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Brachiopods. Linoproductoidea indet. A, B, Internal and external mould of ventral valve, CEGH-UNC 26734a-b; C, Internal mould of ventral valve, CEGH-UNC 26735. Beecheria patagonica Amos, 1958. D, Internal mould of articulated specimen, dorsal view, CEGH-UNC 26736; E, F, Internal mould of articulated specimen, dorsal and ventral views, CEGH-UNC 26737. Scale bars = 3.5 mm for A–D; 4.5 mm for E, F. A–D, lower fossiliferous interval, bed 8; E, F, upper fossiliferous interval, bed 9.
Source publication
Cisterna, G.A., Sterren, A.F., López Gamundí, O. & Vergel, M.M., March 2017. Carboniferous postglacial faunas in the late Serpukhovian–Bashkirian interval of central-western Argentina. Alcheringa, ISSN 0311-5518.
Typical glacial–postglacial sequences associated with the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age (LPIA) are recognized in the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin...
Contexts in source publication
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... confirms the presence of Tuberculatella peregrina in the El Paso Formation. This species has been characterized mainly by the elongate spine bases, wide and shallow ventral median sinus and a row of spines over the inner anterior ears, i.e., between the ears and the disc (Reed in Du Toit, 1927, pl. 13, fig. 2; Simanauskas & Cisterna 2001, p. 217, fig. 5a). The specimen assigned to Bulahdelia cf. myallensis Roberts, 1976, also described from the lower fossiliferous interval of the El Paso Formation (Taboada 1989), has been synonymized with Tuberculatella peregrina (Simanauskas & Cisterna, 2001). The general morphol- ogy of the shell and the density of the spines on the ventral disc and ...
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... LINOPRODUCTOIDEA Stehli, 1954 Linoproductoidea indet. (Fig. 5A-C) Remarks. Fragmentary material (Fig. 5A-C) comprising two internal moulds of ventral valves, one with the countermould, is herein assigned to Linoproductoidea indet. These specimens are of medium size (about 14 mm long and 16 mm wide), with the ventral valves gently convex and umbo strongly incurved, having ornament of fine costellae ...
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... LINOPRODUCTOIDEA Stehli, 1954 Linoproductoidea indet. (Fig. 5A-C) Remarks. Fragmentary material (Fig. 5A-C) comprising two internal moulds of ventral valves, one with the countermould, is herein assigned to Linoproductoidea indet. These specimens are of medium size (about 14 mm long and 16 mm wide), with the ventral valves gently convex and umbo strongly incurved, having ornament of fine costellae (about five per 2 mm on the median-anterior ...
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... TEREBRATULIDA Waagen, 1883Suborder TEREBRATULIDINA Waagen, 1883Superfamily DIELASMATOIDEA Schuchert, 1913Family BEECHERIIDAE Smirnova, 2004Beecheria Hall & Clarke, 1893 Type species. Beecheria davidsoni Hall & Clarke, 1893;Upper Carboniferous, USA. Beecheria patagonica Amos, 1958 (Fig. 5D-F) Fig. 8. Generalized interpretation of the depositional environment along a glacially influenced fjordal coastine showing the development of different faunas (modified from Kneller et al. ...
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... Two internal moulds of articulated specimens (Fig. 5D-F), one with its dorsal external countermould, are assigned to Beecheria patagonica Amos, 1958. This species has been characterized mainly by an elongate globose shell with the ventral valve being more convex than the dorsal, the beak incurving strongly, the dental plates diverging and extending about one-seventh of the valve length and ...
Citations
... The postglacial or interglacial nature of the Eurydesma Fauna, that would be mainly reflected in its composition and paleoecological characteristics (Cisterna and Sterren, 2010;Cisterna et al., 2017), has important implications for the paleoenvironmental conditions that could have controlled its distribution (Cisterna et al., 2019). ...
... Although the Eurydesma genus has not been considered a biostratigraphic marker, the possibility of constraining the age of the transgression to the Asselian in western Gondwana has important implications. The compositional and paleoecological characteristics of the Eurydesma Fauna could have been controlled by the postglacial or interglacial nature of the invertebrate record, as has been identified in other successions of central western Argentina (Cisterna and Sterren, 2010;Cisterna et al., 2017). Compositional and paleoecological differences between postglacial faunas, mainly related to glacial retreat dynamics (i.e. ...
