NEW RECORD OF THE LUECKISPORITES/WEYLANDITES BIOZONE (PERMIAN) IN THE PAGANZO BASIN, ARGENTINA: STRATIGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE

We present the first palynological assemblages collected from the fine- grained variegated beds that overlie the De La Cuesta Formation at Puerta de Las Angosturas, Sierra de Narvaez, Catamarca Province, Argentina. Five samples from two different stratigraphic levels provided spores, non-taeniate, taeniate, and sulcate pollen grains referred to the Lueckisporites/Weylandites ( LW) Biozone. The palynofloras are equivalent to those previously reported for the Los Jumes area and, therefore, the variegated sequences that overlie the De La Cuesta Formation at both flanks of the Sierra de Narvaez are entirely equivalent, not only lithologically but also in fossiliferous content and age. These assemblages are analogous to those isotopically dated at 278.84 +/- 0.22 Ma (Kungurian) in the Valle Hermoso area (La Rioja Province), which constitute a key stratigraphic horizon to link the initial phases of the Permian volcanic arc and the sedimentation in the retroarc basins. The recognition of diagnostic taxa of the LW Biozone confirms earlier correlations with the Striatites Biozone of the Chacoparana Basin and the Lv Biozone from Brazil. The different ages recently reported for the succession analyzed here in Sierra de Narvaez and La Veteada Formation, suggest that these units should not be correlated. Moreover, while the strata overlying the De La Cuesta Formation records the Permian post-orogenic sedimentation in the Paganzo Basin, the La Veteada Formation accounts for the transition to the rifting conditions that characterized the triassic basins of northwestern Argentina.