Malvinas Basin

51°30′S 63°30′W / 51.500°S 63.500°W / -51.500; -63.500EtymologyIslas MalvinasLocationArgentine Shelf, Southern AtlanticRegionPatagoniaCountry Argentina
 United KingdomState(s)Santa Cruz Province
Falkland IslandsCharacteristicsOn/OffshoreOffshoreBoundariesRío Chico-Dungeness High (W)
Scotia-South American plate boundary (S)Part ofCircum-Atlantic basinsArea~180,000 km² (69,000 sq mi)HydrologySea(s)Southern Atlantic OceanGeologyBasin typeRift basinOrogenyBreak-up of PangeaAgeEarly Jurassic-HoloceneStratigraphyStratigraphyField(s)non-commercial

The Malvinas Basin (Spanish: Cuenca de Malvinas) is a major sedimentary basin in the Argentine Shelf offshore southern Patagonia. The basin borders to the west with the Río Chico-Dungeness High that separates it from the Magallanes Basin.^[1] The southern boundary is formed by the Scotia plate boundary.^[2] Contrary to the neighbouring North Falkland and Magallanes Basins, the Malvinas Basin is not known to have commercial hydrocarbon reserves.^[3]

Tectonic history

The Malvinas Basin started to form with the break-up of Pangea since the Early Jurassic.

Stratigraphy

Though poorly understood due to the lack of well data, several formations were identified in the basin on the basis of 2D seismic, of which some also crop out in onshore Patagonia and the Austral Basin:^[4]

Age	Formation	Lithologies
Neogene	undefined	Claystones and sandstones
Paleogene	Arenas Glauconíticas & Magallaniano Formations	Sandstones and claystones
Late Cretaceous	Margas Verdes & Arroyo Alfa Formations	Claystones and sandstones
Early Cretaceous	Springhill & Pampa Rincón Formations	Claystones and sandstones
Late Jurassic
Middle Jurassic	Tobífera Formation	Volcanics and claystones
Early Jurassic	Hiatus
Paleozoic	Basement	Quartzites and shales

See also

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in the Falkland Islands
• Geology of the Falkland Islands
• Golfo San Jorge Basin
• Antarctic Peninsula

References

Bibliography

• Baristeas, N.; Z. Anka; R. di Primio; J.F. Rodríguez; D. Marchal, and F. Dominguez. 2013. New insights into the tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Malvinas Basin, offshore of the southernmost Argentinean continental margin. Tectonophysics 604. 280–295. Accessed 2018-09-06.
• Foschi, Martino, and Joseph Albert Cartwright. s.a. South Malvinas/Falkland Basin: hydrocarbon migration and petroleum system, 1–53. _. Accessed 2018-09-06.
• Gallardo, Rocío E. 2014. Seismic sequence stratigraphy of a foreland unit inthe [sic] Magallanes-Austral Basin, Dorado Riquelme Block, Chile: Implications for deep-marine reservoirs. Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis, Asociación Argentina de Sedimentología 1221. 49–64. Accessed 2018-09-06.