Magallanes-Austral Basin Research Articles

Sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Puesto El Moro Formation, Patagonia, Argentina: Implications for upper cretaceous paleogeographic reconstruction and compartmentalization of the Austral-Magallanes Basin

During the Late Cretaceous, the Austral-Magallanes Basin (AMB) records the change from a thermal subsidence post-rift stage to a retroarc foreland basin scenario. The lower-Upper Cretaceous Puesto El Moro Formation (PMF) was deposited during the configuration of the foreland AMB. The aims of this contribution are: (i) to define the sedimentary paleoenvironments that are recorded by the PMF deposits and their spatio-temporal distribution, and (ii) to reconstruct the paleogeographic configuration and distributions of the sedimentary environments in the AMB during the early-Late Cretaceous onset of the foreland system. Based on detailed sedimentological observations and analysis of architectural elements, we divide the PMF into three informal sections. The lower section of the PMF represents a shallowing-upward estuary bay succession. The middle section of the PMF is characterized by braided and high-sinuosity meandering fluvial systems, flowing toward the southwest. Finally, the upper section of the PMF corresponds to a distributive fluvial system flowing toward the southwest. The PMF accumulated synchronously with the estuarine-fluvial Mata Amarilla Formation (MAF) located to the east of the study area. The results obtained in this contribution suggest that the type and vertical stacking of sedimentary paleoenvironments of the PMF could be correlated with the contemporary MAF. A subsurface dataset supported by the oil industry indicates the occurrence of the SE-trending Piedra Clavada High inside the northern AMB. We interpret that this topographic high controlled, during the Late Cretaceous, the types and distribution of sedimentary paleoenvironments of the AMB, indicating that an important compartmentalization of the basin occurred during the beginning of the foreland stage. The northern part of the AMB is divided into the Cardiel-Tres Lagos sub-basin and the Foredeep main depocentre.

A multidisciplinary study of the Lower Cretaceous marine to continental transition in the northern Austral-Magallanes basin and its geodynamic significance

Sedimentologic studies together with preliminary anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analysis were carried out in a very particular and intriguing Lower Cretaceous depocenter in the northern Austral-Magallanes basin, in order to elucidate its geodynamic setting. Aptian-Albian regressive sequences from the coastal Río Belgrano Formation and the fluvial conglomerates of Río Tarde Formation prograded into the regionally distributed marine sequence from Río Mayer Formation. This "early" progradation of continental environments is a characteristic of the northern sector of the basin, since marine conditions prevailed up to Campanian times towards the south. The tectonic context indicates a sudden passage from a marine to a deltaic and continental river system occurred during the uplift of the Northern Patagonian Andes and extra-Andean Patagonia. Our sedimentologic observations suggest a Barremian to Aptian regression, probably driven by the generalized uplift of surrounding blocks. AMS data indicates that a tectonic overprint of the original magnetic fabric was likely the product of E-W shortening applied soon after deposition, representing one of the earliest evidences of Andean deformation. Although the sedimentary setting was broadly placed in the retro-arc, our data helps to place the specific tectonic environment of the depocenter that is still little known and open to debate.

Down‐slope facies variability within deep‐water channel systems: Insights from the Upper Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation, southern Patagonia

AbstractIn southern Patagonia, outcrops of the Upper Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation preserve a >150 km long deep‐water axial channel belt in the Magallanes–Austral Basin, providing a unique opportunity to investigate longitudinal variations in the depositional characteristics of a deep‐water channel system. This study documents sedimentological, stratigraphical and geochronological data from the Cerro Toro Formation in the Argentine sector of the basin. New results are integrated with previous work from the Chilean basin sector to conduct a basin‐scale comparison of the timing of deposition, provenance and lithofacies proportions. The Cerro Toro channel belt includes a nearly 1000 m thick section characterized by high‐density turbidites and mass‐wasting deposits. Two ash beds from the base of the section yield U–Pb zircon ages of 90·4 ± 2 Ma and 88·0 ± 3 Ma, indicating similar initiation ages as documented in the Chilean sector. The U–Pb detrital zircon age spectra from samples in the study area reveal similar provenance trends to samples from the Chilean basin sector, with peak age populations at 310 to 260 Ma, 160 to 135 Ma and 110 to 82 Ma. The maximum depositional age of the channel belt in the Argentine sector is 87·8 ± 1·5 Ma and all new geochronology data corroborate an 86 to 80 Ma depositional age for the main Cerro Toro channel belt. Statistical analyses of 7370 beds from nearly 8000 m of new and previously published stratigraphic sections along the entire outcrop belt suggest progressive variations in the down‐system proportion of lithofacies. In the up‐slope region, lithofacies representing mass wasting processes (for example, debris‐flow and mass‐transport deposits) account for ca 29% of the stratigraphic thickness, as opposed to 5% in the down‐slope region of the channel belt, where turbidity current deposits are more prevalent. The proportion of beds >1 m thick also decreases systematically down slope, particularly for conglomeratic turbidite deposits. This work highlights that: (i) the proportion of thick beds and distribution of lithofacies are key down‐system changes in the stratigraphic fill of this deep‐water channel belt; (ii) detrital zircon trends suggest a relatively well‐mixed longitudinal depositional system; and (iii) geochronology of the main Cerro Toro outcrop belt supports but does not necessitate the model of a single, roughly age‐equivalent, channel system. This study has implications for understanding the downslope variability in depositional processes, stratigraphic architecture and reservoir quality of submarine channel systems.

