Chapter 53 Las Ventanas and San Carlos formations, Maldonado Group, Uruguay
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Together with the Playa Hermosa Formation (Fm.), the Las Ventanas and San Carlos formations constitute the Maldonado Group, which is better developed in the southeastern part of Uruguay and covers an area of c. 200 km 2 . The total thickness of both units (i.e. Las Ventanas and San Carlos formations) reaches c. 1500 m, and comprises mafic and acidic volcanic rocks, pyroclastic rocks, diamictite, sandstone, conglomerate and pelite. Structurally, the Maldonado Group is extensively deformed, although variably, throughout the region. Strike–slip faults, westward-verging detachment faults, and folds with axis sub-parallel to the strike–slip planes are common features. The presence of pumpellyite, prehnite, chlorite and epidote in mafic rocks indicates very low- to low-grade metamorphic conditions. The Las Ventanas Fm. is characterized by basal conglomerate, diamictite, sandstone and siltstone that pass upwards into fine-grained rhythmites (pelite), and is the thickest unit of the Maldonado Group ( c. 1250 m). The San Carlos Formation ( c. 250 m) comprises fine-grained conglomerate, sandstone and mudstone towards the top. Both units lie on an angular unconformity above Palaeo- and Neoproterozoic basement and are overlain unconformably by late Ediacaran–lowermost Cambrian units. Reliable palaeomagnetic data indicate that the Maldonado Group accumulated at high palaeolatitudes; however, the palaeogeographical evolution of the Río de la Plata Craton during the Neoproterozoic remains conjectural. Radiometric data from intrusive bodies and cross-cutting strike–slip faults place the minimum age of the group at c. 565 Ma, whereas basement volcanic rocks dated at 590 ± 2 Ma interbedded with meta-sandstones hosting detrital zircons c. 600 million years old provide the best constraint on the maximum age of deposition. Given the absence of carbonate rocks, no chemostratigraphic studies (e.g. C, O, Sr) are available. The Las Ventanas and San Carlos formations are largely interpreted as units within a thick glacially influenced fan-delta sedimentary system formed during the early Ediacaran in a strike–slip basin. Based on stratigraphic and sedimentological characteristics it has been suggested that this succession, containing glacially influenced diamictite and dropstones, records a glacial period that occurred sometime between c. 570 and 590 million years ago. Ongoing research is focused on establishing the precise age of deposition of the Maldonado Group and on reconstructing the tectonic evolution of the basin. Further palaeomagnetic studies will be especially useful for determining the palaeogeography of the Río de la Plata Craton during the Ediacaran and establishing its relationships with neighbouring strata hosting similar successions.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.012 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".