Palaeoecological implications of an Upper Cretaceous tetrapod burrow (Bauru Basin; Peiropolis, Minas Gerais, Brazil)

Author(s):Show less -

Martinelli, Agustin G. ^{[1, 2]} ; Basilici, Giorgio ^{[3, 4]} ; Fiorelli, Lucas E. ^[4] ; Klock, Carolina ^{[5, 6]} ; Karfunkel, Joachim ^[5] ; Diniz, Ariela Costa ^[5] ; Soares, Marcus V. T. ^[3] ; Marconato, Andre ^[6] ; da Silva, Joao Ismael ^{[1, 7]} ; Ribeiro, Luiz Carlos B. ^[1] ; Marinho, Thiago S. ^{[1, 8]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Triangulo Mineiro, Proreitoria Extensao Univ PROEXT, CCCP, Ctr Pesquisas Paleontol LI Price, BR-262, Km 784, BR-38039755 Uberaba, MG - Brazil

^[2] Museo Argentino Ciencias Nat Bernardino Rivadavia, Secc Paleontol Vertebrados, CONICET, Ave Angel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR, Buenos Aires, DF - Argentina

^[3] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Geociencias, Dept Geol & Recursos Nat, BR-13083870 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[4] UNCa, UNLAR, Ctr Reg Invest Cient & Transferencia Tecnol La Ri, SEGEMAR, CONICET, Entre Rios & Mendoza S-N, RA-5301 Anillaco, La Rioja - Argentina

^[5] Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Dept Geol, BR-31270901 Belo Horizonte, MG - Brazil

^[6] Univ Fed Ouro Preto, Escola Minas, Dept Geol, Campus Morro do Cruzeiro, BR-35400000 Ouro Preto, MG - Brazil

^[7] Fundacao Cultural Uberaba, Prefeitura Municipal Uberaba, Praca Rui Barbosa 35, BR-38010240 Uberaba, MG - Brazil

^[8] Univ Fed Triangulo Mineiro, Inst Ciencias Exatas Nat & Educ, Dept Ciencias Biol, Ave Doutor Randolfo Borges Jr, BR-38064200 Uberaba, MG - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY; v. 528, p. 147-159, AUG 15 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

We describe a globally rare example of a tetrapod burrow from the Upper Cretaceous Bauru Group (Bauru Basin) from Peiropolis, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The sedimentary succession containing the burrow includes a rich vertebrate assemblage comprising fish, podocnemid turtles, mesoeucrocodylians, saurischian dinosaurs, among others. The burrow is composed of an oblique tunnel (-30'), oval in cross-section, with a horizontal and sub oval terminal chamber; it is 1.3 m long from the midpoint of its inferred entrance to the midpoint of the bottom of the chamber. It occurs in the upper portion of a sandstone succession, interpreted as a braided channel deposit, and the burrow-fill comprises medium-grained sandstone with mudstone intraclasts derived from fluvial floodplain facies. it is overlain by other fluvial channel deposits. Analyses suggest that the burrow was dug after the filling of the braided channel and during the pedogenesis of its exposed upper surface. Based on burrow morphology and size, the most plausible producer of this burrow is a notosuchian mesoeucrocodylian, such as small to mid-sized notosuchians (e.g., sphagesaurids). The Bauru Group has an extensive fossil record of notosuchians with disparate morphologies, and it is noteworthy that the small-sized notosuchian Labidiosuchus amicum comes from the same unit as the burrow. Moreover, arid to semi-arid conditions have been inferred for fossil-bearing rocks of this unit, and as such the data here presented add to our palaeoecological knowledge of Cretaceous mesoeucrocodylians in Gondwana. Moreover, it constitutes a new Cretaceous record of a tetrapod burrow during a period when such ichnofossils are globally rare. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/23209-0 - Sediments and palaeosols of Cretaceous desert depositional systems (Bauru Group, SE of Brazil, and Los Llanos formation, W of Argentina): proxies for palaeoenvironmental interpretation and stratigraphic benefits
• Grantee: Giorgio Basilici
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 18/10574-8 - Distribution of sediments and palaeosols in ancient distributive fluvial systems: proxies for palaeoenvironmental and stratigraphic interpretations
• Grantee: Marcus Vinícius Theodoro Soares
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate