Refining the chronology of Middle/Late Pleistocene fossil assemblages in the Argentine Pampas
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Middle and Late Pleistocene large and mega-mammal records of the Argentine Pampas, belonging to the Bonaerian and Lujanian Stages/Ages, have not yet been adequately dated by standard numerical radiometric methods. Reference timescales for Argentina and other South American fossil sites are mainly based on the mammalian faunal content (biostratigraphic units or biozones). We have recently dated three Middle and Late Pleistocene faunal sites located in the Buenos Aires Province using Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), U-series, Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating. The geographically distant sites (Salto de Piedra, Campo Spósito and Cascada de Paleolama) have yielded fossil assemblages representative of the Lujanian and Bonaerian Stages/Ages. Salto de Piedra, systematically excavated, records one of the most complete fossil sequences and our results indicate that it deposited between at least 127.4 ka (minimum age; Late Pleistocene, MIS 5) and 4.8–4.3 cal ka BP (Middle Holocene, MIS 1). Campo Spósito lower level (corresponding to ‘El Tala’ unit) was dated to >188 ka via ESR/U-series dating of teeth. Finally, Cascada de Paleolama Unit D, towards the base of the sequence, produced an age of 143 ± 20 ka (Late Pleistocene, MIS 5/6). The new dating results provide a crucial additional age control for the Bonaerian and Lujanian Stages/Ages, and allowed us to better identify and calibrate the limits of Equus neogeus, Megatherium americanum biozones, as well as to better constrain other index taxa that are used to construct local biostratigraphical frameworks. Our results indicate the need for a revision of the biozone schemes established for the Quaternary of Pampean region. • Three Pampean sites have been dated and fossil assemblages taxonomically revised. • Our dating results yielded a robust framework for Pleistocene Pampean sites. • Our revision confirmed index fossils from different biozones overlapped. • Our results advise strong revision of the biozones of the Pampean Quaternary.
Source: Quaternary Science Reviews
Authors: Jose Luis Prado, Mathieu Duval, Martina Demuro, Francisco Javier Santos-Arévalo, María Teresa Alberdi, Rodrigo L. Tomassini, Claudia I. Montalvo, Ricardo Bonini, Cristian M. Favier-Dubois, Sallie Burrough, Szilvia Bajkan, Germán M. Gasparini, Jonathan Bellinzoni, Fernando J. Fernández, Sara García-Morato, María Dolores Marin-Monfort, Shaun Adams, Jian-xin Zhao, Elisa Beilinson, Yolanda Fernández-Jalvo
Institutions: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Griffith University, La Trobe University, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, The University of Adelaide, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Centro Nacional de Aceleradores, Universidad de Sevilla, Junta de Andalucía, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, University of Oxford, Centro Científico Tecnológico - La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universitat de València, The University of Queensland
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,810
OpenAlex ID: W4403527751