VOLUMEN ESPECIAL

The Austral-Magallanes basin (southern Patagonia): a synthesis of its stratigraphy and evolution

 

José I. Cuitiño^1*, Augusto N. Varela^2,3, Matías C. Ghiglione⁴, Sebastian Richiano¹, Daniel G. Poiré^5,6

¹ Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología (CCT CONICET-CENPAT). Boulevard Brown 2915 (9120), Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina.
² Y-TEC S.A, Av. del Petróleo s/n (1923), Berisso, Argentina and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas CONICET, Argentina.
³ Cátedra de Micromorfología de Suelos, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 122 y 60 s/n, (1900) La Plata, Argentina.
⁴ Instituto de Estudios Andinos-CONICET, Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁵ Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas (CIG- CONICET – UNLP). Diagonal 113 275 (B1904DPK) La Plata, Argentina.
⁶ Cátedra de Rocas Sedimentarias, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 122 y 60 s/n, (1900) La Plata, Argentina. * jcuitino@cenpat-conicet.gob.ar

Received December 6, 2019
Accepted December 9, 2019
Available online December 9, 2019

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ABSTRACT

The Austral-Magallanes is an oil-producing basin located in southern Argentina and Chile, containing a siliciclastic stratigraphic record ranging from the Late Jurassic to late Cenozoic. This short paper finalize the two special volumes of the Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis dedicated to the basin, and aims to provide a comprehensive synthesis based on the current knowledge about the chronology of deposition, stratigraphy, and tectonic events that shaped this basin. During the breakup of Gondwana in the Jurassic, an extensional phase was responsible for the beginning of accumulation of volcaniclastic material within grabens, which subsequently were covered by widespread Lower Cretaceous shallow and deep marine deposits that conforms the main hydrocarbon system. From Late Cretaceous onward, the subduction-related compressive regime associated to Andean uplift and fold and thrust belt migration was responsible for the onset of the foreland stage. During the Late Cretaceous, the foredeep zone accumulated a thick pile of deep marine deposits that graded upward to shallow marine and terrestrial deposits. During the Cenozoic, the foredeep was less marked and shallow marine and terrestrial sediments accumulated in wide areas, punctuated by important unconformities associated to foreland uplift. Future developments should focus on: i) improving the age-controlled stratigraphy; ii) joining the information provided by subsurface and outcrop studies; and iii) developing source to sink models to address the Andean impact in the sedimentation of the basin.

Keywords: Basin History; Stratigraphic Synthesis; Tectono-stratigraphy; Sedimentology.

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WHY THIS WORK?

The Austral-Magallanes Basin is the southernmost basin of South America, comprising the southern region of Patagonia in Argentina and Chile and part of the Tierra del Fuego Island. It includes geographic regions such as the Southern Patagonian and Fuegian Andes, the Patagonian steppe and the continental shelf. This basin is of major relevance for scientific and industrial research, especially because it has a superb record of paleoenvironmental, paleontological, climatic, paleogeographic, and tectonic events, and constitutes one of the main oil-basins in Argentina both on-shore and off-shore (Biddle et al., 1986; Robbiano et al., 1996). This basin was deeply studied till 1980’s mainly by the YPF (the Argentine national oil company) geological team (e.g. Feruglio, 1949; Russo and Flores, 1972; Arbe, 1989 and references therein), but after that, there was a nearly twenty years-gap with few contributions about this region. Despite the importance of this basin, the level of knowledge remains under evolution. During the last 20 years several important advances regarding its stratigraphy and evolution were made, mainly triggered by several PhD thesis and the conformation of research teams specialized on the Austral-Magallanes Basin (mainly from La Plata, Buenos Aires and Stanford universities).
The aim of this contribution is to provide a comprehensive synthesis based on the current knowledge about the chronology of deposition, stratigraphy and tectonic events that characterize the Austral-Magallanes Basin. We focus on the stratigraphic arrangement for the foredeep region between the Lago San Martín in the north (Santa Cruz province, Argentina), to the Última Esperanza Region (Chile) in the south. In addition, we summarize and contextualize into a regional stratigraphic framework the new contributions provided in two special issues of the Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis (25.2 and 26.2), which have been dedicated to specific aspects of the basin. These new research papers comprise different approaches, including detailed stratigraphic and facies analyses of shallow marine, deltaic and fluvial systems (Moyano Paz et al., 2018; Parras and Cuitiño, 2018; Tettamanti et al., 2018; Odino Barreto et al., 2018), paleopedology (Raigemborn et al., 2018), tectonostratigraphy (Aramendía et al., 2019), biostratigraphy (González Estebenet et al., 2019) and tectonic evolution (Gallardo Jara et al., 2019). Finally, we aim to highlight some future challenges for scientific research in this basin.

