Sierra Baguales Explained

Sierra Baguales
Country:
Region:	Santa Cruz Province Magallanes
Parent:	Andes
Range Coordinates:	-50.7333°N -96°W
Highest:	Cerro Ciudadela
Elevation M:	2084
Length Km:	60
Length Orientation:	east-west
Geology:	sedimentary rock igneous sills
Period:	Late Eocene-Early Miocene
Map:	Argentina

Sierra Baguales or Sierra de los Baguales is a mountain range in the southernmost Andes. Sierra Baguales is a 60km (40miles) long east–west chain, secondary to the main chain of the Andes that lie further west.^[1] It lies along the border between Chile and Argentina near the localities of Puerto Natales and Río Turbio.

Geology

The mountain range contains a series of cirques formed by glaciers.^[2] Many cirques developed in the Pleistocene Epoch from isolated glaciers that existed separedly from ice sheets further west.^[2] The rocks of Sierra Baguales belong to various formations of Magallanes Basin.^[3] These rocks contain fossils of plants, mammals and marine invertebrates.^[3]

Stratigraphy

From top to bottom the following formations make up Sierra Baguales:^[3]

Santa Cruz Formation, sedimentary rocks belonging to a non-marine succession and hosting many vertebrate fossils^[4]
Estancia 25 de Mayo Formation, a succession of fossil-bearing sedimentary rocks that date to the Early Miocene. Sediments were deposited in a marine environment.
La Cumbre Formation, an olivine-bearing gabbro sill
Río Leona Formation, a succession of non-marine fossils, some of which contain Nothofagus fossils
Bandurrías Formation, an olivine-bearing gabbro sill
Loreto Formation, sedimentary rocks variously assigned a Late Eocene to Early Miocene age. Contains fossil shark teeth.

On the eastern slopes of Sierra Baguales various lithic artifacts have been found.^[1] Human occupation of eastern foothills begun no later than 4,500 years before present.^[1]

References

Bibliography

Notes and References

Karen B. . Borrazzo . 2008 . Análisis tecnológico de distribuciones artefactuales en la periferia sudeste de la Sierra Baguales (Santa Cruz, Argentina). es. Technological analysis of surface artifact distributions in the southeastern end of Baguales Range (Santa Cruz, Argentina). . 36 . 1 . 103–116. 10.4067/S0718-22442008000100008. free . 11336/117724 . free .
Araos . José M. . Le Roux . Jacobus P.. Kaplan . Michael R.. Spagnolo . Matteo . 2018 . Factors controlling alpine glaciations in the Sierra Baguales Mountain Range of southern Patagonia (50º S), inferred from the morphometric analysis of glacial cirques . . 45 . 3 . 357 . 10.5027/andgeoV45n3-2974 . free .
A revised lithostratigraphy of the Sierra Baguales, Magallanes Basin . https://web.archive.org/web/20181103131245/http://biblioserver.sernageomin.cl/opac/DataFiles/14127_pp_698_700.pdf . dead . November 3, 2018 . Bostelmann . Enrique . Le Roux . Jacobus P.. Vasquez . Ana . Gutiérrez . Nestor. Oyarzún . José Luis. Carreño . Catalina . Torres . Teresa. Otero . Rodrigo . Llanos . Andrea. Fanning . C. Mark . Nielsen . Sven. N.. Hervé . Francisco . Francisco Hervé . 2012 . 698–700 . XIII Congeso Geológico Chileno .
Bostelmann et al., 2013