Plottier Formation
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The Plottier Formation is a geologic formation that outcrops in the Argentine Patagonian provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén. It is the younger of two formations belonging to the Río Neuquén Subgroup within the Neuquén Group.
A section near the Neuquén City airport, north of the town of Plottier, is the type locality of the Plottier Formation (Fossa Mancini et al. 1938). At its base, this formation grades into the Portezuelo Formation, and it is in turn overlain conformably by the Bajo de la Carpa Formation, a unit of the Río Colorado Subgroup.
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[edit] Age
Era: Mesozoic
Period: Late Cretaceous
Faunal stage: late Coniacian
Absolute Age: ~88 to ~86 mya
[edit] Composition
The Plottier Formation is the smallest formation within the Neuquén Group, with a maximum thickness of only 25 meters. It is differentiated from the underlying Portezuelo Formation primarily by its higher content of argillites, or mud deposits.
[edit] Paleontology
Few animal fossils are known from this formation, including:
- titanosaurid sauropods (including "Antarctosaurus" giganteus)
- a basal coelurosaurian theropod
- at least one mammal
[edit] References
- Fossa Mancini, E., Feruglio, E., Yussen de Campana, J.C.. 1938. Una reunión de geólogos de YPF y el problema de la terminología estratigráfica. Boletín de Informaciones Petroleras 15: 1-67.
- Leanza, H.A,, Apesteguia, S., Novas, F.E. & de la Fuente, M.S. 2004. Cretaceous terrestrial beds from the Neuquén Basin (Argentina) and their tetrapod assemblages. Cretaceous Research. 25(1): 61-87.
