Paleozoic trace fossil from the Cordillera Costal near Concepcion, connected to a review of the Paleozoic history of central Chile

Slates exposed at Lirquen near Concepcion have been metamorphosed to the gr een schist facies and represent rocks of the metamorphic and crystalline ba se to the Andean mountain belt. Still they contain locally a trace fossil a ssemblage in a fresh water lake environment. The tracks could have been pro duced by isopod-like crustaceans, by ostracods, and by merostomate chelicer ates. Southern central Chile in the area of the Rio Bio Bio is a rather vit al part for the reconstruction of South American and Gondwanian geological history. The proposed interpretation of the high temperature low pressure m etamorphosed green schists of Lirquen as possibly ?Carboniferous/Permian li mnic deposits within the "Pichidangui Terrane" opens more questions than it can solve.