Preservation of large titanosaur sauropods in overbank fluvial facies: A case study in the Cretaceous of Argentina

Riga, Bernardo J. González; Astini, Ricardo A.

doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2007.02.005

Cited by 42 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…These processes are the result of differences in burial depth, temperature and geostatic pressure suffered by the fossils in each burial environment. Similar diagenetic features have been identified in other vertebrate remains (Holz and Schultz, 1998;Wings, 2004;Reichel et al, 2005;González Riga and Astini, 2007;González Riga et al, 2009;Casal et al, 2013;Previtera, 2011Previtera, , 2013Previtera et al, 2013;Previtera et al, 2016).…”

Section: Taphonomic Pathwayssupporting

confidence: 75%

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Bone microstructure and diagenesis of saurischian dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Neuquén Group), Argentina

Previtera

2017

andgeo

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ABSTRACT. The Neuquén Basin in northwestern Patagonia, Argentina, holds the most important record of Cretaceous dinosaurs in South America.The Neuquén Group (Upper Cretaceous) is the richest dinosaur-bearing unit of the basin. It comprises the Río Limay, the Río Neuquén and the Río Colorado subgroups. In this study, dinosaur remains from the Río Neuquén and the Río Colorado subgroups outcropping in Mendoza are examined. In this group, isolated, disarticulated or partially articulated sauropods and theropods are abundant. However, little is known about the diagenetic history of fossil assemblages. In southern Mendoza, three fossiliferous sites were found in the areas of Paso de las Bardas (Quebrada Norte) and Cerro Guillermo (CG1, CG2). This study aims to add to the knowledge of diagenetic processes involving dinosaur remains from the Neuquén Group, as well as their relation to the depositional environment. Histologic features and diagenetic processes of dinosaur bones were analyzed through thin sections in order to interpret the degree of taphonomic alteration. The fossil-diagenetic processes inferred include substitution, fracturing, plastic deformation and different permineralization events. Combined analyses through X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and petrographic studies reveal the substitution of hydroxyapatite by francolite. The presence of fluorine -in one of the cases-suggests a link between the elemental composition and depositional environments: floodplain and fluvial channel. Permineralization stages include infilling of vascular canals, trabeculae and fractures with iron oxides and iron carbonate minerals during the burial history. This contribution represents an integral approach to the study of Cretaceous dinosaurs for assessing the diagenetic changes in the bone microstructure and the differential preservation of fossil remains in fluvial environments.

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Section: Taphonomic Pathwayssupporting

confidence: 75%

“…In contrast with the numerous systematic studies published, sedimentological and taphonomic analyses are relatively scarce (e.g., Garrido et al, 2001;Chiappe et al, 2004;González Riga and Astini, 2007) hindering comparisons with other paleontological sites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bone microstructure and diagenesis of saurischian dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Neuquén Group), Argentina

Previtera

2017

andgeo

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“…The Tuştea assemblage corresponds to the taphonomic mode of 'overbank assemblage' (Bown and Kraus, 1981) because it is characterized by the presence of disarticulated and partially articulated vertebrate elements which have been exposed to biological, physical or chemical destructive effects prior to burial, accumulated within the overbank deposits of a fluvial system (e.g., Behrensmeyer, 1982;Behrensmeyer and Hook, 1992;Riga and Astini, 2007). The occurrence patterns of the fossil remains from the Tuştea locality allow distinction between two main taphonomic categories: one, including remains exposed for a long period of time, and another, with rapidly buried carcasses.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taphonomical and palaeoecological investigation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tuştea vertebrate assemblage (Romania; Haţeg Basin) - insights into a unique dinosaur nesting locality

Botfalvai

Csiki-Sava

Grigorescu

et al. 2017

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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The Tuştea vertebrate locality, at Oltoane Hill (northwestern part of the Hațeg Basin, Romania), has provided a rich and diverse assemblage of Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) continental vertebrates. More than 800 vertebrate fossils were recovered from this locality; the isolated and associated remains represent 21 different taxa including amphibians, turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodyliforms, pterosaurs, dinosaurs and mammals. The local assemblage is overwhelmingly dominated by dinosaurs, with the rhabdodontid Zalmoxes as the most abundant taxon. The bonebeds that yielded this fossil material occur in a stacked series of mudstone/calcrete units belonging to the middle member of the Densuş-Ciula Formation. The taphonomical investigations suggest that the Tuştea assemblage is made up of attritionally accumulated politaxic remains and that it is a parautochthonous assemblage with no evidence for significant bone transport or reworking.According to the synthesis of all available field data two outstanding fossiliferous levels can be identified within the Tuştea locality, where Megaloolithus eggs and hadrosauroid hatchling material are preserved together, recognized here as two superposed nesting grounds. Such co-occurrence was considered controversial, since there is a longstanding and quasi-general consensus that eggs of the Megaloolithus oogenus were laid by titanosaurian sauropods. We present several alternative scenarios to account for the cooccurrence of Telmatosaurus hatchling remains and megaloolithid eggs in the nesting horizons and explore these alternative hypotheses by weighing the arguments supporting or contradicting them. The burden of evidence derived from our sedimentological, taphonomical and palaeoecological investigations at Tuştea is still in favor of the autochthony of the hatchlings, preserved within their own nesting grounds, whereas there is no such support for a titanosaurian origin of the Tuștea megaloolithid eggs.

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“…etapa bioestratinómica y otra fósil-diagenética (sensu González Riga & Astini, 2007). La primera surge de evidencias de exposición subaérea previa al sepultamiento, con efectos erosivos y meteóricos sobre los huesos; una parcial desarticulación y reorientación de los restos óseos con una dirección dominante NW-SE.…”

Section: P R O V a Sunclassified

Drusilasaura deseadensis gen. et sp. nov., un nuevo titanosaurio (Dinosauria-Sauropoda), de la Formación Bajo Barreal, Cretácico Superior del norte de Santa Cruz, Argentina

Navarrete¹,

Casal²,

Martı́nez³

2011

Rev. bras. paleontol.

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Preservation of large titanosaur sauropods in overbank fluvial facies: A case study in the Cretaceous of Argentina

Cited by 42 publications

References 38 publications

Bone microstructure and diagenesis of saurischian dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Neuquén Group), Argentina

Bone microstructure and diagenesis of saurischian dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Neuquén Group), Argentina

Taphonomical and palaeoecological investigation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tuştea vertebrate assemblage (Romania; Haţeg Basin) - insights into a unique dinosaur nesting locality

Drusilasaura deseadensis gen. et sp. nov., un nuevo titanosaurio (Dinosauria-Sauropoda), de la Formación Bajo Barreal, Cretácico Superior del norte de Santa Cruz, Argentina

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