Guabirotuba Formation

The Guabirotuba Formation is a late Middle Eocene (Divisaderan in the SALMA classification) geologic formation of the Curitiba Basin in Paraná, Brazil. The formation crops out in and around the city of Curitiba and comprises mudstones and sandstones deposited in a fluvial floodplain environment.

Guabirotuba Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Mid Eocene (Divisaderan)
~42–38 Ma
↓
TypeGeological formation
Underliesalluvium
OverliesCambrian basement
Thickness60–80 m (200–260 ft)
Lithology
PrimaryMudstone, sandstone
OtherConglomerate
Location
Coordinates25.5°S 49.3°W / -25.5; -49.3
Approximate paleocoordinates27.5°S 39.8°W / -27.5; -39.8
RegionParaná
Country Brazil
ExtentCuritiba Basin
Type section
Named forGuabirotuba, Curitiba
Named bySalamuni & Bigarella
Year defined1962
Guabirotuba Formation (Brazil)

The 60 to 80 metres (200 to 260 ft) thick formation has provided several fossil mammals, and indeterminate side-neck turtle fossils, and indeterminate terror bird fossils. A newly described species of Cingulata; Proeocoleophorus carlinii was also found in the formation.

Description

The Guabirotuba Formation was first described by Riad Salamuni and João José Bigarella in 1962. The geologists named the formation after Guabirotuba, a neighborhood of Curitiba, the capital of Paraná State.[1] The formation is the lowermost sedimentary unit in the 3,000 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi) Curitiba Basin, a Cenozoic continental rift basin of southeastern Brazil,[2] overlying Cambrian basement comprising gneisses, amphibolites and migmatites of the Atuba Complex and metasediments of the Açungui Group.[3][4]

Lithologies
The depositional environment of the Guabirotuba Formation was a floodplain

The 60 to 80 metres (200 to 260 ft) thick Guabirotuba Formation comprises a basal conglomerate,[5] mudstones and sandstones,[3] deposited in a fluvial floodplain environment.[2][6]

The sediments of the formation contain between 0.24 and 2.61% heavy minerals.[7] Heavy mineral analysis on the very abundant zircons, abundant epidote, common tourmaline and kyanite and rare rutile has provided insight in the paleocurrents of the fluvial environment, with predominant flow directions towards the northwest and east-northeast.[8]

Age

The age of the formation has been a matter of debate, with early descriptions assigning the formation to the Miocene to Pliocene,[6] but after the discovery of a mammal fauna described by Sedor et al. in 2017, the age of the formation has been defined as late Middle Eocene, or "Barrancan", which is a sub-age of the Divisaderan South American land mammal age,[note 1] ranging from approximately 42 to 39 Ma.[10][11]

Paleontological significance

The Guabirotuba Formation is one of few formations in Brazil providing Paleogene mammal faunas, between the older Tiupampan Maria Farinha Formation of the Parnaíba Basin and the Itaboraian Itaboraí Formation of the Itaboraí Basin in Rio de Janeiro State, and the younger Tinguirirican Entre-Córregos Formation of the Aiuruoca Basin and the Deseadan Tremembé Formation of the Taubaté Basin.[2]

Fossil content

Fossils recovered from the formation include:[12]

ClassGroupFossilsImagesNotes
MammalsDasypodidaeMachlydotherium sp.[12]
Meteutatus sp.[12]
Parutaetus sp.[12]
Utaetus sp.[12]
Astegotheriini indet.[12]
Euphractinae indet.[12]
CingulataProeocoleophorus carlinii[12]
NotoungulataOldfieldthomasiidae indet.[12]
Notopithecidae indet.[12]
AstrapotheriaAstrapotheria indet.[12]
PaucituberculataPalaeothentoidea indet.[12]
SparassodontaNemolestes sp.[12]
TheriiformesArgyrolagoidea indet.[12]
BirdsPhorusrhacidaePhorusrhacidae indet.[13]
ReptilesTurtlesPleurodira indet.
[14]

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. The sub-ages "Barrancan" and "Vacan" are based on respectively the Gran Barranca Member and the Cañadón Vaca section of the Sarmiento Formation in Patagonia, Argentina and are not formally established;[9] some authors consider the "Barrancan" as the upper age of the Casamayoran[10]

References
  1. Monteiro Machado, 2012, p.564
  2. Sedor et al., 2017, p.39
  3. Da Silva Felipe, 2011, p.12
  4. Monteiro Machado, 2012, p.565
  5. Da Silva Felipe, 2011, p.17
  6. Monteiro Machado, 2012, p.566
  7. Monteiro Machado, 2012, p.567
  8. Monteiro Machado, 2012, p.570
  9. Woodburne et al., 2014, p.19
  10. Bellosi & Krause, 2014, p.31
  11. Woodburne et al., 2014, p.7
  12. Guabirotuba Fauna at Fossilworks.org
  13. Sedor et al., 2014, p.807
  14. Wagner Rogério et al., 2012, p.44

Bibliography
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