THE AUSTRAL-MAGALLANES BASIN

The stratigraphic evolution of the Austral- Magallanes Basin, developed between the Late Jurassic and the Cenozoic, was strongly related to the tectonic forces that acted along the western boundary of the South American Plate, including an initial extensional stage followed by a compressional stage. The basin is limited by the Andes to the west and south, the Deseado Massif to the northeast, and the Río Chico-Dungeness High and Malvinas Basin to the east (Fig. 1). Three tectono-sedimentary stages of infilling are defined for this basin, each with a particular stratigraphic record, including: i) a Late Jurassic rift stage; ii) an Early Cretaceous thermal subsidence stage; iii) an Aptian – Miocene foreland stage.

Figure 1. General map of the Austral-Magallanes Basin at Southern Patagonia. a) Location of the basin at the southernmost region of Argentina and Chile. b) Location of the study areas (color boxes) of the works form the special volumes dedicated to the Austral-Magallanes Basin. 1: Aramendía et al. (2019); 2: Moyano Paz et al. (2018); 3: Tettamanti et al. (2018); 4: Odino Barreto et al. (2018); 5: Parras and Cuitiño (2018); 6: Raigemborn et al. (2018); 7: Gallardo Jara et al. (2019). Blue stars correspond to localities included in the work of González Estebenet et al. (2019). LBA: Lago Buenos Aires; LP: Lago Pueyrredon/Posadas; LSM: Lago San Martín; LV: Lago Viedma; LA: Lago Argentino.

Tectono-stratigraphic stages
The development of the Austral-Magallanes Basin is strongly tied to the geodynamic evolution of the curved southernmost Andes, were the N-S oriented Southern Patagonian Andes, turns towards the Fuegian Andes trending W-E (Fig. 1). The basin developed in the concave side of the curvature, while the hinge sector contains the thickest depocenter (Diraison et al., 2000).
After late Paleozoic-Triassic cratonic accretion and basement consolidation (Giacosa et al., 2012; Hervé et al., 2008), a Jurassic extensional event established the basic configuration (or substratum) of the Austral-Magallanes Basin, which deeply affected the ensuing Cretaceous-Cenozoic tectonic and sedimentary stages. During extension related to the last stages of Gondwana break-up, the back-arc oceanic Rocas Verdes Basin opened along the continent margin (Calderón et al., 2016), while a regional system of N-S to NE-SW oriented grabens with synrift infill of continental and volcanic sequences affected the whole Austral-Magallanes Basin at the continental scale (Uliana et al., 1989). Overall ocean opening along the Rocas Verdes Basin increased from north to south; strong continental crustal stretching affected particularly the Última Esperanza depocenter to the south of Lago Argentino (Fig. 1) (Dalziel, 1981; Arbe and Hechem 1984; Biddle et al., 1986; Wilson 1991; Calderón et al., 2007).
Due to the increased spreading rates in the South Atlantic Ocean, coupled with elevated convergence and subduction on the western margin of South America at ~100 Ma, a compressional uplift pulse advanced from north to south along the Patagonian Andes (Fildani et al., 2003; Fosdick et al., 2011; Varela et al., 2012a; Ghiglione et al., 2015; Malkowski et al., 2016, 2017b). During the Late Cretaceous, the progressive N to S closure of the Rocas Verdes Basin produced a diachronic uplift of the cordillera, in parallel to the onset of the foreland basin in the same direction. As a consequence, the northwestern region of the Austral-Magallanes basin underwent an early onset of foreland sedimentation during the Aptian- Albian (Aramendía et al., 2018), while first sandy turbidites related to Andean uplift appeared in the Cenomanian in the Última Esperanza depocenter (Wilson, 1991; Fildani et al., 2003; Fosdick et al., 2011; Varela et al., 2012a), and reached the eastern tip of Tierra del Fuego in the Campanian (Olivero and Malumián, 2008). As a consequence, a particular N-S deep axial depocenter developed in the Late Cretaceous foreland, with an uplifted northern realm sourcing sediments toward the southern deep-marine basin, heritage of the Jurassic stretching.
The Cenozoic was a time of pulsatory sedimentation, during which migration of the foreland basin system occurred from west to east in Patagonia and from south to north in Tierra del Fuego, following the continuous advance of the curved fold and thrust belt. While the Patagonian Andes suffered episodes of oceanic ridge collision and periods of oblique subduction, the Fuegian Andes were influenced by stretching and strike-slip kinematic in the context of the Drake Passage and Scotia Sea opening. The Miocene uplift and cratonward advance of deformation produced a change from initial marine sedimentation (Patagonian transgression) towards the continental Santa Cruz orogenic wedge (Fosdick et al., 2011; Cuitiño et al., 2012; Parras and Cuitiño 2018; Aramendía et al., 2019), representing the last stages of foreland sedimentation. Due to uplifting of the foreland, most of the basin became inactive after ~14-12 Ma, while sediment bypassed towards the offshore basin (Baristeas et al., 2013; Ghiglione et al., 2016; Sachse et al., 2016).

