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f Estruturas de Inversion y Habitat del Petroleo en el Oeste del Chubut y Santa Cruz, Argentina
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, 3rd International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society, Nov 1993, cp-324-00033
Abstract
Inversion Structures and Habitat of Oil in Western Chubut and Santa Cruz, Argentina. The San Bernardo ("Bemardides") estructnred province is a polyphase deformed belt that transects the peri-Andean part of the Argentine Patagonia, where it Jays distinctly separated from the fold and thrust belt that fringes the western side of the South American plate. The structured zone encompasses a NNW-SSE trending band in excess of 600 Ian long and mostly less than 100 km wide. The area features faults and folds that involve a Precambrian to Middle Paleozoic basement, Upper Paleozoic to Jurassic sedimentay and volcanogenic wedges, and the Cretaceous non-marine fill of the intracratonic San Jorge Basin. The Cretaceous carapace is dominated by a structural style showing discontinuous, narrow and box-shaped folds associated to east and west verging reverse faults. Oil finds are restricted to the lowlying unbreached segment between the Senguerr and Deseado rivers, where seismic control suggest that the anticlinal structures developed because contractional reactivation of pre-existing normal and strike-slip faults. Highlights of the San Bernardo petroleum system can be outlined as follows