Stratigraphy, depositional environments and ichnology of the Lower Paleozoic in the Azul Pampa area - Jujuy Province

Cambrian-Ordovician deposits are widely represented in the Azul Pampa area, Cordillera Oriental, Jujuy Province. The stratigraphic column begins with the Mesón Group (Lower to Middle Cambrian) which records shallow-marine sedimentation in a tide-dominated environment. The Mesón Group includes the Lizoite, Campanario and Chalhualmayoc formations. The Lizoite and Chalhualmayoc formations contain subtidal sandbar deposits similar to those farther south in the Quebrada de Humahuaca region and surrounding areas. The Campanario Formation includes intertidal flat and channels deposits, representing the regressive maximum of the Mesón Group. Overlying the Mesón Group is an Upper Cambrian to Arenigian succession previously referred to as the Casayok Sandstones and Azul Pampa Formation. Integrated sedimentologic, paleontologic and sequence-stratigraphic studies indicate that these units are lithologically similar and temporarily equivalent to the Santa Rosita Formation (Upper Cambrian to Tremadocian) and the Acoite Formation (Arenigian), respectively, which are widely accepted in adjacent areas. Thus, the Casayok Sandstones and Azul Pampa Formation nomenclature can be abandoned. The lower interval of the Santa Rosita Formation is represented by tide-dominated estuarine deposits of the Pico de Halcón Member, while the upper interval is included in the Alfarcito Member and consists of wave-dominated shallow-marine deposits, ranging from the upper shoreface to the lower offshore and displaying a series of transgressive-regressive cycles. The Acoite Formation records a basinwide maximum transgressive episode and is dominated by shelf deposits with subordinate offshore deposits. There is an absence or scarcity of bioturbation in high-energy settings, an increase in ichnodiversity along salinity gradients, an abundance of firm substrates in Cambrian marginal-marine environments and an increase in degree and depth of bioturbation through the Early Ordovician interval.