Geological setting and paleomagnetism of the Eocene red beds of Laguna Brava Formation (Quebrada Santo Domingo, northwestern Argentina)

The red bed succession cropping out in the Quebrada Santo Domingo in northwestern Argentina had been for long considered as Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic in age based on weak radiometric and paleontological evidence. Preliminary paleomagnetic data confirmed the age and opened questions about the nature of fossil footprints with avian features discovered in the section. Recently the stratigraphic scheme was reviewed with the identification of previously unrecognized discontinuities, and a radiometric dating obtained in a tuff, indicated an Eocene age for the Laguna Brava Formation and the fossil bird footprints, much younger than the previously assigned. We present a detailed paleomagnetic study interpreted within a regional tectonic and stratigraphic framework, looking for an explanation for the misinterpretation of the preliminary paleomagnetic data.The characteristic remanent magnetizations pass a tilt test and a reversal test. The main magnetic carrier is interpreted to be low Ti titanomagnetites and to a lesser extent hematite. The characteristic remanent magnetization would be essentially detrital. The obtained paleomagnetic pole (PP) for the Laguna Brava Formation has the following geographic coordinates and statistical parameters: N = 29, Lon. = 184.5° E, Lat. = 75.0° S, A95 = 5.6° and K = 23.7. When this PP is compared with another one with similar age obtained in an undeformed area, a declination anomaly is recognized. This anomaly can be interpreted as Laguna Brava Formation belonging to a structural block that rotated about 16° clockwise along a vertical axis after about 34 Ma. This block rotation is consistent with the regional tectonic framework, and would have caused the fortuitous coincidence of the PP with Early Jurassic poles. According to the interpreted magnetostratigraphic correlation, the Laguna Brava Formation would have been deposited during the Late Eocene with a mean sedimentation rate of about 1.4 cm per thousand years, probably in relation to the onset of the Andean deformation.

► Red beds previously thought to be Triassic are actually Eocene. ► Magnetization carried by low-Ti titanomagnetites is mainly primary. ► Clockwise rotation in the boundary of Puna-Precordillera-Sierras Pampeanas. ► The unrotated pole matches the Early Jurassic APWP. ► Ambiguous interpretations arise, only resolved after precisely dating the rocks.