Pilmatue Member Research Articles

Non-depositional and erosional “offshore” bioeroded hardgrounds from the Lower Cretaceous of the Neuquén Basin, Argentina: Insights into their sequence-stratigraphic implications and controls

Abstract Hardgrounds are important surfaces for basin analysis and oil exploration, representing in some cases significant markers of the sedimentary basin fill. In the Neuquen Basin, bioerosion structures are common on the shell surfaces of benthic organisms, but bioeroded hardgrounds are comparatively uncommon. In the Pilmatue Member of the Lower Cretaceous Agrio Formation (Valanginian-Hauterivian) two examples of bioeroded hardgrounds are described in detail, allowing to recognize contrasting palaeoenvironmental and sequence-stratigraphic contexts, and in turn, discussing the potential major controlling factors in each example. In both cases Trypanites isp. and Gastrochaenolites isp. are described, interpreted as belonging to a Trypanites ichnofacies. The two cases are developed in different environmental conditions: one in non-depositional offshore conditions at the top of a parasequence (i.e., transgressive surface); and the other in offshore erosional settings with the omission surface located in an intra-parasequence position, with no obvious sequence-stratigraphic connotation. These marked differences in the palaeonvironmental conditions (non-depositional vs erosive) and sequence-stratigraphic context (inter vs intra-parasequence occurrence) interpreted for these example allowed us to propose different controlling factors related to the generation of the hardgrounds. Despite these differences, namely long periods of non deposition and low-energy conditions vs shorter time and high-energy (erosive) conditions, in both cases a Trypanites ichnofacies is developed, representing an important aspect to be considered in the characterization of the basin evolution based on omission surfaces.

Redescription ofPleurotomaria gerthiWeaver, 1931 (Gastropoda, Vetigastropoda), from the Early Cretaceous of Argentina: New Data on Its Age, Associated Palaeoenvironments and Palaeobiogeographic Affinities

Abstract Pleurotomaria gerthi Weaver, 1931 (Gastropoda, Vetigastropoda) from the Pilmatue Member of the Agrio Formation is redescribed and reillustrated on the basis of 38 newly collected specimens from nine localities in Neuquen Province, Argentina, including its type locality. The holotype housed in the C.E. Weaver collection is also refigured. Pleurotomaria gerthi-bearing levels, dated using a detailed ammonoid zonation, are late Valanginian—early Hauterivian. Taphonomic and sedimentological data gathered at three of the nine studied sections indicate that P. gerthi dwelled in shallow marine settings above the storm-weather wave-base. Associated palaeoenvironments are interpreted as inner shelf and inner carbonate ramp settings deposited under the influence storm currents and waves. The species lived on well-oxygenated soft sandy and patchy bioclastic substrates in normal marine warm-temperate waters within the photic zone, associated with a high-diversity macrofossil assemblage. Our study shows that i...

Ontogeny and autecology of an Early Cretaceous trigoniide bivalve from Neuquén Basin, Argentina

Understanding ontogenetic variation is fundamental for adequate species definition and is the key for recognizing evolutionary relevant processes like heterochrony or developmental constraints. The larval and post-larval shell ontogeny and the ecology of the trigoniide bivalve Myophorella garatei are described in this paper. The species occurs in offshore transition facies of the late Valanginian Pilmatue Member of the Agrio Formation in the Neuquen Basin, Argentina. The larval shell has a rather small prodissoconch I; and if prodissoconch II is present, it is rather weakly developed. From these data, a larval stage of low dispersal capability is inferred for Myophorella garatei, either short-lived planktotrophic or nonplanktotrophic. The study of post-larval development included general shell shape and ornamentation. To assess general shell shape a geometric morphometric analysis was performed on the lateral view, together with a study of allometry for the shell width. As a result, two main allometric st...

Organic facies variations in the Valanginian-mid-Hauterivian interval of the Agrio Formation (Chos Malal Area, Neuquén, Argentina): local significance and global context

Abstract Marine shales and marls of the Valanginian-Hauterivian Agrio Formation have been studied at five localities in order to assess lateral variations over a 100 km S-N, shelf to basin transition. The two main organic-rich intervals at the base of the Pilmatue Member (Valanginian) and the base of Agua de la Mula Member (late early Hauterivian) have been characterized using a combination of bulk organic chemistry and palynofacies. Except for the former at the southern end of the transect, both intervals have mean total organic carbon (TOC) contents of 2–3% and are dominated by marine amorphous organic matter, suggesting a similar dysoxic genetic organic facies. The mean hydrogen indices determined from the slope of S2 v. TOC are 174 in the Pilmatue Member, but 387 in the basal part of the Agua de la Mula Member, a difference that mainly reflects the range in thermal maturity (late v. early oil window, respectively). Significant lateral variation occurs in the Pilmatue Member, with dark organic-rich intervals being rare in the south but dominant at the northern (distal) end of the transect; this trend is matched by a progressive increase in the peak or mean carbonate-free TOC and hydrogen indices, the latter reaching 6% and 297, respectively, near Estancia Pampa Tril. The bulk of the Agua de la Mula Member in the south is developed in organic-poor oxic facies, with a predominance of terrestrial phytoclasts and type IV kerogen, but dysoxic-anoxic conditions apparently predominate in the northern area. Valanginian-Hauterivian black shale facies appear generally rare on a global basis, but their occurrence can be related to the combination of the progressive rise in sea level during the Early Cretaceous and locally more restricted conditions.