Paleontological study of the Oligocene/Miocene boundary in the Ilha de Santana and Pirabas formations, Pará-Maranhão Basin on the Northwest equatorial platform of Brazil

Abstract

Sedimentary carbonate outcrops of the Pirabas Formation at the Bragantina platform in North Brazil represent the exposed portion of the entire carbonate succession in the marine equatorial platform from the subsurface Ilha de Santana Formation (Cretaceous/Maastrichtian-Miocene/Messinian) in the Pará-Maranhão Basin. The transgressive deposits, flooding, and advance of the carbonate platform were investigated through the study of outcrops of the Pirabas Formation (type locality in the Ilha de Fortaleza, Pará state) and the analogous carbonate from the uppermost section of the Ilha de Santana Formation from the well 1-MAS-16-MA (510–660 m below sea floor). The stratigraphic analyses were based on petrography, microCT, microfossil assemblages (foraminifera, ostracods, and bryozoans) and index species (Amphistegina, Archaias, Pyrgo, Quinqueloculina, Pirabasoporella, Nellia, Skylonia, and Alpheus), and biofacies approach. The Ilha de Santana Formation (Burdigalian/Langhian at 510–660 mbsf section of 1-MAS-16-MA) and the Pirabas Formation (Burdigalian at the Ilha de Fortaleza outcrops) suggest that shallow-water sedimentary facies are similar to those deposited in the marginal basins and mark the start of siliciclastic supplies to the inner platform and the decline of coralline algae carbonate factories.