Geological map of the Laguna Blanca area, eastern border of the Puna of Catamarca (Argentina)

What is it about?

The Laguna Blanca basin (26835′S–67820′W) is located in the southern Central Andes, along the southeastern margin of the Puna plateau, in the Catamarca Province (Argentina). This area is characterized by a semi-arid climate, which is particularly good for satellite remote sensing and geological mapping purposes. The Laguna Blanca basin is a prominent 20 km-long by 15 km-wide rhomb-shaped basin with a flat floor at an altitude of 3400 m, bound by high ridges on the western and eastern sides (with altitudes reaching about 6000 and 4200 m, respectively). Remote sensing and field mapping have permitted to produce a geo-structural map at a 1:350,000 scale.

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Why is it important?

The geo-structural map of the Laguna Blanca provides a detailed identification of the fault structures as well as a revised lithological subdivision, in which volcanic products are related to specific volcanic complexes. This has allowed us to clarify several significant aspects of the genesis and evolution of the basin, including the relationships between major faults, basin morphology and localization of volcanic centres. The Laguna Blanca bassin is bounded by he N-S striking faults extending for tens of kilometres. The stress inversion of fault slip data collected in the field shows the sinsitral strike-slip kinematics of these orogen-parallel faults, with predominant extensional character close to the basin interior.

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