Browsing by Author "Muñoz, NA"

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    Insights on the controls on floodplain-dominated fluvial successions: A perspective from the early–middle miocene santa cruz formation in río chalía (patagonia, argentina)
    (Journal of the Geological Society, 2021-01-01) Cuitiño, JI; Raigemborn, MS; Bargo, MS; Vizcaíno, SF; Muñoz, NA; Kohn, MJ; Kay, RF
    The Santa Cruz Formation (SCF) in Río Chalía (Austral Basin, Patagonia, Argentina) is a well-exposed fluvial succession with abundant and diverse fossil vertebrates accumulated during the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO). Using facies analysis, characterization of stratigraphic architecture, U–Pb geochronology and vertebrate palaeontology, we assess the timing and interplay of controlling factors on the sedimentation, including tectonics, global sea level, climate and sediment supply. Throughout the succession, there occurred a constant aggradation of the floodplain-dominated fluvial system. Seven zircon U–Pb ages constrain the time of accumulation between c. 18 and 15.2 Ma, under a relatively constant sedimentation rate of 150 ± 50 m myr–1 . The large number of fossil vertebrates indicates a Santacrucian fauna, showing no recognizable changes through the section. The basin-scale, low-gradient anastomosed fluvial system of the SCF records a period of about 3 myr of relatively constant environmental conditions controlled by continuous basin subsidence and high sediment supply conditioned by explosive volcanism together with weathering of uplifting terrains in the Andes. In addition, the system was influenced by a temperate to warm and subhumid climate favoured by the MCO before the onset of the Andean rain shadow, together to high global sea levels.
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    Testing the hypothesis of an impoverished predator guild in the Early Miocene ecosystems of Patagonia: An analysis of meat availability and competition intensity among carnivores
    (Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2020-09-15) Rodríguez-Gómez, G; Cassini, GH; Palmqvist, P; Bargo, MS; Toledo, N; Martín-González, JA; Muñoz, NA; Kay, RF; Vizcaíno, SF
    © 2020 Elsevier B.V. The lower Miocene Santa Cruz Formation (dated to ~18–16 Ma) of Southern Patagonia, Argentina, preserves rich vertebrate faunas, which are representative of communities that existed prior to the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). Some previous researchers have hypothesized that these pre-GABI faunas had a low richness of mammalian carnivores (an impoverished predator guild), while others argue for a predator/prey ratio similar to those of recent communities. In this paper, we analyze faunas from the lower part of the Santa Cruz Formation (FL 1–7) using a methodology that allows us to quantify (i) the meat resources that were available to the secondary consumers of the palaeocommunity; and (ii) the competition intensity for these resources. In our modeling, we considered different scenarios related to meat consumption, including the possibility that several taxa had a scavenging behavior, and also differences in mortality rates between young and adult prey. Our results provide estimates of the nutritional requirements from the predator/scavenger guild under maximum and minimum quantities of meat offered by the prey community, which indicate the presence of a well-balanced palaeocommunity. Moreover, the competition indices point to a relatively high level of competition for prey of small-to-medium size, although competition for resources from large mammal prey was rather low. This suggests that the predator/scavenger guild was not impoverished, although there were insufficient carnivore species to fully consume the megaherbivore biomass.