South American Subandean Basins: Tectostratigraphic Evolution and Petroleum Habitats: ABSTRACT

In South America a roughly south-trending tectogenic belt extends more than 5000 km areally and contains 20 Mesozoic sedimentary basins that lie west of the South American cratogenes and east of the Andean orogenic belt. These Subandean basins have evolved through three main northward-migrating tectonic regimes since Paleozoic time; each respective phase influenced basin geometry, styles of sedimentation, and, in turn, resultant areas of hydrocarbon accumulation.