... Compositional and paleoecological differences between postglacial faunas, mainly related to glacial retreat dynamics (i.e. substrate stability, nutrient availability, oxygen levels and coastal configuration), have been also recognized not only within a basin (Cisterna et al., 2017), but also between basins (e.g., Bonete Formation in the VFB -Claromecó Basin and Taciba Formation in the Paraná Basin). ...
... This taxon could be conspecific with O. saltensis, which occurs in the Agua del Jag€ uel Formation (Lech 1990(Lech , 2002(Lech , 2011. Orbiculoidea sp. has been mentioned from the R ıo del Peñ on Formation at sinclinal de Rinc on Blanco (Cisterna & Simanauskas 2000), the Tupe Formation at Quebrada de La Herradura and Quebrada de La Delfina , Cisterna et al. 2006, the El Paso and Hoyada Verde members of the San Eduardo and Pituil formations at Sierra de Barreal (Damborenea 1974, Taboada 1989, Cisterna et al. 2017, and the Agua del Jag€ uel Formation at Quebrada Agua del Jag€ uel (Taboada 1987). ...
While some Upper Paleozoic basins in central-western Argentina have been extensively studied, others have poorly understood biostratigraphy. The current biozone heterogeneity between basins could be an artefact of incompletely sampled invertebrate fossil assemblages preventing precise correlations. Here, we therefore provide a taxonomic assessment of brachiopods recovered from fossil-bearing beds of the El Imperial Formation at Arroyo del Imperial, Quebrada de La Horqueta, and Cañón del Atuel. Two distinct biozones are identified: (1) a conspicuous Moscovian Tivertonia jachalensis–Streptorhynchus inaequiornatus Biozone (TS) from the Cañón del Atuel section; (2) a new early late Bashkirian Saltospirifer guevarai–Pericospira sanjuanensis Biozone (SP) from the Arroyo del Imperial and Quebrada de La Horqueta sections. The TS assemblage includes Argentiella stappenbecki, Oehlertella annae, Orbiculoidea saltensis, Coolkilella aredesi, Calytrixia piersoni, Costatumulus sp. and Septosyringothyris? sp. The SP assemblage comprises cf. Buxtonia riojana, Streptorhynchus inaequiornatus, cf. Septosyringothyris (Precosyringothyris) feruglioi, cf. Septosyringothyris (Precosyringothyris) jaguelensis, ?Spiriferellina sp., Saltospirifer guevarai and cf. Pericospira sanjuanensis. The El Imperial Formation brachiopod biozones provide a basis for accurate biocorrelation between regional lithostratigraphical units, and clarify the Upper Paleozoic biochronostratigraphical scheme for central-western Argentina during the Pennsylvanian.
Cristian Adrián Pardo [pardocr22@gmail.com], Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica (CIEMEP) CONICET-UNPSJB, Roca 780, Esquel (U9200), Chubut, Argentina. Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Evolución y Biodiversidad (LIEB), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Ciencias de la Salud (FCNyCS), Sede Esquel, Edificio de Aulas, km 16.5, Esquel, Chubut, U9200, Argentina; César Augusto Taboada [ctaboada@mef.org.ar], Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF)-CONICET, Avenida Fontana N°140, Trelew, Chubut, U9100GYO, Argentina; Arturo César Taboada [taboadaart@gmail.com], Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica (CIEMEP) CONICET-UNPSJB, Roca 780, Esquel (U9200), Chubut, Argentina. Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Evolución y Biodiversidad (LIEB), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Ciencias de la Salud (FCNyCS), Sede Esquel, Edificio de Aulas, km 16.5, Esquel, Chubut, U9200, Argentina; María Alejandra Pagani [apagani@mef.org.ar], Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF)-CONICET, Avenida Fontana N°140, Trelew, Chubut, U9100GYO, Argentina.
... First, most of brachiopod faunas described from the different South American sedimentary basins, particularly those of Venezuela, Perú and Bolivia (Kozlowski, 1914;Newell et al., 1953;Hoover, 1981), need a taxonomic revision in order to be understood in modern terms. In this regard, the Argentinian late Paleozoic brachiopod faunas are the better known for South America with recent taxonomic/biostratigraphic updates (Cisterna et al., 2017(Cisterna et al., , 2018Sterren et al., 2021;Taboada, 2014Taboada, , 2021. However, the absence of more precise biostratigraphic markers such as those above mentioned and the few radiometric data available prevent a high-resolution brachiopod scheme for the late Paleozoic basins of Argentina. ...
