Geological formation in Argentina
Collón Curá Formation
Area around the
Comallo railway, with outcrops of this formation
Type
Geological formation Sub-units Tobaceo Las Bayas & Pilcaniyeú Ignimbrite Members Underlies
Caleufú Formation &
Chenqueniyeu Basalt (Neuquén Basin)
El Mirador ,
Río Negro Formation &
alluvium (Cañadón Asfalto Basin) Overlies
Cerro Bandera ,
Huitrera &
Cerro Petiso Formations , crystalline
basement (Neuquén Basin)
Ñirihuau ,
Lefipán &
La Pava Formations (Cañadón Asfalto Basin) Thickness Up to 300 m (980 ft) Primary
Tuff ,
sandstone Other
Siltstone ,
marl ,
limestone ,
calcareous
concretions ,
pumice
Coordinates
40°00′S 70°48′W / 40.0°S 70.8°W / -40.0; -70.8
Approximate paleocoordinates
40°36′N 66°24′W / 40.6°N 66.4°W / 40.6; -66.4 Region
Neuquén ,
Río Negro &
Chubut Provinces Country Argentina Extent
Cañadón Asfalto &
Neuquén Basins Named for
Collón Curá River & Estancia Collón Curá Named by Yrigoyen Location
Lácar Department Year defined 1969
Coordinates
40°04′56.6″S 70°51′55.3″W / 40.082389°S 70.865361°W / -40.082389; -70.865361 Region
Neuquén Province Country
Argentina Thickness at type section 50 m (160 ft)
Outcrop locations of the Collón Curá Formation
The Collón Curá Formation (
Spanish : Formación Collón Curá ) is a
Middle Miocene fossiliferous
geological formation of the southern
Neuquén Basin in northwestern
Patagonia and the western
Cañadón Asfalto Basin of central Patagonia,
Argentina . The formation
crops out from the southern
Neuquén Province , the western
Río Negro Province to the northern
Chubut Province .
The formation, with a maximum thickness of 300 metres (980 ft), comprises
tuffs and
sandstones with minor
siltstones ,
marls and
limestones , deposited in a
fluvial ,
deltaic and shallow to deep
lacustrine
environment in small basins separated by
faults . The formation dates from the
Langhian to
earliest Tortonian epochs of the Middle to Late Miocene, typically
Colloncuran .
The Collón Curá Formation is named after Estancia Collón Curá (1 on the map in the infobox) along the
Collón Curá River (2), a tributary of the
Limay River in the
Río Negro
watershed , and lends its name to the
Colloncuran , one of the
South American land mammal ages . The formation has provided many fossils of
mammals ,
reptiles , among others the
snake
Waincophis australis , and the largest
terror bird
Kelenken guillermoi . The
rodent Galileomys colloncurensis and the
typothere
Protypotherium colloncurensis were named after the formation.
Description
The strata of the Collón Curá Formation were first recognized by Roth in 1899, based on a 50 metres (160 ft) thick succession of grey
tuffs in the valley of the
Collón Curá River . In 1929, Groeber named the unit Colloncurense, separating the sediments from the older
Santa Cruz Formation , that Roth had grouped in the same unit. Yrigoyen in 1969 formally defined the stratigraphic unit as Collón Curá Formation. The
type section of the formation is on both sides on the Collón Curá River. The maximum recorded thickness in the Collón Curá river valley is 130 metres (430 ft).
[1]
In the
Chapelcó Range of the Neuquén Basin, the formation is unconformably overlain by the
Caleufú Formation ,
[1] while
basaltic lava flows
[2] of the
El Mirador Formation ,
[2] and
Quaternary
alluvium overly the Collón Curá Formation in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin.
[2]
[3] In the Collón Curá valley, the formation covers
Paleogene sediments of the
Huitrera and
Cerro Petiso Formations and in places overlying crystalline
basement .
[1] In other parts of the Neuquén Basin, the formation overlies the Early Miocene
Cerro Bandera Formation or the
Late Cretaceous
Angostura Colorada Formation .
