The Cerro Azul Formation crops out in patches in the southwestern Buenos Aires Province and southeastern Pampa Province. The Epecuén Formation has been correlated to the Cerro Azul Formation in the early 2000s. The Cerro Azul and Epecuén Formations were named after the Cerro Azul ("Blue Hill") and Epecuén Lake where the formation crops out.[3] The formation overlies crystalline basement or the Arroyo Chasicó Formation.[4] The mammal assemblage of the Cerro Azul-Epecuén unit is the most diverse for the HuayquerianLate Miocene age, possibly ranging into the Pliocene.[5] The formation is considered contemporaneous with the Río Negro Formation of the Colorado Basin.[6][7]
The unit is characterized by a monotonous succession of loess containing moderately developed paleosols. In particular, the formation is considered as representing the interval between 10 and 5.7 Ma. The maximum exposed thickness in outcrop is 54 metres (177 ft), although the unit reaches about 180 metres (590 ft) in the subsurface.[8]
The Cerro Azul Formation deposits were described by Linares et al. in 1980.[3] They are discontinuous along the whole occupied area in the provinces of La Pampa and Buenos Aires. They are composed of silts, sandy silts and very thin silty sands, reddish and brown colored, with a homogeneous and compact general aspect, and frequent carbonate nodules and evidences of pedogenic processes. Visconti et al. (2010) interpreted them as eolian deposits characterized by loessic materials, with a high percentage of lithic fragments and volcaniclastic sediments.[9]
The sediments and their fauna belong to a sedimentary and faunal cycle, which followed the withdrawal (around 10 Ma) of a widespread marine transgression that extended from central Argentina, to western Uruguay and southern Paraguay and Brazil, the "Paraná Sea" or mar paranense in Spanish.[10]
Large cylindrical sediment-filled structures, 115 of which interpreted as mammal burrows occur within the loess-paleosol sequence of the formation.[11]
Fossil content
The following fossils have been recovered from the formation:[1]
Locations:
La Pampa
Barrancas Coloradas - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Caleufú - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Cerro El Chancho - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Cerro Patagua - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Estancia Don Mariano - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Estancia El Recado - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Estancia Ré - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
El Guanaco - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Huayquerías de San Carlos - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Laguna Chillhué - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Laguna Guatraché - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Quehué - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Salinas Grandes de Hidalgo - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Telen - Cerro Azul Formation - La Pampa
Buenos Aires
Bajo Giuliani - Cerro Azul Formation - Buenos Aires
Barrancas de Sarmiento - Cerro Azul Formation - Buenos Aires
Eduardo Castex - Cerro Azul Formation - Buenos Aires
Estancia los Médanos - Cerro Azul Formation - Buenos Aires
Estancia Quiñi-Malal - Cerro Azul Formation - Buenos Aires
Grünbein Cantera Seminario - Cerro Azul Formation - Buenos Aires
Laguna Chillhué Estancia Don Mariano Cerro Patagua Cerro El Chancho Cerro de los Guanacos Puesto Colorado Estancia Quiñi-Malal Bajo Giuliani El Guanaco Telen El Recado Laguna Guatraché Loventué Quehué Barrancas Coloradas Estancia Ré Salinas de Hidalgo
Estancia Don Mariano Huayquerías de San Carlos Laguna Epecuén Bajo Giuliani Laguna Chillhué Loventué Salinas Grandes de Hidalgo Quehué Barrancas Coloradas Estancia Ré Arroyo Guaminí Laguna de los Paraguayos Carhué
^Olivares, A. I.; Verzi, D. H.; Kihn, R.; Montalvo, C. I.; Fernández Villoldo, J. A.; Álvarez, A.; Costa Filho, R. G.; Ré, G. H. (2025). "The fossil record of chinchilla rats (Abrocomidae, Hystricomorpha) from the Late Miocene–Early Pliocene of southern South America". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. doi:10.1080/08912963.2025.2475209.
Visconti, Graciela; Melchor, Ricardo N.; Montalvo, Claudia I.; Umazano, Aldo M.; De Elorriaga, Elena E. (2010), "Anáisis litoestratigráfico de la Formación Cerro Azul (Mioceno Superior) de la Provincia de La Pampa", Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina, 67: 257–265
Cardonatto, M. C.; Melchor, R. N. (2018), "Large mammal burrows in late Miocene calcic paleosols from central Argentina: paleoenvironment, taphonomy and producers", PeerJ, 6: e4787, doi:10.7717/peerj.4787, PMC5969051, PMID29844958{{citation}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
Sostillo, R.; Cerdeño, E.; Montalvo, C. (2018), "Taxonomic implications of a large sample of Tremacyllus (Hegetotheriidae: Pachyrukhinae) from the late Miocene Cerro Azul Formation of La Pampa, Argentina", Ameghiniana, 55 (4): 407–422, doi:10.5710/AMGH.18.07.2017.3146, hdl:11336/64326
Vucetich, M. G.; Deschamps, C. M.; Vieytes, E. C.; Montalvo, C. I. (2014), "Late Miocene Capybaras from Argentina: Skull Anatomy, Taxonomy, Evolution, and Biochronology", Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 59: 517–535
Montalvo, C. I.; Melchor, R. N.; Visconti, G.; Cerdeño, E. (2008), "Vertebrate taphonomy in loess-palaeosol deposits: A case study from the late Miocene of Central Argentina", Geobios, 41 (1): 133–143, Bibcode:2008Geobi..41..133M, doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2006.09.004
Urrutia, J. J.; Montalvo, C. I.; Scillato Yané, G. J. (2008), "Dasypodidae (Xenarthra, Cingulata) de la Formación Cerro Azul (Mioceno tardío) de la provincia de La Pampa, Argentina", Ameghiniana, 45: 289–302
Zurita, A. E.; Aramayo, S. A. (2007), "New remains of Eosclerocalyptus tapinocephalus (Cabrera) (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Glyptodontidae): description and implications for its taxonomic status", Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, 113: 57–66
Deschamps, C.M (2005), "Late Cenozoic mammal bio-chronostratigraphy in southwestern Buenos Aires Province, Argentina", Ameghiniana, 42: 733–750
Montalvo, C. I.; Rocha, A. M. (2003), "Presencia de Neocavia Kraglievich (Rodentia, Caviidae) en la Formación Cerro Azul (Mioceno tardío - Plioceno temprano?) de La Pampa, Argentina", Ameghiniana, 40: 501–504
Esteban, G. I.; Nasif, N. L.; Montalvo, C. I. (2000), "Nuevos registros de Dasypodidae (Xenarthra) del Mioceno tardío de la provincia de La Pampa, Argentina", Revista Espanola de Paleontología, 16: 77–87
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