Caturrita Formation
The Caturrita Formation is a rock formation found in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its sediments were deposited in the Paraná Basin. The formation is from the Upper Triassic and forms part of the Santa Maria Supersequence in the upper section of the Rosário do Sul Group. Etymology The formation received this name, because Caturrita is a neighbourhood (barrio) of Santa Maria. In Portuguese caturrita also refers to the monk parakeet. Stratigraphy The sediments of the Caturrita Formation belong to the second unit of the Santa Maria Supersequence and overlie the Alemoa Member of the Santa Maria Formation. The clayey sediments of the Alemoa Member gradually give way to the more sandy, rarely conglomeratic, Caturrita Formation, which finishes with an unconformity. After this erosional event follow the Rhaetian sediments of the Mata Sandstone, the third unit of the Santa Maria Supersequence. The Caturrita Formation was once regarded as a member of the stratigraphically higher Botucatu Formation or was expanded to include the Mata Sandstone. The Caturrita Formation reaches a maximum thickness of 60 meters, but generally oscillates around values of 30 meters. Age Until 2018 no absolute ages had been determined, but the formation was most commonly assigned to a