... However, the absence of more precise biostratigraphic markers such as those above mentioned and the few radiometric data available prevent a high-resolution brachiopod scheme for the late Paleozoic basins of Argentina. Second, the strong provincialism related with glacial events of the LPIA that affected Gondwana (Fig. 1) also makes the global correlation difficult, even coeval faunas affected by the glacial dynamic within the same basin are not easy to correlate (Cisterna and Sterren, 2016;Cisterna et al., 2017). Third, biostratigraphic correlations within Gondwana are limited by the diachronism and the controversial timing of the end of deglaciation, as exemplified by the Eurydesma Fauna , which will be discussed in more detail below (section 4). ...
... The Aseptella-Tuberculatella/Rhipidomella-Micraphelia (AT/RM) Fauna, also constrained to the interval late Serpukhovian-early Bashkirian, can be considered a postglacial fauna relatively coeval with the Levipustula . It has been described from the Barreal Hill in the El Paso Formation, a lateral equivalent of the Hoyada Verde Formation (Sequence I, López-Gamundí and Martínez, 2003) and more recently from the lower part of the Agua del Jagüel Formation, to the south of the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin in the Mendoza province (Cisterna et al., 2017;Sterren et al., 2020). Also in the lower interval of the Ciénaga Larga del Tontal Formation, this fauna appears represented with the brachiopods Aseptella? ...
South America late Paleozoic brachiopod biostratigraphy is herein revised considering the recent taxonomic updates, time-sensitive fossils associated and the radiometric data available in order to provide a tentative biostratigraphic scheme. Six zones are recognized in West and East-central Argentina, namely Azurduya chavelensis (Tournaisian-early Viséan), that contains the brachiopod fauna of Michiganites scalabrinii-Azurduya chavelensis Zone, restricted to the Río Blanco Basin and also identified in northern Chile; Levipustula levis (late Serpukhovian-Bashkirian), in the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin, typically associated with the postglacial transgression of the most widespread episode in the region, and also recorded from the Bolivian Tarija Basin; Marginovatia peregrina-Maemia tenuiscostata (late Bashkirian-early Moscovian), a zone of local value defined in the Barreal Hill of the Calingasta-Uspallata basin; Tivertonia jachalensis-Streptorhynchus inaequiornatus (Moscovian-early Kasimovian?), the most widely distributed and diversified in the Precordillera, developed in relatively warm temperate conditions; and the youngest Costatumlulus amosi (late Sakmarian-early Artinskian), a low-diversity brachiopod assemblage only recorded in the southernmost part the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin; to east, in the Sauce Grande Basin, Tomiopsis harringtoni Zone (Sakmarian-Artinskian) that includes the brachiopod assemblages of the Eurydesma Fauna also identified in the Paraná Basin, Brazil (Eurydesma-Lyonia Fauna herein referred to the informal Tomiopsis-Lyonia assemblage). A posglacial brachiopod assemblage, the Aseptella-Tuberculatella/Rhipidomella-Micraphelia Fauna (late Serpukhovian-Bashkirian), relatively coeval with the Levipustula levis Zone and compositional different, is also recognized in the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin. Late Paleozoic brachiopod faunas from Patagonia associated with a late Tournaisian-Artinskian glacial sequence would not have a biostratigraphic relationship with those of west-central Argentina. A few informal brachiopod assemblages, mainly dated by fusulinids and conodonts, are herein proposed for the other South American basins. These assemblages are Tapajotia tapajotensis-Rhipidomella penniana (late Serpukhovian) in the Amazon Basin (Brazil), and also recongnized in the Moscovian of the Madre de Dios Basin (Perú); Amazonoproductus amazonensis-Anthracospirifer oliveirai (Bashkirian) in the Amazon Basin; Gypospirifer condor-Linoproductus cora (Moscovian-Sakmarian), in the Madre de Dios (Bolivia and Perú) and Navidad-Arizaro basins (Chile-Argentina), within which the species Waagenoconcha humboldti-Kochiproductus peruvianus are dominant to the Cisuralian; Alispirifer assemblage (late Bashkirian-Moscovian), in the Central Cordillera of Colombia); and the “Tethyan brachiopod assemblages” (late Pennsylvanian-Cisuralian), in the De Los Llanos Basin (Colombia and Venezuela).
