Thermal history, exhumation, uplift, and long-term landscape evolution of the South Atlantic passive continental margin in south-eastern Argentina and comparison with SW-South Africa

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The eastern Argentina South Atlantic passive continental margin (SAPCM-A) is characterized by a very flat topography without an escarpment developed. The timing and causes of the topography and basin evolution are only partly known. Thermochronological research with thermo-kinematic modeling will help to understand the causes and timing of the SAPCM-A. Perpendicular to the NE-SW trending direction of the SAPCM, two SE-NW trending basins (Salado, Colorado) are separated by the SE-NW trending Tandill and Ventana Hills. In cooperation with the SPP-research projects of Dr. R. di Primio and Dr. M. Scheck-Wenderoth, this research will focus on the temperature and inversion history of the on- and offshore part of the Salado and Colorado Basin. Applying thermochronological dating techniques, and 1-D modeling by the computer code Petromod and Petrotrack to cuttings from various drill sites, the research project will provide insight into the cooling, inversion, and uplift history of the basins. In addition, we will apply the same thermochronological techniques, and 3-D thermo-kinematic modeling (Pecube) on the surface outcrops in the Tandill and Ventana Hills between both basins. This area is also a key area to study the influence of Fracture Zones (transform faults, transfer zones) on the SAPCM evolution. Combining the ages, cooling, exhumation/inversion, and uplift rates, and models from the basins and the hills will allow constraining the evolution and the causes for this unique topography at the SAPCM. Therefore, this project will provide new data for the lithosphere and mantle scale modeling projects in the SPP. In a continuation we will compare the new data with those published on the evolution of the SAPCM in South Africa.