Salta Basin | |
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Cuenca Salta | |
Coordinates | 23°40′S 66°07′W / 23.667°S 66.117°W |
Etymology | Salta Province |
Region | Argentine Northwest |
Country | Argentina Bolivia Chile |
State(s) | Salta, Jujuy, Tucumán Potosí Antofagasta |
Cities | Salta |
Characteristics | |
On/Offshore | Onshore |
Boundaries | Andes |
Part of | Andean foreland basins |
Geology | |
Basin type | Foreland-on-rift basin or intracontinental rift basin |
Plate | South American |
Orogeny | Andean |
Age | Neocomian-Neogene |
Stratigraphy | Stratigraphy |
Salta Basin or Salta Rift Basin is a sedimentary basin located in the Argentine Northwest.[1][2] The basin started to accumulate sediments in the Early Cretaceous (Neocomian) and at present it has sedimentary deposits reaching thicknesses of 5,000 metres (16,000 ft). The basin contains seven sub-basins: Tres Cruces, Lomas de Olmedo, Metán, Alemanía, Salfity, El Rey, Sey and Brealito. The basin environment has variously been described as a "foreland rift" and an "intra-continental rift". The basin developed under conditions of extensional tectonics and rift-associated volcanism.[1]