First Middle Ordovician conodont record related to key graptolites from the western Puna, Argentina: perspectives for an integrated biostratigraphy and correlation of the Central Andean Basin

Recent biostratigraphic studies on the western argentine Puna recorded the Middle Ordovician conodont Baltoniodus cf. B. navis (Lindstrom) for first time, related to key graptolite taxa of the Central Andean Basin. The analyzed material comes from the lower and middle thirds of the turbidite succession exposed at the Huaytiquina section, Salta Province, which was previously assigned to the “Coquena” Formation. The conodont fauna was recovered from the calcareous sandstone beds intercalated in the middle portion of this unit, and it is composed by species of the genera Baltoniodus, Gothodus, Trapezognathus, Drepanoistodus, Drepanodus, and Protopanderodus, among others. The conodont association indicates a middle Dapingian (Dp2) age, linking the conodonts of the Argentine Puna with those from Baltoscandinavia and South China. The conodont productive levels also contain graptolites assignable to Tetragraptus bigsbyi (Hall) and Isograptus sp. They are located overlying strata bearing Azygograptus lapworthi Nicholson and underlying deposits with Xiphograptus lofuensis (Lee). The graptolite associations are indicating a Dapingian age (Dp1-Dp2) for the lower and middle portions of the “Coquena” Formation. The current findings from the western Puna, as well as the record of Azygograptus lapworthi related to the early Dapingian (Dp1) index conodont Baltoniodus triangularis in the Argentine Cordillera Oriental, are suggesting that a high-resolution correlation between both geomorphological regions is possible. This also documents that the Cordillera Oriental as well as the Puna were connected parts of the Central Andean Basin, during the interval from the Lower Ordovician (Floian) to the Middle Ordovician (Dapingian), instead of corresponding to the source and infill sectors of the basin, respectively. Furthermore, the regional and global correlations are discussed, and the potential of the Ordovician successions of the Argentine Puna for future advances on conodont-graptolite high-resolution biostratigraphy is highlighted.