... + 0.09 Ma U-Pb age from the post-glacial transgressive facies of Guandacol Formation was provided by Gulbranson et al. 2010). A coeval post-glacial fauna, Aseptella-Tuberculatella/Rhipidomella-Micraphelia (AT/RM), has been recognized in the same area (Cisterna and Sterren 2016;Cisterna et al. 2017), in the El Paso Formation, considered to be a lateral equivalent of the Hoyada Verde Formation in terms of sequence stratigraphy (López Gamundí and Martínez 2003) (Fig. 8). In addition, the diagnostic genera that define this fauna, Overtoniinae indet., Linoproductoidea indet., Athyridida indet., Beecheria and 'inarticulates' (Lingulides indet. ...
... In addition, the diagnostic genera that define this fauna, Overtoniinae indet., Linoproductoidea indet., Athyridida indet., Beecheria and 'inarticulates' (Lingulides indet. and Orbiculoidea), have been recognized in the El Paso Formation (Cisterna et al. 2017). More recently, AT/RM was also described from the lower part of the Agua del Jagüel Formation, to the south of the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin, in the Mendoza Province (Sterren et al. 2020). ...
... However, palynological data associated with this fauna suggest a late Serpukhovian-Bashkirian age (Vergel et al. 2015), based on assemblages referred to Subzone A of the Raistrickia densa-Convolutispora muriornata Zone (Césari et al. 2011). The important compositional differences between the Levipustula Fauna in the Hoyada Verde Formation, mainly dominated by spiriferides, and its coeval Aseptella-Tuberculatella/Rhipidomella-Micraphelia in the El Paso Formation, characterized by productides and chonetides (Cisterna and Sterren 2016), have been explained by the complex array of abiotic factors directly related to glacial retreat dynamics and coastal configuration (Cisterna et al. 2017). ...
We present an updated look at the Carboniferous brachiopod biozonation from most of the world framed into a revised Carboniferous palaeogeography, based on a selection of the literature published on Carboniferous brachiopods since the Nineteenth century. The biostratigraphic significance of the most important brachiopod taxa is synthetized in seven geographic correlations.
The Mississippian is characterized by rich brachiopod faunas, with widespread taxa with a good potential for global correlation, such as Rugosochonetes, Delepinea, Buxtonia, Antiquatonia, Spinocarinifera, Marginatia, Fluctuaria, Ovatia, Rhipidomella, Lamellosathyris, Unispirifer, Tylothyris , and Syringothyris . From the mid–Viséan to the late Serpukhovian, taxa of gigantoproductidines are biostratigraphically significant, and occur everywhere except for South America and Australia, which remain as distinct faunal successions for most of the period. A major turnover occurs at the beginning of the Pennsylvanian, characterized by a higher degree of provincialism. Pennsylvanian brachiopod faunas are diverse in China, Russia and North America, but otherwise they are less developed and they are characterized mostly by endemic taxa, hampering long–distance correlation. An exception is the rapid diversification of taxa of the Choristitinae, which were widespread from the Bashkirian to the Moscovian, allowing long–distance correlation.
... Additional information about invertebrate faunas in the western basins appears in Taboada (2014), Sterren (2010, 2016), and Cisterna et al. (2017). ...
This paper presents a synthesis of the advances in the geologic knowledge of the late Paleozoic basins of southern South America during the last decade. The information is focused on: i) progress in paleogeographic models and new perspectives, ii) distribution of late Paleozoic glacial deposits, sedimentary models and identification of discrete events, iii) paleoclimatic evolution and pieces of evidence of the transition from icehouse to extrema greenhouse conditions, iv) volcanism along the paleo-Pacific margin, v) refinements of biozones and biostratigraphy based on paleobotany and palynology and vi) advances in biostratigraphy using marine invertebrates.
... Some bivalves and gastropods identified by Taboada (1997), González (2002), and Pinilla and Taboada (2018) were assigned to this zone. In addition to the Levipustula fauna, Cisterna et al. (2017) defined the Aseptella-Tuberculatella/Rhipidomella-Micraphelia (AT/RM) fauna which characterizes the postglacial record during the Serpukhovian-Bashkirian interval. Sterren et al. (2020) extended the record of the AT/RM fauna to the southernmost outcrops of the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin in the Agua de Jagüel Formation, establishing a Serpukhovian-Bashkirian age for the glacial retreat and postglacial flooding of the western Andean basins of Argentina. ...
