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The Sierras Australes fold and thrust belt (Buenos Aires Province, Argentina) was in the southwestern Gondwanaland margin during the Paleozoic. The Tunas Formation (Permian) is exposed along the eastern part of it and continues eastward beneath the Claromecó Basin. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and compaction studies are described and compared with previous paleomagnetic studies with the aim of determining direction and magnitude of the main stresses acting during the sedimentation of the Tunas Formation. The anisotropy ellipsoids are triaxial with oblate or prolate shapes, reflecting different stages of layer parallel shortening during the evolution of the basin. Kmax axes trend NW‐SE, parallel to the fold axes, while Kmin move from a horizontal (base) to a vertical orientation at the top of the succession, showing a change from a tectonic to almost a sedimentary fabric. The magnitude of anisotropy and compaction degree decreases toward the top of the succession. The AMS results are consistent with the outcrop structural observations and the compaction and paleomagnetic data. Regional pattern indicates a compression from the SW along this part of Gondwana, with a migration of the orogenic front and attenuation toward the NE in the foreland basin during the Upper Paleozoic. This deformation, locally assigned to the San Rafael noncollisional orogenic phase, is the result of the latitudinal movements toward the Equator of Gondwana (southern plates) and Laurentia (northern plates) during the Permian. This movement is the result of a rearrangement of the microplates that collided with Gondwana during the Late Devonian, to configure Pangea during the Triassic.

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Pyroclastic levels are descripted in Sierras Australes outcrops and Claromeco Basin sub-surface records, interbedded with mudrocks and coal beds in the base of the Tunas Formation sequence that correspond to the Permian South West margin of Gondwana. The pyroclastic levels classify as fine tuff. SHRIMP zircon ages obtained are 291.7 ± 2.9 Ma in the outcrop and 295.5 ± 8.0 Ma in the subsurface. These ages are consistent with other zircon SHRIMP ages of other outcrops tuff of the Tunas Formation, with Permian flora, and with tuff ages of correlated Gondwana areas, in the Paraná, Karoo and Paganzo basins. These data, in addition with other geological evidences, support a tectonically active and changing

The Portezuelo Formation is part of a red bed sequence in the Neuquén Basin assigned to the Neuquén Group (lower Cenomanian-middle Campanian). In outcrops of the Portezuelo Formation in the Barda González region, iron oxide and hydroxide cements are only preserved in the less permeable claystone layers. Paleomigration of hydrocarbons and formation waters along the most permeable layers bleached the rocks due to partial to total dissolution of cements and grains and formation of several authigenic minerals: (1) montmorillonite and pyrite in the medium-to fine-grained sandstones and mudstones, and (2) multistage calcite and pyrite in the coarse-grained sandstones and conglomerates. The δ 34 S CDT (Canyon Diablo troilite) of −24.4 to −60‰ values in pyrite point to microbial reduction of a sulfate precursor. The oxidation of hydrocarbons and fluctuations in pH and carbon dioxide pressure caused by organic acids resulted in multiple stages of dissolution and precipitation of calcite. Calcite crystals host hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions (± pyrite) with variable fluorescence color, indicating that hydrocarbon composition changed with time. The intermediate δ 13 C PDB (Peedee belemnite) (−8.11‰ to −8.52‰) and δ 18 O PDB (−9.76 to −9.83‰) isotope composition of calcites may have resulted from mixtures of 13 C-rich CO 2 after the dissolution of local calcrete with 13 C-poor CO 2 from oxidizing hydrocarbons.This contribution provides for the first time key information to predict the distribution of authigenic minerals in reservoir rocks