The Missão Velha Formation is a

late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time scale, geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum, strata.Owen ...

geologic formation in 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 ...

Araripe Basin The Araripe Basin () is a rift basin covering about ,Neto et al., 2013, p.1 in Ceará, Piauí and Pernambuco states of northeastern Brazil. It is bounded by the Patos and Pernambuco lineaments, and is situated east of the Parnaíba Basin, south ...

where the states of

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, ...

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

and

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

come together. The formation is the middle stratigraphic unit of the Vale do Carirí Group, overlying the Brejo Santo Formation and overlain by the Abaiara Formation. The formation comprises whitish fine-to-medium

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

ose

arenite Arenite (from the Latin ''arena'', "sand") is a sedimentary clastic rock with sand grain size between 0.0625 mm (0.00245 in) and 2 mm (0.08 in) and containing less than 15% matrix. The related adjective is ''arenaceous''. The e ...

s, with subrounded to rounded grains, deposited in an

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...

environment during the syn-rift phase of the Araripe Basin. The Missão Velha Formation has provided macrofossils of various genera of fish and reptiles as snakes, crocodylomorphs and turtles.

Ichnofossil A trace fossil, also called an ichnofossil (; ), is a fossil record of biological activity by lifeforms, but not the preserved remains of the organism itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, which are the fossilized remains of part ...

s of dinosaurs were also discovered in the formation, as well as a tooth from an abelisaurid theropod.

Geology

Fossil content

The following fossils were reported from the formation:Missão Velha 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 *

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 ...

** '' Parvodus rugianus'' ** '' Planohybodus peterboroughensis'' ** '' Planohybodus marki'' ** '' Mawsonia cf. gigas'' ** '' Acrodus sp.'' ** '' Hybodus sp.'' ** '' Lepidotes sp.'' ** '' Neoceratodus sp.'' ** '' Polyacrodus sp.'' ** '' Vinctifer sp.'' ** Lonchidiidae indet. *

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 *** Pelomedusidae indet.Brito et al., 1994 **

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

s *** Sauropoda indet. *** Theropoda indet. *** Abelisauridae indet. ** Loricata *** Mesosuchia indet. **

Snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

s *** Lacertilia indet. *

Amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

s ** ?Amphibia indet. *

s ** Carnosauria indet.Carvalho et al., 1995 ** Ornithopoda indet. ** Dinosauria indet.

References

Bibliography

;Geology * * * ;Paleontology * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Missao Velha Formation Geologic formations of Brazil Lower Cretaceous Series of South America Cretaceous Brazil Aptian Stage Sandstone formations Alluvial deposits Ichnofossiliferous formations Paleontology in Brazil Environment of Ceará Environment of Pernambuco Environment of Piauí Landforms of Ceará Landforms of Pernambuco Landforms of Piauí Northeast Region, Brazil

Geology

Fossil content

See also

References

Bibliography