Sierra Baguales

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.

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
Parent rangeAndes
Geology
Age of rockLate Eocene-Early Miocene
Type of rocksedimentary rock
igneous sills

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. 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.
  2. 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. 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.
  4. Bostelmann et al., 2013

Bibliography
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