Electron spin resonance dating of Notiomastodon platensis fossil tooth

• Grant number: 17/10690-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2017
• End date: July 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biophysics - Biophysics of Processes and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Angela Mitie Otta Kinoshita
• Grantee: Priscila Pegorin
• Host Institution: Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação. Universidade do Sagrado Coração (USC). Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Notiomastodon platensis (= Stegomastodon platensis) is an extinct mastodon from the gomphotheriidae family, whose fossils can be found in some regions of Brazil and other South American countries. It is the most abundant and widespread genus of mastodons in South America during the Pleistocene. Megamiferous fossils that lived during the late Pleistocene in South America are relatively abundant, so the faunas that inhabited this continent are relatively well known. However, there is a lack of information on the chronological and paleoecological characteristics of these animals, useful in understanding the period of time when the animal inhabited a certain region. Carbon 14 is the most popular method of dating. However, although it is widely used, it has some limitations because there is not always enough collagen or organic material in the sample for the technique to be applied. Thus, other dating methods should be applied to samples under these conditions. The Electron Spin Resonance dating (ESR) is useful in the dating of materials from the Middle Pleistocene and Early Holocene and has been successfully employed in several research involving megafauna. Thus in this project the ESR dating will be applied for date two teeth of Notiomastodon platensis collected in the municipality of João Dourado, Bahia. The result of this project will bring additional and unpublished information on the chronology and the period in which they inhabited that region. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CORTES FARIA, FABIO HENRIQUE; KINOSHITA, ANGELA; CARVALHO, ISMAR DE SOUZA; DE ARAUJO-JUNIOR, HERMINIO ISMAEL; PEGORIN, PRISCILA; FIGUEIREDO, ANA MARIA G.; BAFFA, OSWALDO. ESR dating of late Quaternary megafauna fossils from Joao Dourado, Bahia, Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, v. 101, AUG 2020. (18/02866-9, 07/06720-4, 17/10690-5, 13/07699-0)