Two granitic boulders from the Pennsylvanian Tarija Formation were sampled in order to perform laboratory analyses to define their possible provenance. This formation, deposited during the Late Paleozoic ice age (LPIA), represents the climax of glacial-related sedimentation in the Tarija Basin. The boulders were collected from massive diamictite levels in the Cerro Piedras locality, in Eastern Cordillera. Zircons concentrated from these boulders yield Precambrian U-Pb ages. One of the obtained dates has a Concordia Age of 2068.97 ± 6.06 Ma, indicating a crystallization in Paleoproterozoic times. The obtained ages restrict the candidate source areas to remote regions, located along the cratonic, eastern side of South America. The Rio de la Plata craton is considered the most likely source area. Several granitoids in the Uruguayan portion of the craton (especially in the Piedra Alta Terrane) have radiometric ages between 2.1 and 2.0 G.a., providing a suitable source for the Tarija Formation boulders. The direction and sense of glacial movement indicators described both in the Tarija Basin and in Uruguay support this remote (at least 1500 km) provenance. The remote provenance of the analyzed boulders implies a sedimentary transport by glacial ice from Uruguayan sources to the northern end of Argentina, proving the occurrence of a continental scale ice sheet. Although the single, continental ice sheet theory has been questioned in the last decades, and alternative models were proposed, direct evidence presented here supports the single ice sheet model. • Zircons from boulders from the Pennsylvanian Tarija Fm. (NW Argentina) yield a crystallization age of 2.07 G.a. (Paleoproterozoic). • The obtained age restricts the probable source areas to regions located to the SE, in Uruguay, proving a sedimentary transport of, at least, 1500 km. • Such transport distance implies the presence of a single and continental scale ice sheet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]