The beginning: rifting during the breakup of Gondwana
The rift stage of sedimentation in the Austral- Magallanes Basin (called Austral Basin) occurred during the uppermost Jurassic and the end of the Early Cretaceous. This extensional phase corresponds to the El Quemado Complex (equivalent to the Tobífera Formation; Fig. 2) syn-rift sequence (Féraud et al., 1999; Pankhurst et al., 2000, Poiré and Franzese, 2010). This complex, which presents a variable thickness between 100 and more than 1000 m, is mainly composed of volcano-sedimentary sequences, in which felsic ignimbrites dominate (Riccardi, 1971; Ramos et al., 1982; Kraemer and Riccardi, 1997). On top of the El Quemado Complex is the Springhill Formation, representing the initial transgressive infill on the previously formed grabens and half-grabens (Biddle et al., 1986; Arbe and Fernández Bell Fano, 2002; Schwarz et al., 2011; Richiano et al., 2016; and references therein). This unit was firstly defined in subsurface studies and represents the most important conventional reservoir in the Austral Basin (Thomas, 1949 a, b; Spalletti et al., 2006; Schwarz et al., 2011, among others). Studies related to sedimentological and palaeontological aspects of the outcrops of this unit are scarce (Riccardi, 1971; Kielbowicz et al., 1983; Arbe, 1986, 2002; Richiano et al., 2016). In general terms, the Springhill Formation was traditionally divided into a lower continental interval and an upper marine interval by Cecioni (1955), starting with coal and coaly shales to mainly sandstone bodies, interpreted as having developed in a coastal-plain to lagoonal palaeoenvironments, transgressed by a succession of estuarine and open-marine siliciclastic deposits (Biddle et al., 1986; Arbe and Fernández Bell Fano, 2002; Schwarz et al., 2011; Richiano et al., 2016).

Figure 2. Chronostratigraphic chart of the north-central Austral-Magallanes Basin, showing the units from south to north and northwest to southeast in each evolutionary stages of the basin: Synrift; Sag; Cretaceous and Cenozoic foreland.

