Candeleros Formation
Geologic formation in Argentina
| Candeleros Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: early Cenomanian ~99–97 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ | |
 Candeleros Formation near Cerro El Vagon, Neuquen, Argentina | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Unit of | Neuquén Group Río Limay Subgroup |
| Underlies | Huincul Formation |
| Overlies | Lohan Cura Formation |
| Thickness | 300 m (980 ft) |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Eolian sandstone |
| Other | Conglomerate, siltstone, paleosol |
| Location | |
| Coordinates |   Candeleros Formation (Argentina) |
The Candeleros Formation is a geologic formation that crops out in the Río Negro, Neuquén, and Mendoza provinces of northern Patagonia, Argentina. It is the oldest formation in the Neuquén Group and belongs to the Rio Limay Subgroup. Formerly that subgroup was treated as a formation, and the Candeleros Formation was known as the Candeleros Member.[1]
Description
The type locality of the Candeleros Formation is Candeleros Hill in Neuquén Province, after which the formation was named by Wichmann in 1929.[2] This formation unconformably overlies the Lohan Cura Formation, and it is fused with the Huincul Formation, also a unit of the Neuquén Group. The sediments of the latter are of lighter greenish and yellow colors and the fused boundary between the Candeleros and Huincul formations is easily recognizable.[3]
The Candeleros Formation is almost 300 metres (980 ft) thick in some sections. Overall, the formation represents a part of the ancient Kokorkom desert with braided river system, made up mostly of sandstones and conglomerates. There are also isolated sections that represent eolian (wind-blown) deposition, as well as siltstones deposited under swamp conditions. Paleosols (soil deposits) are common in some sections as well.[1][3]
Fossil content
The Candeleros Formation has a very diverse fossil fauna, including fish, frogs, mammals, rhynchocephalians, snakes, turtles, notosuchians, pterosaurs, and abundant dinosaurs including rebbachisaurid and titanosaurian sauropods and diverse theropods, and the enigmatic armored Jakapil.
Ichnofossils found in the formation include those assigned to Sousaichnum monettae, Limayichnus major, Bressaniichnus patagonicus, Deferraiichnum mapuchense, and Picunichnus benedettoi.[4]
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Fish
| Taxa | Species | Locality | Member | Material | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceratodus | C. argentinus | Upper | A lungfish |
Amphibians
| Taxa | Species | Locality | Member | Material | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avitabatrachus[5] | A. uliana | El Gigante | Lower | Fragmentary skull and postcranial skeleton | A pipimorph frog |
Dinosaurs
Saurischians
- Sauropods
| Taxa | Species | Locality | Member | Material | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andesaurus | A. delgadoi | Lower | A partial skeleton | A basal titanosaur |  | |
| Campananeyen[6] | C. fragilissimus | Barda Atravesada de Las Campanas | Lower | A fragmentary skeleton | A rebbachisaurid | |
| Limaysaurus | L. tessonei | Upper | A rebbachisaurid | |||
| Nopcsaspondylus | N. alarconensis | A rebbachisaurid | ||||
| Rayososaurus | R. agrioensis | Upper | A rebbachisaurid | |||
| Titanosauria | Indeterminate | Upper | A giant titanosaur; possibly Argentinosaurus |
- Theropods
| Taxa | Species | Locality | Member | Material | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abelichnus | A. astigerrae | A footprint | ||||
| Alnashetri | A. cerropoliciensis | La Buitrera | Upper | A fragmentary skeleton including leg and foot bones | An alvarezsauroid |  |
| Bicentenaria | B. argentina | Ezequiel Ramos Mexia Reservoir | Upper | Much of a skeleton | A coelurosaur |  |
| Buitreraptor | B. gonzalezorum | La Buitrera | Upper | Several partial skeletons | A dromaeosaurid |  |
| Ekrixinatosaurus | E. novasi | Bajo del Añelo | Upper | A partial skeleton | An abelisaurid |  |
| Giganotosaurus | G. carolinii | Los Candeleros and Villa El Chocón | Lower | A partial skull and a disarticulated postcranial skeleton | A carcharodontosaurid |  |
Ornithischians
| Taxa | Species | Locality | Member | Material | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonaparteichnium[7] | B. tali | Footprints | Iguanodont ichnofossils | |||
| Jakapil[8] | J. kaniukura | Cerro Policía | Upper | A partial skeleton including several osteoderms and a complete lower jaw | Possibly a basal thyreophoran[9] |  |
Pterosaurs
| Taxa | Species | Locality | Member | Material | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azhdarchidae[10] | Indeterminate | Ezequiel Ramos Mexía Reservoir | Upper | A partial cervical vertebra | An azhdarchid |
Other reptiles
| Taxa | Species | Locality | Member | Material | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Araripesuchus | A. buitreraensis | Upper | A small notosuchian crocodyliform | |||
| A manzanensis | Upper | |||||
| A. patagonicus | Lower |  | ||||
| Najash | N. rionegrina | Upper | A basal snake |  | ||
| Priosphenodon | P. avelasi | Upper | An eilenodontine rhynchocephalian |  | ||
| Tika | T. giacchinoi | Upper | A sphenodontine rhynchocephalian |
Mammals
| Taxa | Species | Locality | Member | Material | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cronopio | C. dentiacutus | La Buitrera | Upper | Skull bones and teeth | A small meridiolestidan mammal |  |
See also
- List of fossil sites
- Bajo Barreal Formation, contemporaneous fossiliferous formation of the San Jorge Basin
- Cerro Fortaleza Formation, contemporaneous fossiliferous formation of the Austral Basin
- Alcântara Formation, contemporaneous fossiliferous formation of the São Luís-Grajaú Basin, Brazil
- List of dinosaur bearing rock formations
References
- ^ a b Sánchez et al., 2006
- ^ Wichmann, 1929
- ^ a b Leanza et al., 2004
- ^ Leonardi, 1994, p. 79
- ^ Baez, Ana & Trueb, Linda & Calvo, Jorge. (2000). The earliest known pipoid frog from South America: A new genus from the Middle Cretaceous of Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 20. 490-500. 10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020%5B0490:TEKPFF%5D2.0.CO;2.
