Collón Curá Formation
Stratigraphic range: Langhian-earliest Tortonian
(typically Colloncuran)
~
Area around the Comallo railway, with outcrops of this formation
TypeGeological formation
Sub-unitsTobaceo Las Bayas & Pilcaniyeú Ignimbrite Members
UnderliesCaleufú Formation & Chenqueniyeu Basalt (Neuquén Basin)
El Mirador, Río Negro Formation & alluvium (Cañadón Asfalto Basin)
OverliesCerro Bandera, Huitrera & Cerro Petiso Formations, crystalline basement (Neuquén Basin)
Ñirihuau, Lefipán & La Pava Formations (Cañadón Asfalto Basin)
ThicknessUp to 300 m (980 ft)
Lithology
PrimaryTuff, sandstone
OtherSiltstone, marl, limestone, calcareous concretions, pumice
Location
Coordinates40°00′S 70°48′W / 40.0°S 70.8°W / -40.0; -70.8
Approximate paleocoordinates40°36′N 66°24′W / 40.6°N 66.4°W / 40.6; -66.4
RegionNeuquén, Río Negro & Chubut Provinces
CountryArgentina
ExtentCañadón Asfalto & Neuquén Basins
Type section
Named forCollón Curá River & Estancia Collón Curá
Named byYrigoyen
LocationLácar Department
Year defined1969
Coordinates40°04′56.6″S 70°51′55.3″W / 40.082389°S 70.865361°W / -40.082389; -70.865361
RegionNeuquén Province
Country Argentina
Thickness at type section50 m (160 ft)

Outcrop locations of the Collón Curá Formation

The Collón Curá Formation (Spanish: Formación Collón Curá) is a Middle Miocene fossiliferous geological formation of the southern Neuquén Basin in northwestern Patagonia and the western Cañadón Asfalto Basin of central Patagonia, Argentina. The formation crops out from the southern Neuquén Province, the western Río Negro Province to the northern Chubut Province.

The formation, with a maximum thickness of 300 metres (980 ft), comprises tuffs and sandstones with minor siltstones, marls and limestones, deposited in a fluvial, deltaic and shallow to deep lacustrine environment in small basins separated by faults. The formation dates from the Langhian to earliest Tortonian epochs of the Middle to Late Miocene, typically Colloncuran.

The Collón Curá Formation is named after Estancia Collón Curá (1 on the map in the infobox) along the Collón Curá River (2), a tributary of the Limay River in the Río Negro watershed, and lends its name to the Colloncuran, one of the South American land mammal ages. The formation has provided many fossils of mammals, reptiles, among others the snake Waincophis australis, and the largest terror bird Kelenken guillermoi. The rodent Galileomys colloncurensis and the typothere Protypotherium colloncurensis were named after the formation.

Description

The strata of the Collón Curá Formation were first recognized by Roth in 1899, based on a 50 metres (160 ft) thick succession of grey tuffs in the valley of the Collón Curá River. In 1929, Groeber named the unit Colloncurense, separating the sediments from the older Santa Cruz Formation, that Roth had grouped in the same unit. Yrigoyen in 1969 formally defined the stratigraphic unit as Collón Curá Formation. The type section of the formation is on both sides on the Collón Curá River. The maximum recorded thickness in the Collón Curá river valley is 130 metres (430 ft).[1]

In the Chapelcó Range of the Neuquén Basin, the formation is unconformably overlain by the Caleufú Formation,[1] while basaltic lava flows[2] of the El Mirador Formation,[2] and Quaternary alluvium overly the Collón Curá Formation in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin.[2][3] In the Collón Curá valley, the formation covers Paleogene sediments of the Huitrera and Cerro Petiso Formations and in places overlying crystalline basement.[1] In other parts of the Neuquén Basin, the formation overlies the Early Miocene Cerro Bandera Formation or the Late Cretaceous Angostura Colorada Formation.[4][5] In the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, the Collón Curá Formation overlies the Ñirihuau Formation,[3] and in the area around the Chico River in the same basin, the formation overlies the La Pava Formation. In this location, the Collón Curá Formation is unconformably overlain by the Río Negro Formation.[6]

