@article{PingelAlonsoAltenbergeretal.2019,
  author    = {Pingel, Heiko and Alonso, Ricardo N. and Altenberger, Uwe and Cottle, John and Strecker, Manfred},
  title     = {Miocene to Quaternary basin evolution at the southeastern Andean Plateau (Puna) margin (ca. 24°S lat, Northwestern Argentina)},
  series = {Basin research},
  volume    = {31},
  journal   = {Basin research},
  number    = {4},
  publisher = {Wiley},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {0950-091X},
  doi       = {10.1111/bre.12346},
  pages     = {808 -- 826},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {The Andean Plateau of NW Argentina is a prominent example of a high-elevation orogenic plateau characterized by internal drainage, arid to hyper-arid climatic conditions and a compressional basin-and-range morphology comprising thick sedimentary basins. However, the development of the plateau as a geomorphic entity is not well understood. Enhanced orographic rainout along the eastern, windward plateau flank causes reduced fluvial run-off and thus subdued surface-process rates in the arid hinterland. Despite this, many Puna basins document a complex history of fluvial processes that have transformed the landscape from aggrading basins with coalescing alluvial fans to the formation of multiple fluvial terraces that are now abandoned. Here, we present data from the San Antonio de los Cobres (SAC) area, a sub-catchment of the Salinas Grandes Basin located on the eastern Puna Plateau bordering the externally drained Eastern Cordillera. Our data include: (a) new radiometric U-Pb zircon data from intercalated volcanic ash layers and detrital zircons from sedimentary key horizons; (b) sedimentary and geochemical provenance indicators; (c) river profile analysis; and (d) palaeo-landscape reconstruction to assess aggradation, incision and basin connectivity. Our results suggest that the eastern Puna margin evolved from a structurally controlled intermontane basin during the Middle Miocene, similar to intermontane basins in the Mio-Pliocene Eastern Cordillera and the broken Andean foreland. Our refined basin stratigraphy implies that sedimentation continued during the Late Mio-Pliocene and the Quaternary, after which the SAC area was subjected to basin incision and excavation of the sedimentary fill. Because this incision is unrelated to baselevel changes and tectonic processes, and is similar in timing to the onset of basin fill and excavation cycles of intermontane basins in the adjacent Eastern Cordillera, we suspect a regional climatic driver, triggered by the Mid-Pleistocene Climate Transition, caused the present-day morphology. Our observations suggest that lateral orogenic growth, aridification of orogenic interiors, and protracted plateau sedimentation are all part of a complex process chain necessary to establish and maintain geomorphic characteristics of orogenic plateaus in tectonically active mountain belts.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{MonteroLopezHongnLopezSteinmetzetal.2020,
  author    = {Montero-Lopez, Carolina and Hongn, Fernando D. and Lopez Steinmetz, Romina L. and Aramayo, Alejandro and Pingel, Heiko and Strecker, Manfred and Cottle, John and Bianchi, Carlos},
  title     = {Development of an incipient Paleogene topography between the present-day Eastern Andean Plateau (Puna) and the Eastern Cordillera, southern Central Andes, NW Argentina},
  series = {Basin research / publ. in conjunction with the European Association of Geoscientists \& Engineers and the International Association of Sedimentologists},
  volume    = {33},
  journal   = {Basin research / publ. in conjunction with the European Association of Geoscientists \& Engineers and the International Association of Sedimentologists},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0950-091X},
  doi       = {10.1111/bre.12510},
  pages     = {1194 -- 1217},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {The structural and topographic evolution of orogenic plateaus is an important research topic because of its impact on atmospheric circulation patterns, the amount and distribution of rainfall, and resulting changes in surface processes. The Puna region in the north-western Argentina (between 13 degrees S and 27 degrees S) is part of the Andean Plateau, which is the world's second largest orogenic plateau. In order to investigate the deformational events responsible for the initial growth of this part of the Andean plateau, we carried out structural and stratigraphic investigations within the present-day transition zone between the northern Puna and the adjacent Eastern Cordillera to the east. This transition zone is characterized by ubiquitous exposures of continental middle Eocene redbeds of the Casa Grande Formation. Our structural mapping, together with a sedimentological analysis of these units and their relationships with the adjacent mountain ranges, has revealed growth structures and unconformities that are indicative of syntectonic deposition. These findings support the notion that tectonic shortening in this part of the Central Andes was already active during the middle Paleogene, and that early Cenozoic deformation in the region that now constitutes the Puna occurred in a spatially irregular manner. The patterns of Paleogene deformation and uplift along the eastern margin of the present-day plateau correspond to an approximately north-south oriented swath of reactivated basement heterogeneities (i.e. zones of mechanical weakness) stemming from regional Paleozoic mountain building that may have led to local concentration of deformation belts.},
  language  = {en}
}