Cerro Barcino Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Aptian-Cenomanian ~ | |
Type | Geological formation |
Unit of | Chubut Group |
Sub-units | Las Plumas Cerro Castaño Puesto La Paloma Bayo Overo |
Underlies | Puesto Manuel Arce Formation |
Overlies | Los Adobes Formation |
Lithology | |
Primary | Mudstone, sandstone |
Other | Conglomerate, tuff |
Location | |
Coordinates | 43°48′S68°36′W / 43.8°S 68.6°W |
Approximate paleocoordinates | 44°42′S35°06′W / 44.7°S 35.1°W |
Region | Chubut Province |
Country | Argentina |
Extent | Cañadón Asfalto Basin |
Type section | |
Named for | Cerro Barcino |
The Cerro Barcino Formation (also known as the Gorro Frigio Formation) is a geological formation in South America whose strata span the Early Cretaceous to the earliest Late Cretaceous. The top age for the formation has been estimated to be Cenomanian. Earlier estimates placed the formation until the Campanian. [1]
The formation was deposited in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, a rift basin that started forming in the earliest Jurassic. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
The Cerro Barcino Formation is the second-youngest unit of the Chubut Group, which also includes the older Los Adobes Formation. Both formations cover a vast area in Chubut Province, Argentina. The two formations are distinguished by geological features suggesting a distinct change in climate, from a wetter, flood plain environment in the Los Adobes to a much more arid, desert-like environment in the Cerro Barcino. [1]
The Cerro Barcino Formation is subdivided into several subunits (members). [1] From oldest to youngest:
The Puesto La Paloma Member dates from ~118-113 Ma, the Cerro Castaño Member dates from ~113-100.5 Ma, correlating with the Albian, and the Las Plumas Member dates from ~100.5-98 Ma. [2]
Indeterminate abelisaurid remains from the Puesto La Paloma Member. [1] Possible rebbachisaurid remains are known from the La Paloma Member. [1] [2]
Lepidosaurs ( Kaikaifilusaurus minimus and Priosphenodon minimus ) and Testudinata ( Chubutemys copelloi and Prochelidella cerrobarcinae ) are also discovered from this formation. [2]
Crocodylomorphs | ||||||
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Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
Barcinosuchus [3] | B. gradilis | Near El Escorial village, Chubut Province | Cerro Castaño Member | "Skull, mandible, and postcranial remains." | A peirosaurid. The first crocodyliform from the Chubut Group | |
Dinosaurs | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Member | Material | Notes | Images |
Chubutisaurus [4] | C. insignis | Bayo Overo | two partial skeletons | A basal somphospondylan | |
Genyodectes [5] | G. serus | Cerro Castaño | partial snout | A possible ceratosaurid. | |
Patagotitan [6] | P. mayorum | Cerro Castaño | partial skeleton and other elements | A huge lognkosaur. | |
Tyrannotitan [7] | T. chubutensis | Cerro Castaño | two partial skeletons and teeth | A giant giganotosaurin carcharodontosaurid. | |
"Megalosaurus" | "M." inexpectatus | Bayo Overo | teeth | Indeterminate abelisaurid originally described as a species of Megalosaurus [8] [9] | |
Abelisauroidea | indeterminate | La Paloma member | Vertebrae | Very similar to the later and more large bodied abelisauroids from South America such as Carnotaurus. [10] | |
Tyrannotitan is a genus of large bipedal carnivorous dinosaur of the carcharodontosaurid family from the Aptian stage of the early Cretaceous period, discovered in Argentina. It is closely related to other giant predators like Carcharodontosaurus and especially Giganotosaurus as well as Mapusaurus.
Amygdalodon was a genus of basal sauropod from the Middle Jurassic of Argentina. The type species is Amygdalodon patagonicus. Fossils of Amygdalodon have been found in the Toarcian Cerro Carnerero Formation of the Jurassic. Very little is known about it, but it is one of the few Jurassic dinosaurs from South America found thus far.
Volkheimeria is an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaurs that lived in what is now Argentina during the Early Jurassic, 178–179 million years ago. Its type and only species is Volkheimeria chubutensis.
Chubutisaurus is a genus of somphospondylan sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Cerro Barcino Formation (Albian) of Argentina. The type species, Chubutisaurus insignis, was described by del Corro in 1975. Chubutisaurus had a more robust radius than Venenosaurus. In 2010 Gregory Paul gave a length of 18 meters (59 ft) and a weight of 12 tonnes. Thomas Holtz estimated its length at 23 meters (75.5 ft) in 2012.
Amargatitanis is a genus of dicraeosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age La Amarga Formation of Neuquén, Argentina. It is known from a single, incomplete postcranial skeleton consisting of a partial hindlimb, ischium, and two vertebrae. These remains were unearthed by Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte in 1983 during an expedition by the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales and later described as a new genus and species, Amargatitanis macni by Sebastián Apesteguía. The genus name comes from the words Amarga, where the fossils were collected, and titanis meaning "titan". Its species name is in reference to the MACN, where the remains are stored.
