Dinoturbation in the Cretaceous Areado Group, Sanfranciscana Basin (Brazil)

Bernardo de Campos Pimenta e Marques Peixoto; Luciano Alessandretti; Caio César Rangel; Lucas Warren; Daniel Sedorko

doi:10.4072/rbp.2026.1.0566

Authors

Bernardo de Campos Pimenta e Marques Peixoto Instituto de Geociências, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Rua Carlos Gomes, 250, 13083-855, Cidade Universitária “Zeferino Vaz”, Campinas, SP, Brazil. [email protected] (Corresponding author) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6257-4243
Luciano Alessandretti Laboratório de Paleontologia Estratigráfica, Instituto de Geografia, Geociências e Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Campus Monte Carmelo, Av. XV de Novembro, 501, 38.500-000, Bairro Boa Vista, Monte Carmelo, MG, Brasil. [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7050-2554
Caio César Rangel Laboratório de Paleontologia Estratigráfica, Instituto de Geografia, Geociências e Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Campus Monte Carmelo, Av. XV de Novembro, 501, 38.500-000, Bairro Boa Vista, Monte Carmelo, MG, Brasil. [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8707-9441
Lucas Warren Departamento de Geologia, Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Avenida 24-A, Bela Vista, 178, 13506-900, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil. [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2050-6514
Daniel Sedorko Museu Nacional/UFRJ, Departamento de Geologia e Paleontologia, Campus de Pesquisa e Ensino, Av. Bartolomeu de Gusmão, 875, 20941-160, Bairro São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9324-3460

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4072/rbp.2026.1.0566

Abstract

Soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDS) can be produced by abiotic factors, invertebrate bioturbation, or trampling by large tetrapods. Differentiating between these origins is crucial for ichnological interpretation, particularly in stratigraphic units where body fossils are rare or bedding-plane exposures are limited. In this study, we describe new occurrences of SSDS interpreted as dinoturbations, cross-sectional tracks formed by heavy tetrapods, in the Três Barras Formation (Areado Group, Abaeté Sub-Basin, Sanfranciscana Basin), in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. These structures occur in fine- to medium-grained, cross-bedded sandstones, and preserve downward deformation, faulting, and local compaction. Their features, along with their stratigraphic position, support interpretation as tetrapod trampling traces, possibly produced by dinosaurs. These ichnological findings are significant within the context of the marine incursions into the Sanfranciscana Basin, as the dinoturbations indicate that, at the time of their formation, the environment was continental. This highlights the potential of ichnological data to refine paleoenvironmental reconstructions and to identify stratigraphic intervals in which the depositional system was predominantly continental during episodic marine incursions in intracratonic basins.

Keywords: soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDS), Três Barras Formation, tetrapod ichnology, continental, eolian.