Chacarilla Formation

Chacarilla Formation
Stratigraphic range: Oxfordian-Aptian ~
Type	Geological formation
Underlies	Cerro Empexa Formation
Overlies	not exposed
Thickness	min. 1,100 m (3,600 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone, shale
Location
Coordinates	20.6°S 69.1°W / -20.6; -69.1
Approximate paleocoordinates	21.5°S 36.1°W / -21.5; -36.1
Region	Tarapacá Region
Country	Chile
Extent	Tarapacá Basin
Type section
Named for	Quebrada de Chacarilla
Chacarilla Formation (Chile)

The Chacarilla Formation (Spanish: Formación Characilla) is an Oxfordian to Early Cretaceous geologic formation of the Tarapacá Basin in northern Chile, close to the border with Bolivia. The marine and fluvial formation preserves several dinosaur trackways and has been declared a Natural Sanctuary (Spanish: Santuario de la Naturaleza) in 2004.

Description

Stratigraphic column of the formation

The formation comprises a sequence of rhythmically alternating shales and red sandstones with a minimum thickness of 1,100 metres (3,600 ft). The lower part of the formation was deposited under marine conditions and the upper part in a meandering river floodplain and point bar environment. Paleocurrent analysis demonstrated a flow direction towards the west, northwest and west-northwest.

The formation contains ichnofossils of theropods and ornithopods, occurring in the Early Cretaceous upper part of the formation, which is marked by an angular unconformity, overlain by volcanic and clastic rocks of the Late Cretaceous to Early Paleocene Cerro Empexa Formation. The top of the formation is not younger than Aptian.

Fossil content

Dinosaur tracksite of the Chacarilla Formation

Fossil stegosaur, sauropod and theropod tracks and fossil flora have been reported from the formation.

The fourteen trackways of the Chacarilla III tracksite consist of 76 individual footprints. Two of the trackways consist of large ornithopod footprints (average footprint length 39 centimetres (15 in) and average width 32 centimetres (13 in)). Two other trackways consist of small theropod footprints (less than 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long). The other ten trackways were made by large theropods (footprint length more than 30 centimetres (12 in)). The large theropod tracks are tri− and tetradactyl, mesaxonic, and have lengths and widths between 31 to 65 centimetres (12 to 26 in) and 21 to 46 centimetres (8.3 to 18.1 in), respectively. Nearly all digit impressions possess claw marks, but they lack clear impressions of digital pads. The stride length varies between 230 and 307 centimetres (7.55 and 10.07 ft). The speed of the dinosaurs leaving the tracks is estimated at 4 to 7 kilometres per hour (2.5 to 4.3 mph).

Additionally, in the Jurassic part of the formation, fossil flora was reported, containing fossils of Posidonomya, Perisphinctes, Baiera sp., Brachyphyllum sp., Cladophlebis sp., Dictyophyllum sp., Equisetites sp., Nilsonia sp., Pterophyllum sp., Ptilophyllum sp., Taeniopteris sp., and Filicales.

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
  • List of stratigraphic units with ornithischian tracks
    • Stegosaur tracks
• Arcabuco Formation, contemporaneous ichnofossil-bearing formation in Colombia
• La Puerta Formation, contemporaneous ichnofossil-bearing formation in Bolivia
• Baños del Flaco Formation, contemporaneous ichnofossil-bearing formation in central Chile

References

Bibliography

• Leonardi, Giuseppe (1994), Annotated Atlas of South America Tetrapod Footprints (Devonian to Holocene) with an appendix on Mexico and Central America, Ministerio de Minas e Energia - Companhia de Pesquisa de Recursos Minerais, Geological Service of Brazil, pp. 1–248, retrieved 2019-03-25
• Moreno, K.; De Valais, S.; Blanco, N.; Tomlinson, A.J.; Jacay, J.; Calvo, J.O. (2012), "Large theropod dinosaur footprint associations in western Gondwana: Behavioural and palaeogeographic implications" (PDF), Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 57: 73–83, doi:10.4202/app.2010.0119, retrieved 2019-03-08 Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
• Rubilar Rogers, David; Moreno, Karen; Blanco, Nicolás; Calvo, Jorge O. (2008), "Theropod Dinosaur Trackways from the Lower Cretaceous of the Chacarilla Formation, Chile", Revista Geológica de Chile, 35: 175–184, retrieved 2019-03-08
• Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (2004), The Dinosauria, 2nd edition, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1–880, ISBN 0-520-24209-2, retrieved 2019-02-21

Further reading

• C. G. Oliver and C.A. Menéndez. 1968. Geología de la Quebrada Juan de Morales, Tarapacá, Chile y su flora Jurásica. Terceras Jornadas Geologicas Argentinas 163–171
• R. J. Dingman and C. Galli O. 1965. Geology and ground-water resources of the Pica area, Tarapacá Province, Chile. United States Geological Survey Bulletin 1189:1-113