Paraná Basin

Coordinates: 25°00′S 54°00′W / 25.000°S 54.000°W / -25.000; -54.000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the Paraná–Paraguay watershed (basin), see Paraná River.
Paraná Basin
Bacia do Paraná, Cuenca Paraná
Field(s)
Barra Bonita (gas)

The Paraná Basin (Portuguese: Bacia do Paraná, Spanish: Cuenca del Paraná) is a large cratonic sedimentary basin situated in the central-eastern part of South America. About 75% of its areal distribution occurs in Brazil, from Mato Grosso to Rio Grande do Sul states. The remainder area is distributed in eastern Paraguay, northeastern Argentina and northern Uruguay. The shape of the depression is roughly elliptical and covers an area of about 1,500,000 km2 (580,000 sq mi).

The Paraná River, from which the Paraná Basin derived its name, flows along the central axis of the Paraná Basin and drains it.

Description

The Paraná Basin stretches from the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso in the north to northern Argentina and Uruguay in the south. The southern portion in Uruguay is locally known as Norte Basin.[6][7]

Pioneer studies

Mesosaurus skeleton reconstruction (MacGregor, 1908)[8]
Fossil specimens of Glossopteris Flora from Paraná Basin coals, David White (1908).[9]

The first study on the Brazilian side of the Paraná Basin dates from 1841, when a

South American Permian strata and similar rocks of the Karoo Basin in South Africa.[10]

Basin evolution

The basin developed during the

igneous rocks.[1][11][12] The sedimentary cover extends across various Precambrian geologic provinces: the Río de la Plata Craton, the Mantiqueira Province, the Luis Alves craton fragment, the Tocantins Province and the Paranapanema block. This last province is distinct in that it is wholly covered by basin sediments and therefore poorly known.[13]

The Paraná Basin is a typical intra-cratonic flexural basin, although during the Paleozoic it was a gulf that opened to the southwest. The basin genesis is related to the convergence between the former Gondwana supercontinent and the oceanic crust of the former Panthalassa ocean. The basin formed, at least during the Paleozoic Gondwanide orogeny, as a foreland basin.[1][11][14] In the Permian and Triassic the area between Asunción and Río Grande was uplifted in connection to the Gondwanide orogeny effectively splitting the basin in the two.[15]

The piling up of material in Bolivia and the Argentine Northwest during the Andean orogeny caused the Asunción arch, a forebulge, to develop in Paraguay. The Asunción arch makes up the modern western boundary of Paraná Basin.[16]

Stratigraphy

The sedimentary column of the Paraná Basin was divided by Milani in 1997,

stratigraphic framework of the basin and are bound by distinct depositional hiati, caused by erosive events.[1]

Rio Ivaí Supersequence

The basal supersequence, deposited during the Late

glacial Ordovician deposits that affected large areas of Gondwana and the Vila Maria Formation, a thick muddy sequence rich in fossil content: graptolites, trilobites, brachiopods and chitinozoa.[1]

Paraná Supersequence

This Devonian supersequence is represented, at the base, by sheet-like, cross-bedded coarse to medium sandstones of the Furnas Formation and, on top, by a muddy section, rich in macrofossils and forming a potential petroleum source rock, named Ponta Grossa Formation.[1]

Gondwana I Supersequence

The Carboniferous to Early Triassic Gondwana I Supersequence has two distinctive features:[1]

Finally, during the Late Permian the

bituminous shale, a potential petroleum source rock, and famous worldwide for its Mesosaurus fauna. The top of this supersequence defines the end of the marine phase.[1]

Gondwana II Supersequence
Iguaçu Falls
, Brazil-Argentina border

This Triassic supersequence marks the beginning of continental sedimentation. The Santa Maria Group comprises the Candelária, Caturrita and Santa Maria Formations. In the Santa Maria Formation, it bears an important reptile and mammal fauna, that can be correlated to the African continent.[1]

