Sedimentary facies and depositional environments related to Gondwana glaciation in Batovi and Suspiro regions, Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil

Sedimentary facies were produced by Late Paleozoic Gondwana ice sheets in the Batovi and Suspiro regions, Rio Grande do Sul State, southern Brazil. The glaciogenic sediments, assigned to the Itararé Group of Paranل Basin, are the result of processes related to the subglacial, supraglacial and proglacial (ice-contact, glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine) environments of the glacial depositional system. Several features developed by the action of glaciers were identified in the studied outcrops: striated and grooved pavements; striated, polished and faceted stones; finely laminated rhythmites bearing dropstones (varvites); erratic clasts and deposits exhibiting deformational structures such as folds, normal and reverse faults, and beds with abnormal dips. The available evidence suggests that the glacial episodes took place in a terrestrial (continental) context, far from direct marine influence.