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Original paper

The Ordovician sedimentary rocks in the northern Puna of Argentina and Chile: New stratigraphical data based on graptolites

Bahlburg, Heinrich; Breitkreuz, Christoph; Maletz, Jörg; Moya, M. Cristina; Salfity, José A.

Newsletters on Stratigraphy Volume 23 Number 2 (1990), p. 69 - 89
published: 12/10/1990

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ArtNo.: ESP026002302001

Abstract

Finds of graptolites in various new localities have made possible a more detailed stratigraphic subdivision of the Ordovician turbidites that crop out in the northern Puna of NW Argentina. The units range from the lower Arenig to the Llandeilo, and potentially to the lower Caradoc. On the basis of the stratigraphic significance of the collected faunas and sedimentological studies we propose to abandon the breakdown of the predominantly uniform lithological succession into 4 distinct formations. Instead, they should be replaced by a stratigraphical scheme of 2 facies units: (i) the Volcanosedimentary Successions of the northern Puna (middle and upper Arenig) and (ii) the Puna Turbidite Complex (uppermost Arenig-Llandeilo (-?lower Caradoc)). The latter can be split into two subunits, the Lower (uppermost Arenig-Llanvirn) and the Upper Turbidite System (Llandeilo (-?lower Caradoc)). In the upper Arenig there is a downslope facies equivalency between the upper parts of the Volcanosedimentary Successions and the Lower Turbidite System.