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This paper shows the results obtained from a group of simple and basic procedures used to assess slope instability in terms of shallow landslides on data-scarce hillsides at the slope unit scale. The procedures are based on engineering geological mapping to obtain geological and geotechnical data and on an adapted Hovland 3D safety factor (SF3D) associated with a van Genuchten infiltration model to simulate the rainfall percolation. The procedures were applied on a data-scarce hillside in the Campos do Jordao municipality located in the Mantiqueira Mountains, Sao Paulo state, Brazil. This area was chosen because it is affected by shallow landslides due to a loss of shear strength when suction decreases or dissipates due to rainfall infiltration. The combined procedures permitted the total SF3Dto be obtained from the partial SF of each grid cell (considering 4 different rainfall events and quasi-saturation conditions) and the failure probability (SF3D All of these results verify that all the slopes and selected potential rupture surfaces are compatible with the occurrence of shallow landslides on December 31st, 1999/January 1st, 2000. Large-scale engineering geological mapping proved to be fundamental because it provided detailed mapping of the spatial arrangement and characterizations of the geological material, thereby permitting adequate definitions of the potential rupture surfaces and the adoption of geotechnical and hydraulic parameters to calculate the SF3D and the failure probability (SF

The Quequén Salado river basin has been the focus of several contributions since the first decades of the XX century, namely dealing with the general geological features of the deposits and with the vertebrate remains. In this paper, the Neogene geological history documented by the Quequén Salado river exposures is reconstructed by means of stratigraphic, sedimentological and paleomagnetic studies along with the paleontological analysis of vertebrate remains. The study area is a crucial setting not only to better understand the evolution of the southern Pampas basin during the late Miocene-early Pliocene interval, but also to test the validity of the biochronologic and biostratigraphic schemes, especially the “Irenense”. A geological model for the Quequén Salado river valley is proposed: a case of downcutting and headward erosion that contributes with a coherent interpretation to explain the spatial distribution of facies and fossil taxa: the younger in the distal sector of the Quequén Salado middle basin and the older in the lower basin. The sedimentary record is believed to represent the distal reaches of a distributary fluvial system that drained from the Ventania ranges. The stratigraphic section of Paso del Indio Rico results a key stratigraphic site to fully understand the stratigraphic nature of the boundary between the Miocene and the Pliocene (the Huayquerian and Montehermosan stages/ages). In this sense, two stratigraphically superposed range zones have been recognized in the area: Xenodontomys ellipticus Range Zone (latest Miocene-early Pliocene; late Huayquerian), and Eumysops laeviplicatus Range Zone (early Pliocene; Montehermosan). Taking into account the available geological and paleontological evidences, the “Irenense” would not represent a valid biostratigraphic unit, since, according to the geological model here proposed, it would be represented by elements of the Xenodontomys ellipticus Range Zone in the lower QS basin and by elements of the Eumysops laeviplicatus Range Zone in the middle QS basin. Fil: Beilinson, Elisa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas; Argentina Fil: Gasparini, Germán Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina Fil: Tomassini, Rodrigo Leandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Geológico del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Geología. Instituto Geológico del Sur; Argentina Fil: Zárate, Marcelo Arístides. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Ambientales de La Pampa. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Ambientales de La Pampa; Argentina Fil: Deschamps, Cecilia Marcela. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina Fil: Barendregt, R.W.. University of Lethbridge; Canadá Fil: Rabassa, Jorge Oscar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina

This paper presents the results of a new investigation of the Guarani Aquifer System (SAG) in Sao Paulo state. New data were acquired about sedimentary framework, flow pattern, and hydrogeochemistry. The flow direction in the north of the state is towards the southwest and not towards the west as expected previously. This is linked to the absence of SAG outcrop in the northeast of Sao Paulo state. Both the underlying Piramboia Formation and the overlying Botucatu Formation possess high porosity (18.9% and 19.5%, respectively), which was not modified significantly by diagenetic changes. Investigation of sediments confirmed a zone of chalcedony cement close to the SAG outcrop and a zone of calcite cement in the deep confined zone. The main events in the SAG post-sedimentary history were: (1) adhesion of ferrugineous coatings on grains, (2) infiltration of clays in eodiagenetic stage, (3) regeneration of coatings with formation of smectites, (4) authigenic overgrowth of quartz and K-feldspar in advanced eodiagenetic stage, (5) bitumen cementation of Piramboia Formation in mesodiagenetic stage, (6) cementation by calcite in mesodiagenetic and telodiagenetic stages in Piramboia Formation, (7) formation of secondary porosity by dissolution of unstable minerals after appearance of hydraulic gradient and penetration of the meteoric water caused by the uplift of the Serra do Mar coastal range in the Late Cretaceous, (8) authigenesis of kaolinite and amorphous silica in unconfined zone of the SAG and cation exchange coupled with the dissolution of calcite at the transition between unconfined and confined zone, and (9) authigenesis of analcime in the confined SAG zone. The last two processes are still under operation. The deep zone of the SAG comprises an alkaline pH, Na–HCO3 groundwater type with old water and enriched δ13C values ( −18.8) close to the SAG outcrop. This is consistent with a conceptual geochemical model of the SAG, suggesting dissolution of calcite driven by cation exchange, which occurs at a relatively narrow front recently moving downgradient at much slower rate compared to groundwater flow. More depleted values of δ18O in the deep confined zone close to the Parana River compared to values of relative recent recharged water indicate recharge occur during a period of cold climate. The SAG is a “storage-dominated” type of aquifer which has to be managed properly to avoid its overexploitation.

Summarization: The Eastern Cordillera of southern Bolivia is situated between the Altiplano high plateau in the west and the thin-skinned Subandean thrust belt in the east. It is mainly built of Ordovician anchimetamorphic sedimentary rocks with a discontinuous, unconformable cover of Cretaceous to Neogene, mostly continental sediments. The eastern margin of the Eastern Cordillera exhibits E-verging basement-involved thrusts linked to the Subandean belt. Its central and western parts, discussed in this paper, represent a province of dominantly W-verging, basement-involved thrusts of Tertiary age superimposed on a deeply eroded pre-Cretaceous fold belt. Several well-preserved remnants of the pre-Cretaceous fold belt show kilometer-scale, W-verging folds with axial plane slaty cleavage. The main activity of Andean (post-Cretaceous) thrusts is bracketed between about 25 and 12 Ma. However, some Andean contractional deformation occurred earlier. The exposed major Andean thrusts dip steep to intermediately at the surface. Cross-section balancing suggests that they merge into a detachment at maximum depths of 9 to 17 km. Neogene shortening is concentrated in an imbricated thrust system at the border of the Eastern Cordillera with the Altiplano in the west, but is relatively moderate (about 10-15%) within the Eastern Cordillera itself. W-verging thrusts in the Eastern Cordillera predate the E-verging thrust belt which underlies the eastern flank of the Andes. Strain rates are comparatively low during these first stages of deformation, but increase markedly at the onset of thin-skinned thrusting farther east. Balancing of a regional cross-section of 150 km present length indicates that the western and central Eastern Cordillera has shortened by about 55-80 km since Cretaceous time. Overall Tertiary tectonic shortening between the deformation front and the magmatic arc is about 215-250 km. This is insufficient to build the entire crustal root of the Andes by thrust thickening alone. Presented on: Journal of South American Earth Sciences