The hidden passive margins from the birth of SW Gondwana

Abstract

The final consolidation of southwestern Gondwana during the Ediacaran–Cambrian resulted in the formation of a large landmass originally surrounded by the newborn Panthalassic Ocean. The Río de la Plata Craton is one of the last pieces that complete the geotectonic puzzle along the austral part of this supercontinent. However, the sedimentary record corresponding to the interval between the consolidation of SW Gondwana until the initial deposition in a large Ordovician cratonic basin is apparently missing. In this context, the Ediacaran–Cambrian epiclastic shallow-marine ramp of the Cerro Negro Formation, the uppermost unit of La Providencia Group, Tandilia System, is envisaged as the first known stratigraphic record of the hidden pericratonic basins of Gondwana. Geochronological and provenance data, coupled with robust stratigraphic and sedimentologic background, support that this unit keeps more tectono-sedimentary affinity with the Ordovician Balcarce Formation than the Neoproterozoic Sierras Bayas Group. The presence of similar Neoproterozoic source areas for both units, the absence of any metamorphism and deformation related to the Brasiliano cycle, and shallow marine deposition strongly suggest that the paleogeography and physiography of the original southernmost continental platform of Gondwana were similar to the Ordovician ones. Thus, the Cerro Negro Formation appears as the missing link between the ultimate stages of the Brasiliano Orogenic Cycle and the final stabilization of the continental platform from the SW part of Gondwana.