The Cardiel Formation is a

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interv ...

geologic

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

of the Austral Basin in

Santa Cruz Province Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

. The formation comprises

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

s and conglomerates with abundant

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

beds.Pérez Panera, 2010, p.45 The formation is overlain by the Slogget and San Julián Formations and overlies the Divisadero and Kachaike Formations.Pérez Panera, 2010, p.52

Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

remains diagnostic to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.

Paleofauna

* '' Clasmodosaurus spatula'' - Teeth"Table 13.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 271. - (sauropod indet) * ''"

Loncosaurus argentinus ''Loncosaurus'' (meaning uncertain; either Araucanian "chief" or Greek "lance" "lizard"Norman, D.B., and Weishampel, D.B. 1990. Iguanodontidae and related ornithopods. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.). ''The Dinosauria' ...

"'' (ornithopod indet.) - Femur."Table 19.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 417. This genus may have also been found in the Matasiete Formation.

References

Bibliography

* * {{ISBN, 0-520-24209-2

Paleofauna

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading