Late Cretaceous (Campanian/Maastrichtian) freshwater to restricted marine mollusc fauna from the Loncoche Formation, Neuquén Basin, west-central Argentina

Abstract

This study is the first detailed account of freshwater to restricted marine molluscs from the Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks in the northern sector of the Neuquén Basin. The fossils are from the Campanian–Maastrichtian Loncoche Formation in southern Mendoza, west-central Argentina, which records the initial connection of the Neuquén Basin to the Atlantic Ocean. Six species of bivalves (Diplodon bodenbenderi, Pleiodon? sp., Isognomon? mechanquilensis, Mactridae? indet., Panopea? sp., and Laternula sp.) and three of gastropods (Paleoanculosa macrochilinoides, Paleoanculosa ameghiniana, and a possible cerithioidean) are described. Specimens were collected from fine to coarse sandstones, which may be massive or with planar stratification, planar-cross stratification or trough-cross stratification, and a few from bioclastic limestones and mudstones. Although the sections are from 50 to 300 m thick, the specimens are found only in the lower 120 m. Molluscs represent autochthonous/parautochthonous assemblages composed of mostly non-broken gastropods and articulated bivalve specimens, some of which show signs of postmortem transport; however, they were not removed far from their original habitat. Review of the habitats of living genera supports the inference of dominantly freshwater palaeoenvironments in the lower and middle part of the Loncoche Formation, with restricted marine influence in the southernmost localities studied where there are a few samples that contain specimens belonging to predominantly marine groups (e.g., Laternula, Panopea).