Caracterización geofísica de la cuenca de Pipanaco Catamarca - Argentina

This work is focused on the Pipanaco basin area, which straddles two provinces: Catamarca and La Rioja (Argentina), and is located within the Sierras Pampeanas mountain range. The region features a tectonic depression bound by inverse faults (except its southern border). Existing gravimetric and geological information have been combined with new gravity data to model crustal features beneath the basin. Gravity anomaly maps were prepared using land gravity stations. Crustal-related anomalies were enhanced following a residualization process in order to identify density inhomogeneities located in the upper crust, which is the main focus of this study. Then, 2-D and 3-D density models of the upper crust were prepared from the residual Bouguer anomaly. The density of these models reveals that the sedimentary basin reaches a maximum depth of 3km of Neogene age sediments. Moreover, nonoutcropping, highdensity bodies were also identified, whose origin would go back to the evolutionary stage of the central Andes, and originated in a rifting process during the early Carboniferous.