Lago Colhué Huapí Formation

The Lago Colhué Huapí Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the Chubut Group in the Golfo San Jorge Basin in Patagonia, Argentina. The formation, named after Lake Colhué Huapí, is overlain by the Salamanca Formation of the Río Chico Group and in some areas by the Laguna Palacios Formation.^[1]

Lago Colhué Huapí Formation
Stratigraphic range: Campanian-Maastrichtian ~80–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Geological formation
Unit of	Chubut Group
Underlies	Laguna Palacios Formation and Río Chico Group (Salamanca Formation)
Overlies	Bajo Barreal Formation
Lithology
Primary	Tuff
Other	Sandstone
Location
Coordinates	45°36′S 68°30′W / 45.6°S 68.5°W / -45.6; -68.5
Approximate paleocoordinates	48°12′S 55°12′W / 48.2°S 55.2°W / -48.2; -55.2
Region	Central Patagonia
Country	Argentina
Extent	Golfo San Jorge Basin
Type section
Named for	Lake Colhué Huapí
Lago Colhué Huapí Formation (Argentina)

The strata of the Lago Colhué Huapé Formation were thought to pertain to the Bajo Barreal Formation, but are now recognized as a distinct stratigraphic unit in their own right.^[1][2]

Vertebrate paleofauna

Taxa recovered from the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation include the sauropods Aeolosaurus colhuehaupiensis, and Argyrosaurus, as well as the hadrosaurid Secernosaurus and the probable elasmarian ornithopod Sektensaurus.^[3][4][5] The dubious possible ceratopsian Notoceratops was also present. The apex predator was an unnamed megaraptorid.^[1]

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
  • List of stratigraphic units with few dinosaur genera

References

1. Casal et al., 2015
2. Clyde et al., 2014
3. Martínez et al., 2016
4. Casal et al., 2007
5. Mannion & Otero, 2012

Bibliography

• Casal, Gabriel A.; José O. Allard, and Nicolás Foix. 2015. Análisis estratigráfico y paleontológico del Cretácico Superior en la Cuenca del Golfo San Jorge: Nueva unidad litoestratigráfica para el Grupo Chubut. Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina 72. 77–95. Accessed 2019-02-16.
• Casal, G.; R.D. Martínez; M. Luna; J. C. Sciutto, and M. Lamanna. 2007. Aeolosaurus colhuehuapensis sp. nov. (Sauropoda, Titanosauria) de la Formación Bajo Barreal, Cretácico Superior de Argentina. Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia 10(1). 53–62. Accessed 2019-02-23.
• Clyde, W.C.; P. Wilf; Iglesias A. Slingerland; T. Barnum, and P.K. Bijl. 2014. New age constraints for the Salamanca Formation and lower Río Chico Group in the western San Jorge Basin, Patagonia, Argentina: implications for Cretaceous—Paleogene extinction recovery and land mammal age correlations. Geological Society of America Bulletin 126. 289–306. Accessed 2019-02-23.
• Cortés, José María. 1986. Estratigrafía y tectónica de la región central de la Provincia de Chubut, República Argentina (PhD thesis), 1–242. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Accessed 2019-02-16.
• Mannion, P.D., and A. Otero. 2012. A reappraisal of the Late Cretaceous Argentinean sauropod dinosaur Argyrosaurus superbus, with a description of a new titanosaur genus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(3). 614–638. Accessed 2019-02-23.
• Martínez, R.D.F.; M.C. Lamanna; F.E. Novas; R.C. Ridgely; G.A. Casal, and J.E. Martínez. 2016. A Basal Lithostrotian Titanosaur (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) with a Complete Skull: Implications for the Evolution and Paleobiology of Titanosauria. PLoS ONE 11. e0151661. Accessed 2019-02-23.
• Weishampel, David B.; Peter Dodson, and Halszka Osmólska (eds.). 2004. The Dinosauria, 2nd edition, 1–880. Berkeley: University of California Press. Accessed 2019-02-21.ISBN 0-520-24209-2