The southwestern margin of South America offers a complete record of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPAI) that affected the Gondwana supercontinent. The tripartite division of LPIA glacial episodes has been refined with the help of new radiometric dates and biostratigraphic (flora and fauna) zonations in recent years to five shorter-lived discrete events: 1. Latest Devonian-earliest Tournaisian, 2. Tournaisian, 3. Visean, 4. Serpukhovian – Early Bashkirian, 5. late Pennsylvanian-earliest Permian. The glacial events 1, 2 and 3, and 4 are capped by postglacial transgressive deposits with marine fauna. The unbalanced preservation potential of the glacial deposits, skewed toward the glaciomarine sediments, provides an uneven stratigraphic record with few cases of continental glacial sedimentation, confined to the Serpukhovian – Early Bashkirian event, and numerous examples of glacial sedimentation in marine environments. Glacial sedimentation in marine settings has been grouped in two main facies associations: a valley-glacier-retreat (fjord) facies association and a submarine-retreat (glaciomarine apron) facies association in open-marine areas.
Transitional facies, correspondent to those formed by the flooding of valleys during postglacial transgressions, are widely distributed along the Protoprecordillera, where paleofjord successions are well exposed particularly in western Paganzo Basin and mapped in subsurface in the Tarija basin. A general paleofjord model includes (from base to top) the following stages: (i) Incision of paleovalley and deposition of subglacial diamictites in ice contact deltas, (ii) Early Transgressive stage characterized by resedimentation of subglacial material by subaqueous sediment gravity flows and slumps in proglacial settings, (iii) Maximum flooding (late transgressive stage) dominated by black shales or laminated mudstones related to a marine incursion that flooded valleys; normal marine or brackish conditions may dominate this stage and (iv) Highstand: progradation of a fluvial-deltaic system including in some cases Gilbert-type deltas. In glaciomarine apron environments, the basal facies includes massive clast-supported conglomerates, with few striated and polished clasts, followed by fining-upward successions including thinly bedded diamictites with ice-rafted debris (IRD) and locally contorted sandstone masses in diamictite beds, indicative of mass-emplacement mechanisms. The presence of inter- and intratill pavements suggests glacial advance/retreat fluctuations along the basin margins.
Deglaciation sequences, reflecting deposition mainly during the retreat of ice sheets, ice caps and alpine glaciers and successive deglaciation, can be used as operational tools for the analysis of glacial successions in SW Gondwana. They are characterized as rather simple upward-thinning successions in open marine settings as exemplified in most of the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin, Sauce Grande (Ventana Foldbelt, VFB) and central portions of the Paraná and Karoo basins. In more proximal areas (i.e. paleofjords) this vertical trend is commonly punctuated with deltaic wedges fed by nearby provenance areas.
The late Paleozoic glacial-related successions of southwestern Gondwana exhibit a common tripartite motif, equivalent to second-order sequences with estimated durations of 10–80 Myr. The lower section corresponds to glacial and glacially-influenced diamictites; the middle interval is initiated with postglacial transgressions. The lower and middle intervals correspond to the deglaciation sequence as described and identified in several basins of Gondwana. Finally, the upper term includes coastal progradation, followed in some places by continentalization, accompanied in many sectors by increasing aridization. Examples of second-order sequences can be identified in the thick late Paleozoic successions of the Paraná and Karoo basins and in the VFB. Thinner second order sequences can be identified in the Calingasta-Uspallata, Rio Blanco, Paganzo and San Rafael basins. In the Paganzo and San Rafael basins the middle interval is also punctuated by short lived marine ingressions. The basal sequence boundary is commonly an abrasion surface (glacial erosion surface, GES) developed on bedrock. Deglaciation sequences are assigned to third order sequences made up of, when present, of a thin lowstand system tract (LST) of subglacial deposits followed upward by thick glaciomarine and glacially influenced sediments. These facies are part of a thick transgressive systems tract (TST) that culminates with marine shales that reflect interglacial or postglacial conditions during ice retreat. Thus, the deglaciation sequences are proposed to be third order sequences made up of LST-TST or exclusively TST.
