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Abstract The sedimentary basins in the Continental Rift of Southeastern Brazil (CRSB) provide an opportunity for ichnological analyses due to its well-known facies relationships and paleoenvironmental interpretations. This study reports invertebrate trace fossils from the Neogene fluvial deposits (Floriano Formation) and applies integrated ichnological and facies analyses to reconstruct the environmental conditions recorded in this lithostratigraphic unit. Fieldworks revealed a rich ichnofauna in the Floriano Formation, whose facies associations have been interpreted as indicative of meandering river environments. Four sedimentary facies were identified, including bioturbated sandstone, horizontally stratified sandstone, laminated sandstone, and mudstone. Six ichnogenera were identified, Arenicolites, Beaconites, Camborygma, Palaeophycus, Skolithos, and Taenidium. Those ichnogenera occur as Skolithos, Taenidium, and Beaconites ichnocoenoses. The Skolithos ichnocoenosis is primarily represented within sand bar deposits, indicating arthropod colonization in abandoned channels. The Taenidium ichnocoenosis, which is observed within mudstone layers and presents Camborygma burrows, suggests transitional environments between aquatic and subaerial conditions, locally with high water table levels. The Beaconites ichnocoenosis indicates changes in substrate consistency associated with progressive desiccation and extended exposure time. Therefore, the identified ichnocoenoses, combined with the analysis of physical sedimentary structures, suggest generally humid conditions during colonization by invertebrates of the meandering river deposits of the Floriano Formation.

Abstract A worldwide revision of the Cretaceous record of Neornithes (crown birds) revealed that unambiguous neornithine taxa are extremely scarce, with only a few showing diagnostic features to be confidently assigned to that group. Here we report two new neornithine specimens from Vega Island (López de Bertodano Formation). The first is a synsacrum (MN 7832-V) that shows a complex pattern of transversal diverticula intercepting the canalis synsacri, as in extant neornithines. Micro-CT scanning revealed a camerate pattern of trabeculae typical of neornithines. It further shows the oldest occurrence of lumbosacral canals in Neornithes, which are related to a balance sensing system acting in the control of walking and perching. The second specimen (MN 7833-V) is a distal portion of a tarsometatarsus sharing with Vegavis iaai a straight apical border of the crista plantaris lateralis. Osteohistologically the tarsometatarsus shows a thick and highly vascularized cortex that lacks any growth marks, resembling Polarornis gregorii. The cortex is osteosclerotic as in other extinct and extant diving neornithines. These new specimens increase the occurrences of the Cretaceous avian material recovered from the Upper Cretaceous strata of the James Ross Sub-Basin, suggesting that a Vegaviidae-dominated avian assemblage was present in the Antarctic Peninsula during the upper Maastrichtian.

A Bacia Bauru congrega um dos mais ricos conjuntos de somatofósseis de tetrápodes do território brasileiro, sendo cerca de 70% dessa paleodiversidade procedente de seus depósitos em São Paulo. Com registros conhecidos desde o início do século XX, tais fósseis foram coletados em todas as unidades estratigráficas da Bacia que afloram no estado, i.e., formações Santo Anastácio, Araçatuba, Adamantina (alternativamente dividida em formações Vale do Rio do Peixe, Presidente Prudente e São José do Rio Preto) e Marília. Os grupos registrados incluem raros anuros, mamíferos e escamados, um importante conjunto de testudinos, dinossauros terópodes (incluindo aves) e saurópodes, além de uma das mais diversas faunas de crocodiliformes conhecidas para o registro fóssil global. Tal conjunto congrega mais de cinquenta entidades taxonômicas distintas, incluindo 42 espécies formalmente descritas. A partir de dados de cunho bioestratigráfico, incluindo correlação com base em tetrápodes, e em poucas datações absolutas, a totalidade dos depósitos da Bacia Bauru em São Paulo parece estar cronologicamente restrita ao Neocretáceo, mas um maior detalhamento de tais inferências se faz extremamente necessário. Por fim, o histórico das pesquisas com tais fósseis de tetrápodes evidencia a importância da interiorização do ensino universitário e do financiamento público à pesquisa para o desenvolvimento das ciências.

