Mina Pedra Branca (black shale layer) (Cretaceous of Brazil)

Where: Caerá, Brazil (7.1° S, 39.4° W: paleocoordinates 10.8° S, 9.5° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Lower Member (Romualdo Formation), Early/Lower Albian (112.0 - 109.0 Ma)

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; black shale

• "The fossil material studied here is preserved in a dark shale slab with originally 120 cm by 80 cm, and a thickness of around 3 cm. The material was donated to the Museu de Paleontologia Plácido Cidade Nuvens by a local resident of Santana do Cariri who informed that it came from the Mina Pedra Branca. This mine is situated about 5.2 km from the village Santana do Cariri and has been the one of the major sources of fossils from this region. For about four decades, the Mina Pedra Branca is mined for gypsum and during this process exposes sections of the Ipubi and Romualdo formations. The limits between these stratigraphic units is a well marked layer of conglomerate" (Sayão et al., 2020)

Size class: macrofossils

• "A layer of dark fossiliferous shale with about 50 cm is found below the conglomerate and, regarding macrofossils, has yielded so far only coprolites, small fishes, plant material (macrocharcoal), and one turtle. Some 2.5 m above the conglomerate, at the base of the Romualdo Formation, another fossiliferous horizon is found. It is about 0.8 m thick and composed mainly of black shales with lenses of gypsum. This layer is positioned about 30 m below the extremely fossiliferous horizon with calcareous concretions. A plethora of fossils, mostly undescribed, were recovered from this layer such as fishes (e.g., small clupeomorphs, large Cladocyclus and Vinctifer), and plant material" (Sayão et al., 2020)

Primary reference: J. M. Sayão, A. A. F. Saraiva, A. S. Brum, R. A. M. Bantim, R. C. L. Pedroso Andrade, X. Cheng, F. Jorge Lima, H. Paula Silva, and A. W. A. Kellner. 2020. The first theropod dinosaur (Coelurosauria, Theropoda) from the base of the Romualdo Formation (Albian), Araripe Basin, Northeast Brazil. Scientific Reports 10(10892) [E. Dunne/E. Dunne]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 224474: authorized by Emma Dunne, entered by Emma Dunne on 07.03.2022

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Reptilia
 Theropoda -
Aratasaurus museunacionali n. gen. n. sp.
Aratasaurus museunacionali n. gen. n. sp. Sayão et al. 2020 coelurosaur
Holotype (MPSC R 2089) Incomplete but articulated right hind limb with the distal portion of the femur, proximal half of the tibia and mid-distal regions of metatarsals I–IV, phalanges I-1, II-1–2, III-1–3 and IV-1–4; unguals I, II and III.