... myallensis and the Levipustula levis (Taboada 1989) (Fig. 6). However, the stratigraphy and faunas of this sequence are also a matter of different interpretations (see López Gamundi and Martínez 2003;Cisterna et al. 2017), although these disagreements do not alter the concept of the proposed Barrealian Stage. ...
... Given that the Rugosochonetes gloucesterensis-Bulahdelia cf. myallensis and Levipustula levis assemblages are successive constituents of a single dynamic fauna (not coeval, as suggested by Cisterna et al. 2017 andSterren et al. 2020), the Mid-Carboniferous boundary, in the meaning of the ICC (Mississippian-Pennsylvanian or Serpukhovian-Bashkirian boundary), would probably be in between these biozones in the Barreal Hillsbetween the El Paso and Hoyada Verde members of the San Eduardo Formation (González 1996) (Fig. 7), the same as is demarcated in Australia (Jones 1991;Roberts et al. 1995c). The intercalations of marine beds and glacial rocks in this formation are clear-cut evidence that the glaciers reached sea-level (González 1990;González and Glasser 2008). ...
The western Andean belt of Argentina displays a comprehensive record of the Carboniferous and earliest Permian rocks so extensive that it allows an exceptional reconstruction of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age of the southwestern margin of the South American Gondwana area. Severe endemism of the Gondwana biota during this period makes it difficult to achieve a precise correlation of these glacially influenced deposits with the coeval sequences of the Palaeoequatorial belt, where the subdivisions of the International Chronostratigraphic Chart are currently defined. The abundant paleontological record available from the Upper Palaeozoic deposits of central-western Argentina, central Patagonia, and eastern Argentina, makes it possible to recognize five successive faunal stages that allow a proper ordering of the sequences of this period. The proposed regional stages, and their assumed chronologic position regarding the standards of the current International Chronostratigraphic Chart, are: the Malimanian (late Tournaisian), Barrealian (Mid-Carboniferous or Serpukhovian-Bashkirian), Aguanegrian (Upper Pennsylvanian), Uspallatian (Asselian-Tastubian?) and Bonetian (Sakmarian). This paper aims to reiterate former recommendations about the convenience of having regional reference units and suggests the consideration of the available faunal stages as possible chronostratigraphic subdivisions for the Carboniferous-early Permian of the south-eastern margin of Gondwana.
... The Early Mississippian (Tournaisian), represents a key interval of the late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) since it records both the initial stages of the LPIA and the recovery interval from the Late Devonian biodiversity crisis (McGhee 2018). In contrast to Late Mississippian to Permian high-latitude glacial faunas, which have been widely studied (Césari et al., 2007;Sterren and Cisterna, 2010;Waterhouse and Shi, 2013;Cisterna et al., 2014Cisterna et al., , 2017Cisterna et al., , 2019Taboada, 2010;Taboada et al., 2019), the Tournaisian high latitude marine faunas are less well known. Virtually most of the Tournaisian faunas are restricted to tropical to subtropical regions (Qiao and Shen, 2014), and such a geographic bias limits our understanding of the biotic response to the start of LPIA, as well as the recovery of the Late Devonian crisis. ...
... The specimens appear articulated, and in several cases incomplete and dorso-ventrally deformed by compression, making it difficult the comparison with other species reported from central western Argentina. Myofossa calingastensis González and Myofossa antiqua González were previously documented in late Serpukhovian-Bashkirian sediments of the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin (González, 2002;Cisterna et al., 2017). These new occurrences of Myofossa sp. ...
... here described appear to be close with Spiriferellina octoplicata associated with younger successions (late Serpukhovian-Bashkirian), in the Calingasta-Uspalla Basin , related with the second glacial episode (Episode II, López-Gamundí, 1997) of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) identified the western Gondwana margin (López-Gamundí, 1997). The marine faunas associated to this event have an excellent in the Argentine Precordillera (Calingasta-Uspallata Basin) and Patagonia (Tepuel Genoa Basin) (Simanauskas and Sabattini, 1997;Pagani and Sabattini, 2002;Césari et al., 2007;Cisterna and Sterren, 2010;Cisterna and Sterren, 2016;Cisterna et al., 2017). However, no marine faunas have yet been described in the earliest glacial episode (Episode I of López-Gamundí, 1997), recorded in the Cumaná Formation (late Devonian-Early Carboniferous, Díaz Martínez et al., 1993), which seems to be linked to glacially-influenced marine deposits of latest Devonian age from the Amazonas and Solimões basins (López-Gamundí, 1997). ...
