Sierra Baguales
View to north of Cerro Guido and Estancia Cerro Guido
Highest point
PeakCerro Ciudadela
Elevation2,084 m (6,837 ft)
Dimensions
Length60 km (37 mi) east-west
Geography
Sierra Baguales is located in Argentina
Sierra Baguales
Location of Sierra Baguales in Argentina
Country Argentina
 Chile
RegionSanta Cruz Province
Magallanes
Range coordinates50°44′S 72°24′W / 50.733°S 72.400°W / -50.733; -72.400
Parent rangeAndes
Geology
Age of rockLate Eocene-Early Miocene
Type of rocksedimentary rock
igneous sills

Sierra Baguales or Sierra de los Baguales is a mountain range in the southernmost Andes. Sierra Baguales is a 60 kilometres (37 mi) long east–west chain, secondary to the main chain of the Andes that lie further west.[1][2] It lies along the border between Chile and Argentina near the localities of Puerto Natales and Río Turbio.

Geology

The mountain range contains a series of cirques formed by glaciers.[2] Many cirques developed in the Pleistocene Epoch from isolated glaciers that existed separedly from ice sheets further west.[2] The rocks of Sierra Baguales belong to various formations of Magallanes Basin.[3] These rocks contain fossils of plants, mammals and marine invertebrates.[3]

Stratigraphy

From top to bottom the following formations make up Sierra Baguales:[3]

  • Santa Cruz Formation, sedimentary rocks belonging to a non-marine succession and hosting many vertebrate fossils[4]
  • Estancia 25 de Mayo Formation, a succession of fossil-bearing sedimentary rocks that date to the Early Miocene. Sediments were deposited in a marine environment.
  • La Cumbre Formation, an olivine-bearing gabbro sill
  • Río Leona Formation, a succession of non-marine fossils, some of which contain Nothofagus fossils
  • Bandurrías Formation, an olivine-bearing gabbro sill
  • Loreto Formation, sedimentary rocks variously assigned a Late Eocene to Early Miocene age. Contains fossil shark teeth.

On the eastern slopes of Sierra Baguales various lithic artifacts have been found.[1] Human occupation of eastern foothills begun no later than 4,500 years before present.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Karen B., Borrazzo (2008). "Análisis tecnológico de distribuciones artefactuales en la periferia sudeste de la Sierra Baguales (Santa Cruz, Argentina)" [Technological analysis of surface artifact distributions in the southeastern end of Baguales Range (Santa Cruz, Argentina)]. Magallania (in Spanish). 36 (1): 103–116. doi:10.4067/S0718-22442008000100008. hdl:11336/117724.
  2. 1 2 3 Araos, José M.; Le Roux, Jacobus P.; Kaplan, Michael R.; Spagnolo, Matteo (2018). "Factors controlling alpine glaciations in the Sierra Baguales Mountain Range of southern Patagonia (50º S), inferred from the morphometric analysis of glacial cirques". Andean Geology. 45 (3). doi:10.5027/andgeoV45n3-2974.
  3. 1 2 3 Bostelmann, Enrique; Le Roux, Jacobus P.; Vasquez, Ana; Gutiérrez, Nestor; Oyarzún, José Luis; Carreño, Catalina; Torres, Teresa; Otero, Rodrigo; Llanos, Andrea; Fanning, C. Mark; Nielsen, Sven. N.; Hervé, Francisco (2012). A revised lithostratigraphy of the Sierra Baguales, Magallanes Basin (PDF). XIII Congeso Geológico Chileno. pp. 698–700. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 3, 2018.
  4. ↑ Bostelmann et al., 2013

Bibliography

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