Geosite Pripiri, Coração de Jesus, Minas Gerais, Brazil: paleontological relevance, quantitative assessment, and initiatives for its promotion

Abstract

The Quiricó Formation is the richest fossiliferous unit of Sanfranciscana Basin. Its paleoasis context (a paleolake record inserted in a desert setting) includes vertebrates, diverse microfossils, and paleobotanical content. This study presents new findings regarding the fossil content of the formation, focusing on discoveries made at the Pripiri Geosite, located in Coração de Jesus municipality, northern part of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Among the discoveries are poorly informative fragments of putative archosaurs and novel microfossiliferous taxa. The microfossil assemblage includes dinocysts and Euglenophyceae, both associated with microbial mat-forming cyanobacteria. These, in turn, comprise the filamentous Pseudoanabaena sp. and the coccoidal cells of Aphanocapsa sp. or Chroococus sp. These microbial mats are recurrent throughout the analyzed stratigraphic succession, primarily observed in sandstone bars featuring distinct evaporitic features. This assemblage provides ecological insights concerning the biota resistance to extreme climatic conditions, and their occurrence in oxygen-rich waters. The preservation of these cells in evaporite-rich rocks is also of great interest for astrobiological studies and the search for past life on Mars. Therefore, due to the importance of Pripiri locality, a quantitative analysis of its geodiversity and geoheritage value were performed, revealing that Pripiri comprises a geosite of national relevance in terms of its scientific, touristic and educational values. In this sense, some initiatives have been carried out to geoconservation and to promote the local geodiversity, aiming to contribute to the paleontological knowledge of the Early Cretaceous, as well as to the social and economic development of Coração de Jesus.