Tidally dominated, rimmed-shelf facies of the Picun Leufu formation (Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary) in southwest Gondwana, Neuquen basin, Argentina

A palaeoenvironmental model for the Picun Leufu Formation (Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary), which crops out in the Neuquin Basin, Argentina, on the Southwestern margin of Gondwana, is presented in this paper for the first time. Detailed stratigraphic sections exposed along National Road 40 where it crosses the Picun Leufu Creek (type locality) and in the Cerrito Caracoles area, were examined and sampled. Based on a combination of the sedimentological data obtained (facies/microfacies analysis) and the relationship between benthic macrofaunas and their taphonomic attributes, it is concluded that the formation reflects a tidally dominated, rimmed-shelf setting characterized by prograding bars dissected by channels and thick lagoonal facies with shoal developments. In the Cerrito Caracoles area, where only the basal part of the formation is exposed, it is interpreted to have been deposited in a shallow subtidal marine environment in which shelf margin facies with patch reefs have been recognized. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.