Late Carboniferous postglacial brachiopod faunas in the Southwestern Gondwana margin

The glaciomarine sediments related to the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) have an excellent stratigraphic record in Argentina, particularly those associated to the Late Carboniferous glacial episode identified along the southwestern margin of South America: Bolivia (Tarija Basin), west central Argentina (Calingasta-Uspallata Basin) and Patagonia (Tepuel-Genoa basins). The aim of this contribution is mainly a biostratigraphy update of the carboniferous brachiopod faunas that occur in the earliest postglacial interval (late Serpukhovian-Bashkirian) in the west central Argentina (i.e., Levipustula and Aseptella-Tuberculatella/Rhipidomella-Micraphelia faunas) and its regional correlation with those equivalents in the nearby basins. Components of these faunas are recognized from the Bolivia to Argentine Patagonia and their compositional variations appear to be controlled principally by a paleolatitudinal factor. The affinities showed by the postglacial faunas of the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin and the faunal assemblages that integrate the Lanipustula and Tuberculatella biozones in Patagonia differ from the significant contrast proposed by other authors, based on the paleogeographical position of Patagonia in the Late Paleozoic. Paleoecological studies focused on the paleoenvironmental controls related with the glacial dynamic are suggested to understand the complex relationship between these postglacial faunas.