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The mineralogy of the reddish fine material is consistent with that which emerges from the general petrographic analysis of these units. The higher content of quartz recorded in the reddish material compared to the gray is consistent with its important presence in siliciclastic rocks. The highest proportion of hematite is consistent with its frequent participation as cement in sandstones and also as clasts, in addition to being generated by oxidation of magnetite and clastic ferrous minerals. The abundant calcite in the reddish material reflects its presence as a constituent of the thin limestone banks and interbedded stromatolitic levels in the Diamante Formation (the latter, particularly cited in the Confluencia profile by Cristallini and Ramos 1996), as well as coming from calcareous of the Mendoza Group and the Huitrín Formation, which underlie the Diamante Formation. In addition, calcite is part of the cement of some calcareous sandstone banks present in the Diamante Formation. The occasional recorded dolomite would likewise come from the aforementioned Climb Aconcagua limestone levels. The scarce and sporadic gypsum would be the product of the erosion of the evaporite banks of the Huitrín Formation or directly from the Auquilco Formation, which outcrops in the Horcones Inferior ravine. The presence of phyllosilicates, either from the group of chlorite (clinochlore) and mica (fengite, constituting sericite), very frequent components of the reddish material (5 of 6 samples), is a consequence of the participation of these phases in the matrix of the sedimentites as a product of diagenetic recrystallization, as well as the alteration of clasts of mafic minerals and plagioclase, respectively.

Valle del Horcones Superior: The mineralogy of the sample obtained in Horcones Superior (H1) is unequivocally homologous to that of the red material from Confluencia (Table 1 and Fig. 6). This is consistent with the field data, since the sample comes from a sector corresponding to alluvial fans that essentially involve erosion of the Diamante Formation.

Lower Horcones Valley: In the lower Horcones Valley, the current glacial deposits located on the end of the glacier were sampled (Samples HI01 and HI02). Downstream in the same valley, but closer to Confluencia, three samples of very recent lateral moraines were taken (Samples H02, H03 and H04), probably associated with earlier surges of the glacier. In all of these samples, Aconcagua Expedition shows a clear affinity with the samples corresponding to the gray Confluence deposit. Horcones and Cuevas Valleys: As mentioned above, downstream from the mouth of the Durazno ravine, the grayish deposit called Horcones outcrops. Towards the distal zone, at the Confluence with the Cuevas valley, the deposit is divided into two lobes; one reaches the second lobe extends Aconcagua Hike waters down in the valley of the Cuevas River advancing approximately 2,000 m in it. Particularly towards the distal zone, it is very common to find portions of red material included in the gray. In this valley, where the red and gray deposits are not stratigraphically discriminated as in the Confluence zone, it is possible to make observations and inferences from the composition