Prologue to the special issue on the Jurassic of Argentina

Abstract

This special issue is dedicated to Dr. Alberto Carlos Riccardi, who is an active promoter of collaboration between researchers in different aspects of the Jurassic of South America. As such, he was the organizer of the “4th International Congress on Jurassic Stratigraphy and Geology” (Neuquén-Mendoza, 1994) and mentor, as President of the Argentine Committee on Stratigraphy of the AGA, of the Argentine Symposia on the Jurassic, which have been held every 3 or 4 years since 2003 in different locations in Argentina. This special issue contains a series of works that emerged precisely from the last Argentine Symposium on the Jurassic (2023). There are 10 contributions made by more than 40 specialists, covering various basins of the territory of the Argentine Republic, including the Antarctic Peninsula, under very varied approaches, including academic and applied aspects. Sedimentological and lithofacial, stratigraphic and geochronological, tectonic evolution, ichnological and paleoenvironmental analyses are addressed in sedimentary (marine and continental), volcanic, or mixed contexts. Paleontological studies with a southern focus are presented, both with synthesis works for various fossil groups and with descriptions of the first records. All this demonstrates the current interest in these meetings and the permanence and relevance of their initial objectives.