Argentine Precordillera: Sedimentary and plate tectonic history of a Laurentian crustal fragment in South America / Аргентинские Предкордильеры: Осадочная геология и история тектоники плит Лаврентийского фрагмента коры в Южной Америке

The Argentine Precordillera (“Precordillera”) is part of a larger terrane which is exotic to the western margin of Gondwana. This larger terrane is characterized by a Grenvillian-type basement and the presence of Laurentian carbonate-platform rocks of Cambrian–Ordovician age. The original position of the terrane is interpreted to be the Ouachita embayment of southeastern Laurentia.Terminal Neoproterozoic continental breakup and the formation of the Appalachian-Ouachita margin during the late Precambrian–Early Cambrian established a passive margin to the present east of the Precordillera. This passive margin is the original continental margin of Laurentia, which was located outboard of the Precordillera. Continuous crustal extension during the Cambrian along the Ouachita margin created a marginal plateau that accommodated the Argentine Precordillera carbonate platform. This marginal plateau to Laurentia was separated from mainland Laurentia by a deep graben system, today represented by the offshore Ouachita facies of the southeastern United States. The Cambrian through earliest Middle Ordovician mark the climax of the Laurentian episode because the Argentine Precordillera sediments and fauna are indistinguishible from Laurentia. <...>