Accretion of Grenvillian terranes to the southwestern border of the R��o de la Plata craton, western Argentina

A comprehensive review of the geological, geochronological, and isotopic features of the Mesoproterozoic Grenvillian terranes attached to the southwest of the Río de la Plata craton in Early Paleozoic times is presented in this paper. They are grouped into the northern (sierras de Umango, Maz and del Espinal and surroundings), central (Sierra de Pie de Palo, southern Precordillera and Frontal Cordillera), and southern (San Rafael and Las Matras Blocks) segments. The Mesoproterozoic basement consists mainly of arc related, intermediate to acidic and mafic?Cultramafic rocks of 1,244?C1,027?Ma, with juvenile, Laurentian affinity. Exception to it is the Maz Group, with a protracted history and reworked character. They are affected by 846?C570?Ma, extensional magmatism in the northern and central segments, which represents the Neoproterozoic breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent. Successive passive margin sedimentation is registered in Late Neoproterozoic (~640?C580?Ma) and Cambro-Ordovician (~550?C470?Ma) times. The southern segment is noted for the younger sedimentation alone, and for showing the exclusive primary unconformable relationship between the Mesoproterozoic basement and Early Ordovician cover. The effects of Early Paleozoic Famatinian orogeny, associated with the collisions of Cuyania and Chilenia terranes, are recorded as main phase (480?C450?Ma), late phase (440?C420?Ma), and Chanic phase (400?C360?Ma). Among them, the tectonothermal climax is the Ordovician main phase, to which klippe and nappe structures typical of collisional orogens are related in the northern and central segments. Preliminary data allow us to suggest a set of paired metamorphic belts, with an outboard high-P/T belt, and an inboard Barrowian P/T belt.     

Quartz microtextures and microstructures owing to deformation of glaciolacustrine sediments in the northern Venezuelan Andes

Glaciolacustrine sediments, ranging in age from Early to Late Mérida (Wisconsinan) in sections in the northern Venezuelan Andes near Pedregal, were studied to assess the effect of small‐scale folding and faulting on the surface microtextures of individual grains. At site PED5, faulting of sediments beneath 35 m of Middle to Late Mérida glaciolacustrine, glaciofluvial and probable till deposits, has resulted in a maximum displacement of 1 m and many crushed sand grains are found along the shear zone. These dominantly quartz particles are typically smoothed and/or faceted with surface skins split from parent grains to produce adhering blade or wafer‐shaped coarse silts. Faulting with displacement of< 40 cm occurs in Late Mérida glaciolacustrine beds at sites PED13 and PED11, beneath ca. 1–5 m of sediment and is thought to result from the removal of lateral support during valley erosion and possibly seismic disturbance. Associated sediments exhibit a greater incidence of small‐scale fold structures and convoluted bedding but with similar numbers and types of crushed grains. All of the fault traces examined exhibit microstructural modifications, including microfaulting, folding and multiple domains associated with fluidisation and liquefaction. The microtextures described are distinct from those produced by glacial or glaciofluvial transport processes and potentially may be used to infer glaciotectonic or other post‐depositional disturbance of sediments. Rare euhedral quartz grains with distorted crystallographic axes may derive from the shear zone of the regional transform Boconó Fault, although many of these grains appear to be overprinted by glacial and/or recent deformation processes. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sexual traits plasticity of the potentially invasive limpet Bostrycapulus odites (Gastropoda: Calyptraeidae) within its natural distribution in South America

The slipper limpet Bostrycapulus odites has recently been reported as an introduced species on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Another species in the family Calyptraeidae, Crepidula fornicata, is a problematic invasive species in the Northeast Atlantic, which makes the closely related Bostrycapulus introduction a matter of concern. Information on the biology of B. odites in its natural environment can facilitate predictions on where the species could find favourable conditions for settlement and expansion. Size and sex were recorded for individuals in four populations over 2600 km of the Southwestern Atlantic shoreline, in Argentina and Brazil, covering the whole native latitudinal range of this widely distributed species. Animals were collected by hand in the intertidal or by SCUBA in subtidal locations; specimens were examined to determine shell length, sex, and the presence and number of brooded egg capsules in females. Mean shell length for the whole population did not differ significantly among populations. However, this species experiences sequential hermaphroditism (protandrism), and the size at sexual maturity (minimum male size) increased significantly with latitude. The fecundity of females at all sites increased with size, and the number of brooded egg capsules as well as the average size of capsules was larger in bigger individual females; however, mean fecundity varied among sites independent of mean female body size. This limpet species modifies its reproductive traits with local conditions, and sexual characters develop earlier in more temperate localities.