- ^ Lerzo, Lucas N.; Fernández-Baldor, Fidel Torcida; Canale, Juan I.; Whitlock, John A.; Otero, Alejandro; Gallina, Pablo A. (2024-08-13). "They all floated in the Cretaceous: new rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) with a highly pneumatized skeleton from the Upper Cretaceous (lower Cenomanian) of Patagonia, Argentina". Historical Biology: 1–14. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2383708. ISSN 0891-2963.
- ^ Calvo, Jorge O. (1991). "Huellas de dinosaurios en la Formación Río Limay (Albiano-Cenomaniano?), Picún Leufú, Provincia del Neuquén, República Argentina (Ornithischia-Saurischia: Sauropoda-Theropoda)". Ameghiniana. 28 (3): 241–258.
- ^ Riguetti FJ, Apesteguía S, Pereda-Suberbiola X (2022). "A new Cretaceous thyreophoran from Patagonia supports a South American lineage of armoured dinosaurs". Scientific Reports. 12 (1): Article number 11621. Bibcode:2022NatSR..1211621R. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-15535-6. PMC 9372066. PMID 35953515.
- ^ Raven, T. J.; Barrett, P. M.; Joyce, C. B.; Maidment, S. C. R. (2023). "The phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of the armoured dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora)" (PDF). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 21 (1). 2205433. Bibcode:2023JSPal..2105433R. doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2205433.
- ^ Agnolin, Federico; Rozadilla, Sebastián; Juárez-Valieri, Rubén; Meso, Jorge (2023-10-25). "Oldest azhdarchid (Pterosauria) record from South America". Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales. Nueva serie (in Spanish). 25 (2): 309–314. ISSN 1853-0400.
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Bibliography
- Otero, A.; Carballido, J. L.; Salgado, L.; Canudo, J. I.; Garrido, A. C. (2021). "Report of a giant titanosaur sauropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Neuquén Province, Argentina". Cretaceous Research. 122: Article 104754. Bibcode:2021CrRes.12204754O. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104754. S2CID 233582290. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104754
- Canale, Juan I.; Cerda, Ignacio; Novas, Fernando E.; Haluza, Alejandro (2016). "Small-sized abelisaurid (Theropoda: Ceratosauria) remains from the Upper Cretaceous of northwest Patagonia, Argentina". Cretaceous Research. 62: 18–28. Bibcode:2016CrRes..62...18C. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.02.001. hdl:11336/59930. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.02.001
- Sánchez, María Lidia; Heredia, Susana; Calvo, Jorge O. (2006). "Paleoambientes sedimentarios del Cretácico Superior de la Formación Plottier (Grupo Neuquén), Departamento Confluencia, Neuquén (Sedimentary paleoenvironments in the Upper Cretaceous Plottier Formation (Neuquen Group), Confluencia, Neuquén)". Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina. 61: 3–18. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
- 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 (1): 61–87. Bibcode:2004CrRes..25...61L. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2003.10.005. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
- Leonardi, Giuseppe (1994). "Annotated Atlas of South America Tetrapod Footprints (Devonian to Holocene) with an appendix on Mexico and Central America". Ministerio de Minas e Energia - Companhia de Pesquisa de Recursos Minerais, Geological Service of Brazil. pp. 1–248. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
- Wichmann, R (1929). "Los Estratos con Dinosaurios y su techo en el este del Territorio del Neuquén ("The dinosaur-bearing strata and their upper limit in eastern Neuquén Territory")". Dirección General de Geología, Minería e Hidrogeología Publicación. 32: 1–9.
