Geomorphology of Tafi valley (Tucumán Province, Northwest Argentina)

Abstract

Tafí valley is an elongated tectonic basin of about 450 km 2 located in NW Argentina in a mountainous frame of metamorphic and granitic Precambrian-Paleozoic rocks belonging to Sierras Pampeanas. This study presents the first detailed geomorphological map of the area. The most representative landforms date to the Lateglacial-Holocene, with four differentiating aggradative units separated by incision phases. Among these phases, it is possible to identify the units H1 (Lateglacial-Early and Middle Holocene) and H2 (Upper Holocene until ca. 600 cal BP). These units are composed of slopes, fluvial terraces, and alluvial fans, forming a coupled system. In some areas, this system is complemented with fluvioglacial and glacial landforms. More recent units (H3 and H4), together with active processes, contribute to the great variety of morphologies represented in the area.

Morphosedimentary and geoarchaeological records during the last 1400 years in the Ebro depression (NE Spain) and their paleoenvironmental interpretation

“…Thus, the studies of Davidson (1980), van Andel et al (1990), and Fuchs et al (2004) in Greece; Ballais (1985) in North Africa; Larue (2002) in France; Neboit-Guilhot (1979), Neboit (1984) in Southern Italy; and Peña Monné et al (2004, 2001, 2018), Constante et al (2010), and Pérez-Lambán (2013), Pérez-Lambán et al (2014, 2018) in NE Spain show that there are several Holocene aggradation units in the Mediterranean region. The same can be found in the USA (Huckleberry et al, 2013; Onken et al, 2014, among others) and South America (Magilligan et al, 2008; Sampietro-Vattuone and Peña-Monné, 2016, 2019, among others).…”

“…400 BP (unit H3). In Northwest Argentina, Sampietro-Vattuone and Peña-Monné (2016, 2019) established a Holocene evolutionary model whose chronological limits are like those established in NE Spain in this paper. The authors identified four Holocene aggradation stages and in which stage H2B (2500–600 BP) is partially contemporaneous with the unit H2 in this paper.…”

Impacts of in‐stream aggregate mining on the distributary channels of the alluvial fans of Tafí valley (Northwest Argentina)

“…Mid‐Upper Palaeocene small detritic outcrops can be seen in the SSE sector of the valley (González, 1997). The Pleistocene is represented by loess deposits dated to 1.15 Ma (Schellenberger et al, 2003) and some scattered remains of old alluvial fans (Sampietro‐Vattuone & Peña‐Monné, 2019). The climate is semiarid; rains vary between 400 and 550 mm/year, falling mostly in the summer (December to March), and the average temperature is around 13.1°C (Peña‐Monné et al, 2018).…”

“…Stage H2 developed during the Upper Holocene (c. 4200 BP) to c. 600 BP. It was followed by stage H3, until the end of the Little Ice Age (c. 150 BP), and by stage H4, which includes the most recent aggradational phenomena (Sampietro‐Vattuone & Peña‐Monné, 2016, 2019).…”

Chronological and geomorphological approach to the Holocene tephras from Tafí and Santa María valleys, NW Argentina

“…However, recent studies have notably changed the geomorphological information, departing from wider data gathering and interpretation, where volcanic ash layers played an important role (Peña Monné and Sampietro Vattuone, 2016b; Sampietro-Vattuone and Peña-Monné, 2016; Sampietro Vattuone et al, 2016; Sampietro-Vattuone et al, 2018b). Thus, the new geomorphological cartography (Sampietro-Vattuone and Peña-Monné, 2019) and fieldwork have made it possible to establish the Holocene evolutionary model of the region. This model establishes the existence of four Holocene aggradation units separated by incision phases.…”