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The Golfo San Jorge Basin ( es, Cuenca del Golfo San Jorge) is a
The Golfo San Jorge Basin ( es, Cuenca del Golfo San Jorge) is a hydrocarbon
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ex ...
-rich sedimentary basin
Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock. They form when long-term subsidence ...
located in eastern Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
, Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. The basin covers the entire San Jorge Gulf
The San Jorge Gulf (Golfo San Jorge; Spanish for ''Gulf of St. George'') is a bay in southern Patagonia, Argentina. It is an ocean basin opening to the Atlantic. Its shoreline spans Chubut and Santa Cruz province. The gulf measures approximate ...
and an inland area west of it, having one half located in Santa Cruz Province and the other in Chubut Province
Chubut ( es, Provincia del Chubut, ; cy, Talaith Chubut) is a province in southern Argentina, situated between the 42nd parallel south (the border with Río Negro Province), the 46th parallel south (bordering Santa Cruz Province), the Andes ra ...
. The northern boundary of the basin is the North Patagonian Massif
The North Patagonian Massif or Somún Cura Massif (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Macizo Norpatagónico'', ''Macizo Nordpatagónico'' or ''Macizo de Somún Cura'') is a massif in northern Patagonia located in the Argentine provinces of Río Negro Pro ...
while the Deseado Massif
The Deseado Massif (Spanish: ''Macizo del Deseado'') is a massif in southern Patagonia located in the Argentine province of Santa Cruz. On surface the massif is made up of Middle to Late Jurassic-aged felsic volcanic rocks. Analysis of mantle xeno ...
forms the southern boundary of the basin. The basin has largely developed under condition of extensional tectonics
Extensional tectonics is concerned with the structures formed by, and the tectonic processes associated with, the stretching of a planetary body's crust or lithosphere.
Deformation styles
The types of structure and the geometries formed depend on ...
, including rift
In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics.
Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-grabe ...
ing.
The basin is of paleontological significance as it hosts six out of 22 defining formations for the SALMA classification, the geochronology for the Cenozoic
The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...
used in South America.
At the center of the basin accumulated sediments reach more than of thickness. Oil was first discovered in 1907 and over the years it has become the second most productive hydrocarbon basin in Argentina after Neuquén Basin
Neuquén Basin ( es, Cuenca Neuquina) is a sedimentary basin covering most of Neuquén Province in Argentina. The basin originated in the Jurassic and developed through alternating continental and marine conditions well into the Tertiary. The bas ...
.
Stratigraphy
The stratigraphy of the Golfo San Jorge Basin covers the following units:Raigemborn et al., 2010, p.243Cortés, 1986, p.49See also
*Cañadón Asfalto Basin
The Cañadón Asfalto Basin ( es, Cuenca de Cañadón Asfalto) is an irregularly shaped sedimentary basin located in north-central Patagonia, Argentina. The basin stretches from and partly covers the North Patagonian Massif in the north, a high for ...
* Magallanes Basin
The Magallanes Basin or Austral Basin is a major sedimentary basin in southern Patagonia. The basin covers a surface of about and has a NNW-SSE oriented shape. The basin is bounded to the west by the Andes mountains and is separated from the Malv ...
* South American land mammal age
The South American land mammal ages (SALMA) establish a geologic timescale for prehistoric South American fauna beginning 64.5 Mya (unit), Ma during the Paleocene and continuing through to the Late Pleistocene (0.011 Ma). These periods are referre ...
s
References
Bibliography
;General * ;Cretaceous * *Paleogene
;Andesitas Huancache Formation * * ;Bororó Formation * ;Casamayor Formation * * ;Las Flores Formation * * * ;Koluel Kaike Formation * ;Peñas Coloradas Formation * * ;Río Chico Group * ;Salamanca Formation * * * * *Neogene
;Río Mayo Formation * ;Sarmiento Formation & Colhué Huapí Member * * * * * * * * * *Further reading
* * * {{Sedimentary basins of Argentina Sedimentary basins of Argentina Rift basins Geology of Chubut Province Geology of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina Mesozoic rifts and grabens