The transgression represented by the Springhill Formation continues causing the deposition of the marine black shales of the Río Mayer Formation (Fig. 2) (Berriasian-Albian) (Arbe, 2002; Richiano et al., 2012). This unit, interpreted as the sag (thermal) phase of the rifting process, presents a thickness of up to 1000 m in the Lago Argentino region and can be subdivided into three informal sections (Richiano et al., 2012). The lower section is dominated by laminated black shales interbedded with marl levels accumulated in an outer shelf setting (Richiano et al., 2012), showing the highest Total Organic Carbon (TOC) content (up to 2.81%, Richiano, 2014; Richiano et al., 2015). The middle section is composed of intensely bioturbated dark marls and shales, with a well-preserved and highly evolved Zoophycos ichnofacies (Richiano et al., 2013; Richiano, 2015). The upper section is composed of massive black shales intercalated with very fine- to fine-grained sandstones, interpreted as an outer shelf with distal low-density turbidity current deposits (Richiano et al., 2012). The frequent intercalation of sandstones in the uppermost part of the section is related to the distal influence of deltaic deposition whose lithologic expression at the basin margins to the north is the Piedra Clavada Formation (Richiano et al., 2012; 2015). Recently, the geochemistry of the Río Mayer Formation was compared to the Rocas Verdes Basin units, showing no relation with the contemporaneous Zapata Formation, suggesting a compartmentalization between these two depocenters at least during the entire Lower Cretaceous (Richiano et al., 2019).
The Piedra Clavada Formation constitutes the final stage of postrift where deltaic systems prograded south-southwestward during a Highstand Systems Tract. It is 306 m thick and it is composed of bioturbated and fossiliferous yellowish sandstones, interbedded with dark mudstone and heterolithic facies, occasionally with some conglomerate and coquina levels (Poiré and Franzese, 2010). Sedimentologic and paleontological studies suggest an open deltaic depositional environment that changes upward, after a marked omission surface, to restricted coastal marine deposits (Poiré, et al., 2002, 2017; Passalia et al., 2019). Palynologic studies for the upper part of the Piedra Clavada Formation point to an Albian age (Archangelsky et al., 2008), while an U-Pb age of this unit, taken from zircons of two tuffs levels from the upper part, ranges around 100- 101 Ma (latest Albian) (Poiré et al., 2017).

Late Cretaceous Foreland Basin: the first stage of Andean growth
During the beginning of the foreland stage at about the Albian-Cenomanian boundary (~100 Ma; Fig. 2), the northern Austral-Magallanes Basin was compartmentalized into two main depocenters: 1) the main foredeep depocenter with a central axis oriented N-S from El Chaltén (Argentina) to Última Esperanza Region (Chile); and 2) the southwest-northeast oriented Cardiel-Tres Lagos depocenter (Varela et al., 2019), both separated by the Piedra Clavada High (Varela et al., 2019).
The foredeep main depocenter shows a regressive pattern and a clear subsidence asymmetry along the north-south axis. It grades from a deep-marine setting (underfilled) in the south, to a continental setting (overfilled) in the north, due to the differences in the flexural rigidity of the crust product of the predecessor basin history (Biddle et al., 1986; Romans et al., 2010; Sickmann et al., 2018). From south to north, the onset of the foreland stage was recorded in the foredeep main depocenter by i) deep-marine deposits of the Punta Barrosa Formation (Fildani et al., 2003, 2009; Malkowski et al., 2017a,b; Daniels et al., 2019), accumulated in largely unconfined submarine fan systems until the Turonian (∼90 My); ii) shallow marine deposits of the Lago Viedma Formation (Malkowski et al., 2016, 2017a, b) and, iii) estuarine-continental deposits of the Puesto El Moro Formation (Fig. 2) (Varela et al., 2019). The Punta Barrosa Formation is correlated with the subsurface Arroyo Alfa and Middle Inoceramus formations in Tierra del Fuego (González Estebenet et al., 2019).
Towards the east of the foredeep, the onset of the foreland stage in the Cardiel-Tres Lagos depocenter corresponds to the estuarine-continental deposits of the Mata Amarilla Formation (Varela et al., 2011; 2012a; 2012b; 2013; 2015; 2016; 2018; 2019) and to a lesser extent to the La Anita Formation (Fig. 2).
The progress of Andean convergence and the development of the Patagonian fold and thrust belt resulted in eastward migration of the foredeep, as well as narrowing and deepening of the basin depocenter (Fosdick et al., 2011; Romans et al., 2011). The depositional response to this change is reflected by the thick turbiditic deposits of the Cerro Toro Formation in Chile and Argentina, accumulated during the Coniacian up to Campanian (Fig. 2) (Cecioni, 1957; Arbe and Hechem, 1984; Hubbard et al., 2008; Romans et al., 2011; Ghiglione et al., 2014; Malkowski et al., 2018). During the middle to late Campanian, deposition in the southern part of the foredeep depocenter is recorded in the subsurface as the Cabeza de León and Upper Inoceramus formations (González Estebenet et al., 2019). Towards the north, synchronous deposition is documented by the sandstone and siltstone deposits associated with north-to-south prograding deep-water slope clinoform systems preserved in the Tres Pasos and Alta Vista formations in Chile and Argentina, respectively (Macellari et al., 1989; Shultz and Hubbard, 2005; Hubbard et al., 2010; Ghiglione et al., 2014; Sickmann et al., 2018). These deep-water units are genetically related with Campanian to Maastrichtian shelf, marginal marine, and deltaic deposits of the Dorotea Formation in Chile (Covault et al., 2009; Schwartz and Graham, 2015; Gutiérrez et al., 2017), as well as with the lower unit of the La Anita Formation in Argentina (Manassero, 1988; Macellari et al., 1989; Moyano Paz et al., 2018). The uppermost Campanian to Maastrichtian interval is recorded in the Lago Argentino region by the upper unit of the La Anita Formation and by the fluvial deposits grouped in the Upper Cretaceous Continental Deposits (UCCD) which includes the Cerro Fortaleza, La Irene and Chorrillo formations in Argentina (Moyano Paz et al., 2018; Tettamanti et al., 2018; Sickmann et al., 2018, 2019). Finally, Maastricthian deposits of the Calafate Formation representing a new transgressive event are well exposed at the south margin of Lago Argentino (Odino Barreto et al., 2018). These Campanian- Maastrichtian units are interpreted to record the final phase of Cretaceous infilling which onlap the entire Austral-Magallanes Basin integrating all depocenters (Hubbard et al., 2010; Romans et al., 2011; Moyano Paz et al., 2018). The Late Cretaceous sedimentation is interrupted by a regional unconformity over which the Cenozoic sedimentation stage begins (Fosdick et al., 2015; George et al., 2019; among others).

