Permian marine sedimentation in northern Chile: new paleontological evidence from the Juan de Morales Formation, and regional paleogeographic implications

Abstract

Permian marine sedimentary rocks that crop out in northern Chile are closely related to the development of a Late Paleozoic magmatic arc. A study of Upper Paleozoic units east of Iquique (20°S) identified three members within the Juan de Morales Formation, each of which were deposited in a different sedimentary environment. A coarse-grained terrigenous basal member represents alluvial sedimentation from a local volcanic source. A mixed carbonate-terrigenous middle member represents coastal and proximal shallow marine sedimentation during a relative sea-level rise related with a global transgression. Preliminary foraminifer biostratigraphy of this middle member identified a late Early Permian (late Artinskian–Kungurian) highly impoverished nodosarid–geinitzinid assemblage lacking fusulines and algae, which is characteristic of temperate cold waters and/or disphotic zone. The upper fine-grained terrigenous member represents shallow marine siliciclastic sedimentation under storm influence. The Juan de Morales Formation consists of continental, coastal and shallow marine sediments deposited at the active western margin of Gondwana at mid to low latitudes. A revised late Early Permian age and similar paleogeography and sedimentary environments are also proposed for the Huentelauquén Formation and related units of northern and central Chile, Arizaro Formation of northwestern Argentina, and equivalent units of southernmost Peru.