The oldest age for the formation has been given as 16.1 Ma,[7] and the top of the formation has been dated to 11 ± 1, and more precisely to 10.7 Ma.[1] 40Ar/39Ar analysis on amphibole crystals, collected from fresh pumice clasts, revealed an age of 14.86 ± 0.13 Ma for the middle section of the Collón Curá Formation in the Gastre Sub-basin of the Cañadón Asfalto Basin.[8] Earlier estimates based on K/Ar dating on biotite minerals of the Pilcaniyeú Ignimbrite Member were given as 15 Ma (1980) and 14.1 Ma (1990). Overall, the age of the formation ranges from Langhian to earliest Tortonian.[1]

Lithologies

In its type locality, the Collón Curá Formation is characterized by homogeneous greyish-yellow well-consolidated massive vitrocrystalline tuffs without visible sedimentary structures, but with calcareous concretions. The tuffaceous sediments contain pieces of white pumice with a vesicular character up to 2 millimetres (0.079 in) in size. The volcanic crystals in the tuff comprise andesine, hornblende and hypersthene in an argillaceous matrix. The concretions in the formation can reach up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in size and result from secondary diagenesis replacing the primary porosity of the sediments.[1]

Around the Río Chico in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, the formation is about 300 metres (980 ft) thick and comprises siltstones, sandstones, marls and limestones.[6]

Depositional environment

Significant drop in both temperatures after the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum

The formation was deposited in a fluvial and lacustrine environment dominated by pyroclastic flows in small basins, separated by faults.[9] The sub-Andean region of Argentina went through a phase of marine transgression during the Middle Miocene, approximately 15 to 13 Ma.[10] The Collón Curá Formation shows growth strata in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, indicating syn-tectonic deposition.[2] In this basin, the formation ranges from a shallow lacustrine setting in the basal section, a deep lacustrine system with deltaic facies in the middle and upper parts.[6] The Collón Curá Formation is correlated with the contemporaneous fluvial and lacustrine tuffaceous Chichinales Formation of the central Neuquén Basin.[11]

The Collón Curá Formation, together with the underlying Ñirihuau Formation in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, was deposited in a fragmented, possibly by pull-apart tectonic activity,[12] foreland basin setting.[3]

The climate in the early middle Miocene was hot, a period known as the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum. This thermal maximum was followed by a period of cooling, the Middle Miocene disruption, probably related to glacial growth and the reestablishment of the ice of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 are estimated to have dropped from about 300 to 140 ppm.[13]

Paleontological significance

The mammal fauna of the Collón Curá Formation led researchers to establish the Colloncuran age in the SALMA classification, ranging from 15.5 to 13.8 Ma. This age, used in South America as subdivision for the Cenozoic, follows on the Friasian age, defined from the Chilean Río Frías Formation of the Aysén Basin and precedes the Laventan age, named after the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte La Venta pertaining to the Honda Group of the Upper Magdalena Valley of central Colombia.

The rodent Galileomys colloncurensis, and the typothere Protypotherium colloncurensis were named after the formation.[14]

The fossil mammal assemblage of the Collón Curá Formation represents a fauna preceding the evolution of the Caviidae. The oldest true caviid, Prodolichotis pridiana is known from the Villavieja and La Victoria Formations of La Venta, Colombia. Sister taxa of these caviids first appeared in the Colloncuran; Guiomys unica and Microcardiodon williensis, found in the Collón Curá Formation.[15] In alternative classification proposed in 2012 by Pérez and Pol, Guiomys is considered an optional early caviid, pushing back the lineage to the Colloncuran.[16]

Fossil content

Astrapotheria

Name Species Notes Images
Astrapotherium An astrapotheriid

Typotheria

Name Species Notes Images
Hegetotherium[18]
  • H. sp.
Interatherium
Pachyrukhos[19]
  • P. sp.
Protypotherium A Typotherian

Primates

[24][25]

Name Species Notes Images
Cebidae
Proteropithecia

Rodents

[15][18][25]

Name Species Notes Images
Acarechimys
Alloiomys
Dasyproctidae
  • Dasyproctidae indet.[22]
Echimyidae
  • Echimyidae indet.[26]
Eocardiidae
  • Eocardiidae indet.[22]
Erethizontidae
  • Erethizontidae indet.[26]
Galileomys
Guiomys
Maruchito
Megastus
  • M. sp.
Microcardiodon
Neoreomys
Neosteiromys
Prolagostomus
Protacaremys
Stichomys
  • S. sp.

