Caturrita Formation

Coordinates: 29°41′42″S 53°47′43″W / 29.695042°S 53.795403°W / -29.695042; -53.795403
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Caturrita Formation
Ma
↓
Approximate paleocoordinates
37°18′S 16°00′W / 37.3°S 16.0°W / -37.3; -16.0
Region Paleorrota
 Rio Grande do Sul
Country Brazil
ExtentParaná Basin
Type section
Named forCaturrita, barrio of Santa Maria

Geopark of Paleorrota

The Caturrita Formation is a

Santa Maria Supersequence in the upper section of the Rosário do Sul Group
.

Etymology

The formation received this name, because Caturrita is a neighbourhood (barrio) of Santa Maria. [1] [2] In Portuguese caturrita also refers to the monk parakeet.

Stratigraphy

The sediments of the Caturrita Formation belong to the second unit of the Santa Maria Supersequence and overlie the Alemoa Member of the Santa Maria Formation. The clayey sediments of the Alemoa Member gradually give way to the more sandy, rarely conglomeratic, Caturrita Formation, which finishes with an unconformity. After this erosional event follow the Rhaetian sediments of the Mata Sandstone, the third unit of the Santa Maria Supersequence.

The Caturrita Formation was once regarded as a member of the stratigraphically higher Botucatu Formation[3] or was expanded to include the Mata Sandstone.[4]

The Caturrita Formation reaches a maximum thickness of 60 meters, but generally oscillates around values of 30 meters.

Age

Until 2018 no absolute ages had been determined, but the formation was most commonly assigned to a late Carnian to early Norian age on paleontological grounds. However, Rhaetian or even Early Jurassic age of this unit was also advocated in the literature.[5] A U-Pb (Uranium decay) dating found that the Caturrita Formation dated around 225.42 million years ago, putting it less than 10 million years younger than the Santa Maria and Ischigualasto Formations, from where the earliest dinosaurs are known.[6]

Geographical occurrence

Alegrete
Bagé
Rosário
São Gabriel
Caçapava
class=notpageimage|
Geological formations in Rio Grande do Sul:

Outcrops of the Caturrita Formation are found in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. From the town of Taquari they follow for 250 kilometers a thin band in the central part of the state in an east-westerly fashion right up to Mata.

Depositional environment

The sediments of the Caturrita Formation belong to the upper section of the Santa Maria Supersequence. In terms of sequence stratigraphy they are equivalent to a highstand systems tract. The scarlet, ephemeral, mainly clayey fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the Alemoa Member gradually cede to more sandy,[7] occasionally gravelly deposits of a braided river-system that was operational all-year-round. These deposits of the Caturrita Formation settled out in an alluvial flood-plain. The changeover in sedimentary facies was accompanied by a climatic change to more humid conditions.[8]

The sediments are of continental nature (red beds) and form massive sandstone and siltstone bodies.[9]

Vertebrate fauna

The Caturrita Formation contains a biozone for

Ictidosaurs are tritheledontid cynodonts, a sister group of the mammals. This is the reason, why this biozone recently has been renamed as "Mammaliamorpha Cenozone" to underline the importance of the cynodont fossils.[11] The Caturrita Formation also hosts the stratigraphic marker level "Jachaleria"[12] named after the dicynodont Jachaleria candelariensis. Dinosaurs and other vertebrates
have been discovered as well.

In 1998 tracks of

prosauropods have been found near Faxinal do Soturno that were most likely caused by Unaysaurus tolentinoi.[13]

The fossil finds are concentrated around three major areas: Santa Maria and northern surroundings (Água Negra) Faxinal do Soturno Candelária and surroundings (Linha São Luis)

The following taxa have been discovered so far in the Caturrita Formation:

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon
Ootaxon
Morphotaxon
Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

Synapsids

Synapsids
of the Caturrita Formation
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Botucaraitherium[14] B. belarminoi Sesmaria do Pinhal A
cynodont
Brasilodon
Riograndia
Brasilitherium
 		B. riograndensis Synonym of Brasilodon quadrangularis[15]
Brasilodon[14] B. quadrangularis Linha São Luiz, Sesmaria do Pinhal A mammaliamorph cynodont
Irajatherium[14] I. hernandezi Linha São Luiz, Sesmaria do Pinhal A
tritheledontid
cynodont
Jachaleria[14] J. candelariensis Sesmaria do Pinhal A
dicynodont
cf. Jachaleria[14] cf. J. candelariensis Alto Guarda Mor site A stahleckeriid dicynodont
Minicynodon
 		M. maieri Synonym of Brasilodon quadrangularis[15]
Riograndia[14] R. guaibensis Linha São Luiz, Sesmaria do Pinhal A tritheledontid cynodont
Traversodontidae indet.[14] Indeterminate Sesmaria do Pinhal, Sacisaurus site

