The Maria Farinha Formation is a geological formation of the

Parnaíba Basin The Parnaíba Basin ( Portuguese: ''Bacia do Parnaíba'') is a large cratonic sedimentary basin located in the North and Northeast portion of Brazil. About 50% of its area is in the state of Maranhão, and the other 50% is in the states of Pará, ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

, northeastern

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 ...

whose strata date back to the

Danian The Danian is the oldest age or lowest stage of the Paleocene Epoch or Series, of the Paleogene Period or System, and of the Cenozoic Era or Erathem. The beginning of the Danian (and the end of the preceding Maastrichtian) is at the Cretac ...

stage of the

Paleocene The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...

, or

Tiupampan The Tiupampan () age is a period of geologic time (64.5–62.5 Ma) within the Paleocene epoch of the Paleogene The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from th ...

in the

SALMA Salma may refer to: People * Salma (given name), a list of people * Happy Salma (born 1980), Indonesian actress * Salma (writer), pen name of Indian Tamil writer, activist and politician born Rajathi Samsudeen in 1968 * Abu Salma, Palestinian ...

classification. The formation comprising limestones, dolomites, marly and sandy limestones has been deposited in a

shallow marine Shallow water marine environment refers to the neritic marine environment between the shore and the shelf break. This environment is characterized by oceanic, geological and biological conditions, as described below, and water in this environmen ...

platform environment. The formation has provided fossils of reptiles and fish.

Description

The Maria Farinha Formation crops out in the

in the northeastern state of

of Brazil. The formation registers the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary at the base of the formation, where it overlies the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

Gramame Formation. The thick formation is overlain by the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

Tambaba Formation which is overlain by the Plio-

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Barreiras Formation.Ribeiro de Santana et al., 2011, p.5

Fossil content

The following fossils were reported from the formation:Maria Farinha Formation
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks was a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cr ...

.org *

Reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s **

Turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

s *** '' Inaechelys pernambucensis''Barbosa et al., 2008De Aráujo et al., 2016, p.495 **

Tethysuchia Tethysuchia is an extinct clade of neosuchian mesoeucrocodylian crocodylomorphs from the late Middle Jurassic (Bathonian stage) to the Early Eocene (Ypresian stage) of Asia, Europe, North America and South America. It was named by the French pale ...

ns *** '' Guarinisuchus munizi''Sena et al., 2017 *** '' Hyposaurus derbianus''Cope, 1885 *** Dyrosauridae indet. *

Fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

Chondrichthyes Chondrichthyes (; ) is a class of jawed fish that contains the cartilaginous fish or chondrichthyans, which all have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. They can be contrasted with the Osteichthyes or ''bony fish'', which have skeleto ...

*** '' Apocopodon sericeus''Ribeiro de Santana et al., 2011, p.1 *** '' Cretolamna appendiculata'' *** '' C. biauriculata'' *** '' C. serrata'' *** '' Hexanchus microdon'' *** ''

Myliobatis dixoni ''Myliobatis'' is a genus of eagle rays in the family Myliobatidae. Description ''Myliobatis'' species can reach a width up to about . Their bodies consist of a rhomboidal disc, wider than long, with one dorsal fin. The head is broad and short, ...

''Silva et al., 2002 *** ''

Rhinoptera prisca ''Rhinoptera'' is a genus of ray commonly known as the cownose rays. This genus is the only member of the family Rhinopteridae. These rays feed on mollusks and various other benthic prey. Their low fecundity rate and late maturity makes them s ...

'' *** '' R. studeri'' *** '' Squalicorax kaupi'' *** '' S. pristodontus'' *** '' Synodonstaspis sp.''

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{citation , first=E.D , last=

Cope A cope ( ("rain coat") or ("cape")) is a liturgical long mantle or cloak, open at the front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colour. A cope may be worn by any rank of the Catholic or Anglican clerg ...

, year=1885 , title=A contribution to the vertebrate paleontology of Brazil , journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society , volume=23 , pages=1–21 Geologic formations of Brazil Paleocene Series of South America Paleogene Brazil Danian Stage Tiupampan Limestone formations Dolomite formations Shallow marine deposits Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of South America Paleontology in Brazil Formations

Description

Fossil content

See also

References

Bibliography