Los Blanquitos Formation
| Los Blanquitos Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Late Campanian - Early Maastrichtian ~ | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Unit of | Salta Group |
| Underlies | Lecho Formation |
| Overlies | Las Curtiembres Formation |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Sandstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| Approximate paleocoordinates | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. |
| Region | Salta Province |
| Country | Argentina |
| Extent | Salta Basin |
Los Blanquitos Formation (Argentina) | |
The Los Blanquitos Formation is a geological formation in Salta Province, Argentina whose strata date back to the late Campanian to early Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous Period. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.[2] The formation consists of friable, micaceous, grayish-red sandstones with quartz pebbles containing small carbonate veins. In the base of this layer the remains of a titanosaurid dinosaur were discovered. Above the layer with bones appears a lens of thick, greenish-gray, calcareous, very hard sandstone with pebbles and gravel. The bones were covered by a "halo" of the same rock but of greenish or grayish color, especially visible because the normal sediment is red. The bed thickness is 1.5 metres (4.9 ft).[3]
Vertebrate paleofauna
[edit | edit source]- Guemesia ochoai - an abelisaurid theropod dinosaur, known from a nearly complete braincase[4]
- Unquillosaurus ceiballi - a theropod dinosaur (possibly carcharodontosaurian or Maniraptoran), known from a pubis[3][5][6]
- ?Titanosaurus sp. - a sauropod dinosaur[3]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Cretaceous, South America)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 600-604. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..
- ^ a b c Arroyo El Morterito at Fossilworks.org
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ "Table 10.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 199.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Further reading
[edit | edit source]- J.F. Bonaparte and G. Bossi. 1967. Sobre la presencia de dinosaurios en la Formación Pirgua del Grupo Salta y su significado cronologico [On the presence of dinosaurs in the Pirgua Formation of the Salta Group and its chronologic significance]. Acta Geologica Lilloana 9:25-44
- Powell, J.E. 2003. Revision of South American titanosaurid dinosaurs: palaeobiological, palaeobiogeographical and phylogenetic aspects. Records of the Queen Victoria Museum Launceston 111:1-173
- Powell, J.E. 1979. Sobre una asociacion de dinosaurios y otras evidencias de vertebrados del Cretacico superior de la region de La Candelaria, Prov. de Salta, Argentina. Ameghiniana 16: pp. 191–204