The Tenejapa-Lacandón Formation is a

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...

and

lagerstätte A Fossil-Lagerstätte (, from ''Lager'' 'storage, lair' '' Stätte'' 'place'; plural ''Lagerstätten'') is a sedimentary deposit that preserves an exceptionally high amount of palaeontological information. ''Konzentrat-Lagerstätten'' preserv ...

in southern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and western

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. It preserves fossils dating to the

Early Paleocene The Danian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Paleocene Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series, of the Paleogene Period or system (stratigraphy), System, and of the Cenozoic Era or Erathem. The beginnin ...

. It is located primarily in the Mexican state of

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

, but outcrops lie as far west as Petén, Guatemala. Some consider it as two distinct formations, the Tenejapa Formation to the west and the Lacandón Formation to the east, which are contiguous and contemporary with each other. The Lacandón Formation was deposited in a shallow inshore marine habitat, whereas the Tenejapa Formation was deposited in a deep offshore habitat. They appear to preserve a marine ecosystem deposited on the western margin of the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. The most prominent exposures are at the División del Norte and Belisario Domínguez quarries near

Palenque, Chiapas Palenque is a city and Municipalities of Chiapas, municipality in the List of states in Mexico, Mexican state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. The city was named almost 200 years before Palenque, the nearby Mayan ruins were discovered in the 18th ...

, which contain articulated fish skeletons belonging to a variety of taxa of both

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

and

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

affinities. This formation was also the source of the

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

used to build the ancient

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

city of

Palenque Palenque (; Yucatec Maya: ), also anciently known in the Itza Language as Lakamha ("big water" or "big waters"), was a Maya city-state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca. 226 BC to ca. 799 AD ...

, with one other fossil-bearing locality being an unnamed quarry used by the Mayans. The inhabitants of ancient Palenque were aware of the fossils present in the formation, and used them in ways such as painting articulated fossils for the purpose of decoration. The Tenejapa-Lacandón Formation is, temporally and geographically, the "closest" geological formation to the Chicxulub impact crater; it is located only from the Chicxulub crater and was deposited approximately 3 million years after the impact. For this reason, it is important evidence for understanding the recovery of ocean ecosystems in the wake of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, especially near the Chicxulub crater. The high number of well-preserved fossil fish specimens, likely relating to mass mortality events, makes it a

. It represents one of the richest known faunas of articulated Paleocene acanthomorphs.

Paleofauna

Fishes

Reptiles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenejapa-Lacandon Formation Paleogene Mexico Cenozoic Guatemala Danian Stage Paleocene Series of North America Limestone formations Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of North America Palenque Natural history of Chiapas Lagerstätten