A late Eocene-early Oligocene transgressive event in the Golfo San Jorge basin: palynological results and stratigraphic implications

Abstract A new Cenozoic dataset in the subsurface of the South Flank of the Golfo San Jorge Basin (Santa Cruz province) allowed to identify a non-previously recognized transgressive event of late Eocene to early Oligocene age. Below of a marine succession containing a dinoflagellate cyst assemblage that characterizes the C/G palynological zone of the Chenque Formation (early Miocene), a 80–110 m thick marine succession contains a palynological assemblage integrated by Gelatia inflata , Diphyes colligerum and Reticulatosphaera actinocoronata supporting the occurrence of a marine incursion in the basin during the Eocene–Oligocene transition (EOT). The new lithostratigraphic unit - here defined as El Huemul Formation – covers in sharp contact to the Sarmiento Formation, and become thinner from East to West; the unit has been identified in about 1800 well logs covering up to 3500 km 2 , and its subsurface distribution exceed the boundaries of the study area. The El Huemul Formation consists of a thin lag of glauconitic sandstones with fining-upward log motif, followed by a mudstone-dominated succession that coarsening-upward to sandstones, evidencing a full T-R cycle. Preservation of the El Huemul Formation in the subsurface of the South Flank has been favored by the reactivation of WNW-ESE late Cretaceous normal faults, and by the generation of N–S striking normal faults of Paleocene-Eocene age. Flexural loading associated to igneous intrusions of Paleocene?- middle Eocene age also promoted the increase of subsidence in the South Flank of the basin prior to the transgression.