Abstract We present the analysis of airborne and ground gamma-ray spectrometry signatures of the Araguainha impact structure, located in central Brazil, the largest impact structure in South America with ~ 40 km diameter. The airborne data are total gamma-ray counts per second collected along flight lines spaced 1 km apart. The ground gamma-ray data are concentrations of potassium, uranium, and thorium isotopes calculated from radiations measured in three individual channels. The objectives are to distinguish lithologies within the structure, which have naturally distinctive radiogenic signatures, and identify potential post-impact hydrothermal alteration zones, as indicated by high K concentrations. Based on results obtained by numerical modeling of the crater formation, we infer the locations of potential occurrences of target rocks that may have undergone hydrothermal alteration as a result of the impact. The deviations from the background potassium concentration show significant anomalous K values at the center and in the northwestern crater rim, where high concentrations of U are also observed. The numerical model shows that ideal temperature conditions for hydrothermal fluid circulation were attained right after pos-impact gravitational stabilization.

Abstract Carbonate deposits are numerous and have undeniable economic appeal for the oil industry. However, there are many uncertainties associated with different aspects of these lithologies. Understanding carbonate factories and their global distribution has been a subject of discussion in recent decades, especially concerning the products expected from different carbonate systems, their response to sea‐level variations and the transition between different depositional environments. Therefore, the goal of this study was to understand the role of sea‐level variations, and geodynamics in factories and the evolution of Albian depositional sequences on the south‐east continental margin of Brazil. Fifteen lithofacies consisting of seven facies associations and five third‐order sequences were identified. Sequence boundaries are unconformities formed by erosion or non‐deposition surfaces, representing either exposure periods or drowning events, and their correlative condensed sections. The first sequence, deposited in a shallow lagoon environment, recorded the onset of the T‐factory and the start‐up phase of the shelf. The second sequence represents a period of broad carbonate deposition in the basin, related to the catch‐up phase of the platform. The third sequence was established during a sea‐level rise and recorded the keep‐up phase of the platform and the transition from tropical to cool waters. The fourth sequence, was deposited in a deep marine environment and the fifth and last, recorded the shelf drowning. The succession typifies the beginning, the pinnacle and the end of carbonate deposition, spanning the initial and final highstand system tracts. The whole succession is part of a first‐order transgressive cycle that led to a factory transition and culminated with the definitive drowning of the depositional system.

Abstract Tectonic rejuvenation has been widely described in ancient rifting areas of intraplate settings, despite extensive active tectonics being discontinued long ago. Various models have been invoked to justify such tectonic rejuvenation, suggesting that the long-term deformation in intraplate interiors may be more complex than once supposed. Inherited weakness zones, e.g., pre-existing faults are stress concentrators. However, not all weakness zones in plate interiors show tectonic rejuvenation and recognizing intraplate fault reactivation remains puzzling. Bedrock channels play an essential role in tectonically unstable landscapes and therefore they may unveil which pre-existing structures have been rejuvenated. Here we explore the Cinzas Catchment in order to investigate the interactions between tectonic rejuvenation, bedrock inheritance and geomorphic river signatures in an important Brazilian rifting feature, the Ponta Grossa Arch. We perform a geomorphic analysis combined with fieldwork, dating techniques and existing data to evaluate whether the geomorphic responses of the major rivers show perturbations related to the bedrock inheritance and post-rift rejuvenation. We also show that the interactions between river signatures and the bedrock fault zones are responses to post-rifting rejuvenation coupled with bedrock inheritance. This post-rifting rejuvenation is consistent with a mosaic of superimposed mechanisms which have been invoked by previous studies.