Notobatrachus is an extinct genus of frog from the Lower Jurassic (Toarcian) Cañadon Asfalto Formation, Cañadón Asfalto Basin and Middle Jurassic La Matilde Formation, Deseado Massif of Patagonia, Argentina. N. degiustoi is the most completely known Jurassic frog and has been recorded in many outcrops of the La Matilde Formation of the Deseado Massif in southern Patagonia.
The La Colonia Formation is a geological formation in Argentina whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
The Cañadón Asfalto Formation is a geological formation from the Lower Jurassic, with doubtful layers of Late Jurassic age previously referred to it. The Cañadón Asfalto Formation is located in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, a rift basin in the Chubut Province of northwestern Patagonia, southern Argentina. The basin started forming in the earliest Jurassic.
Barcinosuchus is an extinct genus of carnivorous metasuchian from the early Cretaceous period. It is a peirosaurid which lived during the early Cretaceous period in what is now Chubut Province, Argentina. It is known from the holotype MPEF-PV 3095, which consists of skull, mandible, and postcranial remains. The specimen recovered from the lower part of the Cerro Castaño Member of the Cerro Barcino Formation. Barcinosuchus was named by Martín Leardi and Diego Pol in 2009 and the type species is Barcinosuchus gradilis.
Chubutemys was an extinct genus of meiolaniform turtle. It lived during the Early Cretaceous of Argentina, around the Albian-Aptian border, within the Puesto La Paloma Member of the Cerro Barcino Formation. It is known from most of the skeleton and carapace, and part of the skull.
Patagotitan is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Cerro Barcino Formation in Chubut Province, Patagonia, Argentina. The genus contains a single species known from at least six young adult individuals, Patagotitan mayorum, which was first announced in 2014 and then named in 2017 by José Carballido and colleagues. Preliminary studies and press releases suggested that Patagotitan was the largest known titanosaur and land animal overall, with an estimated length of 37 m (121 ft) and an estimated weight of 69 tonnes. Later research revised the length estimate down to 31 m (102 ft) and weight estimates down to approximately 50–57 tonnes, suggesting that Patagotitan was of a similar size to, if not smaller than, its closest relatives Argentinosaurus and Puertasaurus. Still, Patagotitan is one of the most-known titanosaurs, and so its interrelationships with other titanosaurs have been relatively consistent in phylogenetic analyses. This led to its use in a re-definition of the group Colossosauria by Carballido and colleagues in 2022.
Allkaruen is a genus of "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaur from the Early Jurassic Cañadon Asfalto Formation in Argentina. It contains a single species, Allkaruen koi.
The Cañadón Calcáreo Formation is an Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian-aged geologic formation, from the Cañadón Asfalto Basin in Chubut Province, Argentina, a rift basin that started forming since the earliest Jurassic. It was formerly thought to date into the Cretaceous, but the age has been revised with Uranium–lead dating as likely being solely Late Jurassic in age.
Pilmatueia is a diplodocoid sauropod belonging to the family Dicraeosauridae that lived in Argentina during the Early Cretaceous. Its type and only species is Pilmatueia faundezi. Pilmatueia was probably closely related to other South American dicraeosaurids such as Amargasaurus. Pilmatueia had relatively pneumatic vertebrae compared to other dicraeosaurids, which were otherwise characterized by a reduction in pneumaticity relative to other sauropods. Pilmatueia dates to the Valanginian, an age of the Cretaceous period for which dinosaur faunas are poorly known.
The Cañadón Asfalto Basin is an irregularly shaped sedimentary basin located in north-central Patagonia, Argentina. The basin stretches from and partly covers the North Patagonian Massif in the north, a high forming the boundary of the basin with the Neuquén Basin in the northwest, to the Cotricó High in the south, separating the basin from the Golfo San Jorge Basin. It is located in the southern part of Río Negro Province and northern part of Chubut Province. The eastern boundary of the basin is the North Patagonian Massif separating it from the offshore Valdés Basin and it is bound in the west by the Patagonian Andes, separating it from the small Ñirihuau Basin.
Kaikaifilusaurus is an extinct genus of rhynchocephalians in the family Sphenodontidae from the Late Cretaceous of South America. Fossils of the genus were found in Cenomanian sediments of the Candeleros Formation and Turonian layers of the Huincul Formation, both of the Neuquén Basin and the Albian strata of the Cerro Barcino Formation in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, all in Patagonia, Argentina. The genus contains two species, K. minimus and the type species K. calvoi.
Chubutinectes is an extinct genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous La Colonia Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a single species, C. carmeloi, known from a partial skeleton and associated gastroliths.
The Cañadón Asfalto Formation is a geological formation which dates to the Toarcian age of the Early Jurassic period of Argentina. The rocks of the formation preserve a diverse biota, including plants, dinosaurs, invertebrates, mammals and pterosaurs, among others. The formation is divided into two members: the lower Las Chacritas Member, and the overlying Puesto Almada member, though the latter has also been assigned to the overlying Cañadón Calcáreo Formation by some authors. The members are typically composed of fluvial-lacustrine deposits consisting of sandstones and shales, with a limestone carbonate evaporitic sequence also being present in the lower of the two.
Titanomachya is an extinct genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous La Colonia Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a single species, T. gimenezi. It is a relatively small titanosaur, weighing around 7.8 tonnes.