Abstract Although Argentina is a large country, only a few local stones meet the requirements to be used for construction purposes. Piedra Mar del Plata is a quartzite that has been used for more than 50 years, mainly as a building stone. During the 1930s and 1950s, its use in the construction of houses in the city of Mar del Plata (a famous beach resort) created a distinctive architectural style. Because of its durability and availability, the use of this stone rapidly spread to other parts of the country. Sculptures and monuments have also been made out of this stone. Mar del Plata architectural style is now part of the heritage of Argentina and represents the rise of the middle class, when local citizens could afford to build their own houses in a style different from the mansions, which were constructed by rich families with imported stone.

Abstract In the Ediacaran–Cambrian Tandilia System of central Argentina, the glacial origin of the thin (10 m) Sierra del Volcán Formation (Fm.) has been recognized for many years ( Spalletti & del Valle 1984 ), being the first undisputed glacial deposits recorded in the Río de la Plata craton. It consists of three units: (i) a basal polymictic diamictite with a kaolin-rich matrix, (ii) a middle pelite with heterolithic levels, undulatory stratification, symmetric ripples, and outsized clasts previously interpreted as dropstones, and (iii) an upper polymictic diamictite with subtle normal grading. Here, this poorly age-constrained formation is reviewed from a stratigraphic and regional context and compared with other putative glaciogenic intervals at the base of the Cerro Largo Fm. and in the Punta Mogotes borehole.

Abstract Neoproterozoic glacial successions have been described in South America, but the glacial deposits of the Río de la Plata Craton have been neglected in previous studies addressing the global distribution of glacially influenced successions. The Río de la Plata Craton contains Neoproterozoic glacial deposits in the Sierra del Volcán Formation (Tandilia System, Argentina), glacial influenced deposits in the Playa Hermosa and Zanja del Tigre formations (Dom Feliciano Belt, Uruguay) and suspected glacially influenced deposits in Passo da Areia (São Gabriel block, Brazil). The Tandilia System glacial record includes diamictites, dropstones and rhythmites deposited in glaciomarine conditions in a tectonically stable depositional setting. The Dom Feliciano Belt includes a thin section with ice-rafted clasts in carbonates and a thicker section containing diamictites, rhythmites, outsized clasts and deformed beds in a volcano-sedimentary succession. The São Gabriel block occurrence deserves more attention to confirm any glacial influence in the fine-grained part of the succession. Glaciation is considered to be contemporaneous with the Gaskiers glaciation (580 Ma), with the exception of the carbonates with dropstones that may represent a previous event correlative with one of the glaciations described in the Kalahari Craton, prior to Kalahari–Río de la Plata assembly in the proto-western Gondwana margin.