The sedimentary basins in the Continental Rift of Southeastern Brazil (CRSB) provide an opportunity for ichnological analyses due to its well-known facies relationships and paleoenvironmental interpretations. This study reports invertebrate trace fossils from the Neogene fluvial deposits (Floriano Formation) and applies integrated ichnological and facies analyses to reconstruct the environmental conditions recorded in this lithostratigraphic unit. Fieldworks revealed a rich ichnofauna in the Floriano Formation, whose facies associations have been interpreted as indicative of meandering river environments. Four sedimentary facies were identified, including bioturbated sandstone, horizontally stratified sandstone, laminated sandstone, and mudstone. Six ichnogenera were identified, Arenicolites, Beaconites, Camborygma, Palaeophycus, Skolithos, and Taenidium. Those ichnogenera occur as Skolithos, Taenidium, and Beaconites ichnocoenoses. The Skolithos ichnocoenosis is primarily represented within sand bar deposits, indicating arthropod colonization in abandoned channels. The Taenidium ichnocoenosis, which is observed within mudstone layers and presents Camborygma burrows, suggests transitional environments between aquatic and subaerial conditions, locally with high water table levels. The Beaconites ichnocoenosis indicates changes in substrate consistency associated with progressive desiccation and extended exposure time. Therefore, the identified ichnocoenoses, combined with the analysis of physical sedimentary structures, suggest generally humid conditions during colonization by invertebrates of the meandering river deposits of the Floriano Formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geochemistry of major and trace elements has been used as an important tool for the study of provenance and tectonic and climatic evolution of sedimentary basins. The São Carlos Formation is an Upper Cretaceous unit that lies on the eastern border of the Bauru Basin. Despite the paleontological and paleodepositional studies performed in this unit in the last years, little is known about the correspondence between tectonic and climatic conditions acting during the first stages of sedimentation. The hypothesis of this paper is to evaluate São Carlos and Araçatuba formations and understand the evolution of the eastern border of the basin. Thus, were conducted geochemical studies using X-ray fluorescence on sandstones, siltstones, and shales from the São Carlos Formation. According to the chemical weathering index, which presented values ranging from 57.12 to 71.58%, the oxides of major elements indicate that moderate weathering processes affected the source area, possibly associated with the arid-semiarid climate. Alkaline rocks, granites, gneisses, and metasediments were the main lithotypes of the source area. Ternary diagrams show that the tectonic environment was equivalent to the passive continental margin, coinciding with the Serra do Mar and, secondarily, Alto Paranaíba Uplift regions. Based on major and trace elements, their ratios, and published data on the basin, was elaborated a paleogeographic model of the eastern border of the Bauru Basin, concluding that the source area of the sediments was constituted by intermediate and felsic rocks, sometimes recycled by sedimentary processes.

