PhotosLocation


Los_Molles_Formation Latitude and Longitude:

39°10′18″S 69°39′35″W / 39.17167°S 69.65972°W / -39.17167; -69.65972
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Los Molles Formation
Stratigraphic range: Pliensbachian- Callovian
~185–165  Ma
Type Geological formation
Unit of Cuyo Group
Underlies Niyeu–Lajas Formation
Overlies Lajoa Formation
Lithology
Primary Organic shale
Other Lime- mudstone
Location
Coordinates 39°10′18″S 69°39′35″W / 39.17167°S 69.65972°W / -39.17167; -69.65972
Approximate paleocoordinates 36°54′S 31°06′W / 36.9°S 31.1°W / -36.9; -31.1
Region Mendoza Province
Neuquén Province
CountryArgentina
Extent Neuquén Basin
Type section
CountryArgentina
Los Molles Formation is located in Argentina
Los Molles Formation
Los Molles Formation (Argentina)

The Los Molles Formation is a geologic formation of Early to Middle Jurassic age, located at northern and central part of Neuquén Basin at Mendoza Shelf in Argentina. It is overlain by the Niyeu–Lajas Formation. [1]

Description

Outcrop map of the formation

It is the second largest oil and gas formation in the Neuquén Basin after the Vaca Muerta. Los Molles Formation is estimated to have 275 trillion cubic feet (7.8×10^12 m3) of technically recoverable shale gas and 3.7 billion barrels (590,000,000 m3) of technically recoverable oil. [2] In July 2015, the Buenos Aires Herald indicated that Pan American Energy and YPF planned to drill 46 shale gas wells in Los Molles over the next four years in their Lindero Atravesado drilling block, at an estimated cost of US$590 million. [3]

Fossil content

In several outcrops, the Los Molles formation has been the site of paleontological discoveries: the ichthyosaurs Chacaicosaurus and Mollesaurus, and, in 2017, an ornithischian, Isaberrysaura, discovered with fossilized contents of the gut. [4]

See also

References

  1. ^ McIlroy et al., 2005
  2. ^ EIA, 2013
  3. ^ Shale fields to get US$14 billion boost
  4. ^ Salgado et al., 2017

Bibliography

  • McIlroy, Duncan; Stephen Flint; John A. Howell, and Nick Timms. 2005. The Neuquén Basin, Argentina: A Case Study in Sequence Stratigraphy and Basin Dynamics - Sedimentology of the tide-dominated Jurassic Lajas Formation, Neuquén Basin, Argentina, 84. Geological Society of London. Accessed 2019-02-16. ISBN  9781862391901
  • Salgado, Leonardo; José I. Canudo; Alberto C. Garrido; Miguel Moreno Azanza; Leandro C. A. Martínez; Rodolfo A. Coria, and José M. Gasca. 2017. A new primitive Neornithischian dinosaur from the Jurassic of Patagonia with gut contents. Scientific Reports 7. 42778. Accessed 2019-02-16.
  • Various, Authors. 2013. Technically Recoverable Shale Oil and Shale Gas Resources: An Assessment of 137 Shale Formations in 41 Countries Outside the United States, _. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Accessed 2013-06-11.