Sierra Madre Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Aptian-Cenomanian ~ | |
Type | Geologic formation |
Underlies | Ocozocoautla Formation |
Overlies | Santiago & San Ricardo Formations |
Thickness | Composite: 2,590 m (8,500 ft) |
Lithology | |
Primary | Marine limestones |
Other | Marine dolomite |
Location | |
Coordinates | 16°48′N93°24′W / 16.8°N 93.4°W |
Approximate paleocoordinates | 13°48′N59°42′W / 13.8°N 59.7°W |
Region | Chiapas |
Country | Mexico |
Type section | |
Named for | Sierra Madre de Chiapas |
Named by | Gutiérrez Gil |
Year defined | 1956 |
The Sierra Madre Formation is a geologic formation in Chiapas state, southern Mexico. It consists of marine dolomites and limestones. The formation dates to the Middle Cretaceous, spanning from the Aptian of the Early to the Cenomanian of the Late Cretaceous.
The dolomites, dolomitic breccias and limestones of the formation have been deposited in a lagoonal to estuarine environment and contain many fossil fish, flora and rudists, typical reef-building organisms of the Cretaceous.
The formation rests on top of the Santiago and San Ricardo Formations, and is overlain by the Campanian to Maastrichtian Ocozocoautla Formation. The thickness of a composite section of the formation amounts to 2,590 metres (8,500 ft).
The Sierra Madre Formation was first formally described by Gutiérrez Gil in 1956, but previously reported by other authors (Böse, 1905; Ver Wiebe, 1925; Müllerried, 1936; Imlay, 1944). The formation was studied in more detail and subdivided in several members (Chubb, 1959; Sánchez-Montes de Oca, 1969; Zavala-Moreno, 1971; Castro-Mora et al., 1975; Michaud, 1987; Quezada-Muñetón, 1987). [1]
A composed thickness of 2,590 metres (8,500 ft) was suggested by Steele and Waite (1986) for the Sierra Madre Formation, subdivided into 21 lithofacies. The lowermost lithofacies corresponds to the stratigraphic level of El Espinal quarry, defined by Steele and Waite (1986) as dolomite and dolomitic breccia, located between 650 and 700 metres (2,130 and 2,300 ft) from the base of the formation, which rests conformably on top of the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous San Ricardo Formation. The top is covered unconformably by the Campanian to Maastrichtian Ocozocoautla Formation. [1]
The depositional environment is described as an environment with high oxygen concentration and high primary productivity with sporadic influence of strong waves and/or currents in a brackish marginal marine environment; shallow lagoon or estuary. [2]
The formation preserves fossil fish, flora and marine invertebrates dating back to the Cretaceous period, ranging from the Aptian of the Early Cretaceous to the Cenomanian of the Late Cretaceous. [3] [2]
The fossils in El Espinal quarry were found in finely laminated orange clay layers interbedded with dolomitic limestone and interbedded with relatively thick layers of cream limestone that range from 5 to 10 centimetres (2.0 to 3.9 in), with some layers showing ripples, desiccation cracks, algal mats, and flat-pebble conglomerates. [2]
Similar fossils have been found in the Tlayúa Formation, of Albian age in Puebla, southern Mexico, as fishes, one odonate nymph and isopods. [1]
Fossils of Archaeochiapasa mardoqueoi and Pepemkay , a Cenomanian prehistoric ray-finned fish, were found in the formation. Other prehistoric fish fossils, found in quarries near the Municipality of Ocozocoautla de Espinosa, include Macrosemiids ( Macrosemiocotzus species), Clupeomorphs ( Triplomystus applegatei and Paraclupea -like species), and Alepisauriformes ( Saurorhamphus and Enchodus species). [4]
The following flora were found in the formation: [2]
Palinurus is a genus of spiny lobsters in the family Palinuridae, native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and western Indian Ocean. A 110-million-year-old fossil, recognisable as a member of the genus Palinurus, was discovered in a quarry in El Espinal in Mexico's Chiapas state in 1995 and named P. palaciosi.
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The Apón Formation is a geological formation in northwestern Venezuela and northern Colombia, whose thick-bedded limestone interbedded with subordinate amounts of dark gray calcareous shale and sandy shale strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Pterosaur remains of Ornithocheiridae indet. are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
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The El Molino Formation is a Maastrichtian geologic formation pertaining to the Puca Group of central Bolivia. The formation comprises fine-grained sandstones and sandy limestones with stromatolites deposited in a shallow marine to lacustrine environment. The formation has provided fossils of Dolichochampsa minima, and ichnofossils of Ankylosauria indet., Ornithopoda indet., Theropoda indet. and Titanosauridae indet. The tracksite of Cal Orcko is the best known example of the ichnofossil locations of the formation. The ichnofossil of Ligabueichnum bolivianum may be attributed to an ankylosaur. The fossil fish species Dasyatis molinoensis is named after the formation.
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