Dinosaurs

Unnamed prosauropod genus present in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.[16]

Dinosaurs of the Caturrita Formation
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images

Eubrontes[5]

Indeterminate[5]

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.[5]

Two isolated footprints[5]

An

theropod dinosaurs.[5]
Guaibasaurus
Unaysaurus

Guaibasaurus[16]

G. candelariensis[16]

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.[16]

Linha São Luiz

"Partial postcranial skeleton and a fragmentary hindlimb."[17]

Sauropodomorph

Sauropodomorpha indet.[18]

Indeterminate

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

"An incomplete right ilium, uninformative vertebral remains and other indeterminate fragments, plus four isolated and incomplete bones including a possible pubis, an ischium, a possible tibia and a metatarsal IV."[18]

An indeterminate

Saturnalia-like basal–most sauropodomorphs".[18]

Sauropodomorpha indet.[19]

Indeterminate

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

"Three incomplete dinosaur specimens, an isolated sacral vertebra, an articulated left pubis–ischium and an isolated right ischium."[19]

An indeterminate

sauropodomorph of uncertain phylogenetic placement, "probably more primitive than typical 'prosauropods' from the Norian-Early Jurassic".[19]

Unaysaurus

U. tolentinoi

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Sauropodomorph

Other tetrapods

Undetermined phytosaur genus.

Misc tetrapods of the Caturrita Formation
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images

Cargninia

C. enigmatica

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Lepidosaur
Maehary skull material
Proterochampsa
Sacisaurus

Clevosaurus

C. brasiliensis

Sphenodont

Faxinalipterus

F. minimus

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

A lagerpetid

Maehary M. bonapartei Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil The earliest diverging member of Pterosauromorpha

Proterochampsa[citation needed]

Proterochampsid

Soturnia

S. caliodon

Procolophonian

Sacisaurus

S. agudoensis

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Silesaurid

Stereospondyli indet.[20]

Indeterminate

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

An incomplete interclavicle[20]

An indeterminate stereospondyl

temnospondyl.[20]

Teyumbaita[21]

T. sulcognathus

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

"Two nearly complete skulls and a partial skull."

Rhynchosaur

See also

References

  1. ^ Formação Santa Maria Archived 2008-05-01 at the Wayback Machine, (in Portuguese)
  2. ^ Paleoformações[permanent dead link], (in Portuguese)
  3. ^ Bortoluzzi, C.A. 1974. Contribuição à Geologia da Região de Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Pesquisas, 4 (1):7-86
  4. ^ Andreis, R.R.; Bossi, G.E. & Montardo, D.K. 1980. O Grupo Rosário do Sul (Triássico) no Rio grande do Sul. In: CONGRESSO BRASILEIRO DE GEOLOGIA,31, Balneário 16 Camboriú, 1980. Anais... Balneário de Camboriú, SBG, v. 2, p.659-673.
  5. ^
    doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2012.06.017
    .
  6. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2018.01.005
    .
  7. ^ Zerfass, H.; Lavina, E.L.; Schultz, C.L.; Garcia, A.J.V.; Faccini, U.F. & Chemale Jr., F. 2003. Sequence stratigraphy of continental Triassic strata of Southernmost Brazil: a contribution to Southwestern Gondwana palaeogeography and palaeoclimate. Sedimentary Geology, 161:85-105.
  8. ^ Holz, M. und Scherer, C.M.S., 2000, Sedimentological and paleontological evidence of paleoclimatic change during the Southbrazilian Triassic: the register of a global trend towards a humid paleoclimate: Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie, Teil I, v. 11-12, p. 1589-1609.
  9. ^ Rubert, R. R. & Schultz, C. L. 2004. — Um novo horizonte de correlação para o Triássico Superior do Rio Grande do Sul. Pesquisas em Geociências 31: 71-88.
  10. ^ Oliveira É. V. 2006. — Reevaluation of Therioherpeton cargnini Bonaparte & Barberena, 1975 (Probainognathia, Therioherpetidae) from the Upper Triassic of Brazil. Geodiversitas 28 (3) : 447-465.
  11. ^ Soares, M.B. & Schultz, C.L., 2006. Proposta de nova denominação para a Cenozona de Ictidosauria, do Triássico Superior (Formação Caturrita) do Rio Grande do Sul. V Simpósio Brasileiro de Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Boletim de Resumos, p. 41, Santa Maria, RS, 2006.
  12. ^ Schultz. C.L.; Scherer, C.M.S. & Barberena, M.C. 1994. Uma nova proposta de zoneamento estratigráfi co para o Triássico Superior Sul-Rio-Grandense. In: Congresso Brasileiro de Geologia, 38, Camboriú - SC, 1994. Boletim de Resumos, p. 107-108.
  13. ^ Rafael Costa Da Silva, Ismar De Souza Carvalho, Cibele Schwanke, 2006. Vertebrate dinoturbation from the Caturrita Formation (Late Triassic, Paraná Basin), Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Gondwana Research 11 (2007) 303–310.
  14. ^
    S2CID 229399221
    .
  15. ^
    PMID 31075140
    .
  16. ^
    ISBN 0-520-24209-2
    .
  17. ^ "Table 2.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 26.
  18. ^
    S2CID 55842625
    .
  19. ^
    S2CID 55260304.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  20. ^
    doi:10.1016/j.gr.2008.07.002
    .
  21. S2CID 129472459.[permanent dead link
    ]

