Refining the bio- and chronostratigraphy of the southern Brazilian Triassic

• Grant number: 25/07244-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - Brazil
• Start date: July 15, 2025
• End date: December 14, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Principal Investigator: Max Cardoso Langer
• Grantee: Max Cardoso Langer
• Visiting researcher: Atila Augusto Stock da Rosa
• Visiting researcher institution: Centro De Ciências Naturais E Exatas/Ccne/Ufsm, Brazil
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/07997-4 - Dinosaur diversity and associated faunas in the Cretaceous of South America, AP.TEM

Abstract

The Triassic represents an important moment in the geologic and biologic history of our planet, comprehending paleoenvironmental, paleoclimatic and biotic shifts right after the most extreme extinction ever recorded, 251 Ma ago. In southern Brazil, the Rio Grande do Sul State preserves a fossil record of vertebrates, invertebrates and plants from the Triassic period, focusing on sedimentary rocks from the Sanga do Cabral and Santa Maria supersequences. Up to now, there are only rare efforts for absolute dating of the sedimentary package from the Santa Maria Supersequence. Relating to biostratigraphic subdivisions, there is a possible subdivision of the Hyperodapedon Assemblage Zone, with the following indicators: the Hyperodapedon acme zone, and the Exaeretodon, Siriusgnathus, and Teyumbaita biozones. Still, some questions arise with the new bio- and chronostratigraphic data, so the USP-UFSM collaboration proposed here may contribute to important data for the biochronoestratigraphic refinement of the southern Brazilian Triassic, by incorporating new data to previous questions. (AU)