Cenozoic Foreland Basin: the influence of the modern Andes
The Cenozoic sedimentary record of the central-northern Austral-Magallanes Basin is marked by unconformities as well as thick successions of shallow marine to terrestrial clastic deposits, which are intimately associated to the tectonic evolution of the adjacent Southern Patagonian Andes (e.g. Fosdick et al., 2011). Most of the stratigraphic and sedimentologic knowledge for this period is based on observations on the western outcrops of the fold and thrust belt along the foothills of the Andes, from Lago Buenos Aires in the north, to the Río Turbio-Última Esperanza Region in the south (Fig. 1). Although not the focus of this paper, the Tierra del Fuego Cenozoic record shows a remarkable different stratigraphic arrangement, being dominated by deep marine deposits (e.g. Ponce et al., 2008).
The Cenozoic history of the Austral-Magallanes Basin begins with an important hiatus known as the “Paleocene unconformity” (Fig. 2), a non-depositional/erosional event recognized at the top of the Maastrichtian-early Paleocene shallow marine/ deltaic deposits of the Calafate (Marenssi et al., 2004; Odino Barreto et al., 2018) and Dorotea (Schwartz and Graham, 2015) formations. This unconformity comprises a time lapse of at least 20 my (Fosdick et al., 2015; Gutiérrez et al., 2017; George et al., 2019). Towards the northern part of the basin, this Paleogene gap is more evident since nearly no Paleogene clastic deposits are recognized. In this northern region, the Eocene Posadas Basalt is widespread, intercalated between the Aptian Río Tarde Formation (Ghiglione et al., 2015) and the Miocene El Chacay Formation (Cuitiño et al., 2015) (Fig. 2). In restricted areas of the northern part, thin Eocene fluvial coal-bearing deposits of the Ligorio Márquez (Encinas et al., 2018) and Río Lista (Escosteguy et al., 2017) formations are present.
The Paleocene unconformity is covered by shallow marine to estuarine deposits of the mid- Eocene Man Aike Formation (Casadío et al., 2009; Gutiérrez et al., 2017), interpreted to represent the infill of incised valleys (Marenssi et al., 2002). Towards the Última Esperanza region (i.e. closer to the basin depocenter), the Paleogene sedimentary record is represented by either the Eocene Man Aike Formation (Gutierrez et al., 2017), and the equivalent shallow marine to fluvial coal bearing Río Turbio Formation (Fig. 2) (Malumián et al., 2000; Pearson et al., 2012). The Río Turbio Formation is up to 600 m thick (Malumián et al., 2000) and its upper part yielded a zircon MDA of 28 My (Fosdick et al., 2015).
Above the Río Turbio/Man Aike deposits is a 400 m-thick succession of fluvial conglomerates, sandstones and mudstones rich in plant remains, represented by the Río Guillermo and Río Leona formations (Malumián et al., 2000; Marenssi et al., 2005; Panti, 2011). These fluvial deposits wedge-out towards the northern part of the basin. Their age was estimated as Eocene or Oligocene (Malumián et al., 2000), however a maximum zircon depositional age of 32.8 My (Gutierrez et al., 2017) was obtained for the base of the Río Leona Formation, whereas a tuff at the base of the Río Guillermo Formation is dated at 21.7 My (Fosdick et al., 2011). In Addition, based on fossil leaves analysis, Panti (2011) suggested ages younger than previously thought. These new age assignments imply that most of the post-Río Turbio sedimentary record was accumulated during the Neogene, and that there exists other stratigraphic gaps in the Paleogene. Additional work on geochronology and physical stratigraphy of the Río Turbio region is needed in order to solve this issue.
In contrast to the Paleogene, the Neogene stratigraphic record of the Austral-Magallanes Basin is widespread, laterally and vertically continuous, and shows an elevated amount of fine-grained pyroclastic sediments. Additionally, the chronology of its accumulation is relatively well constrained. Two main depositional units are defined: the early Miocene shallow marine deposits assigned to the Patagoniense transgression; and the early-mid Miocene terrestrial deposits of the Santa Cruz Formation and equivalent units (Fig. 2). The former represents one of the largest transgressions occurred in Patagonia, and in the Austral-Magallanes Basin is represented by several lithostratigraphic units deposited in shallow marine, estuarine and deltaic sedimentation (Cuitiño and Scasso, 2010; Cuitiño et al., 2015; Parras and Cuitiño, 2018). These shallow marine deposits grade upward to fluvial deposits that represent a huge fluvial system comprising nearly the entire basin, which drained from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean. It is mostly composed of fine-grained, flood-plain dominated deposits with poorly developed paleosols (Raigemborn et al., 2018; Cuitiño et al., 2019). Particularly in the Andean foothills, these deposits form a 1000 m thick coarsening upward succession which is thought to be the consequence of the progressive Miocene Andean uplift and eastward migration of the deformation front (Aramendía et al., 2019).
The Miocene succession is truncated by a regional erosional surface that separate from the late Miocene-Quaternary terrace conglomerates, informally known as the Rodados Patagónicos. This unconformity marks the beginning of bypass and erosional processes in the foreland of the Austral- Magallanes Basin, and it is thought to represent uplifting processes in the foreland region of the Andes (Ghiglione et al., 2016).

