Pedra-que-pica (Miocene of Portugal)

Where: Azores, Portugal (36.9° N, 25.0° W: paleocoordinates 37.0° N, 25.2° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Facho-Pico Alto Complex Formation, Messinian (7.2 - 5.3 Ma)

• The overall sequence was assigned to Facho-Pico Alto Complex (Serralheiro et al., 1987; Serralheiro,

•2003) and the age of the sediments is inferred to be Messinian (Late Miocene) because Kirby et al. (2007) dated three fossil specimens of molluscs (oyster, spondylid, and pectinid) from this deposit, and found an average 87Sr/86Sr composition of 0.709018 ± 0.000008 that represents an average estimated age of 5.51 ± 0.21 Ma. For a better description of these sediments and their fossil assemblage, refer to Kirby et al. (2007) and Habermann (2011).

Environment/lithology: coastal; siliciclastic sediments

• Pedra-que-pica” outcrop comprises a lens of calcarenitic marine sediments, very fossiliferous, conformably above a spur of basaltic pillowlavas. This erosion-resistant spur acted as a barrier against currents and allowed the deposition of sediments, forming a pocket beach that was preserved by the later deposition of the volcanic sequence above. The overlying volcanic sequence comprises a thick tuffite of reworked surtseyan pyroclasts (originated in the nearby surtseyan cone at Rocha Alta) conformably above the fossiliferous sediments, and followed by a package of submarine and subaerial lavas.

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: All numbered and figured specimens are housed in the palaeontological collections of the Department of Biology of the University of the Azores (DBUA-F).

Primary reference: S. P. Ávila, R. S. Ramalho, and R. Vullo. 2012. Systematics, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography of the Neogene fossil sharks from the Azores (Northeast Atlantic). Annales de Paléontologie 98:167-189 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/S. Ávila]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 154210: authorized by Carlos Jaramillo, entered by Catalina Pimiento on 01.02.2014

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Chondrichthyes
 Carcharhiniformes - Carcharhinidae
Carcharhinus cf. leucas
Carcharhinus cf. leucas Valenciennes 1839 requiem shark
 Lamniformes - Lamnidae
"Cosmopolitodus hastalis" = Carcharodon hastalis
"Cosmopolitodus hastalis" = Carcharodon hastalis Agassiz 1838 white shark