Bibliography

Further reading

  • J. F. Bonaparte, J. Ferigolo, and A. M. Ribeiro. 1999. A new early Late Triassic saurischian dinosaur from Rio Grande do Sol state, Brazil. In Y. Tomida, T. H. Rich, and P. Vickers-Rich (eds.), Proceedings of the Second Gondwanan Dinosaur Symposium, National Science Museum Monographs 15:89-109
  • G. Brea, J. F. Bonaparte, C. L. Schultz and A. G. Martinelli. 2005. A new specimen of Guaibasaurus candelariensis (basal Saurischia) from the Late Triassic Caturrita Formation of southern Brazil. In A. W. A. Kellner, D. D. R. Henriques, and T. Rodrigues (eds.), II Congresso Latino-Americano de Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Boletim de Resumos. Museum Nacional/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro 55-56
  • R. Costa, I. d. S. Carvalho, and C. Schwanke. 2003. Icnofósseis de vertebrados na Formação Caturrita (Neotriássico da Bacia do Paraná) no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil [Vertebrate ichnofossils from the Caturrita Formation (Late Triassic of the Paraná Basin) in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil]. XVIII Congresso Brasileiro de Paleontologia: A Paleontologia e Suas Aplicações, 13–18 July 2003. Sociedade Brasileira de Paleontologia, Universidade de Brasília. Boletim de Resumos 110-111
  • E.-E. Kischlat and M. C. Barbarena. 1999. Triassic Brazilian dinosaurs: new data. I Simpósio Brasileiro de Paleontologia de Vertebrados. Paleontologia em Destaque 26:56
  • M. C. Langer and J. Ferigolo. 2005. The first ornithischian body-fossils in Brazil: Late Triassic (Caturrita Formation) of Rio Grande do Sul. In A. W. A. Kellner, D. D. R. Henriques, and T. Rodrigues (eds.), II Congresso Latino-Americano de Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Boletim de Resumos. Museum Nacional/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro 146-147
  • A. G. Martinelli, J. F. Bonaparte, C. L. Schultz and R. Rubert. 2005. A new tritheledontid (Therapsida, Eucynodontia) from the Late Triassic of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and its phylogenetic relationships among carnivorous non-mammalian eucynodonts. Ameghiniana 42(1):191-208
  • R. T. Müller, A. A. S. da Rosa, L. R. Silva, A. S. S. Aires, C. P. Pacheco, A. E. B. Pavanatto, and S. Dias-da-Silva. 2015. Wachholz, a new exquisite dinosaur-bearing fossiliferous site from the Upper Triassic of southern Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 61:120-128
  • R. C. da Silva, R. Barboni, T. Dutra, M. M. Godoy, and R. B. Binotto. 2012. Footprints of large theropod dinosaurs and implications on the age of Triassic biotas from Southern Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences
  • M. B. Soares, C. L. Schultz, and B. I. D. Horn. 2011. New information on Riograndia guaibensis Bonaparte, Ferigolo & Ribeiro, 2001 (Eucynodontia, Tritheledontidae) from the Late Triassic of southern Brazil: anatomical and biostratigraphic implications. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 83(1):329-354