Cuyo Basin

Not to be confused with Cuyania.

Cuyo Basin (Spanish: Cuenca Cuyana) is a sedimentary basin in Mendoza Province, western Argentina. The Cuyo Basin has a NNW-SSE elongated shape and is limited to the west by the Sierra Pintada System and to the east by the Pampean pericraton. To the north the basin reaches the area around the city of Mendoza.^[1]

Cuyo Basin
Cuenca Cuyana
Location of the basin in Argentina
Coordinates	34°15′S 68°34′W
Etymology	Cuyo River
Country	Argentina
State(s)	Mendoza, San Juan
Cities	Mendoza
Characteristics
On/Offshore	Onshore
Boundaries	Andes
Part of	Andean foreland basins
Area	~30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi)
Hydrology
River(s)	Cuyo River
Geology
Basin type	Foreland basin
Plate	South American
Orogeny	Andean
Age	Triassic-Pliocene
Stratigraphy	Stratigraphy
Field(s)	Tupungato

Description

The Cuyo Basin has an approximate area of 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi).^[2] It has two major sub-basins: Cacheuta (Spanish: Subcuenca Cacheuta) in the north and Alvear (Spanish: Subcuenca Alvear) in the south. The northern fringes of Cacheuta sub-basin reaches into San Juan Province. The basin existed already during the Triassic but its current shape is derivative of the Andean orogeny.^[1]

The basin originated as a rift basin in the context of extensional tectonics and crustal thinning that followed the Paleozoic Gondwanide orogeny.^{[note 1]}

Stratigraphy

The stratigraphy of the Cuyo Basin comprises the following formations:

Age bold is SALMA type	Group	Formation	Lithologies	Depositional environment	Notes
Pleistocene		Tunuyán			[4]
Mio-Pliocene Huayquerian		Huayquerías	Mudstones, sandstones, tuff	Fluvial	[5]
Miocene		Mogotes		Alluvial	[6]
Miocene		La Pilona	Shales and sandstones	Alluvial	[6]
Middle Miocene Laventan		Mariño	Sandstones	Alluvial and eolian	[6]
Late Oligocene Deseadan
Early Oligocene	Hiatus				[6]
Priabonian
Bartonian Divisaderan		Divisadero Largo		Fluvial	[6]
Lutetian		Papagayos		Fluvial	[6]
Early Eocene	Hiatus				[6]
Paleocene
Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous		Punta de las Bardas	Basalts	Volcanic	[6]
Late Jurassic
		Barrancas	Sandstones and conglomerates	Alluvial to fluvial	[6]
Rhaetian	Uspallata	Río Blanco		Fluvial-deltaic	[6][3]
Norian
Carnian		Cacheuta	Black shales	Lacustrine	[6][7]
		Potrerillos	Tuffs, conglomerates, sandstones, shales	Alluvial to fluvial	[6][7][8]
Ladinian		Cerro de las Cabras	Mudstones and conglomerates		[6][7]
Anisian
Olenekian		Río Mendoza	Volcaniclastic conglomerates		[6][7]
Induan
Late Permian	Choiyoi Group				[3]
Carboniferous	Hiatus				[9][10]
Devonian
Early Paleozoic	Cuyania				[9][10]

See also

• Geological history of the Precordillera terrane
• Colorado Basin, basin to the southeast of Cuyo Basin
• Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin, Triassic rift basin to the north of Cuyo Basin
• Neuquén Basin, Mesozoic rift basin to the south of Cuyo Basin
• Paraná Basin, basin to the northeast of Cuyo Basin
• Salta Basin, Mesozoic rift basin to the north of Cuyo Basin