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS AND CHALLENGES

After the initial sequence stratigraphic proposals for the whole basin (e.g. Biddle et al., 1986; Arbe, 1986), a large amount of new data has been produced both by academy and industry. This represents an opportunity to refine the sequence stratigraphic models and to integrate data sets with different approaches and from different regions of the basin. Of particular interest are the integration of outcrop and subsurface data sets, the petrographic and zircon provenance analyses, the geochronologic calibration of stratigraphic successions and the new detailed facies analyses. Following this idea of integration, source to sink analyses may be of great conceptual relevance in order to link the geodynamic context with the stratigraphic arrangement at several scales. Some questions arise from this analysis, such us how connected were the different depocenters during the basin history? How much of the sediment production is derived from the Andes? What is the relevance of the Deseado Massif-Río Chico High in this context? Can the offshore Malvinas Basin be regarded as the same basin?
The Austral-Magallanes Basin shows excellent and abundant outcrops of sedimentary rocks of very different nature, some of them partly studied and others virtually unknown. This basin is framed by magnificent landscapes in a high latitude part of the world, close to Antarctica. Its complex geologic history was strongly influenced by the tectonic activity associated to several plate boundaries and many relevant geodynamic issues are still to solve. All these features make this basin a great opportunity to develop new exciting geologic, stratigraphic and sedimentologic research.

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