Tectonic events reflected by palaeocurrents, zircon geochronology, and palaeobotany in the Sierra Baguales of Chilean Patagonia

The Sierra Baguales, situated north of the Torres Del Paine National Park in the Magallanes region of southern Chile, shows a well-exposed stratigraphic sequence ranging from the Late Cretaceous to late Pliocene, which presents a unique opportunity to study the evolution of sedimentological styles and trends, palaeoclimate changes, and tectonic events during this period. The depositional environment changed from a continental slope and shelf during the Cenomanian-Campanian (Tres Pasos Formation) to deltaic between the Campanian-Maastrichtian (Dorotea Formation) and estuarine in the Lutetian-Bartonian (Man Aike Formation). During the Rupelian, a continental environment with meandering rivers and overbank marshes was established (Río Leona Formation). This area was flooded in the early Burdigalian (Estancia 25 de Mayo Formation) during the Patagonian Transgression, but emerged again during the late Burdigalian (Santa Cruz Formation). Measured palaeocurrent directions in this Mesozoic-Cenozoic succession indicate source areas situated between the northeast and east-southeast during the Late Cretaceous, east-southeast during the middle Eocene, and southwest during the early Oligocene to early Miocene. This is confirmed by detrital zircon age populations in the different units, which can be linked to probable sources of similar ages in these areas. The east-southeastern provenance is here identified as the Antarctic Peninsula or its northeastern extension, which is postulated to have been attached to Fuegian Patagonia during the Eocene. The southwestern and western sources were exhumed during gradual uplift of the Southern Patagonian Andes, coinciding with a change from marine to continental conditions in the Magallanes-Austral Basin, as well as a decrease in mean annual temperature and precipitation indicated by fossil leaves in the Río Leona Formation. The rain shadow to the east of the Andes thus started to develop here during the late Eocene-early Oligocene (~34Ma), long before the “Quechua Phase” of Andean tectonics (19–18Ma) that is generally invoked for its evolution at lower latitudes.

Beef veins and thrust detachments in Early Cretaceous source rocks, foothills of Magallanes-Austral Basin, southern Chile and Argentina: Structural evidence for fluid overpressure during hydrocarbon maturation

We describe (1) bedding-parallel veins of fibrous calcite (beef) and (2) thrust detachments, which we believe provide good evidence for fluid overpressure in source rocks for petroleum. Our examples are from the surface or subsurface of the Magallanes-Austral Basin, which lies at the southern tip of South America. There, the best source rocks for petroleum are of Early Cretaceous age. In the central parts of the basin these source rocks have become overmature, but at the eastern edge, onshore and offshore, they are today either immature or in the oil window.In Tierra del Fuego, the foothills of the Andes consist mainly of sedimentary rocks, which have undergone thin-skinned thrusting. In the Vicuña area (Chile), Early Cretaceous source rocks have reached the surface above thrust detachments, which are visible on seismic data and well data. At the surface, we have found calcite beef, containing hydrocarbons (solid and/or fluid), in the Rio Jackson and Vicuña formations, which have reached the wet gas window. In the Rio Gallegos area (Argentina), the source rocks have not reached the surface, but seismic and well data provide good evidence for thin-skinned thrusting above flat-lying detachments in Early Cretaceous source rock, where it is in the early oil window. In contrast, there is little or no deformation where the source rock is still immature. Thus the deformation front coincides with the maturity front. Next to the central parts of the basin, where the source rocks have reached the surface within the Andes proper, they have undergone low-grade metamorphism. Within these source rocks, we have found beef veins, but of quartz, not calcite. To the east, within the foreland basin, seismic and well data provide evidence for a few compressional structures, including thin-skinned detachments in the deeply buried source rock. Finally, in the northern part of the basin (Santa Cruz province, Argentina), where it is shallower, the source rocks have reached the surface in the foothills, above a series of back-thrusts. At Lago San Martín, the source rocks have reached the oil window and they again contain calcite beef.In conclusion, where we have examined Early Cretaceous source rocks at the surface, they contain either calcite beef (if they have reached the late oil window or wet gas window) or quartz beef (if they are overmature). Independent evidence for overpressure, in the form of source-rock detachments, comes from subsurface data, especially at the southern end of the basin, where the source rocks are not overmature and deformation is relatively intense. Thus we argue that hydrocarbon generation has led to overpressure, as a result of chemical compaction and load transfer, or volume changes, or both.