Gondwana III Supersequence

The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Gondwana III Supersequence is marked by two major events:

Bauru Supersequence
Main article: Bauru Group

A Cretaceous supersequence occurring in the north-central part of the basin and composed mainly of sandy-conglomeratic deposits.[1]

The northeasternmost part of the basin contains the Goio-Erê Formation, dating to the Turonian.[19]

Neogene cover
See also: Chaco Basin

In the Argentinian part of the basin, the Serra Geral Formation is overlain by the Huayquerian Ituzaingó Formation that underlies the Pleistocene Toropí and Yupoí Formations.[20] Older Neogene formations in the basin comprise the Late Miocene Paraná Formation.[21] The Uruguayan part of the basin contains the Late Pleistocene (Lujanian) Dolores and Sopas Formations and the Brazilian portion hosts the Lujanian Touro Passo Formation.[22]

Natural resources

The main natural resources extracted in Paraná Basin are groundwater, coal and oil shale.[citation needed]

Groundwater
Main article:
Guaraní Aquifer

The Guaraní Aquifer is one of the world's largest

permeable sandstones of the Botucatu and Pirambóia formations. The aquifer covers 1,200,000 km2 (460,000 sq mi) with an estimated volume of about 37,000 km3 (3.0×1010 acre⋅ft) of water.[23]

Energy resources

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Milani et al., 2007a
  2. ^ Fernandez, 2013, p.6
  3. ^ Klemme, 1980, p.193
  4. ^ Bally & Snelson, 1980, p.25
  5. ^ Kingston, Dishroon & Williams, 1983, p.2178
  6. ^ De Santa Ana et al., 2004, p.88
  7. ^ Daners et al., 2006, p.148
  8. ^ MacGregor, 1908
  9. ^ White, David (1908) Flora Fóssil das Coal Measures do Brasil, pp. 337-617 + 14 estampas (inglês) IN: White, I.C. (1908) "Commissão de Estudos das Minas de Carvão de Pedra do Brazil”, Relatório Final, Parte III, Imprensa Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 617 pg. (Relatório bilíngue, em português e inglês). Edição facsimilar de 1988, DNPM
  10. ^ White, 1908
  11. ^ a b Zalán et al., 1991
  12. ^ Milani et al., 2007b
  13. ^ Mantovani et al., 2010
  14. ^ Melo, 1988
  15. ^ Rossello et al., 2006
  16. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/1999/v22i3/007
    .
  17. ^ Milani, 1997
  18. ^ Vail et al., 1977
  19. ^ Manzig et al., 2014, p.2
  20. ^ Franco et al., 2013, p.41
  21. ^ Martín Pérez, 2013, p.51
  22. ^ Kerber et al., 2014, p.250
  23. ^ (in Portuguese) O Aqüífero Guarani - The Guarani Aquifer Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Brazilian Geological Survey Co. Report: Companhia de Pesquisa de Recursos Minerais - Informe de Recursos Minerais
  25. ^ Zanotto et al., 2008
  26. ^ Petrobras Shale Industrialization Business Unit[permanent dead link]

Bibliography

Basin types and sequence stratigraphy

  • Bally, A.W., and S. Snelson. 1980. Realms of subsidence. CSPG Memoir 6. 9–94. .
  • Kingston, D.R.; C.P. Dishroon, and P.A. Williams. 1983. Global Basin Classification System. AAPG Bulletin 67. 2175–2193. Accessed 2017-06-23.
  • Klemme, H.D. 1980. Petroleum Basins - Classifications and Characteristics. Journal of Petroleum Geology 3. 187–207. Accessed 2017-06-23.
  • Vail, P.R.; R.M. Mitchum, and S. Thompson. 1977. Seismic Stratigraphy and global change of sea level, part 3: relative changes of sea level from coastal onlap. AAPG Memoir 26. 205–212. .

Paraná Basin

Paleontology

External links

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