Este trabalho reúne e discute as principais técnicas de estudo de indicadores geomórficos desenvolvidas por diversos pesquisadores ao longo do tempo e, correntemente, aplicadas à investigação de deformação tectônica/neotectônica/tectônica ativa. A drenagem é um dos elementos mais sensíveis a modificações do relevo, sobretudo àquelas relacionadas a manifestações tectônicas e/ou mudanças climáticas, a oscilações do nível do mar, ou ainda à ação antrópica. Esta sensibilidade dos rios frente a modificações do relevo reflete, não somente, em sua rápida resposta morfológica/morfométrica e sedimentar, mas também no rápido ajuste a um estágio de quase-equilíbrio em curtos períodos de tempo geológico. Isto permite inferir atividade tectônica recente, mediante identificação de regiões em desequilíbrio erosional em áreas de grande extensão, independentemente de províncias geológicas ou geomórficas. Tal característica singular dos rios reforça a importância de identificação de comportamentos anômalos destes em investigações de atividade tectônica e da evolução de ambientes modernos ou reconstituição paleogeográfica. Desta forma, a revisão apresentada considera os índices relacionados a características quantificáveis do relevo, tais como altimetria, hipsometria e declividade, e, sobretudo, a indicadores relacionados a respostas geomórficas e de sedimentação de rios frente a deformação tectônica (desvios, capturas e decapitação; sinuosidade; mudança de padrão de drenagem; migração e avulsão; deformação de perfis longitudinais e índice SL; assimetria e forma da bacia hidrográfica; sinuosidade de rios e padrão de canal, Sinuosidade de front de montanha (Smf); Índice de atividade tectônica relativa (Iat) e carga sedimentar e fluxo, entre outros). Para tal objetivo, o presente estudo envolveu revisão bibliográfica e leitura dos autores proponentes de tais técnicas, enriquecida pela exemplificação de alguns estudos de caso, como no rio Aiuruoca (Serra da Mantiqueira, MG) e rios das Cinzas e Laranjinha (bacia do rio das Cinzas, norte do estado do Paraná). Distante de uma pretensão de totalizar ou encerrar o assunto, este trabalho propõe auxiliar na estratégia de investigação e no processo de escolha das diversas técnicas existentes, bem como contribuir para um melhor entendimento e aplicação destas.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo discutir a aplicabilidade e as limitações do uso de estimativas de paleoprecipitação e paleotemperatura em paleossolos da Formação Marília, Neocretáceo da Bacia Bauru. Foram descritas três seções (A1, A2 e A3), compreendendo nove perfis. Os elementos maiores, menores e traços foram determinados por Espectrometria de Fluorescência de Raios-X e as estimativas se basearam em equações exponenciais e regressões lineares. Na Formação Marília, os paleossolos desenvolvimentos sobre arenitos apresentam horizontes argílicos (Btk e Bt) e carbonáticos (Bk) com distintos graus de cimentação, constituindo-se calcretes em sua maioria. Os paleossolos com Bk apresentaram valores médios de 420 e 500 mm/ano, respectivamente para as seções Botucatu (A1) e Garça (A3). Nos paleossolos com Bt, a média de paleoprecipitação foi 881 mm/ano e a média anual de paleotemperatura foi de 10 ºC. Paleossolos com Btk revelaram valores médio de precipitação de 605 mm/ano. As variações de precipitação, tomadas individualmente e indutivamente, proporcionaram a definição de três intervalos paleoclimáticos para o Maastrichtiano da Bacia Bauru. No entanto, a variabilidade dos atributos verticais e horizontais dos solos, bem como o uso excluso dessa técnica como principal método, inviabilizaram a utilização das climofunções, que não alcançaram consenso, em estudos paleoclimáticos.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo determinar o índice de intemperismo médio (m), de alteração geoquímica (CIA-K) e de morfologia (MI) para avaliar o grau de evolução dos paleossolos da Formação Marília, Maastrichtiano da Bacia Bauru. Foram descritas três seções da Formação Marília (A1, A2 e A3), compreendendo nove perfis. Na caracterização das seções, horizontes carbonáticos (Bkm) e argílicos (Btkm e Bt) foram identificados nos paleossolos da área de estudo. Os índices de intemperismo médio, de alteração geoquímica e de morfologia foram determinados para os horizontes dos paleossolos, de acordo com a literatura especializada.Os paleossolos com horizonte Bt foram os mais intemperizados, indicativos de períodos com maiores taxas de precipitação e lixiviação no Maastrichtiano da Bacia Bauru. Os paleossolos com horizonte Bkm apresentaram os menores índices sendo, portanto, testemunhos, vestígios de momentos de maior semiaridez da Formação Marília. No entanto, apesar de apresentarem baixos índices, os paleossolos com Bkm podem ser considerados evoluídos em condições semiáridas, pois apresentaram estágios de cimentação carbonática III e V.

In the last three decades, records of tribosphenidan mammals from India, continental Africa, Madagascar and South America have challenged the notion of a strictly Laurasian distribution of the group during the Cretaceous. Here, we describe a lower premolar from the Late Cretaceous Adamantina Formation, São Paulo State, Brazil. It differs from all known fossil mammals, except for a putative eutherian from the same geologic unity and Deccanolestes hislopi, from the Maastrichtian of India. The incompleteness of the material precludes narrowing down its taxonomic attribution further than Tribosphenida, but it is larger than most coeval mammals and shows a thin layer of parallel crystallite enamel. The new taxon helps filling two major gaps in the fossil record: the paucity of Mesozoic mammals in more northern parts of South America and of tribosphenidans in the Cretaceous of that continent. In addition, high-precision U-Pb geochronology provided a post-Turonian maximal age (≤87.8 Ma) for the type stratum, which is overlain by the dinosaur-bearing Marília Formation, constraining the age of the Adamantina Formation at the site to late Coniacian–late Maastrichtian. This represents the first radioisotopic age for the Bauru Group, a key stratigraphic unit for the study of Cretaceous tetrapods in Gondwana.