[4]
[5] In the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, the Collón Curá Formation overlies the
Ñirihuau Formation ,
[3] and in the area around the Chico River in the same basin, the formation overlies the
La Pava Formation . In this location, the Collón Curá Formation is unconformably overlain by the
Río Negro Formation .
[6]
The oldest age for the formation has been given as 16.1 Ma,
[7] and the top of the formation has been dated to 11 ± 1, and more precisely to 10.7 Ma.
[1] 40 Ar/39 Ar analysis on amphibole crystals, collected from fresh pumice clasts, revealed an age of 14.86 ± 0.13 Ma for the middle section of the Collón Curá Formation in the Gastre Sub-basin of the Cañadón Asfalto Basin.
[8] Earlier estimates based on K/Ar dating on
biotite minerals of the Pilcaniyeú Ignimbrite Member were given as 15 Ma (1980) and 14.1 Ma (1990). Overall, the age of the formation ranges from Langhian to earliest
Tortonian .
[1]
Lithologies
In its type locality, the Collón Curá Formation is characterized by homogeneous greyish-yellow well-consolidated massive vitrocrystalline
tuffs without visible sedimentary structures, but with
calcareous
concretions . The tuffaceous sediments contain pieces of white
pumice with a vesicular character up to 2 millimetres (0.079 in) in size. The volcanic crystals in the tuff comprise
andesine ,
hornblende and
hypersthene in an
argillaceous matrix. The concretions in the formation can reach up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in size and result from secondary
diagenesis replacing the primary
porosity of the sediments.
[1]
Around the Río Chico in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, the formation is about 300 metres (980 ft) thick and comprises
siltstones ,
sandstones ,
marls and
limestones .
[6]
Depositional environment
Significant drop in both temperatures after the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum
The formation was deposited in a
fluvial and
lacustrine
environment dominated by pyroclastic flows in small basins, separated by
faults .
[9] The sub-Andean region of Argentina went through a phase of marine
transgression during the Middle Miocene, approximately 15 to 13 Ma.
[10] The Collón Curá Formation shows growth strata in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, indicating syn-tectonic deposition.
[2] In this basin, the formation ranges from a shallow lacustrine setting in the basal section, a deep lacustrine system with
deltaic
facies in the middle and upper parts.
[6] The Collón Curá Formation is correlated with the contemporaneous fluvial and lacustrine tuffaceous
Chichinales Formation of the central Neuquén Basin.
[11]
The Collón Curá Formation, together with the underlying
Ñirihuau Formation in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, was deposited in a fragmented, possibly by
pull-apart tectonic activity,
[12]
foreland basin setting.
[3]
The climate in the early middle Miocene was hot, a period known as the
Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum . This thermal maximum was followed by a period of cooling, the
Middle Miocene disruption , probably related to glacial growth and the reestablishment of the ice of the
East Antarctic Ice Sheet . Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 are estimated to have dropped from about 300 to 140
ppm .
[13]
Paleontological significance
The mammal fauna of the Collón Curá Formation led researchers to establish the
Colloncuran age in the
SALMA classification , ranging from 15.5 to 13.8 Ma. This age, used in South America as subdivision for the
Cenozoic , follows on the
Friasian age, defined from the
Chilean
Río Frías Formation of the
Aysén Basin and precedes the
Laventan age, named after the
Konzentrat-Lagerstätte
La Venta pertaining to the
Honda Group of the
Upper Magdalena Valley of central
Colombia .
The
rodent
Galileomys colloncurensis , and the
typothere
Protypotherium colloncurensis were named after the formation.
[14]
The fossil mammal assemblage of the Collón Curá Formation represents a fauna preceding the evolution of the
Caviidae . The oldest true caviid,
Prodolichotis pridiana is known from the
Villavieja and
La Victoria Formations of
La Venta ,
Colombia . Sister taxa of these caviids first appeared in the Colloncuran;
Guiomys unica and
Microcardiodon williensis , found in the Collón Curá Formation.
[15] In alternative classification proposed in 2012 by Pérez and Pol, Guiomys is considered an optional early caviid, pushing back the lineage to the Colloncuran.