A new fossil record of early Mississippian marine faunas is described from the Agua de Lucho Formation in the Sierra de las Minitas (La Rioja province, Río Blanco Basin, western Argentina). Considered Tournaisian in age based on local palynological data and biostratigraphic correlations, this faunal record is notably diverse associated with glacially influenced deposits, in contrast with other early Mississippian assemblages from Argentina, traditionally described as developed in warm to temperate climates. The vertical distribution of bivalves and brachiopods, in particular, indicates significant faunal changes through the thick section studied, and their occurrences are compared with those described from the Zorritas Formation in northern Chile. The new records include some typical components of the regional Michiganites scalabrinii-Azurduya chavelensis assemblage Zone, but important vertical and lateral compositional variations of this biozone are discussed. It also highlights the importance of the species Azurduya chavelensis as a conspicuous component of the Early Mississippian deposits from South America, which would become a proper macrofaunal tool to intra and inter-basinal correlations.
... This episode has been well documented in the central western Argentina (Fig. 1A), where the glacial-postglacial transition is recognized in several localities. In the Calingasta-Uspallata basin, the postglacial deposits, temporally constrained to the initial deglatiation (late Serpukhovian-Bashkirian interval) (Fig. 1B), are characterized by two well diversified marine faunas: the Levipustula Fauna, widely known by previous studies (Cisterna and Sterren, 2010 and references therein), and the Aseptella-Tuberculatella/Rhipidomella-Micraphelia Fauna Cisterna et al., 2017). These faunas have been described from the Calingasta-Barreal area in the San Juan province (Césari et al., 2007 and references therein;Cisterna and Sterren, 2010;Taboada, 2010), and recently both have been considered coeval by Cisterna and Sterren (2016) and Cisterna et al. (2017). ...
... In the Calingasta-Uspallata basin, the postglacial deposits, temporally constrained to the initial deglatiation (late Serpukhovian-Bashkirian interval) (Fig. 1B), are characterized by two well diversified marine faunas: the Levipustula Fauna, widely known by previous studies (Cisterna and Sterren, 2010 and references therein), and the Aseptella-Tuberculatella/Rhipidomella-Micraphelia Fauna Cisterna et al., 2017). These faunas have been described from the Calingasta-Barreal area in the San Juan province (Césari et al., 2007 and references therein;Cisterna and Sterren, 2010;Taboada, 2010), and recently both have been considered coeval by Cisterna and Sterren (2016) and Cisterna et al. (2017). However, although Aseptella-Tuberculatella/Rhipidomella- ...
... The invertebrate assemblages of the marine mudstones associated with the glaciomarine deposits present in the upper part of the El Paso Formation (Mésigos, 1953), south of Barreal Hill in the northern part of the Calingasta-Uspallata basin (Fig. 1A, B), have been recently defined as Aseptella-Tuberculatella/ Rhipidomella-Micraphelia Fauna (Cisterna andSterren 2015, 2016;Cisterna et al., 2017). The importance of this postglacial fauna is mainly resided in its biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental implications. ...
