The Goio-Erê Formation is a geological formation in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It is sometimes thought to be deposited between the

Turonian The Turonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, the second age (geology), age in the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch, or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Upper Cretaceous series (stratigraphy), ...

and

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 ...

stages of the

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 ...

, but an

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

date has also been proposed. It primarily consists of

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 ...

and was deposited in a desert environment. It is known for its exceptional 3-D preservation of fossils at the Cemitério dos Pterossauros ("Pterosaur Graveyard") Quarry, located in the municipality of

Cruzeiro do Oeste Cruzeiro do Oeste is a municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Paraná This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Paraná (PR), located in the South Region of Brazi ...

. Animals recovered from this site include the pterosaurs ''

Keresdrakon ''Keresdrakon'' is an extinct genus of azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Goio-Erê Formation of Brazil, which dates back to the Early Cretaceous period (Aptian-Albian stages), 125 to 100.5 million years ago. ''Keresdrakon'' contains a single spec ...

'', '' Caiuajara and Torukjara'', the dinosaurs '' Berthasaura'' and '' Vespersaurus'', and the iguanian lizard '' Gueragama.'' A few studies have alternatively assigned the Cemitério dos Pterossauros site to the younger

Rio Paraná Formation Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

, however.

Fossil content

Dinosaurs

Pterosaurs

Squamates

References

Geologic formations of Brazil Upper Cretaceous Series of South America Cretaceous Brazil Campanian Stage Coniacian Stage Santonian Stage Turonian Stage Sandstone formations Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of South America Paleontology in Brazil Paraná Basin {{SouthAm-geologic-formation-stub