[16]
Fossil content
[24]
[25]
[15]
[18]
[25]
[19]
[25]
[25]
[42]
See also
References
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b
c
d
e
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"Tectonic evolution of the North Patagonian Andes (41°–44° S) through recognition of syntectonic strata" . Tectonophysics . 677–678: 99–114.
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Evolución tectónica del sistema orogénico Andino en la Patagonia norte (42-44° S) (PhD thesis) , 1–170.Universidad de Buenos Aires.
^ Geologic Map, 2007, p.112
^ Prez, Horacio, and Gabriela Massaferro. 2013.
Geología y geomorfología del tramo superior del Arroyo Comallo, Río Negro (PDF). Contribuciones Científicas GÆA 26. 221–234.
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^ Di Pietro, Pablo Federico. 2016.
Geología de la zona del Cerro Bayo, Bajo de Gastre, Provincia de Chubut (B.S. thesis) (PDF), 1–107.Universidad de Buenos Aires.
^
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^ Figari et al., 2015, p.154
^ Náñez, Carolina; Malumián, Norberto; Náñez, Carolina; Malumián, Norberto (January 2019).
"Foraminíferos miocenos en la cuenca Neuquina, Argentina: implicancias estratigráficas y paleoambientales" . Andean Geology . 46 (1): 183–210.
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^ Dalla, Luis; Franzese, Juan (1987).
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^ Pérez & Pol, 2012, p.12
^ Kramarz, Alejandro; Garrido, Alberto; Bond, Mariano (2019-07-17).
"Astrapotherium from the Middle Miocene Collón Cura Formation and the Decline of Astrapotheres in Southern South America" . Ameghiniana . 56 (4): 290.
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^
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Pilcaniyeu Viejo at
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^
a
b
c
d Bondesio, P.; J. Rabassa; R. Pascual; M.G. Vucetich, and G.J. Scillato Yané. 1980. La formación Collón-Curá de Pilcaniyeú Viejo y sus alrededores (Río Negro, República Argentina) su antiguedad y las condiciones ambientales según su distribución su litogenesis y sus vertebradosActas del Segundo Congreso Argentino de Paleontología y Bioestratigrafía y Primer Congreso Latinoamericano de Paleontología 3. 85–99.
^
a
b Vera, Bárbara; Reguero, Marcelo; González Ruiz, Laureano (2017).
"The Interatheriinae notoungulates from the middle Miocene Collón Curá Formation in Argentina" . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 62 .
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^
Chico River at
Fossilworks .org
^
a
b
c
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f
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Cañadon del Tordillo at
Fossilworks .org
^
Collón Cura River at
Fossilworks .org
^ Silvestro, Daniele; Marcelo F. Tejedor; Martha L. Serrano Serrano; Oriane Loiseau; Victor Rossier; Jonathan Rolland; Alexander Zizka; Alexandre Antonelli, and Nicolas Salamin. 2017.
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^
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d Pardiñas, Ulyses F. J. (1991).
"Primer registro de primates y otros vertebrados para la Formacion Collón Curá (Mioceno medio) del Neuquén, Argentina (First record of primates and other vertebrates from the Collón Curá Formation (middle Miocene) of Neuquén, Argentina)" . Ameghiniana (in Spanish). 28 (1–2): 197–199.
ISSN
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^
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^ Vucetich, María Guiomar; Kramarz, Alejandro G. (2003-06-17).
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"A new rodent (Cavioidea, Hystricognathi) from the middle Miocene of Patagonia, mandibular homologies, and the origin of the crown group Cavioidea sensu stricto" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 30 (6): 1848–1859.
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^ Echarri, Sebastian; Ulloa-Guaiquin, Karen S.; Aguirrezabala, Guillermo; Forasiepi, Analia M. (2021-10-31).
"Cladosictis patagonica (Metatheria, Sparassodonta) from the Collón Cura Formation (Middle Miocene), Río Negro, Argentina" . Ameghiniana . 58 (6).
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Un nuevo Glyptodontidae (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Cingulata) del Mioceno de Patagonia (Argentina) y comentarios acerca de la sistemática de los gliptodontes "friasenses ". Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas 28. 566–579.
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Geology
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Ages Defining formations and sites
Sources