The Agua del Jagüel Formation crops out in the southernmost part of the Calingasta-Uspallata basin, in central western Argentina. The lower part of the unit is characterized by a glacigenic sequence with diamictites and mudstones with dropstones. In the latter, elements of the Aseptella-Tuberculatella/Rhipidomella-Micraphelia Fauna (AT/RM Fauna), such as the brachiopods Rhipidomella discreta Cisterna, Micraphelia indianae Simanauskas and Cisterna and Orbiculoidea? sp., the gastropods Murchisonia? sp., and Glabrocingulum (Stenozone)? sp., the bivalve Nuculanidae indet., rugose corals, and indeterminate fragments of nautiloids and hyolithids, have been identified. The importance of this fauna mainly resides in its paleoenvironmental and biostratigraphic implications. AT/RM Fauna is characteristic of restricted environments with relatively low concentrations of oxygen and nutrients in the seafloor, which is consistent with the glaciomarine sequences in fjord-type coasts suggested for the Agua del Jagüel Formation. The relatively low diversity of the fauna in this unit compared to that defined in the El Paso Formation, located further north in the basin, might suggest more restricted sectors for benthic colonization, related to the paleovalle's isolation from oceanic waters. The postglacial mudstones with marine invertebrate faunas of late Serpukhovian-Bashkirian age would have been deposited in relatively restricted (palaeofjord) part of the Uspallata-Calingasta basin as well as in open shelf environments. The marine flooding over drastically different coast configurations and the availability of nutrient and oxygen in the water column would have propitiated the development of faunas with important differences in the taxonomic composition and the paleoecological structure (AT/RM and Levipustula Faunas) occurring at the same time interval. Radiometric data in Agua del Jagüel Formation and paleontological records in the glacial-postglacial sedimentary succession in the basin (marine invertebrate faunas, palynomorphs and plants) are the most important tools to adjust the timing of the postglacial transgression. This information herein presented complements the scheme proposed for the Carboniferous sequences throughout the central western of Gondwana but is not sufficient to assign a more precise age of the fauna studied within the late Serpukhovian-Bashkirian interval.
... Their small size is a good indicator that the conditions were stressful, probably coupled with oscillations in the oxygen content, salinity and food-supply. The linoproductids, such as Lyonia rochacamposi, with spinose convex ventral valves, are interpreted as a quasi-infaunal, suspension feeders that lived partially buried in soft substrates (see Cisterna et al., 2017). The other two brachiopods in the Bs assemblage (Rhynchopora grossopunctata, Quinquenella rionegrensis) were epifaunal suspension feeders. ...
... Finally, Cisterna et al. (2017, and references therein) suggested that a complex array of abiotic factors encompassing variation in salinity and oxygen contents, water turbidity and depth, and food-supply are among the main controlling factors in the development of marine benthic faunas during deglacial events of LPIA. Notably, a comparison between the gross taxonomic composition and ecological structure of the Capivari marine fauna with those coevals from the upper part of the Taciba Formation, southern Brazil (Simões et al., 2012;Neves et al., 2014b;Taboada et al., 2016), strongly support the observations made by Cisterna et al. (2017). The benthic marine assemblages recorded in the so-called Rio da Areia sandstone and Baitaca siltstone, in the upper part of the Taciba Formation (Neves et al., 2014b), which are dominated by epifaunal and infaunal suspension feeding bivalves lived in quite distinct paleoenvironmental conditions compared to those of the Bs assemblage. ...
A 2-m-thick silty shale bed within the Taciba Formation, Itararé Group, Paraná Basin, State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, records marine sedimentation in a siliciclastic-dominated, low-energy, shelf setting, during a short-lived deglacial event. The bed is located 100–150 m below the base of the lower Permian, post-glacial Tatui Formation. The marine assemblage is dominated by rhynchonelliform brachiopods, with subordinate bivalves, gastropods and crinoids, recording the highest phylum-level diversity so far identified within a given fossil-bearing horizon in the uppermost portion of the Itararé Group. Two new species are described, one brachiopod Biconvexiella saopauloensis and one gastropod Peruvispira brasilensis. Additionally, shells of Lyonia rochacamposi, Rhynchopora grossopunctata, Quinquenella rionegrensis, Phestia tepuelensis, Streblopteria aff. S. lagunensis, Limipecten capivariensis, Praeundulomya cf. subelongata and Mourlonia (Woolnoughia)? sp. are identified. Crinoid columns were assigned to øPentaridica sp. (a genus based on elements of the columnal). This is the first systematic description of members of the Eurydesma-Lyonia fauna in the northeastern part of the Paraná Basin, Brazil. The overwhelming majority of brachiopods belong to Biconvexiella saopauloensis, followed by Rhynchopora grossopunctata. The record of Lyonia rochacamposi closely resembles that of the uppermost part of the Taciba Formation in southern Brazil. Hence, the Capivari marine fauna correlates approximately with that of the upper part of the Taciba Formation. Lyonia rochacamposi also indicates correlation with Permian units of the Sauce Grande-Colorado (Argentina), Huab (Hardap shale of the Dwyka Group), Aranos area (Namibia), southwest Africa, and the Carnavon (Western Australia) basins. These correlations support a latest Asselian-earliest Sakmarian age for the fauna.
