beds: a flume simulation

    Sedimentology

    (1982)
  • C. Beaumont et al.

    Erosional control of active compressional orogens

  • J.A. Beer et al.

    The effects of Neogene thrusting on deposition in the Bermejo Basin, Argentina

    J. Sediment. Res.

    (1989)
  • J. Best et al.

    The morphology and dynamics of low amplitude bedwaves upon upper stage plane beds and the preservation of planar laminae

    Sedimentology

    (1992)
  • J.S. Bridge

    Rivers and Floodplains: Forms, Processes and Sedimentary Record

    (2009)
  • M. Blum et al.

    Mid-cretaceous to paleocene North American drainage reorganization from detrital zircons

    Geology

    (2014)
  • S. Bonnet

    Shrinking and splitting of drainage basins in orogenic landscapes from the migration of the main drainage divide

    Nat. Geosci.

    (2009)
  • J.S. Bridge et al.

    Flow, sediment transport and bedform dynamics over the transition from dunes to upper-stage plane beds - implications for the formation of planar laminae

    Sedimentology

    (1988)
  • J.S. Bridge et al.

    A simulation model of alluvial stratigraphy

    Sedimentology

    (1979)
  • W.B. Bull

    The alluvial-fan environment

    Prog. Phys. Geogr.

    (1977)
  • D.W. Burbank et al.

    Reduced Himalayan sediment intensified monsoon

    Nature

    (1993)
  • D.J. Cant

    Development of a Facies Model for Sandy Braided River Sedimentation: Comparison of the South Saskatchewan River and the Battery Point Formation

    (1977)
  • D.J. Cant et al.

    Fluvial processes and facies sequences in the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River, Canada

    Sedimentology

    (1978)
  • N. Cardozo et al.

    Causes of spatially variable tectonic subsidence in the Miocene Bermejo Foreland Basin, Argentina

    Basin Res.

    (2001)
  • B. Carrapa et al.

    Dynamics of deformation and sedimentation in the northern Sierras, Pampeanas: an integrated study of the Neogene Fiambalá basin, NW Argentina

    Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.

    (2008)
  • B. Carrapa et al.

    Ecological and hydroclimate responses to strengthening of the Hadley circulation in South America during the Late Miocene cooling

    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A.

    (2019)
  • C. Casquet et al.

    Involvement of the Argentine Precordillera terrane in the Famatinian mobile blet: U-Pb SHRIMP and metamorphic evidence from the Sierra de Pie de Palo

    Geology

    (2001)
  • M.A. Chan

    Triassic loessite of north-central Utah; stratigraphy, petrophysical character, and paleoclimate implications

    J. Sediment. Res.

    (1999)
  • A.D. Chapman et al.

    Detrital zircon U-Pb data reveal a Mississippian sediment dispersal network originating in the Appalachian orogen, traversing North America along its southern shelf, and reaching as far as the southwest United States

    Lithosphere

    (2019)
  • P. Ciccioli et al.

    Tectonosedimentary evolution of the La Troya and Vinchina depocenters (northern Bermejo Basin, Tertiary), La Rioja, Argentina

  • P. Clift et al.

    Accelerated mass flux to the Arabian Sea during the middle to late Miocene

    Geology

    (2002)
  • P.D. Clift et al.

    Large-scale drainage capture and surface uplift in eastern Tibet-SW China before 24 Ma inferred from sediments of the Hanoi Basin, Vietnam

    Geophys. Res. Lett.

    (2006)
  • G. Collo et al.

    U-Pb detrital zircon ages and Sm-Nd isotopic features in low-grade metasedimentary rocks of the Famatina belt: implications for late Neoproterozoic-early Palaeozoic evolution of the proto-Andean margin of Gondwana

    J. Geol. Soc. Lond.

    (2009)
  • G. Collo et al.

    Clay mineralogy and thermal history of the Neogene Vinchina Basin, central Andes of Argentina: analysis of factors controlling the heating conditions

    Tectonics

    (2011)
  • G. Collo et al.

    U-Pb detrital ages on tuffaceous and sandstone levels from a Neogene foreland basin of the Central Andes of Argentina

    Comunicações Geológicas

    (2014)
  • G. Collo et al.

    Isotopic and thermochronologic evidence of extremely cold lithosphere associated with a slab flattening in the Central Andes of Argentina

    Basin Res.

    (2017)
  • Cited by (15)

    • The Far-Field imprint of the late Paleozoic Ice Age, its demise, and the onset of a dust-house climate across the Eastern Shelf of the Midland Basin, Texas

      2023, Gondwana Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      U-Pb detrital zircon studies across the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of Laurentia have largely focused on reconstructing sediment dispersal in response to changes in plate configuration and uplift and erosion in traditional source-to-sink models, with little integration of climate (c.f., Gehrels et al., 2011; Thomas et al., 2019; Thomas et al., 2020; Fan et al., 2022). The influence of climatic process on zircon distributions is well documented through geologic history (cf. Fildani et al., 2016; Griffis et al., 2019b; Mason et al., 2019; Stevens Goddard et al., 2020) and recent studies across the Pangean tropics assert the importance of considering detrital zircon records within a combined tectonic and climatic framework (Soreghan et al., 2018; Lawton et al., 2021). In this study we observe major changes in sedimentary processes that we interpret to reflect (1) the formation of Pangea, (2) eustatic changes linked to a dynamic high-latitude glaciation and (3) teleconnections with low-latitude hydrology and climate, as well as (4) a long-term shift toward aridity in the Earth climate system which initiated around the early Permian and intensified through the late Permian (Tabor et al., 2013b; Michel et al., 2015).

    • Broken foreland basins and the influence of subduction dynamics, tectonic inheritance, and mechanical triggers

      2022, Earth-Science Reviews
      Citation Excerpt :

      Given the elaborate drainage configurations and sediment routing possibilities, broken foreland basins are well suited for reconstruction of past sediment transport pathways. Recent studies demonstrate the power of provenance techniques such as detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology to define major shifts in paleodrainage (e.g., Fan et al., 2011; May et al., 2013; Perez and Horton, 2014; Bush et al., 2016; Gao et al., 2020; Stevens Goddard et al., 2020; Smith et al., 2020; Capaldi et al., 2020; Mackaman-Lofland et al., 2022). Several trends emerge from such studies.

    • Andean retroarc-basin dune fields and Pampean Sand Sea (Argentina): Provenance and drainage changes driven by tectonics and climate

      2022, Earth-Science Reviews
      Citation Excerpt :

      A chronology of drainage change is tentatively correlated with major climatic events. Landscapes and pathways of sediment distribution have changed repeatedly and considerably across the studied region in the Neogene (Goddard et al., 2020). In the Pleistocene, during deglaciation phases when large amounts of water were released by the extensive melting of the Cordilleran ice sheet, or during major pluvial events characterized by higher precipitation over sufficiently long periods, much larger volumes of sand and gravel were fed by Andean rivers into the retroarc basin and beyond toward the Atlantic Ocean coast (Iriondo and García, 1993; Iriondo, 1994, 1999; Martínez and Kutschker, 2011).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text