The Colorado Formation is a

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

(

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

geologic formation that is exposed within the Colorado Basin in the southeastern part of

La Pampa Province La Pampa () is a sparsely populated province of Argentina, located in the Pampas in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise San Luis, Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén and Mendoza. History In ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Fossil

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

eggs of '' Sphaerovum erbeni'' have been reported from the nonmarine,

fluvial A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

of this formation.Casadio, S., T. Manera, A. Parras, C. L. Montalvo (2002) ''Huevos de dinosaurios (Faveoloolithidae) del Cretácico superior de la Cuenca del Colorado, Provincia de La Pampa, Argentina.'' Ameghiniana. 39(3):285–293.

Description

The formation overlies the

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

and has an estimated thickness of .López, 2017, p.19 The Colorado Formation comprises medium-grained

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

s with intercalated conglomerates with pebbly beds that can be interpreted as

alluvial Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

deposits.Hucal eggsite locality A
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks was a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cr ...

.org

References

Bibliography

* {{citation , last=López , first=Gisela Romina , year=2017 , title=Sedimentología e inferencias ambientales de los depósitos de la Formación Colorado (Campaniano-Maastrichtiano), Departamento Hucal, Provincia de La Pampa (BSc. thesis) , url=http://www.biblioteca.unlpam.edu.ar/rdata/tesis/x_lopsed290.pdf , publisher= Universidad Nacional de La Pampa , pages=1–95 , accessdate=2018-09-07 Geologic formations of Argentina Upper Cretaceous Series of South America Cretaceous Argentina Campanian Stage Maastrichtian Stage of South America Sandstone formations Conglomerate formations of Argentina Alluvial deposits Fluvial deposits Ooliferous formations Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of South America Paleontology in Argentina Geology of La Pampa Province

Description

See also

References

Bibliography