SUCAL limestone quarry (Permian of Brazil)

Also known as Paraná Basin

Where: Goiás, Brazil (17.5° S, 52.1° W: paleocoordinates 37.9° S, 27.1° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Assistencia Member (Irati Formation), Artinskian (290.1 - 279.3 Ma)

• The authors give a Sakmarian age of the Irati Formation referring to Pinto (1972) and Oelofsen & Araújo (1987). However, in a fairly recent publication it is stated that the Irati Formation is Artinskian in age, based on absolute ages obtained from zircons from a bentonite layer (Santos et al., 2006, Gondwana Res. 9).

•The presence of limestones (see lithological description) indicates that the locality is within the Assistência Member of the Irati Formation (see Santos et al., 2009, J. S. Am. Earth Sci., Article in Press, doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2008.12.002).

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: dolomitic, white, yellow lime mudstone and lenticular chert

• "este afloramento atinge aproximadamente vinte metros de espessura, que pode ser dividido em dois nítidos níveis: um superior, de espessura variando entre oito e dez metros, constituído por calcário acinzentado bem laminar; e um nível inferior de calcário brancoamarelado, fino, com lentes de sílex intercaladas. No nível superior encontrou-se apenas ossos isolados e esqueletos desarticulados de Mesosauridae (Mesosaurus tenuidens, Brazilosaurus sanpauloensis e Stereosternum tumidum), enquanto que o nível inferior forneceu alguns esqueletos destas espécies com ossos em posição anatômica. [This exposure reaches a thickness of approximately twenty meters, clearly subdividable into two horizons: The upper one, ranging from eight to ten meters in thickness, consists of ash grey, laminated limestone and the lower one of yellowish white, fine grained limestone with intercalations of chert lenses. In the upper horizon were found only isolated bones and disarticulated skeletons of mesosaurs (Mesosaurus tenuidens, Brazilosaurus sanpauloensis, Stereosternum tumidum), whereas the lower horizon provided some skeletons of these species with the bones lying in anatomical position.]" (Sedor & Ferigolo, 2001).

•The statement that only the lower horizon yielded articulated skeletons implies that the specimens listed by Sedor & Ferigolo are exclusively from these beds.

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Collection methods: mechanical,

• MCN.P = Museu de Ciências Naturais, do Setor de Ciências Biológicas da Universidade Federal do Paraná [Museum of Natural Sciences, Section of Biological Sciences of the Federal University of Paraná]

•UNB = Departamento de Geociências da Universidade de Brasília [Department of Geosciences of the University of Brasilia]

Primary reference: F. A. Sedor and J. Ferigolo. 2001. A coluna vertebral de Brazilosaurus sanpauloensis Shikama e Ozaki, 1966 da Formação Irati, Permiano da Bacia do Paraná (Brasil) (Proganosauria, Mesosauridae). Acta Biológica Paranaense, Curitiba 30(1-4):151-173 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/T. Liebrecht]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 89839: authorized by Johannes Mueller, entered by Torsten Liebrecht on 15.06.2009, edited by Mark Uhen

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Osteichthyes
 Sauropsida - Mesosauridae
Mesosauridae indet. Baur 1889 amniote
trace fossil
Stereosternum tumidum Cope 1885 amniote
no details given
Mesosaurus tenuidens Gervais 1865 amniote
no details given
Brazilosaurus sanpauloensis Shikama and Ozaki 1966 amniote
MCN.P.557, 558, 562, 563, 566, 568; UNB unnumbered (suite of 1 large and 3 juvenile individuals)