The North Patagonian Massif or Somún Cura Massif (
Spanish
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* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
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Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
: ''Macizo Norpatagónico'', ''Macizo Nordpatagónico'' or ''Macizo de Somún Cura'') is a
massif in northern
Patagonia located in the Argentine provinces of
Río Negro and
Chubut. The massif is a
plateau surrounded by
sedimentary basins. The North Patagonian Massif covers an area of approximately . The massif rises above the surrounding topography reaching a maximum of above sea level. Compared to neighboring areas, the North Patagonian Massif has thicker
continental crust
Continental crust is the layer of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks that forms the geological continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as continental shelves. This layer is sometimes called ''sial'' bec ...
.
Stratigraphy
The massif consists of a
basement
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box ...
formed by
Cambro-
Ordovician
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya.
The ...
rocks, overlain by the
Middle Silurian Sierra Grande Formation. The early
Paleozoic section is covered by metamorphic and igneous complexes; the
Permian Pailemán and
Navarrete Plutonic Complexes,
[González et al., 2014, p.175] and the unconformably overlying
Early
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to
Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations c ...
Marifil Volcanic Complex. The Marifil Complex is separated from the Paleozoic sequence by the
Enjambre Dikes, dated to the
Late Triassic with ages varying between 221 ± 12 and 207 ± 11 Ma.
[González et al., 2014, p.176]
The Cenozoic cover of the western belt of the massif comprises the
Eocene to
Oligocene Ventana and
Ñirihuau Formations in the north and the
Middle to Late Miocene Ñorquincó Formation in the south. The eastern belt of the North Patagonian Massif contains the Miocene (
Colloncuran
The Colloncuran ( es, Colloncurense) age is a period of geologic time (15.5–13.8 Ma) within the Middle Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification in South America. It follows the Friasian and precedes t ...
)
Collón Cura Formation, the Miocene
La Pava Formation,
[Dalla Salda & Franzese, 1987, p.7] and the Miocene
Chimehuín Formation in the northern part of the eastern belt.
[Dalla Salda & Franzese, 1987, p.8]
See also
*
Golfo San Jorge Basin
The Golfo San Jorge Basin ( es, Cuenca del Golfo San Jorge) is a hydrocarbon-rich sedimentary basin located in eastern Patagonia, Argentina. The basin covers the entire San Jorge Gulf and an inland area west of it, having one half located in Sant ...
*
Neuquén Basin
Neuquén Basin ( es, Cuenca Neuquina) is a sedimentary basin covering most of Neuquén Province in Argentina. The basin originated in the Jurassic and developed through alternating continental and marine conditions well into the Tertiary. The bas ...
References
Bibliography
*
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{{Authority control
Landforms of Chubut Province
Landforms of Río Negro Province
Geology of Chubut Province
Geology of Río Negro Province
Plateaus of Argentina