Reply to the comments of Assine et al. (Comments on paper by M. Arai "Aptian/Albian (Early Cretaceous) paleogeography of the South Atlantic: a paleontological perspective")

Calcareous nannofossils, biostratigraphy, and paleobiogeography of the Aptian/Albian Romualdo Formation in the Araripe Basin, North-Eastern Brazil

“…For a long time, the deposition of the Santana Group was related to lacustrine and fluvial paleoenvironments, with the exception of the Romualdo Formation, where marine incursions are marked by the occurrence of typical marine fossils (Arai et al 1994, Arai, 2014, 2016, Araripe et al 2022, Assine 1992, Assine et al 2016. This suggests a shallow marine storm-dominated environment (Custódio et al 2017).…”

“…The Araripe Basin and the Romualdo Formation have been the focus of many taxonomic, biostratigraphic, paleoenvironmental, and paleogeographic studies that have aimed to understand the composition of the fossil communities and marine incursions in the interior of northeastern Brazil during the Early Cretaceous (Arai et al 1994, Arai 2014, 2016Araripe et al 2021, Araripe et al 2022, Assine et al 2014, Assine et al 2016, Barreto et al 2022, Beurlen 1963, Mabesoone et al 1999, Prado et al 2015, Valença et al 2003.…”

“…Many microfossil groups from the Romualdo Formation have been well studied, as well as those from other nearby units (Antonietto et al 2012, Arai 2014, 2016, Araripe et al 2021, Coimbra et al 2002, Melo et al 2020, Rios-Netto et al 2012. However, the first record of calcareous nannofossils from this formation and from the Araripe Basin was reported by Araripe et al (2022).…”

Age of the Post-rift Sequence I from the Araripe Basin, Lower Cretaceous, NE Brazil: implications for spatio-temporal correlation

“…However, according to many authors, marine sedimentation occurred in part of the Santana Formation. In this respect, Arai (2014Arai ( , 2016 defends an influence of the Tethys Sea not only in the interior basins of NE Brazil, but also in the marginal basins, except the Pelotas Basin, which is located south of the geomorphological barrier known as Rio Grande Microcontinent.…”