Palinomorfos continentales del Paleógeno de las formaciones Chorrillo Chico y Agua Fresca, Punta Prat, Región de Magallanes, Chile

Paleogene continental Palynomorphs of the formations Chorrillo Chico and Agua Fresca, Pun- ta Prat, Magallanes, Chile. The Paleogene section of Punta Prat, Chile is located at 53°10'S-71°20'W in southern Magallanes-Austral Basin, includes Chorrillo Chico and Agua Fresca Formations. Both units contain a palynological assemblage composed of marine and continental palynomorphs indicative of a marine depositional environment with terrigenous input. The continental taxa found in the studied formations reflect a forest developed under a humid warm to temperate climate, dominated by Podocarpaceae, Proteaceae and Nothofagaceae accompanied by abundant ferns belonging to the Schizaeaceae, Polypodiaceae and Dicksoniaceae families. The relationship of marine/continental palynomorphs indicates a marine transgression from the Paleocene to the Middle Eocene. This transgression caused the decline of wetlands towards the top of the column, as shown by the low rate of swamp inhabiting palynomorphs in the upper levels of the Agua Fresca Formation.

Oil- and gas-resource assessment in certain South American Basins—An application of ARDS (Ver. 5.0) to complex exploration and discovery histories

The modified Arps-Roberts Discovery Process Modeling System [ARDS (Ver. 4.01)] has recently been upgraded [ARDS (Ver. 5.0)] and applied to a wide variety of field discovery and wildcat drilling data with differing characteristics. ARDS is designed to forecast the number and sizes of undiscovered fields in an exploration play or basin by using historical drilling and discovery data. Fields used as input may be grown or ungrown. Two models for field growth—one offshore and the other onshore—have been implemented (Schuenemeyer and Drew, 1996). Uncertainty attributable to field growth is estimated via simulation. This upgrade of ARDS has been designed to handle situations when the data cannot be partitioned into homogeneous regions, but where estimation of the number of remaining oil and gas fields is still meaningful. In this upgrade of ARDS, many restrictions, which include those on the number of fields and wildcat wells required to forecast the size distribution of the oil and gas fields that remain to be discovered in an exploration play, a basin, or other target area, have been removed. In addition, flexibility has been gained by reforming the criteria for convergence of the model. In all, 32 basins and subbasins in South America were examined, 18 of which had sufficient data to be amenable to forecasting the field-size distribution of undiscovered oil and gas resources directly by using the Petroconsultants Inc. (1993) field discovery and wildcat drilling data. Overall, ARDS (Ver. 5.0) performed well in estimating the field-size distribution of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the 18 basins and subbasins. The aggregate volume of undiscovered petroleum resources was characterized by using histograms of the distribution of resources and the following five statistics: the mean, the 80% trimmed mean, and the 10,50 (median), and 90 quantiles. More than 38 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in fields that contain more than one million BOE individually were forecast as remaining to be discovered. The largest basin, the Campos (Brazil), is forecast to contain nearly 10 billion BOE undiscovered resources. The East Venezuela Basin (excluding the Furrial Trend) is forecast to contain about 8 billion BOE; the Austral-Magallanes Basin (Argentina and Chile), about 7 billion BOE; and the Napo (Colombia and Ecuador) and the Neuquen (Argentina) Basins, between 3 billion and 4 billion BOE. A subset of these basins that illustrate the increased flexibility of ARDS are discussed.