Relationship Between Lithological and Morphometric Aspects of Mascasín Saline Watershed and Its Feeder Depositional Systems, San Juan and La Rioja Provinces, Argentina

Abstract

Understanding the relationships among watersheds and derived depositional products is critical to developing analog studies with the rock record, especially for continental intermontane basins. Also, it is crucial to study river flood occurrences. Multivariate statistics analysis allows for the comprehension of the relationship among substrate, climate, and depositional products of the watersheds that feed the endorheic Mascasin Saline Basin, San Juan and La Rioja provinces, Argentina. Using a GIS platform, geomorphological, stratigraphic, morphometric, and structural analysis gave a dataset of variables for defining clusters. Under a similar climate, clustering analysis permits defining two main controls on watersheds and depositional products: parent rock composition and geological structures (faults and lineaments). The results underscore the critical role that lithology and structural controls play in basin morphometry and emphasize the need to quantify these variables for landscape evolution models.