Sparassodonta

Name Species Notes Images
Arctodictis
  • cf. Arctodictis sp.
Cladosictis
Patagosmilus

Litopterna

Name Species Notes Images
Theosodon

Cingulata

[19][25]

Name Species Notes Images
Paraeucinepeltus
Peltephilidae
  • Peltephilidae gen. et sp. indet.[35]
Peltephilus
Proeutatus
  • P. sp.
Prozaedyus
  • P. sp.
Stenotatus
  • S. sp.
Stegotheriini
  • Stegotheriini indet.[26]

Pilosa

Name Species Notes Images
Megathericulus
?Neotamandua
'Xyophorus'

Paucituberculata

Name Species Notes Images
Abderites

Birds

Name Species Notes Images
Kelenken
Yarquen

Reptiles

[25][42]

Name Species Notes Images
Boinae
  • Boinae indet.
Chelonoidis
Lacertilia
  • Lacertilia indet.[26]
Waincophis

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Escosteguy, Leonardo; Franchi, Mario (May 2010). "Estratigrafía de la región de Chapelco, Provincia del Neuquén". Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina. 66 (3): 418–429. ISSN 0004-4822.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Echaurren, A.; Folguera, A.; Gianni, G.; Orts, D.; Tassara, A.; Encinas, A.; Giménez, M.; Valencia, V. (23 May 2016). "Tectonic evolution of the North Patagonian Andes (41°–44° S) through recognition of syntectonic strata". Tectonophysics. 677–678: 99–114. Bibcode:2016Tectp.677...99E. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2016.04.009.
  3. 1 2 3 Echaurren González, Andrés. 2017. Evolución tectónica del sistema orogénico Andino en la Patagonia norte (42-44° S) (PhD thesis), 1–170.Universidad de Buenos Aires.
  4. Geologic Map, 2007, p.112
  5. Prez, Horacio, and Gabriela Massaferro. 2013. Geología y geomorfología del tramo superior del Arroyo Comallo, Río Negro (PDF). Contribuciones Científicas GÆA 26. 221–234.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Río Chico Colloncuran at Fossilworks.org
  7. Di Pietro, Pablo Federico. 2016. Geología de la zona del Cerro Bayo, Bajo de Gastre, Provincia de Chubut (B.S. thesis) (PDF), 1–107.Universidad de Buenos Aires.
  8. 1 2 Estancia Collón Cura at Fossilworks.org
  9. Figari et al., 2015, p.154
  10. Náñez, Carolina; Malumián, Norberto; Náñez, Carolina; Malumián, Norberto (January 2019). "Foraminíferos miocenos en la cuenca Neuquina, Argentina: implicancias estratigráficas y paleoambientales". Andean Geology. 46 (1): 183–210. doi:10.5027/andgeov46n1-3142. ISSN 0718-7106. S2CID 133712846.
  11. Geologic Map, 2007, p.49
  12. Dalla, Luis; Franzese, Juan (1987). "Las megaestructuras del macizo y Cordillera Norpatagonica, Argentina y la genesis de las cuencas volcano-sedimentarias Terciarias". Andean Geology. 31: 3–13. doi:10.5027/andgeoV14n2-a01 (inactive 1 August 2023).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2023 (link)
  13. Pearson, Paul N.; Palmer, Martin R. (2000-08-17). "Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over the past 60 million years". Nature. 406 (6797): 695–699. Bibcode:2000Natur.406..695P. doi:10.1038/35021000. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 10963587. S2CID 205008176.
  14. Vera et al., 2017, p.855
  15. 1 2 Pérez & Pol, 2012, p.6
  16. Pérez & Pol, 2012, p.12
  17. Kramarz, Alejandro; Garrido, Alberto; Bond, Mariano (2019-07-17). "Astrapotherium from the Middle Miocene Collón Cura Formation and the Decline of Astrapotheres in Southern South America". Ameghiniana. 56 (4): 290. doi:10.5710/AMGH.15.07.2019.3258. ISSN 0002-7014. S2CID 199099778.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pilcaniyeu Viejo at Fossilworks.org
