Geology, exploration status of Uruguay's sedimentary basins

This article attempts to present the geological characteristics and tectonic and sedimentary evolution of Uruguayan basins and the extent to which they have been explored. Uruguay is on the Atlantic coast of South America. The country covers about 318,000 sq km, including offshore and onshore territories corresponding to more than 65% of the various sedimentary basins. Four basins underlie the country: the Norte basin, the Santa Lucia basin, the offshore Punta del Este basin, and the offshore-onshore Pelotas-Merin basin. The Norte basin is a Paleozoic basin while the others are Mesozoic basins. Each basin has been explored to a different extent, as this paper explains.