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Continental carbonates are rich in palaeoclimatic, palaeoenvironmental and palaeontological information. While carbonate accumulation mechanisms have been described for many types of continental environments, especially in extensional basins, there are still uncertainties that existing facies models fail to address. The Triassic Cerro de las Cabras and Cerro Puntudo formations are alluvial-fluvial-lacustrine sequences that represent a part of the sedimentary infill of two sub-basins of the Cuyana Basin during the early stages of the Triassic rift in west-central Argentina. Previous work has provided absolute dates, confirming that these deposits are coeval (Anisian) allowing a comparative study of carbonate sedimentation in an extensional tectonic context. The description and origin of freshwater carbonate deposits and their surrounding siliciclastic sediments in specific areas of the Cuyana rift, gives insight into the major factors that control carbonate precipitation in all rift basins, including the characterization of the palaeohydrology and the importance of provenance. The Cerro de las Cabras Formation represents an ephemeral, playa-lake depositional system with subaerial exposure and pedogenesis. Its aggradational succession corresponds to the evaporative facies association lake type, diagnostic of underfilled lake basins where persistently closed surface hydrology can lead to thick evaporites. However, this formation lacks thick evaporites and has microbialitic limestones, pointing to an open groundwater supply. The Cerro Puntudo Formation represents an alkaline playa-lake system fed by groundwater and ephemeral surface-water input. The unit is an aggradational-minor progradational succession, pointing to a fluctuating profundal facies association, suggesting a balanced-filled lake type. These two synchronous, lacustrine depositional systems were influenced by tectonics and climate. Provenance and hydrology are key controls in carbonate accumulation in continental rift basins that must be included in future facies models for continental carbonates. Comparison with other rift basins suggests that application of lake-type characterizations coupled with palaeohydrology and provenance patterns will aid in developing new sedimentation models for freshwater limestones in extensional settings.

In the North of Mendoza Province, at Paramillos de Uspallata locality, Triassic sedimentary rocks outcrop. These Triassic beds are grouped in four formations: Paramillos, Agua de la Zorra, Portezuelo Bayo and Los Colorados. The Agua de la Zorra Formation is characterized by deposition in a deltaic and lacustrine system. The aims of this contribution are: (1) to realize a systematic study of new plant remains found in the Agua de la Zorra Formation and (2) to analize the influence of the potential of preservation and the volcanism in the Agua de la Zorra taphoflora in contrast with other Triassic units. Plant remains were systematically collected and compared with taphofloras from other Triassic formations of the Cuyana Basin. The systematic study from the Agua de la Zorra Formation allowed the determination of 21 taxa, nine of which have been cited in a previous contribution and 12 were described for the first time for the Agua de la Zorra Formation. There are differences in the taxonomic diversity between the taphofloras recovered from Potrerillos and Paramillos formations and these differences are linking with differences in biostratinomic process in each fluvial system and linked with the evidence of volcanic processes in these areas. The differences in diversity in the taphofloras of the Cacheuta and Agua de la Zorra formations can be more associated to ecological differences than variations in the taphonomic processes in each of the lake systems.

Lakes are particularly sensitive to environmental fluctuations, which are recorded in their facies and stratigraphy. Ephemeral lakes reveal their sensitivity to palaeoenvironmental changes in the overprinting of the sedimentary features in every single bed. Tetrapod‐track taphonomic‐modes and ichnological taphonomic‐pathways can be used as sensitive indicators of environmental conditions of the track‐bearing beds during deposition and imprinting. The Middle Triassic Cerro de las Cabras succession (Cuyana Basin, Argentina) provides an excellent opportunity to these environmental indicators in an underfilled palaeolake. A model of ichnological preservation for underfilled lake systems is proposed and the role of the ichnology record in the sequence stratigraphy analysis is evaluated, based on the integration of tetrapod‐track modes, taphonomic‐pathways of playa‐lake ichnofauna, mineralogy and physical data. Soft‐ground suites include those dominated by invertebrate grazing traces and arthropod locomotion traces (Suite 1), and those overprinted by horizontal‐vertical dwelling burrows with tetrapod tracks preserved in taphonomic modes B and C (Suite 2). The firm‐ground suite (Suite 3) comprises tetrapod‐tracks with the best preservation styles (modes A and B) along less abundant invertebrate dwelling and feeding traces as found in Suite 2. Clay mineralogy (dominated by illite with subordinate smectite) suggests low plasticity of the layers, in agreement with low‐relief deformation structures observed in tetrapod‐track taphonomic‐modes. The well‐preserved track tetrapod features documented in the Cerro de las Cabras succession, together with the absence of pedogenic disturbance, trampling obliterating the footprints, and/or evidence of strong disturbance by wind, desiccation and/or precipitation, supports short periods of exposure of the imprinted surface particular to this succession. An integrated multiproxy approach is proposed to evaluate the evolutionary interpretation and identification of autogenic versus allogenic controls in underfilled lake‐basin histories. The observed aggradational‐trend suggests an equilibrium between rates of accommodation change and sediment supply, and that the basin‐centre did not experience prolonged sediment‐starved conditions.

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