ESR dating of pleistocene mammal teeth and its implications for the biostratigraphy and geological evolution of the coastal plain, Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil

Abstract

The fossiliferous deposits in the coastal plain of the Rio Grande do Sul State, Southern Brazil, have been known since the late XIX century; however, the biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic context is still poorly understood. The present work describes the results of electron spin resonance (ESR) dating in eleven fossil teeth of three extinct taxa ( Toxodon platensis, Stegomastodon waringi and Hippidion principale) collected along Chuí Creek and nearshore continental shelf, in an attempt to assess more accurately the ages of the fossils and its deposits. This method is based upon the analysis of paramagnetic defects found in biominerals, produced by ionizing radiation emitted by radioactive elements present in the surrounding sediment and by cosmic rays. Three fossils from Chuí Creek, collected from the same stratigraphic horizon, exhibit ages between (42 ± 3) Ka and (34 ± 7) Ka, using the Combination Uptake model for radioisotopes uptake, while a incisor of Toxodon platensis collected from a stratigraphic level below is much older. Fossils from the shelf have ages ranging from (7 ± 1) 10 5 Ka to (18 ± 3) Ka, indicating the mixing of fossils of different epochs. The origin of the submarine fossiliferous deposits seems to be the result of multiple reworking and redeposition cycles by sea-level changes caused by the glacial–interglacial cycles during the Quaternary. The ages indicate that the fossiliferous outcrops at Chuí Creek are much younger than previously thought, and that the fossiliferous deposits from the continental shelf encompass Ensenadan to late Lujanian ages (middle to late Pleistocene).