The Maria Farinha Formation is a geological

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

of the

Parnaíba Basin The Parnaíba Basin (Portuguese: ''Bacia do Parnaíba'') is a large cratonic sedimentary basin located in the North and Northeast portion of Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...

, northeastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

whose strata date back to the

Danian The Danian is the oldest age or lowest stage of the Paleocene Epoch or Series, of the Paleogene Period or System, and of the Cenozoic Era or Erathem. The beginning of the Danian (and the end of the preceding Maastrichtian) is at the Cretaceous� ...

stage of the

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...

, or

Tiupampan The Tiupampan ( es, Tiupampense) age is a period of geologic time (64.5–62.5 Ma) within the Paleocene epoch of the Paleogene used more specifically with South American land mammal ages (SALMA). It is the oldest SALMA age and precedes the Peligra ...

in the

SALMA The South American land mammal ages (SALMA) establish a geologic timescale for prehistoric South American fauna beginning 64.5 Ma during the Paleocene and continuing through to the Late Pleistocene (0.011 Ma). These periods are referred to as a ...

classification. The formation comprising limestones, dolomites, marly and sandy limestones has been deposited in a

shallow marine Shallow water marine environment refers to the area between the shore and deeper water, such as a reef wall or a shelf break. This environment is characterized by oceanic, geological and biological conditions, as described below. The water in this ...

platform

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

. The formation has provided fossils of reptiles and fish.

Description

The Maria Farinha Formation crops out in the

in the northeastern state of

of Brazil. The formation registers the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary at the base of the formation, where it overlies the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...

Gramame Formation. The thick formation is overlain by the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

Tambaba Formation which is overlain by the Plio-

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

Barreiras Formation.Ribeiro de Santana et al., 2011, p.5

Fossil content

The following fossils were reported from the formation:Maria Farinha Formation
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

.org *

Reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s **

Turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...

s *** '' Inaechelys pernambucensis''Barbosa et al., 2008De Aráujo et al., 2016, p.495 **

Tethysuchia Tethysuchia is an extinct clade of neosuchian mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs from the late Middle Jurassic (Bathonian stage) to the Early Eocene (Ypresian stage) of Asia, Europe, North America and South America. It was named by the French ...

ns *** '' Guarinisuchus munizi''Sena et al., 2017 *** '' Hyposaurus derbianus''Cope, 1885 *** Dyrosauridae indet. *

Fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

Chondrichthyes Chondrichthyes (; ) is a class that contains the cartilaginous fishes that have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. They can be contrasted with the Osteichthyes or ''bony fishes'', which have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. ...

*** '' Apocopodon sericeus''Ribeiro de Santana et al., 2011, p.1 *** '' Myliobatis dixoni''Silva et al., 2002

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{cite LSA , first=E.D , last=

Cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colours, litu ...

, year=1885 , title=A contribution to the vertebrate paleontology of Brazil , journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society , volume=23 , pages=1-21 Geologic formations of Brazil Paleocene Series of South America Paleogene Brazil Danian Stage Tiupampan Limestone formations Dolomite formations Shallow marine deposits Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of South America Paleontology in Brazil Formations

Description

Fossil content

See also

References

Bibliography