  19. 1 2 3 4 Bondesio, P.; J. Rabassa; R. Pascual; M.G. Vucetich, and G.J. Scillato Yané. 1980. La formación Collón-Curá de Pilcaniyeú Viejo y sus alrededores (Río Negro, República Argentina) su antiguedad y las condiciones ambientales según su distribución su litogenesis y sus vertebradosActas del Segundo Congreso Argentino de Paleontología y Bioestratigrafía y Primer Congreso Latinoamericano de Paleontología 3. 85–99.
  20. 1 2 Vera, Bárbara; Reguero, Marcelo; González Ruiz, Laureano (2017). "The Interatheriinae notoungulates from the middle Miocene Collón Curá Formation in Argentina". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 62. doi:10.4202/app.00373.2017. S2CID 55238561.
  21. Chico River at Fossilworks.org
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Cañadon del Tordillo at Fossilworks.org
  23. Collón Cura River at Fossilworks.org
  24. Silvestro, Daniele; Marcelo F. Tejedor; Martha L. Serrano Serrano; Oriane Loiseau; Victor Rossier; Jonathan Rolland; Alexander Zizka; Alexandre Antonelli, and Nicolas Salamin. 2017. Evolutionary history of New World monkeys revealed by molecular and fossil data. BioRxiv _. 1–32.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Pardiñas, Ulyses F. J. (1991). "Primer registro de primates y otros vertebrados para la Formacion Collón Curá (Mioceno medio) del Neuquén, Argentina (First record of primates and other vertebrates from the Collón Curá Formation (middle Miocene) of Neuquén, Argentina)". Ameghiniana (in Spanish). 28 (1–2): 197–199. ISSN 1851-8044.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Estancia Campionario at Fossilworks.org
  27. Kay, Richard F.; Johnson, Derek; Meldrum, D. Jeffrey (1998). "A new Pitheciin primate from the middle Miocene of Argentina". American Journal of Primatology. 45 (4): 317–336. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-2345(1998)45:4<317::AID-AJP1>3.0.CO;2-Z. ISSN 0275-2565. PMID 9702279. S2CID 22214720.
  28. Vucetich, María Guiomar; Kramarz, Alejandro G. (2003-06-17). "New Miocene rodents from Patagonia (Argentina) and their bearing on the early radiation of the octodontoids (Hystricognathi)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 23 (2): 435–444. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2003)023[0435:NMRFPA]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 85705842.
  29. Pérez, María E. (2010-12-02). "A new rodent (Cavioidea, Hystricognathi) from the middle Miocene of Patagonia, mandibular homologies, and the origin of the crown group Cavioidea sensu stricto". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 30 (6): 1848–1859. Bibcode:2010JVPal..30.1848P. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.522432. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 85794590.
  30. 1 2 3 RCH 018S at Fossilworks.org
  31. Pérez, María Encarnación; Vucetich, María Guiomar (January 2011). "A New Extinct Genus of Cavioidea (Rodentia, Hystricognathi) from the Miocene of Patagonia (Argentina) and the Evolution of Cavioid Mandibular Morphology". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 18 (3): 163–183. doi:10.1007/s10914-011-9154-1. hdl:11336/152907. ISSN 1064-7554. S2CID 2362797.
  32. Echarri, Sebastian; Ulloa-Guaiquin, Karen S.; Aguirrezabala, Guillermo; Forasiepi, Analia M. (2021-10-31). "Cladosictis patagonica (Metatheria, Sparassodonta) from the Collón Cura Formation (Middle Miocene), Río Negro, Argentina". Ameghiniana. 58 (6). doi:10.5710/AMGH.06.08.2021.3439. hdl:11336/171288. ISSN 0002-7014. S2CID 240529252.
