Early Paleozoic and Andean structural evolution in the Rio Jلchal section of the Argentine Precordillera

In the fold-and-thrust belt of the northern Argentine Precordillera, Early Paleozoic basin and slope sediments are affected by a folding event which was combined with a slight greenschist facies metamorphism. The structural geometries are influenced by the former normal faulted boundary towards the eastern carbonate platform. To the east of the slope, Early Paleozoic marine deposits record a ~ W-vergent folding without a clear metamorphic overprint. This deformation probably took place in the Devonian to pre-Upper Carboniferous interval while in the west an onset during the Late Silurian is reasonable. During Andean (Late Tertiary) compression, the escarpment was again reactivated as an important, east-directed thrust fault, and the folded strata to the east were juxtaposed along distinct, east-directed high-angle reverse faults with some ~ N-S fold structures interfering with pre-Tertiary folds. Hence, the present architecture of this part of the orogen was largely influenced by different Early Paleozoic depositional realms and structures of one pre-Tertiary compressional event. The latter can be linked with the collision of the Sierras Pampeanas basement complex at the eastern margin of the Precordillera and be related to the collision with the Chilenia Terrane in the west.