Tafonomia e paleoecologia da floresta petrificada do Cariri — Formação Missão Velha, Bacia do Araripe

Abstract

The Missão Velha Formation stands out in the Araripe Basin due to the occurrence of silicified trunks in the sandy-gravelly strata of its stratigraphic log. These fossils are gymnosperm related and attributed to Dadoxylon genus. The specimen consists in only the xylem portion of tree stems preserved. Eocretaceous conifers occur mainly in subpolar regions at warm temperature latitudes, highly influenced by the Mesozoic greenhouse effect, responsible for continental dry winters and warm umid summers, main climates during the deposition of the Missão Velha Formation. The taphonomic study of this assemblage reveals an orthogonal setting of the trunks regarding to the standard paleocurrent found, indicating that this assemblage was inj ected in a shallow channel, therefore insufficient amplitude to set the trunks parallel to the current, possibly in a catastrophic event due to the variety of thanatological features present in the trunks.