  33. Forasiepi, Analía M.; Carlini, Alfredo A. (2010-12-31). "A new thylacosmilid (Mammalia, Metatheria, Sparassodonta) from the Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina". Zootaxa. 2552: 55–68. doi:10.5281/ZENODO.196838.
  34. González Ruiz, Laureano Raúl; Alfredo Eduardo Zurita; Gustavo Juan Scillato Yané; Martín Zamorano, and Marcelo Fabián Tejedor. 2011. Un nuevo Glyptodontidae (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Cingulata) del Mioceno de Patagonia (Argentina) y comentarios acerca de la sistemática de los gliptodontes "friasenses". Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas 28. 566–579.
  35. 1 2 3 González-Ruiz, Laureano Raúl; Góis, Flávio; Ciancio, Martin Ricardo; Scillato-Yané, Gustavo Juan (2013-08-30). "Los Peltephilidae (Mammalia, Xenarthra) de la Formación Collón Curá (Colloncurense, Mioceno médio), Argentina". Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 16 (2): 319–330. doi:10.4072/rbp.2013.2.12.
  36. Brandoni, Diego; Ruiz, Laureano González; Bucher, Joaquín (2020-09-01). "Evolutive Implications of Megathericulus patagonicus (Xenarthra, Megatheriinae) from the Miocene of Patagonia Argentina". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 27 (3): 445–460. doi:10.1007/s10914-019-09469-6. ISSN 1573-7055. S2CID 254695811.
  37. 1 2 3 Comallo at Fossilworks.org
  38. Brandoni, Diego; González Ruiz, Laureano; Reato, Agustina; Martin, Gabriel (2019-08-09). "Chronological implications of the nothrotheriid ' Xyophorus ' (Mammalia, Xenarthra) from the Collón Curá Formation (Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina)". Historical Biology. 31 (7): 879–887. doi:10.1080/08912963.2017.1398748. ISSN 0891-2963. S2CID 135166637.
  39. Abello, María Alejandra; Rubilar Rogers, David (2012). "Revisión del género Abderites Ameghino, 1887 (Marsupialia, Paucituberculata)". Ameghiniana. 49 (2): 164–184. doi:10.5710/AMGH.v49i2(408). S2CID 86264583.
  40. Bertelli, Sara; Chiappe, Luis M.; Tambussi, Claudia (2007-06-12). "A new phorusrhacid (Aves: Cariamae) from the middle Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (2): 409–419. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[409:ANPACF]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 85693135.
  41. Tambussi, Claudia P.; Degrange, Federico J.; González Ruiz, Laureano (2023-03-06). "An extinct owl (aves: strigidae) from the middle miocene of Patagonia". Historical Biology: 1–6. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2180738. ISSN 0891-2963. S2CID 257392373.
  42. Albino, Adriana M. (1996-04-24). "Snakes from the Miocene of Patagonia (Argentina) Part I: The Booidea". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 199 (3): 417–434. doi:10.1127/njgpa/199/1996/417. ISSN 0077-7749.
  43. Oriozabala, Carolina; Sterli, Juliana; Ruiz, Laureano GonzáLez (2017-05-21). "Morphology of the Mid-Sized Tortoises (Testudines: Testudinidae) from the Middle Miocene of Northwestern Chubut (Argentina)". Ameghiniana. 55 (1): 30. doi:10.5710/AMGH.18.05.2017.3078. ISSN 0002-7014. S2CID 134235447.

Bibliography

Geologic map
  • Rodríguez, María F.; Héctor A. Leanza, and Matías Salvarredy Aranguren. 2007. Hoja Geológica 3969-II, NEUQUÉN, provincias del Neuquén, Río Negro y La Pampa 1:250,000, 1–165. Instituto de Geología y Recursos Minerales. Accessed 2019-02-23.
Geology
Paleontology
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