Cuyo Basin | |
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Cuenca Cuyana | |
Location of the basin in Argentina | |
Coordinates | 34°15′S 68°34′W / 34.250°S 68.567°W / -34.250; -68.567 |
Etymology | Cuyo River |
Country | Argentina |
State(s) | Mendoza, San Juan |
Cities | Mendoza |
Characteristics | |
On/Offshore | Onshore |
Boundaries | Andes |
Part of | Andean foreland basins |
Area | ~30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi) |
Hydrology | |
River(s) | Cuyo River |
Geology | |
Basin type | Foreland basin |
Plate | South American |
Orogeny | Andean |
Age | Triassic-Pliocene |
Stratigraphy | Stratigraphy |
Field(s) | Tupungato |
Cuyo Basin (Spanish: Cuenca Cuyana) is a sedimentary basininMendoza Province, western Argentina. The Cuyo Basin has a NNW-SSE elongated shape and is limited to the west by the Sierra Pintada System and to the east by the Pampean pericraton. To the north the basin reaches the area around the city of Mendoza.[1]
The Cuyo Basin has an approximate area of 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi).[2] It has two major sub-basins: Cacheuta (Spanish: Subcuenca Cacheuta) in the north and Alvear (Spanish: Subcuenca Alvear) in the south. The northern fringes of Cacheuta sub-basin reaches into San Juan Province. The basin existed already during the Triassic but its current shape is derivative of the Andean orogeny.[1]
The basin originated as a rift basin in the context of extensional tectonics and crustal thinning that followed the Paleozoic Gondwanide orogeny.[note 1]
The stratigraphy of the Cuyo Basin comprises the following formations:
Major South American geological features
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Tectonic plates |
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Cratons and shields |
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Structures undergoing subduction |
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Faults and shear zones |
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Rifts and grabens |
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Sedimentary basins |
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Orogenies |
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Metallogenetic provinces |
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Volcanism |
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Sedimentary basins of Argentina
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Onshore & offshore |
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Offshore |
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Sources |
Álvarez Pontoriero, O.; Giménez, M.; Braitemberg, C.; Martínez, M.; Ruíz, F.; Introcaso, A.; Guspí, F. (2011). Principales cuencas sedimentarias de Argentina, interpretadas mediante Gravimetría Satelital. VIII Congreso de Exploración y Desarrollo de Hidrocarburos. pp. 13–20. Retrieved 2018-08-28. | |