Earth:Plottier Formation
| Plottier Formation Stratigraphic range: late Coniacian-early Santonian ~86–85 Ma | |
|---|---|
| Type | Geological formation |
| Unit of | Neuquén Group Río Neuquén Subgroup |
| Underlies | Río Colorado Subgroup Bajo de la Carpa Formation |
| Overlies | Sierra Barrosa Formation |
| Thickness | Up to 25 m (82 ft) |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Claystone |
| Other | Sandstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | [ ⚑ ] : 37°24′S 69°06′W / 37.4°S 69.1°W |
| Paleocoordinates | [ ⚑ ] 42°12′S 49°24′W / 42.2°S 49.4°W |
| Region | Mendoza, Neuquén & Río Negro Provinces |
| Country |  Argentina |
| Extent | Neuquén Basin |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Plottier |
| Named by | Fossa Mancini et al. |
| Year defined | 1938 |
  Plottier Formation (Argentina) | |
The Plottier Formation is a geologic formation that outcrops in the Argentina Patagonian provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén. It is the younger of two formations belonging to the Río Neuquén Subgroup within the Neuquén Group of the Neuquén Basin, with the oldest rocks dating from the late Coniacian and its youngest maybe from the very start of the Santonian. Formerly, that subgroup was treated as a formation, and the Plottier Formation was known as the Plottier Member.[1]
Description
A section near the Neuquén City airport, north of the town of Plottier, is the type locality of the Plottier Formation.[2] At its base, this formation grades into the Portezuelo Formation, and it is in turn overlain conformably by the Bajo de la Carpa Formation, a unit of the Río Colorado Subgroup.
The Plottier Formation is the thinnest formation within the Neuquén Group, with a maximum thickness of only 25 metres (82 ft). It is differentiated from the underlying Portezuelo Formation primarily by its higher content of argillites (mud deposits) and was deposited under fluvial conditions. In 2006, a detailed lithostratigraphic and paleoecological study of a section of the Plottier Formation was published. This section contained alluvial deposits laid down by what was essentially a low-gradient wandering river throughout the millions of years, but often was of a single-channel type with little meandering.[3][1]
Fossil content
Few animal fossils are known from this formation, including:[4]
- Titanosaurid sauropods (including "Antarctosaurus" giganteus,[5] Petrobrasaurus puestohernandezi,[6] Muyelensaurus pecheni and Notocolossus gonzalezparejasi[7][8])
- A large basal coelurosaurian theropod
- An azhdarchid pterosaur, Thanatosdrakon amaru
- chelid turtles Linderochelys rinconensis and Rionegrochelys caldieroi
- Abelisauridae[9]
- Unenlagiinae
- Ornithopoda
- Aeolosaurini[10]
- Saltasauridae
- Mesoeucrocodylia
- Crocodyliformes
- Ichnofossils
- Scoyenia sp.
- Taenidium sp.
- at least one mammal
There are also ichnofossils left on the river's mudflats, as well as fossil freshwater bivalves.[1]
See also
- List of fossil sites
- List of dinosaur bearing rock formations
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sánchez et al., 2006
- ↑ Fossa Mancini et al., 1938
- ↑ Leanza et al., 2004
- ↑ Plottier Formation at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ Reguero, Marcelo; Otero, Alejandro (March 8, 2013). "Dinosaurs (Reptilia, Archosauria) at Museo de La Plata, Argentina: annotated catalogue of the type material and Antarctic specimens" (in en). Palaeontologia Electronica 16 (1): 1–24. doi:10.26879/352. ISSN 1094-8074.
- ↑ Petrobrasaurus puestohernandezi type at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ Flavio Bellardini, Mattia Antonio Baiano, Francisco Barrios, Borja Holgado (2018). "New Titanosauria (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) remains from the Upper Cretaceous (Plottier Fm) of the southern Neuquén Basin (Patagonia, Argentina)". Journal of Iberian Geology 44 (1). doi:10.1007/s41513-018-0047-5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322804790.
