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