- ↑ Notocolossus gonzalezparejasi type locality at Fossilworks.org
- ↑ Hendrickx, Christophe; Tschopp, Emanuel; Ezcurra, Martín d. (2020-04-01). "Taxonomic identification of isolated theropod teeth: The case of the shed tooth crown associated with Aerosteon (Theropoda: Megaraptora) and the dentition of Abelisauridae" (in en). Cretaceous Research 108: 104312. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104312. ISSN 0195-6671. Bibcode: 2020CrRes.10804312H. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667118303860.
- ↑ L. Filippi, Agustin G. Martinelli, Alberto Garrido (2013). "Registro de un dinosaurio Aeolosaurini (Sauropoda, Titanosauria) en el Cretácico Superior (Formación Anacleto) del norte de la provincia de Neuquén, Argentina, y comentarios sobre aeolosaurinos sudamericanos". Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia 16 (1): 147-156. doi:10.4072/rbp.2013.1.11. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255172783.
Bibliography
- Chiappe, Luis M. (1993): Enantiornithine (Aves) Tarsometatarsi from the Cretaceous Lecho Formation of Northwestern Argentina. American Museum Novitates 3083: 1-27. [English with Spanish abstract] PDF fulltext
- Coria, Rodolfo A.; Currie, Philip J.; Eberth, David & Garrido, Alberto (2002): Bird footprints from the Anacleto Formation (Late Cretaceous), Neuquén, Argentina. Ameghiniana 39(4): 453-463. [English with Spanish abstract] PDF fulltext
- Fossa Mancini, E.; Feruglio, E.; Yussen de Campana, J.C. (1938). "Una reunión de geólogos de YPF y el problema de la terminología estratigráfica" (in es). Boletín de Informaciones Petroleras 15: 1–67.
- Leanza, H.A.; Apesteguia, S.; Novas, F.E.; De la Fuente, M.S. (2004). "Cretaceous terrestrial beds from the Neuquén Basin (Argentina) and their tetrapod assemblages". Cretaceous Research 25: 61–87. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2003.10.005. Bibcode: 2004CrRes..25...61L. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257047651. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
- Lockley, Martin; Matsukawa, Masaki; Ohira, Hiroto; Li, Jianjun; Wright, Joanna; White, Diane & Chen, Peiji (2006): Bird tracks from Liaoning Province, China: New insights into avian evolution during the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition. Cretaceous Research 27(1): 33-43. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2005.10.007 (HTML abstract). Erratum: doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2008.06.002
- Salgado, L.; Coria, R.A. & Chiappe, Luis M. (2005): Osteology of the sauropod embryos from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 50(1): 79–92. PDF fulltext
- Sánchez, María Lidia; Heredia, Susana; Calvo, Jorge O. (2006). "Paleoambientes sedimentarios del Cretácico Superior de la Formación Plottier (Grupo Neuquén), Departamento Confluencia, Neuquén" (in es). Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina 61: 3–18. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262615949. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
Further reading
- A. B. Arcucci, L. S. Filippi, and J. O. Calvo. 2011. "Un nuevo Mesoeucrocodylia Cretácio del norte de la Cuenca Neuquina, Argentina" ["A new Cretaceous Mesoeucrocodylia from the north of the Neuquen Basin, Argentina"]. Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia (in Spanish). 14(1):51–60.
- L. S. Filippi, J. I. Canudo, J. L. Salgado, A. Garrido, R. García, I. Cerda, and A. Otero. 2011. "A new sauropod titanosaur from the Plottier Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Patagonia (Argentina)". Geologica Acta 9(1):1–12.
- B. J. González Riga, M. C. Lamanna, L. D. Ortiz David, J. O. Calvo, and J. P. Coria. 2016. "A gigantic new dinosaur from Argentina and the evolution of the sauropod hind foot". Scientific Reports 6:19165:1–15.
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